Radical Right Ridiculousness

It was a busy weekend for Christian Fundamentalists.

Lester M. Crawford, commissioner of the F.D.A., postponed approval of the morning after pill, Plan B, for a second time. Almost unheard of, the postponement was deemed necessary by the F.D.A. while it figured out how to keep the drug from minors. What? Practically every drugstore in America has become an outlet for tobacco. I’m sure they can card for Plan B as well as a pack of Camel Lights. But the concern over minors is a dishonest dodge. Crawford and his Radical Right puppeteers don’t want Plan B available to anyone because, in their fantasy, God doesn’t want women to prevent blastocysts from adhering to the walls of their uteruses.

Meanwhile, the Association of Christian Schools International sued the University of California system for not giving credit to certain courses taught in religious high schools, including “science” courses in creationism. Aside from the fact that creationism isn’t science, should the UC system give credit to a course about the trans-dimensional capabilities of the tooth fairy? How about a course entitled “The Earth Really Is The Center of The Universe.” Superstition and magic have no place in higher education, unless teaching about their lamentable place in history.

The most disgusting news came from Tennessee, where a church group protested at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq (Anti-Gay Protesters Descend on Soldiers' Funerals, Beth Rucker, AP).

The Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist in Kansas, contends that American soldiers are being killed in Iraq as vengeance from God for protecting a country that harbors gays. The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps' children, grandchildren and in-laws.

The church members carried signs and shouted things such as "God hates fags'' and "God hates you.''

About 10 church members protested near Smyrna United Methodist Church and nearly 20 stood outside the National Guard Armory in Ashland City. Members have demonstrated at other soldier funerals across the nation.

Though Westboro Baptist appears to be a small group, they are symptomatic of a larger trend--fundamentalists convinced that they know the mind of the Creator. Aside from the absurdity of the notion that a bearded man on a cloud sits around hating members of his creation, it’s hard to imagine anything more delusional, arrogant, divisive or dangerous. And yet a great many Americans seem to have given up their common sense and bought into this magical superstition. This afternoon, I noticed an ad on a prominent Christian TV channel advertising the latest book about the coming apocalypse. Delusion sells, and as we learned on 9-11, it can get dangerous fast.

I support the right of a religious person to say just about anything. But when their utterances are arrogant, divisive, delusional, nonsensical and based on superstition, I’m compelled to point it out, absent a sugar coating. We’ve ignored their kind of idiocy for too long in America. Look how well ignoring fanatics worked in the Middle East.