Science AND Religion 2

I think it's ridiculous to think that one group of people are inherently not as worthy as another. With all the bickering and name calling, we're not going to work our stuff out. Seriously. If you believe that Jesus is Love, that's cool. If you believe that Far Side comics are the new Bible, that's cool. Just leave each other alone, and quit spending so much money, time, effort and carbon to prove your points to me.

There's no "side" to take in this fake argument of Science vs Religion...but there's certainly a third way here. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is still a pretty good idea. Certainly not the only one, but it's a good basic concept no matter whose sacred text is comes from. Treat everyone with as much respect as you possibly can. At our cores, we're all worthy of love. I don't care who you are, you are worthy of love.

That last line can really piss people off, so I encourage comments on it. I know a lot of cynical contrarian types who hear that "worthy of love" stuff and immediately bring up Pol Pot or Hitler or whoever they think is clearly unworthy of any kind of love due to their murderous behavior. Those people are themselves worthy of love, and a heap of understanding... Which brings me again to George Bush...

My fellow progressives will someday recognize the creeping violence in their discussion of what they would like to do if they could have a moment alone with George Bush or Dick Cheney. It churns my stomach to say so, but I have myself had those same dark thoughts. "Think of how many lives would be saved!", the same arguments used in the silly hypothetical "what if you saw Hitler on the streets of Seattle, unarmed?" I have thought those violent thoughts and I have also double-checked them with what I would *actually* do in that situation.

I would not kill anyone. I wouldn't have killed Hitler. I would not punch Bush or Cheney in the nose. I would swell up with anger, certainly, but I would not act that anger out violently. It sounds weird to have to blog this confessional mixed in with my peace-and-love-for-all rhetoric, but it's just what's going on in my head.

I do truly think that we'd be better off without this current administration, but there's no way that violence against them will come to anything good or true in the end. I wish I didn't have to even write this stuff, but I hear that kind of thing all the time from my supposed progressive/liberal/democrat pals. This is why I feel like an outsider even in my own world... it sickens me, frankly. I sickened me when I did it, and it feels the same again when others do it.

Tragically, their (my) arguments about Science and Religion usually come up around that same time. The same people who espouse peace and love can be the same people who say they would like to ship off all the NeoConservatives to an island without food. It's not funny anymore, I think that's what I'm trying to say. It's tragic and fruitless.