This blog post in The Telegraph was tweeted by @rudepundit, who described it as "the dumbest thing you'll read today", and it has me shaking my head.
This was posted by Dr. Tim Stanley. Part of his bio at the top of his post says:
Dr Tim Stanley is a research fellow in American History at Royal Holloway College. He is working on a biography of Pat Buchanan.
I didn't bother copying his website and Twitter handle.
The post is about how the "liberal media" is already slamming the religious beliefs of the GOP candidates. Predictably, he skips over the very important point that the GOP candidates are actively courting their extreme right-wing Christian base by promising to push legislation based on Christian doctrine, which is directly opposed to the separation of church and state guaranteed in our Constitution.
The first thing that made me grind my teeth was this:
Krugman’s article is a good example of what’s wrong with this hogwash reporting. It is true that Rick Perry called evolution “just a theory”, but who cares? He’s running to be President of the United States, not an eighth grade biology teacher. He will have no influence over what textbooks schools buy or what is taught in classrooms. His views on evolution are as relevant to the presidential race as the price of petrol in Timbuktu.
(Link to Paul Krugman's article here).
Presidents don't get involved with what goes in textbooks, that's true enough. But presidents lay out agendas and drive policy, which sometimes becomes legislation. That is a much bigger problem.
Dr. Stanley goes on to question why Harry Reid doesn't get bashed for being Mormon, and describes Democratic Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA):
Hank Johnson is the congressman from DeKalb County in Georgia and he’s a Buddhist. Specifically, he’s a follower of Daishonin Buddhism. Adherents gather regularly in large groups to sit cross-legged and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo at a portable shrine. The idea is that if they say these divine words while visualising their deepest desires, they’ll get what they’ve always wanted. Like evolution, it’s just a theory – but it’s much, much more cool.
Now if this guy wants to slam Rep. Johnson's comments about Guam tipping over (I'm not linking this, I'm sure we all remember it!), that would be fine, because the doctor would be addressing something the congressman actually said. But frankly, I don't see a lot of Buddhists slamming everybody else for not believing as they do.
Basically, Dr. Stanley is trying to say that there's no basis for the "liberal media" to bring up the GOP presidential candidates' religious views. And the media wouldn't, if the candidates were not RUNNING ON THEM! This is a larger point that the doctor does not address in his post.
Really, I don't care what religion a candidate is. That's their business, until they try to legislate everybody else's lives based on their religious doctrine. That is where I have a problem.
Anyway, just wanted to point this out. I really hope The Rude Pundit was right, that this is the dumbest thing I read today. But it isn't even 9am on the West Coast yet, so we'll see!
