http://www.studioglyphic.com/blog/
Please update your links, bookmarks, and RSS Feedreaders. All comments have been disabled.
« Washington's addiction to pork | Main | Thirty-Four Players »
October 17, 2004
The Faith-Based Presidency
None of this is really news, but this article by Ron Suskind in the New York Times Magazine helps bring the big picture back into focus: this election is about whether we want the country guided by idealogy and religious fundamentalism or by science and reason.
"This is why he dispenses with people who confront him with inconvenient facts," Bartlett went on to say. "He truly believes he's on a mission from God. Absolute faith like that overwhelms a need for analysis. The whole thing about faith is to believe things for which there is no empirical evidence." Bartlett paused, then said, "But you can't run the world on faith."
So here's a somewhat larger question. If there is a large minority group in this country who doesn't see their religion as separate from their politics, but rather uses politics to advance the cause of their religion, can a meaningful democracy survive? Faith is by definition not anchored or hindered by facts. And if we cannot agree on the facts, can we make policy through a consensus process? If there is no real solution for this quandary, does that mean we can only advance by excluding one another from the process? If the fundamentalists gain a majority share of the voting public, what would be the consequences? Imagine Pakistan with its nuclear weapons falling into the hands of the fundamentalists. Imagine North Korea building an arsenal of nuclear weapons. Call me a scare-mongerer, but I don't trust fundamentalists of any nationality. Bush must be defeated.
Posted by glyphic at October 17, 2004 05:55 AM