From: harvey@phoenix.princeton.edu (Harvey Cohen)
Subject: Re: Fundamentalists and the clitoris
Organization: Geology Dept., Princeton Univ.
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 19:29:33 GMT

In article <1992Nov17.050246.12001@funlwb.enet.dec.com>
sunderl@obvius.stl.dec.com (Mike Sunderland) writes:

>
>Seriously though, what is it that pisses you off about the "religious right"
>so much? I mean what makes the religious right the bad guys?
>
>Ok, they hold a world view that is probably seriously at odds with yours.
>They think you are doing something morally wrong in having sex with a partner
>of the same gender as yourself. AND they want to make sure that everybody
>hears about what they have to say about it. Are they wrong just because they
>disagree with you and disaprove of something that you hold very dear, or is
>there more to it than that? And what does all this creationism stuff have to
>do with the subject?? Enlighten me.

I haven't been following this thread, but I think it is important, so I hope
you don't mind my response for your request for enlightenment.  The point is
*not* that the Religious Right want everyone to hear what their world view is. 
That is a reasonable reqeust in a democracy.

The problem is that they want to LEGISLATE their world view.  In other words
they want the laws of every city, state, and federal jurisdiction to reflect
their "literal" reading of the bible.  For example, because the fundamentalist
sects (mostly baptist) chose to view homosexuality as a cardinal sin worse than
killing your mother (or thereabouts), they push for stronger and more vicious
sodomy laws which apply only to gay acts.  Furthermore, they do this in spite
of rights to privacy guaranteed under some state constitutions and implied in
the federal constitution.  "Live and let live" is not in their vocabulary. 
They do not recognize any alternative viewpoints (christian, Jewish, Muslim,
atheist or otherwise).  And they would be happy to see all the
gay/lesbian/whatever people jailed for life or killed.  I am not exaggerating. 


	The evolution case is similar.  Despite hundreds of years of scientific
evidence supporting an earth that is 4+ billion years old, and has supported
life for 2+ billion years, the fundamentalists want to legislate the teaching
of biblical creation in science classes.  Scientific study requires that
hypotheses be disprovable.  If there is no mechanism to disprove something, by
an objective test, then you cannot study it scientifically.  Because the bible
is accepted by the funadmentalists as the infallible word of God, no evidence
can be strong enough to disprove it:  That is faith.  You cannot evaluate faith
and the bible scientifically and it has no place in science classes.
"Scientific Creationism" is absurd in its details, and represents both bad
science and bad faith.  This has not prevented some states from passing such
idiotic laws.  Fortunately, they are still being struck down by the supreme
court.  

	Unfortunately, because churchs are not taxed in the US, and because ministers
can use their alleged connection to God as a means of extortion, the Religious
Right is extremely rich.  They spend tens of millions of dollars a year trying
to convince people that their lives and afterlives are in grave danger because
gay people exist. Of course, this is accomplished through distortion and scare
tactics.  The most common (and successful) tactic being to suggest that
guarenteeing civil rights for one group somehow takes them away from another
group and results in "Special Rights".  And guess who gets more rich and more
powerful they more they convince the populous that the country is threatened by
a hoard of amoral, child-molesting homo-sectuals???  The fundamentalists are
waging a holy war (some Republican leaders would call it a Cultural War), and
gay people are the targets.  Remember, they are not simply preaching this stuff
in their pulpits they have organized widespread grassroots movements to take
over local schoolboards, community councils and every aspect of government.  

What they want to legislate is simple:  The wages of sin is death.  And guess
who gets to decide what constitutes "sin"?  

	Last year, the most common complaint to manufacturers of textbooks in this
country came from individuals and schoolboards complaining that discussion of
halloween in their kids' schoolbooks  promoted satanism. This complaint did not
evolve spontaneously in all these people.  It was the result of an organized
campaign by the religious right to censor what they consider "non-Christian"
material from textbooks.  Never mind the fact that in a pluralistic society,
alternative viewpoints are not only healthy but fundamentally necessary.  


	The fundamentalists' goal, and they will not deny this, is to create (they use
the term "regain") a Christian USA.  The problem is, this never was, and was
never intended to be a "Christian" Country.  The separation of Church and State
is embedded in the constitution and was not added as an afterthought.  It is a
fundamental aspect which the founding fathers' added to the main text
immeidately upon its ratification in 1789. Even a brief examination of the
Constitution's history will show that it is exactly this kind of extremist
totalitarian thought of which the founding fathers' were trying to prevent.  

	In the USA, the religious right is extremely active in many areas regarding
education, civil rights, and even foreign affairs.  (Some of the more prominent
leaders believe that nuclear war will be the biblically predicted armageddon
and would be happy to start one if they felt the "signs" were correct.)  

If they continue to gain power, Ethnic Cleansing will not be far behind.  As a
gay man, as a Jew, and someone concerned about individual rights and the future
of this country I am frightened.  We all should be.  

Does that explain anything better?

Harvey Cohen
harvey@phoenix.princetonl.edu


	If they continue to gain power, Ethnic Cleansing will not be far behind.  As a
gay man, as a Jew, and someone concerned about individual rights and the future
of this country I am frightened.  We all should be.  

Does that explain anything better?

Harvey Cohen
harvey@phoenix.princetonl.edu