Reality-Based

Today on Andrew Sullivan's blog (now hosted at The Atlantic, not Time): "the Christianists are not going to put up with secular, inclusive, reality-based conservatism." Wouldn't a shot of reality-based conservatism taste good right now? More important, when will our politicians wake up and realize their pandering to the Religious Right for votes has ended with God's boot on their necks? They can't act on policies that might be effective and efficient unless those policies pass biblical muster.

Case in point:
Religion holds an important place in the lives of individuals, families, communities, our nation and the world. Religious faith, however, takes many different forms, between which there is often very minimal agreement, as evidenced by the deaths of tens of millions of people throughout history on religious grounds.

There must be tolerance for people of all faiths, and for people of no faith. The choice of what tools to use in building a coherent understanding of existence and their place in it must be left up to each individual. Buddha or Allah, Jehovah or the Great Void, believe what you wish. But when it comes to our shared life on this planet, during the time we have, we should guide ourselves by principles which can be tested and proven effective, no matter who does the testing. Theologians may disagree about the nature of God, but scientists do not dispute the effects of gravity, or what happens when molecules of water are heated to 100 degrees Celsius, what is the escape velocity for a spacecraft of a given mass to break free from Earth's orbit. The Christianists (and the Islamists and I imagine several other "ists") would have us believe the Bible is universal and unchanging, God's true Word. If that were true, ultimately, all Christians would come to the same conclusions. Unfortunately for all of us, that is not the case.

So when it comes time to make public policy, let's use science and logic and rationality -- let's make our civic life reality-based.