politics

Hot on the heels of yesterday's look at supporters of secular public education (and just as Richard Dawkins makes another trenchant plea to end special government support for "faith schools"), here's a roster of vocal notables who oppose a separation of religious indoctrination and public schools.

Surely this half-dozen would have no problem agreeing on whose religion to teach, what prayers to lead the class in, and which beliefs to instill. Why, I can't foresee disputes over such little details among the God-fearing proponents of public prayer, can you?

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Know anyone confused about who's for and who's against secular public education? Send 'em an image!

Here's a twist on the images I've been posting comparing the proponents and opponents of separation of church and state. A related – and equally crucial – topic is whether public schooling should stay secular, with religious education a matter of personal freedom in the home, the church, the mosque, and so on. Or should government, through the public school system, dip its hands into the matter of religion?

A lot of voices would disagree with that latter proposition – even voices as notably connected to religious belief as John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and George W Bush. (If Bush's clear-as-day support for secular public schools gives American "conservative Christians" pause, great!)

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Next up: The team opposed to secular public education. It's quite a collection of characters...

A slight twist from the previous installments: quotes not from individuals, but from national Constitutions. Click to enlarge

(So, Iraq. How's the theocracy thing working out for you?)

Next time: Something even more different.

At the risk of bringing down the wrath of Godwin, here's another Separation of Church and State "poster" with a quote from Hitler.

The next installment will be different!

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Here's another homemade effort at illuminating the debate over spearation of church and state. "Teach the controversy", right?

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There's more to come –

With the US election race gearing up, we're treated daily to more and more examples of American politicos, pundits, and plain old people who refuse to understand the simple, smart principles behind keeping religion out of government and government out of religion.

Millions of words have been said and millions more will be. In the meantime, I felt inspired to make a few images as reminders of what's at stake. (Click to enlarge.) None too subtle, I know, but subtlety doesn't seem to be working...

Link to it, forward it, pass it around. More are on the way.

United Nations Affirms the Human Right to Blaspheme

This really has nothing to do with anything on this site. It's just... I felt it has to be noted, and I have nowhere else appropriate to put it:

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford coins a most delightful term:

Look, I don't care if Dick Cheney threatened you with razor wire and a concrete pumps. I don't care if Karl Rove said he'd suffocate you with his giant clammy hog thighs if you dared to speak up...

Karl Rove and his "giant clammy hog thighs". That spot of journalism deserves some sort of award, even if only for Worst Mental Image Ever. Thanks (sort of), Mark!

Christian right leader George Rekers takes vacation with "rent boy"

An addition to yesterday's Texan Democrats (a little) less religious than Republicans: Let's take things up from one state to the national level. In Republicans v secular America, Dan Kennedy of Guardian News and Media reports on the latest machinations by a party salivating over the prospect of religion-based control over the US populace. Yes, that's all nothing you don't already know, but it's a jolting drink of gasoline to see so many voices of inanity gathered into one article:

• Tim Pawlenty: "God is in charge ... In the Declaration of Independence it says we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights. It doesn't say we're endowed by Washington, DC, or endowed by the bureaucrats or endowed by state government. It's by our creator that we are given these rights."
• Mitt Romney: Deflects suspicion toward his wacky Mormon sect by embracing "any person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty" – but apparently, only such believers.
• Sarah Palin: Prays to invisible spirits for oil pipelines. (I presume the difficult words were written on her palm.)
• Mike Huckabee: "I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ."

But wait! There's more! Virginia State Delegate and Republican Bob Marshall just added, in a rant against Planned Parenthood:

"The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children. In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There's a special punishment Christians would suggest."

That's right: We're one-tenth into the 21st Century, and this guy claims that handicapped children are a punishment from the Old Testament Yahweh.

Fiscal conservatism? Proper role of government? Those and a thousand other matters are reasonable discussions on real-world topics to be had between "the left" and "the right" in the US, with meaningful ideas potentially coming from both sides. But as long as the Republican party is chock full of nuts like the above, who want to move their adherence to an ancient Middle Eastern cult from an appropriately private matter to a public requirement, any American wanting to keep religion and government separate (as the nation's founders clearly intended) needs to support the lesser of the two evils, the Democrats.

Or get to work cleaning house in the Republican party, pronto. Is it so hard to throw out morons who want to base government on supernatural voodoo? 

UPDATE: The same breed of idiots claims that any gathering of atheists is, by definition, a hate group.