Sarah Palin, and Mitt Romney

The idea that people like Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney are considered to be viable canidates for the American presidency is terrifying at best. These are people who hold religious beliefs which are certifiably false. Sarah Palin ,for example, believes in the biblical time line which would place the earths age somewhere between 8,000 and 18,000 years old. Mitt Romney believes that the Native Americans are lost tribe of Israel cursed with red skin for their indiscretions. These are two examples from the litany of beliefs which these individuals hold which are demonstrably false. Why are these nut jobs canidates for anything other than psychological evaluations?

Their viability as candidates is reflective of the type of ignorance, and apathy which infects large swaths of our country's population.
People who I talk to about this issue often respond with a predictable: "you cant criticize them for their religious beliefs and faith, because its separate from their politics"
Is it not painfully obvious that people's beliefs, religious or otherwise, affects their behavior in very transformative ways?
There is no one on earth whose political views are not influenced by, if not direct extensions of, their religious beliefs.
Take Sarah Palin again, she along with most Christians believe that the return of Christ will be preceded by great turmoil and war, as according to biblical prophesy. A person like this who naturally desires to see the return of her lord has a vested interest in the initiation of global turmoil and war. Now give a person like this command of the worlds most powerful military, the nuclear codes, and a seat on the U.N security council and Ta Dah!! You have all the preconditons for a self-fulfilling prophesy.

This prospect is beyond dangerous, and anyone who is willing to support people like this as candidates are nihilistic whack jobs!!

A thought provoking poem

"A point of intersection on some temporal grid
Marks the origin of a tragedy beating its last.
Indignation mounts on our unchained id
Collective in its thirst to reckon its past.

This blood let man, a prism infrared
Burdened by the weight of his very breath
Who's words in tomes yet to be read
Subliminally demand recompense for his death.

Hung from a structure of Roman design
Marred by spears and splinters and thorns
Spoke to a father more human than divine
To no response, a dialogue forlorn.

Delayed. His revenge enacted vicariously
Filtered through time and the bricks of his tomb
Untold screams resonated merrily
From the walls of gas chambers and poisoned wombs.

Left to our own devices with lies from his legacy
Implanted in our minds, like recipes for war,
And slavery, and Holocaust, and endless lunacy
A darkness swept over like never before.

The enemy of science and logic and reason
The patriarch of ignorance and self denial
He calls for us to commit the greatest treason
Against the very thing that makes us smile. "

This was written by Rich Evans, who is an up and coming poet and philosopher what do you guys think of not just the poem itself but of the message it aims to impart?

Atheism vs Antitheism

Just to clarify, the argument that I asserted in our fervent debate in class was an atheistic position not an anti-theistic position. There is a difference, that difference primarily being the fact that the word atheist simply means one who lacks belief; which is a neutral position reflected by my advocation of government mandated activities being sterilized from religious influence and practice. Because this is a staunchly constitutional position I don't understand how the bulk of the class could so vehemently disagree with me. Unless you have problems with the provision in the first amendment for the separation of church and state there is really no authoritative basis for a counter argument against my position other than the fact that I may have offended your personal sensibilities.
I am an anti-theist as well but I keep that perspective compartmentalized from my beliefs about the necessity of a secular government which are based on an understanding of the dangers created by a government that allows for an atmosphere of religious contention in our public schools. Our deistic founding fathers, who authored the constitution, understood that danger as well; which is precisely why they made provisions in our founding document to prevent this from occurring.