Feb. 8th, 2007

burnunit: (shifty)
they'll talk about
my kids
the "love triangle"
the sound of breaking dishes

they'll note the minutiae--
the wig
the mallet
the pepper spray
the diaper--
and wonder

but none of them
stood next to that enormous claw
staring into the ocean of night
seeing the great black eye
stare and stare back at you

and only a few of us--like me--
have been looking
when it blinks
burnunit: (Default)
[livejournal.com profile] onlinepastor just said (paraphrasing), 'that liberal idea of religion as a private thing kinda isn't working because there's all these people who feel so passionately about God and religion' and I think she's right. I've come to disdain the knee-jerk reaction that religion must be a private thing. Not because I'm an asshole (though I am a bit of an asshole) but because an automatic reaction that "religion is private. religion should be private." is, among other things, insufficiently responsive to reality and to a degree quite parochial. Yea, verily, parochial... naive, even! I don't intend to or even desire to defend the behavior of various proselytizers and their agents. Their record is well-established and hardly needs comment: triumphal extremism in the name of religion damages the fabric of human society.

It is remarkable to me that a significant body of liberals is so dogmatic on the point that religion is or must be a private matter. Belief may or may not be private, actually; but religion qua religion is almost certainly not. The sooner the sacred cow of private religion is sacrificed (presumably to Baal, or perhaps Shub-Niggurath. I guess.), the sooner peace might break out. I believe.

In any case, I find it plainly irresponsible that so many otherwise-open-minded liberals--and I count myself among you!-- make "shut up" the first and final word on religion.

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burnunit

May 2009

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