Trading on Ignorance

Wow! Talk about stoner pride!* The Rev Ken Hutcherson is practically breathing it.

Civil Rights: Law, not dogma

The seminal moment in Thursday night's heated debate between King County Executive Ron Sims and Redmond Pastor Ken Hutcherson came when Sims, himself an ordained preacher, refused to trade biblical arguments with Hutcherson "because civil rights is not a theological debate."

To which Hutcherson shouted, "It is. That's the difference between us. You think you can separate your basic foundation of what makes you a moral person from your political views -- I do not."

Yes, and it's a difference that serves Sims well.

(emphasis mine)

No kidding! Hutch seems to think the Constitutional protections for and from religious beliefs are only applicable when not in conflict with his own silly solutions. These are protections which - and how many times must we keep repeating this!? - protect people of any or no religious beliefs at all. The Rules are inclusive and the Law of this land.

If Hutch wants his politics theocratical, he had best heed some redneck advice and leave this here partic'lar country if'n he don't like our Laws and freedom. Despite our current wanna-be fascist Administration's Faith Based Initiatives, the United States has never been and will never be a Theocracy.

Hutcherson speaks of the "sin" of homosexuality. So what other sins would he insist the law allow as grounds for discrimination in housing, employment and lending -- failure to honor one's parents, the making of graven images, coveting thy neighbor's ass?

Fundamental civil rights should not depend on the whims of either the pulpit or the polling place.

The first paragraph there needs no expansion. It is the reason for the first 2 functional points of the 1rst Amendment.

The last sentence speaks even more broadly to the sorts of mischief with which our Great Leader has been engaging, ostensibly, in the name of Homeland Security.

I hope it is totally clear that I love the breadth and scale of the cultural miliue that is America. Irrespective of my thoughts on the matter, there is indeed plenty of room for Rev Hutch's bigoted IDism and such is duly protected by The Rules of our fantastic nation. Hutch, and folk like him everywhere, have got to learn this essential fact about democracy: it includes everyone. The Laws are for everyone. The morality which he espouses, brutally anachronistic and irrelevant as it is to our ever evolving society, is always going to be his to entertain and utilize.

There is simply no Legal means for him to physically compel anyone who doesn't share his little subscription to adhere to its dogma. And his ignorance and pomposity vis-a-vie the nature of morality.. well, I'm not even going there this morning.

Simply put Ken, you really need to read The Rules before trying to rewrite them.



* A sense of pride derived merely from the fact of one's ostracism or repudiation of the value of one's decisions and lifestyle.