mcbeen.com

The world we live in is a strange place these days. Cave dwelling fanatics elude capture of the worlds largest power while americans drool over apologies from politicians.
But the most curious of all has been the invasion of religion into mainstream politics. I’m not just talking about presidential policy decisions, and prayer in the classroom. I’m talking about a woman I work with, and she is not alone by any sense of the word. I brought in a video last week of one of Bush’s many hilarious speeches. After showing a FULL 3 minute session of bush out in front of his heli last week, half the group was rolling on the floor with laughter. The rest were showing various expressions of pain and anger.
The one woman said what the half would not. “You should not say bad things about the president.” I just simply smiled and said, “I have not said anything.”
I really wanted to ask her if she tried to keep her friends silent during the Clinton “scandal”. But I knew how pointless that would be, and I already knew the answer. I have spent much time going over situations like this and trying to figure out where the blind faith comes from. It comes from the bible. Bush’s unwavering support comes from religious people who somehow feel that because Bush is a “religious” man, he is a good man and a good leader. I can think of a lot of things he is, but a leader is not one of them. They ignore his faults, and believe that somehow it will all work out if they pray hard enough and have faith in their God. They ignore fact. They ignore reason. They have to. By admitting fault in their “religious leader” they vicariously admit fault within themselves. But the vail is finally lifting. The REAL scandal of what has been done to iraq, and now it’s people is opening the eyes of the temporarily blind. You can only deny so long.
I find it astounding how much work the nightly news puts in to NOT making this guy sound like a complete fool. He can’t talk in public. He trips over words like they are foreign objects he does not understand. He stutters. He repeats himself. He twitches painfully. He mumbles.
Now I don’t want anyone to think that I am calling “republicans blind faith followers”. But I will say that if the party wants to survive, this subgroup needs to be purged. I used to be republican, before the party started to deny fact and lost their way in Texas and the bible belt. Religion does not belong in politics. Not because of the dangers that the church hold towards government, but the dangers that people in power wield by leveraging peoples faith to do their will without question. It becomes a form of mind control.