re: #291 Jimmah

Totally agreed, iceweasel.

They want people watching the news to see hostility to ID not as what it is- the defence of science education and the constitution - but as hostility to God and all religion, and react accordingly.

Of course. Because that would be how to motivate the crazies. Convince them that God himself is under attack and all religions too. It’s no wonder that fanatics are yanking their kids out of school and agitating to have the ten commandments hung on the walls of classrooms. And running for school boards, where they can replace the textbooks.

The best way to mobilise a committed and fanatical following behind your agenda— a following that will ignore all facts and evidence that undermines the agends no matter what — is to tie your agenda to religion.

It’s been done in the abortion debate; it’s been done on gay marriage and gay rights more generally; it’s done by right wing extremists like the Christian Identity Movement; and it’s done by religious fanatics worldwide in all religions.

(note what I am not saying: I am not saying that all anti-abortion positions are religious ones, nor that religion is a bad thing, nor that opposition to gay marriage is always religious. I am saying that tying one’s agenda to religion, and making out that there’s an existential threat against religion or God himself, is a sure way to get people behind your agenda who won’t question it or look at the other side’s position at all.)

Demonise the opposition. And not metaphorically.