• actually, the "freedom from religion" movement means silencing any speech inspired by religion in the public square. It is the same philosophy that was pushed in communist countries, that killed over 100 million people (as opposed to naziism, which pushed a pagan version of christianity that killed 30 million). As for "goddess worship": read your history, or check India's feminists fighting girls being forced into being temple prostitues,

    Lata: Your anti christian arguments does not prove you are progressive, only that you are a bigot. We Catholics remember losing jobs and being ridiculed for our faith, so we recognize such things. Maybe instead of parroting "Straw man" fallacies about religion, you should actually find out what Christians believe, and stop assuming one "talking point" that takes a single quote out of context applies to the religion of 2 billion people.
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    • Lata Nadig Dr. Nancy, I think again you are not recognizing what is happening in this country. The religious right is not only just chanting in the public square, it's stuffing its creed down our throats, up our vaginas, and into our science books. It is not of ...See More
    • Lata Nadig oh, and by the way, Dr. Nancy, I love you. Not because jesus (or Devi) tells me to. But because I do.
    • Miguel Zambrano Ah, but did you actually observe this or is it what you read on progressive websites? A few small legislative things in a few states, and you take them out of context and state things like the government should deport all these dodos. you ignore that now Catholics may have to lose all their hospitals due to obamacare regulations, but those nuances aren't written about on the ACLU sites. You are not being thrown out of your job for being willing to do abortions: But I was almost thrown out of medical school for not doing them. What saved me was the 1995 civil rights act...as for evolution: That is also a straw man argument, since most christians believe in the science of evolution, but not the philosophy of blind evolution.
    • Miguel Zambrano You are supposed to be a sceptic, but you aren't sceptical about the talking points you are being fed. The religious right is "pushing" things on you? How? By refusing to pay for your birth control? By refusing to water down 3000 years of traditional marriage to allow open marriages of the gay community? By declaring that there As for the Amish: ah yes. They are taken to court all the time. But are you suggesting that the 40 percent of Americans who are born again christians should not be allowed freedom of speech? How about the 20 percent of Americans who are Catholic? The way you talk we are not allowed to give an opinion on anything in the public sphere if it is "inspired" by religion. That, of course, would allow the self appointed elites to run the place unopposed. So much for democracy.
    • Miguel Zambrano FYI: goddess worship.http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/01/the-scholars-and-the-goddess/305910/?single_page=true It's a variation of "me"ism religion: sort of an exaggeration of Luthur's ideas of individual religion trumps traditions.
    • Miguel Zambrano as for creationism? isn't evolution taught in your local schools? it was in pennsylvania. The problem is not science vs non science, the question no one is discussing is the science of evolution (Which catholics said was okay as far back as Augustus) versus the philosophy of Blind evolution, which Dawkins writes about nicely. Dawkins knows little or nothing of other religions, but he is excellent for explaining his own belief system of scientism
    • Miguel Zambrano sorry: I wrote too much. But in college, I learned to think, and not accept the right or the left wing propaganda (at that time, the war in Viet Nam was full of lies, but the anti war propaganda was also full of lies). Life doesn't work that way. And if it makes you feel better, I also play "the devil's advocate" on conservative blogs.
    • Lata Nadig I know you do. Oh, I have so much to respond to all your points, and I wish I just had the time. I have been quite hedonistic in the last weeks and that and procrastination must be paid for now,,,
      but the quick answer is YES, I have observed this, not just on progressive blogs, but with the people I talk to, strangers, patients, friends, in sound, well researched journalism, among people who are normally religious (like yourself) but are appalled at the labels Christianity is receiving due to the fundamentalist throngs trying to take away the first amendment provisions on religion in this country- not one small bible thumping backwater town but many many many towns and cities and states too - there may be small changes, but they are precedents. I am sorry your want to impose your religious beliefs on the (STATE JURISDICTION) of marriage in the gay community. What Catholics think about Catholic marriage in the Catholic church (or any other religious organization) needs to remain there. You recognize the larger message of such sanction, and yet you feel that it is ok to ostracize an entire community. That, to me, is bigotry.
      And I am truly sorry that YOUR first amendment rights were ignored and you were traumatized (as was my mother) regarding abortion, but the pendulum has swung the other way- and on the odd occasion that it is still in favor of the seculars- i.e., birth control and the Catholic church- it is being recognized and address to come up with reasonable solutions for all - or all those Catholic hospitals funded exclusively by the tithe system?
      Extremism on either side is wrong.
    • Miguel Zambrano Lata, it's not just that I disagree with you on all of this (Most of the time I agree). It's just that you are being illogical. A lot of these talking points are exaggerations of subtle ideas of philosophy. I see as promoted by the President of my political party, and the fact that he is using his talking points (which I get in emails) to distort and cause hatred of the opposition is disturbing. As for Catholics: Common law traditions and religious traditions are time tested ideas that work, even when you don't agree with them. The cutting edge right now is not gay rights or abortion rights: The cutting edge is destroying the idea that men and women are made differently and pair bond to protect children. The c
    • Miguel Zambrano You still are using arguments of the progressive community. Fine. I can argue them too. My point is that you are ignoring the subtle arguments of those you disagree with...and you still are telling me the extreme talking points of my church, not bothering to ask us why we believe such things (which are long and nuanced and usually distorted in the media) .As an honest sceptic, you need to be logical, not accept talking points of the media or the left as the truth, especially when they are illogical...put this nice gif up on your desk and check it when you get your next talking points memo..http://i.imgur.com/FvjXh.jpg