In God They Trust

I drove by a sign yesterday along the highway.  "Evolution is the religion of Satan."  My first reflex was to stop the car and tear it down.  Of course, the legal problems inherent in doing so would quickly catch up with me, not to mention, the only house nearby was clearly a house in which a hunting rifle lived.  So along I drove, and I continued to think about this sign, and the myriad of things wrong with it.  I still wish I could tear it down, to remove it from it's highly visible spot on the mountainside along a well-traveled stretch of road.  Evolution isn't a religion, and Satan, if he exists as written in the Bible, is clearly the good guy.  He wants us to know right from wrong, he wants us to experience the human condition, and wants us to be capable of truly knowing ourselves.  The irony in Lucifer, the Lightbringer, being the adversary of God and Christ has never been lost on me.  So many times, knowledge has been the enemy of the church, and for the same reasons, has become the enemy of politicians.

It doesn't take much to see the plethora of religion-inspired legislature being put on the table, and in cases, passed recently.  The War on Words apparently doesn't apply to the words in the Bible, especially the ones that aren't there.  Numerous states banning gay marriage, some states preventing sex education classes from teaching safe methods for GLBT couples, and the all-out assault on womens reproductive rights.  Legislature that just happens to coincide with the theocracy that the Christian conservative right are trying to attain.  Separation of church and state needs to be maintained, even it they don't put "because Jesus says" in the bill. 

You may say, "I'm not gay, I don't care, I'm not a woman, I don't care..." but this are the first steps.  The right will continue pushing, if you give them an inch, they will take a mile, and the current candidates have all pandered heavily to the Bible-thumping right in an effort to get them to the polls to solidify their death-grip on the minds of the uneducated.  This isn't just a political agenda, it's a play for control of your entire life.  Science has taken a backseat to misinformation, as doctors, bound by their Hippocratic oath, would be legally required to lie to their patients, and perform unnecessary, invasive, and humiliating procedures on patients who will receive no medical benefit from it.  Once they get the measures they currently seek in place, they will only want more, to demand that more people conform to their morality, and their way of life.  They will widen their definition of sinner as they desire to sway their throng of mindless ballots into legislating anything they wish.

How does this happen?  It is simple.  Blind faith is easier than contemplative thought.  The cry of "God wills it!" trumps rational and coherent thought in the minds of many, and a broken education system, in which teaching evolution and the human reproductive system is discouraged, if not criminal.  Legislature is passed demanding equal consideration for "intelligent design".  Religion is being forced on the American people under the rallying cry of "save the children".

How long before they take further steps to eliminate those undesirable to the Christian right?  Reeducation centers?  It's legal.  They can detain you indefinitely as long as you're "suspicious".  Brainwashing? While they're burying it under a mountain of doublespeak, they're implementing it as we speak.  Control of your body?  Well, it's easier to start with women, isn't it?  They're traditionally the more submissive gender, right?

So what's the answer, how can we combat this?  Easy.  We must become the evangelicals of reason.  Instead of "accepting and respecting" their beliefs, counter them with your own.  You do NOT have to respect their religion.  You must respect their right to have one, but you do not have to agree, and you do not have to condone their views because they are influenced by their religion.  When they speak louder, raise your own voice.  When they picket, stand between them and the crowd with your own signs.  We must stand by our convictions as strongly, and as loudly as they do, because otherwise, our voices, the voices of reason, of science and truth, will be drowned out under the zealous screams of the witch-hunting mobs.