Regarding the “War on Religion”

[Cyrano]

It doesn’t exist. It’s been made up whole cloth in America by fanatics with a political agenda. If any “war” exists, it is against those who won’t cave to their propaganda.

I believe that Rick Santorum actually sees himself as a “religious” man. I also think he’s nuts. But the real danger is from the millions who buy the snake oil he’s selling.

The Catholic Bishops also have an agenda. It’s the retention of their power. Fortunately, most lay Catholics (and many within the church) think that they too are nuts. (Wouldn’t you love to see statistics regarding how many Catholics practice birth control?)

And far too many Southern Baptists are also nuts. Were I to put a true name on the core belief of their religion, it would be racism.

But most of all, there’s the Republican Party which uses religion as a weapon. Their “holier-than-thou” pose is a charade that serves to make them seem to be on “God’s side.” Hopefully, their hypocrisy is becoming glaringly apparent to those they have victimized for decades.

In short, I have nothing against religion in general. But I despise those who try to use it to further their own ends. And those ends have very little to do with the goodness that religion is supposed to represent.

[RC]

1. Religion has been used to control people from the beginning, when it was still "superstition".

[Cyrano]

2. You would think that human beings would have caught on by now

I have no problem with believers who practice their religions and leave others to alone.

During most of history, that "control" has worked. But now, it has become a deadly weapon of "Us" against "Them." (I'm speaking about Christianity in America.)

The Republican Party has claimed (their version of) Christianity as their own and it's perhaps the biggest weapon in their arsenal of hatred.

I wished I had expressed this better in the OP.

[RockaFowler]

3. The only War on Religion is by the Right

Because they seem to think their religion (whichever the Christian sect they believe) is the correct one. All other religions are passed over by them. Look at Judaism and Islam. Like the Christian God is better than the Jewish God or the Islamic God. Too many of the Repukes seem to think they have to make the whole of this country like them. Well guess what idiot - this country was founded on Religious Freedom. Which means there are many people who don't believe in your crap.

[cbrer]

4. Are we sure?

That the terminology of the issue isn't being blurred? Cripes, what with the war on poverty, war on drugs, war on... it seems plausible to me that battles of a type may be being "fought" in peoples minds concerning religion. If one wakes up in oppression, and fights one's way out, it's a war of sorts, IMHO.

So if that's what's being bandied about in terms of a war, let the fundamentalists feel a little pain.

In terms of being a political hot potato, religious people won't mind being tools of the republic. Let's hope that awareness, enlightenment, and exposure, all continue in this "war". The agendas, falsehood, and duplicitous hypocrisy of religion will find their way to the light of truth.

Eventually...