Reply #14: It isn't a matter of hate

[Dogmudgeon]

But if Progressive politics is ever to take root in the USA, we have to break the death-grip of the radical religious right.

No hatred is necessary; we need simply to get religion out of politics, and encourage "people of faith" to transform their religions from mass brainwashing cults into movements for theological, spiritual, and ethical development.

I have no hate for any religion or religionist, although I do not believe in any religion. My issues are with what religion does. In practice, religion stretches from Tibetan Ram-Lim Dzogchen Buddhism all the way to snake-handling, poison-drinking Fundamentalist mania. Yet Billy Graham came from a tradition that was much closer to the latter than the former, and has eventually become something of a "Zen Baptist" ("Zen" in the way of "peaceful abiding", not Buddhism per se).

Our goal should be clear: to eliminate that pathological, destructive impulse that rides along with spirituality. And the way to begin is to get it out of civil and secular life. That effort may not seem "nice", but it need not be hateful.

--p!