well, here we go again, more inroads to lunacy. now the national parks service is being harassed. evidently in keeping with the yet to be congressionally approved faith based initiative creationist books are being crammed into gift shops at places like the grand canyon. their “intelligent design” viewpoints can’t be “discriminated against”, so books explaining that the grand canyon is only a few thousand years old are being offered along side geological texts stating otherwise. the hilarity of applied nonism? or just more evidence that the very idea of truth is little more than a dinosaur (oops, can’t discriminate! i should say dragon, for the faithfully imbecilic among us) in this modern world, it’s brittle bones propped up with glue, it’s real shape only ever guessed at?

now you may think, big deal, it’s a gift shop, who gives a crap? do we have such little faith in the american intellect that we see a few creationist books in a gift shop as such a threat?. the answer, from my point of view at least, would have to be yes, we ought to have so little faith, yes it is a threat, and yes we should give a crap. first of all the national parks service is a federally funded agency! don’t forget. these gift shops are not privately run shacks along side highway attractions like the worlds largest ball of twine. second the scenario unfolding at the grand canyon holds more alarming facets than simply the contents of it’s gift shop. there is the “removing of historical information it found conservatively incorrect from historical documents and video presentations.” as well as the fight to re-erect plaques with biblical verses, and a giant cross to the grounds surrounding the canyon. seriously folks, WTF? this ought to be seen as a possible sign of things to come. why not books in hospitals, and videos in free clinics provided by the national institute of health, explaining that AIDS is in fact a plague brought down upon the heathen gay and drug addicted population, meant to cleanse the earth of their filth? why not environmental tracts, and public television specials, courtesy of a pressured u.s. environmental protection agency explaining that pollution, global warming, deforestation, are all simply a part of gods plan, and that in any case it is the world after this one we ought to be worried about? still you may think, well so what? opinions. that’s all, and everyone has a right to theirs. fine. true. but try not to forget the public school system is in the same boat, and the “opinions” put forth there are the opinions your filthy little spawn will accept to be truth.

in 2002 an atlanta school board voted to allow “alternate views on the origins of life” to be taught in their classrooms. just on example, but wildly disheartening. the battle between the conservative christian right and the rest of the population has touched every imaginable part of school life, from curriculum, to the reading lists, to prayers in school, to the pledge of allegiance. most scary though is what has been going on in texas (of course) concerning text books. what started with evolution has spread to all manner of historical information. for example, to quote the story “last year the board changed a sixth-grade social studies book that read: “Glaciers formed the Great Lakes millions of years ago.” Religious conservatives objected because it didn’t fit their timeline of creation. The book was changed to read: “Glaciers formed the Great Lakes in the distant past. Many other changes have been made to adapt what children are taught to the political agenda of religious conservatives. A photograph of a woman carrying a briefcase was omitted from a textbook because the board of education decided the photo undermined family values.” again, WTF!?

the thing about these issues, and most which come under the umbrella of the faith based initiative, that is so fucking maddening is the fact that the faith which seems to be making the biggest stink, and thus reaping the most benefits, is christianity! what a joke! if the faith based initiative is supposed to insure no faith is discriminated against why don’t we have satanist tracts explaining that the grand canyon in actually a rift created when satan’s minions broke from hell to run rampant over the land? why aren’t their giant stars of david being erected in courtrooms only to be pulled down by supreme court decree? why aren’t text books being changed to take into account the fact that aliens in fact jump started humanities meteoric rise with their advanced knowledge, and that without them we would still be living in caves? why? because only one religion in this country is rich enough and has enough overwhelming influence to lobby and harass on this level. only one religion can convert the presidency into a fucking bizzaro-world american pope-ship, only one religion has eight hundred evangelist tv shows on a day converting us poor, ignorant, damned-to-eternal-hellfire slobs and raking in millions in the process. christianity the most brutish, parasitic arm of catholicism. christianity needs no protection from discrimination, we non-christians need protection from it.

as their Intelligent design espousers explain that in fact their is no real evidence of evolution and no evidence that the earth is millions of years old, no evidence that dna is naturally forming, as the whole lot of them explain which moral values are correct and which are evil, as they write off two thirds of the earths population as degenerate, idol worshiping, heathens, they offer their own, unshakeable, rock solid evidence. a story book. it is easy to be christian, all you need is faith and a massive self righteousness larger than ten grand canyons. truth is not to be discovered or searched for, truth is to be dictated by a story book. and no matter how counter intuitive, no matter how self aggrandizing, no matter how wrong minded, unenlightened, ridiculous, hateful, no matter how hypocritical, you must simply believe! and if you don’t? if society has sectors with philosophies and beliefs which differ? well, then society will just have to be forcibly changed to better fit the beliefs, through lobbying, legislation, evangelism, and abortion clinic bombings… fucking assholes.
 
in any case, i am obviously letting my annoyance get the better of me and straying off topic, so let’s just end it here. comments are welcomed.