>For my part I will not suggest but say straight out that Christianity is
>for the stupid and ignorant. To speak just of my own alma mater, the
>Episcopal Church, I have watched with astonishment as the worldwide
>Anglican community has all but condemned US Episcopalians to the devil for
>appointing a gay bishop. I resent the medieval mindset that has resulted
>in this sacralized persecution of homosexuals, and I resent that crazy
>disputes like this distract attention from issues that God-fearing people
>*should* be focusing on -- such as the waging of senseless wars and the
>inequitable distribution of wealth in society.
>More to the point, I think *all* religion in public life is evil. One of
>the inarguably excellent ideas of the founding fathers was that US
>government should be founded on an entirely secular foundation. Once
>religion enters the picture, policy debates turn from a discussion of
>material concerns, where compromise is always possible, to poisonous
>arguments over matters of faith, which are almost always zero-sum games.
>I think people have every right to be as religiious -- as stupid and
>ignorant -- as they wish in their own private lives. But public life is
>another matter. Religion should play no part whatsoever in the political
>institutions of a democracy.
>
>Carl
You simply cannot say belief in religion is for stupid people. Millions of intelligent people are christian or muslim or whatever and a lot of intellectually challenged folks are atheists. The reality is no body knows why some people believe in religious things and others do not but intelligence has next to nothing to do with it. I know it is tempting to say that people who reject religion do so on the grounds of making an intelligent decision to reject superstition but it just isn't that simple. I was raised catholic, went to both private secular and catholic schools and no longer believe any of the jesus myth and I have not for a long time. I wish I knew why I was able to reject that teaching and it seems as if I was able to do so because of intelligence but I know that is not the full reason or even the main reason. I have a family member who is way smarter than me who still believes such stuff. He is a physicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He was smart enough to be one of the very first people to stop light and I'll be damned if I understand what the hell he actually did. I also feel fairly confident no one this list really understands exactly how and what was done in this experiment either. There is simply no connection between intelligence and religious belief. That said I do think keeping religion out of governmental affairs is necessary and I think most intelligent people would agree with that. Since a significant number of people in this country seem to want some religion in government to some extent that is something that needs to be worked on.
John Thornton