The Fault Is Society's

Submitted by Gary Vineberg (United States), Jul 30, 2002 at 16:39

As Mr. Pipes surely knows, there's been intolerance and butchery done in the name of every major religion.

It's a waste of time delving into the theology. Christianity, for all of its textual gentleness, was the justification for the Spanish Inquisition. I know, the Inquisitors weren't really Catholics and the radical Imams aren't really Muslims, according to their respective "defenders of the faith". But the bottom line is that religion is capable of whatever society allows its adherents to condone.

Under the Soviet system, religion was suppressed. In a theocracy, religion becomes the basis of the state. Under our liberal democratic system, which has proved the best, our religious beliefs are protected and we are protected from religious beliefs.

The biggest disappointment of the current government (and I include Democrats in that condemnation) is that it has failed to use the events of September 11 to remind the world of our benevolent SECULAR system. It is secularism, not Judaeo-Christian worship, that makes our civilization superior to the Islamic world.

But the coziness of the Bush Administration with the religious right, and the fecklessness of Democrats, has muted that message. Ask yourselves what kind of society would America be if the Falwells and Robertsons had their way?

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