Editor,
Enough with the evangelicals. We gave them a hearing. They've had their day in court and here's a frightening sample of their views:
R. Albert Mohler Jr. of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary called the papacy a "false and unbiblical office." On National Public Radio two years ago, he said any belief system leading "away from the cross of Christ and toward another way of ultimate meaning is, indeed, wicked and evil."
So much for the Catholics and Jews - and Navajos, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and everybody else.
On a telecast program in September 2004, Jimmy Swaggart said, "I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm gonna be blunt and plain - if one ever looks at me like that, I'm gonna kill him and tell God he died." These remarks were met with applause from his congregation.
So much for the rule of law and "Thou shalt not kill."
And then there's Senate Republican Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist, who "diagnosed" Terri Shiavo from watching pictures of her on videotape - something most of us wouldn't let any doctor do with our dog.
So much for medicine and science.
Tony Perkins, who runs an organization called the Family Research Council, was reported by The American Prospect to have said that the judiciary branch poses "a greater threat to representative government" than terrorist groups.
So much for rationality and our judicial system.
Such quotes from the religious right are endless and unnerving. We should heed them, as it is now tragically obvious that we have a president whose first commitment is to an extremist cult - not Mother Nature or the United States of America.
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W. Christopher Epler
UNM adjunct faculty
