Has Western society really evolved that much from religious barbarism? My perceptions might be distorted a bit . . . I live in a region where churches were bombed in the 1960s because it was "too soon" after the turmoil of the Civil War to consider sitting next to a person of color on a bus or to use the same drinking fountain, much less allow them to vote.
I saw evidence of the persistence of this attitude in the 1970s, where some communities still maintained separate seating in the balcony of movie theaters for African Americans. More recently, the youth minister of a local fundamentalist Christian church detonated a bomb in a medical clinic on Christmas morning as his "gift to Jesus." A decade later another fundamentalist Christian minister purchased a small sliver of land adjoining a clinic and set up a system of ladders and scaffolding along the privacy fence, where he would perch with a bullhorn and harass physicians, staff, and clients. This circus continued for a couple of years. He was defended in the community because he owned the property and had a right to do with it at he pleased. (Sound familiar?) His actions finally came to an end when he brought a shotgun and murdered a physician and his escort as they arrived at the clinic one morning. Every weekend of every summer I must endure the shouted "ministry" of ministers-in-training from the local Christian college, who stand on street corners and use their Bibles to direct their tirades threatening all who pass with hell fire and damnation. Closed windows, blasting AC, and Bach at full volume on the CD fail to muffle the noise. I can't imagine what a woman in a head scarf must endure from this crowd. But they do have a right to speak. The same right that protects my speech in this e-mail, which some might find objectionable and would like to silence. Then we have the mere criminals; tax cheats who wrap themselves in some weird interpretation of Biblical verse that they claim grants them permission to pay their employees in cash and not pay Social Security or income taxes on wages. (Actual local case, now convicted.) My fears of religious terrorism are much closer to home. None of these terrorists worships in a mosque. Claudia Stanny --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4756 or send a blank email to leave-4756-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
