The Religious Right is Dead, writes Damian Thompson in the London Daily Telegraph.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100188256/the-religious-right-is-dead/
Sadly, it's true. And yet if so, good riddance, and may that vampire stay buried.
Adherence, or at least pandering, to Creationism, and zero tolerance
for abortion, have been an achilles heel of conservatism in the US.
I believe it's quite possible to value, and even be moved by, the
moral and philosophical framework provided by Christianity without
literally believing the science-fictional embellishments by which it is
accompanied. I treasure my church-going friends, and value the
irreplaceable role that a well- and benevolently-run church can play in a
community.
It is possible to vote Republican in spite of that party's
abovementioned pandering, but if well-meaning, intelligent people hear
abhorrent, ignorant statements about women or science from the likes of
Akin or Mourdock (whatever their other virtues), I think it is quite
understandable that they might, in comparison, consider the Democrats
the party of Carl Sagan and vote accordingly.
Needless to say, Sagan was no admirer of regimes that were hostile to
free expression and open questioning, and so some who abhor those
features of the current US regime may consider themselves in a quandary
of choosing between relatively well-meaning flat-earthers, and
relatively well-informed Soviet-style tyrants.
It should not be necessary for one's choice to be limited only to which of two flavors of Kool-Aid to drink.
What the US needs is more Deism or its equivalent, a creed expressed
by a number of the US founding fathers. People who believed in the
value of a Judeo-Christian moral framework but who did not believe in
divine intervention, believed in liberty, and were not afraid to open
their God-given eyes, ears and brains to a rational and factual
understanding of the physical world, and of political and economic
principles.
Sadly, Deists these days are a bit thin on the ground in the US, and
those who prefer drinks other than Kool-Aid seem destined to be parched
for some time to come.
