god & the media in America

[Dennis Perrin]

> God, Satan and the Media
> By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
>
> Claims that the news media form a vast liberal conspiracy strike me as
> utterly unconvincing, but there's one area where accusations of
> institutional bias have merit: nearly all of us in the news business are
> completely out of touch with a group that includes 46 percent of
> Americans.
>
> That's the proportion who described themselves in a Gallup poll in
> December as evangelical or born-again Christians. Evangelicals have
> moved from the fringe to the mainstream, and that is particularly
> evident in this administration. It's impossible to understand President
> Bush without acknowledging the centrality of his faith. Indeed, there
> may be an element of messianic vision in the plan to invade Iraq and
> "remake" the Middle East.

Well, as I say to those divines in debate, a secular society will, if it's
democratic, tolerate all manner of public and private displays of faith; a
theocracy tends not to tolerate secular expression, esp that which the
theocrats deem "obscene." That's the major difference.

I get what Kristof is saying about mocking people's beliefs, and I've met
some extremely noble and decent people who don't necessarily subscribe to
evolutionary theory. I wouldn't mock them, but if they tried to force me to
worship at the same shrines or speak the same language, then there'd be
trouble.

DP