After posting Elder Oak's talk yesterday I open my newspaper this morning to find an article about the Prop 8 battle (gay marriage) being played out in Maine. Not all that surprising to find this continuing, but what was surprising to me was the wording of the ballot. It is so obviously biased, confusing, and contradictory I hope it will be legally challenged.
Maine residents will vote Nov. 3 on the People's Veto, titled: "An Act To End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom."
The words on the ballot: "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?"
---------------------------------------------------
In the car this morning I listened to 10 minutes of NPR (Radio Times audio file) where an evolution expert claims that there are small ignorant pockets of creationists but the majority of Americans agree that we are cousins to cats, bears, and monkeys. He was so blatantly insulting to any religious person I couldn't stand to listen any longer. It is simple hate mongering. In his book he compares creationists (those that believe God created the earth) to the holocaust deniers. In his words it's a "God delusion".
At the same time I have a hard time believing an educated man would really be so obviously hateful towards religion. I want to go back and listen just to understand how we can live on the same planet and so hugely disagree. His words are so harsh that I feel his desire is not to create a real dialog and opportunities for learning but to promote his own celebrity and ego, and to justify his own atheistic beliefs.
I feel that way about a lot of science commentators, anyone who thinks differently must be stupid because obviously I have the right information.
Here is a link to an article talking about some of the same issues, where does religious belief fit into public discourse.
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/civil-religion/general/2009/10/human-life-religious-voices-and-the-secular-public-square/
Posted by: readerMom | October 22, 2009 at 02:27 PM
The link in to the Tribune Article doesn't work today. The wording is very confusing...I don't understand it!
Posted by: Amanda D | October 23, 2009 at 10:46 AM
I updated the Tribune article link, but if it still doesn't work do a search for "Prop 8 in Maine". The original story ran on Oct 22, 2009.
Posted by: jendoop | October 23, 2009 at 12:36 PM