Religious Tolerance versus Incipient Theocracy

When considering questions of Islam, terrorism, abortion, and stem cell research, those on the right may to wish to consider an America in which you can?t eat ham, bacon or bratwurst because it comes from an unclean animal.

The point of the first amendment is to let those who enjoy pork (Christians, generally) eat pork, and those who abhor pork (many Jews and Muslims) avoid pork.

I am opposed to abortion, and consider it an abomination. Essentially, I feel that it is tragic that someone would choose to destroy a life they could create. However, I view it more as an indictment of society than as a personal sin. However, I am frankly agnostic on the question of whether it is the destruction of a human life.

There are many, however, who do believe that it is murder, and further, seek to impose their beliefs through the rule of law. This is a serious mistake. Furthermore, many of those are willing to allow abortion in the case of rape. How is it that it’s murder in the case of careless or concupiscent conception, but not in the case of rape?

(As a matter of social policy, it?s worth noting that abortion rates steadily declined from Reagan/ Bush Sr. rates during the Clinton administration. I?m willing to bet they are rising during Bush W?s administration, but I haven?t seen figures, yet. Why hasn’t CDC released fiures recently?)

The stem cell research issue is similarly riven with inconsistency and theocracy. First off, it should be noted that many fertilized eggs are created — and destroyed — in the process of in vitro fertilization. I imagine the number of destroyed embryos approaches the number of abortions. Those who feel that life begins with conception should, I think, be opposed to in vitro fertilization, at least as it’s currently conducted. That, however, is not the case. Beside that, we are again brought to the question of when human life begins. I don’t that that’s a matter of fact, but a matter of faith or belief, and hence not appropriate for legislative force. For my part, if I were to be destroyed, I’d like to see some of my parts go to some use to other human beings. In fact, that’s why I’ve designated myself as an organ donor.

Regarding radical fundamentalist Muslims, I feel about them the way I feel about radical fundamentalist Christians and radical fundamentalist Jews. I don’t see a great difference between Muslims who want to attack America, Jews who want to attack Palestine, or American Christians who want to attack Iraq. Troglodytic thinkers like Lt. Gen. Boykin who regard the war on terror as a Christian crusade should keep their mouths shut or resign from public life.

A useful source when considering issues like this is http://www.religioustolerance.org.