There are apparently two topics that are BIG no-nos: politics and religion. Some believe that we should not discuss them at all simply because they are topics about which people believe differently. Perhaps it is attributable to my linear makeup, but isn't that exactly why one has discussions - because people do not perceive or believe things in the same way? Isn't that why we try to exchange ideas, hoping to arrive at a consensus? Of course, if one firmly believes that one's own way is the right way and that none other could possibly have anything of merit, then there is indeed a problem.
The thing for me that helps the discussion is when those who are discussing can at least agree to certain facts. After all, one can have - and, I would maintain, one should even be open to - a variety of opinions. But one certainly does not have a right to one's own facts. Certainly, when facts are scarce, the few that one has can be open to different interpretations, but so long as those interpretations remain subject to logic, one can still have a reasoned and reasonable discussion. The problem with religion, however, is that to believe literally takes a leap of faith - one must suspend logic - and that leap of faith is a very personal one. If only that leap of faith could remain personal, I would still have no problem whatsoever with it. It is only when those personal leaps of faith cause those who fervently believe that there is no other way but their own to thrust that way upon me and others - that I have a problem. And yes, I do have a big problem with that. So yes, after discussing one big No-No yesterday, today I shall mention the Other.
The much vaunted Founding Fathers of the US were, for the most part, Deists. They believed that there was most likely an all-powerful Creator, but they did not believe that the need for an organized religion necessarily followed. They were all students of history and had overwhelmingly originated from Western European countries, all of which had been wracked by terrible religious wars between Catholics and Protestants for centuries. Many of their ancestors had family members who had actually gone to the Middle East to take part in crusades against Muslims centuries before the Western European religious wars between Christian religions. So, having seen the atrocities that had occurred in the name of religion, they very much valued both distinction and separation between State and Religion and never - at least from any of the writings we know best that stem from that era, e.g., the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution - declared the US to be a "Christian" nation. In fact, our US Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, determined that. according to the First Amendment, freedom of religion can also mean freedom from religion.
I, for one, would much prefer that NO political candidate for office would wield religion as an attribute. I would rather see a decent, intelligent, compassionate and committed human being who is genuinely interested in making our dysfunctional political system work for the majority of citizens. I would rather know what meaningful vision that person has for our country than know anything about what religious views that person holds.
Things religious have certainly deteriorated to the same insanity level as things political when I have to read, as I just did in today's Independent, that Mormons - prominently in the headlines these days because Mitt Romney is a potential GOP Presidental nominee, and also a Mormon - have posthumously baptized Anne Frank. Yes, THE famously Jewish Anne Frank most of us learned about in our respective youths, whose famous house and former hiding place I actually visited in Amsterdam in 2000, and who died precisely for no other reason than that she WAS Jewish. With all due respect, the Mormon religion - like every other organized religion I have ever heard of or been exposed to - has a lot of cockamamie beliefs by any reasonable measure. But posthumous baptism is one of the nuttiest, IMO. Probably the best treatment of this "controversy" - at least the most bearable - is from the inimitable Stephen Colbert last night.
People like Colbert make me believe that there must indeed be a Creator somewhere - with a wonderful sense of humor! And thank God for that!
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