I had a moment of growth yesterday

[Orrex]

I've never encounted an evangelical Christian who wasn't a total asshole about it. That may be an unkind generalization, but it's not an exaggeration. From smugly recounting their overwhelming joy at their "personal" relationships with their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to railing against the nihilistic arrogance of my atheism, they never seem to shut up about how great it is to be a mindless part of the mindless flock.

NPR's All Things Considered yesterday ran a story about the support that Harriet Miers enjoys from evangelical churches. They featured soundbytes from a number of anonymous churchgoers, all of whom praised Brother Bush for his Godliness and his Righteous Enacting of Divine Will by nominating Miers to the Court. In essence, they said that her inexperience, secrecy, and general lack of qualifications are irrelevant, because she's an evangelical and they know that she'll do the bible thing.

I hated every single one of those idiots with a distinct and fiery passion.

But then one parishoner--a practicing attorney--got on the mike and said that he praises God if she's an evangelical, but that doesn't, he insisted, qualify her for the Court if her ability to interpret Constitutional law is lacking.

I was, to put it mildly, stunned. I'm afraid that I've succumbed to the media-fueled image of evangelicals as hegemonic all-or-nothing cultists ready to storm laboratories, libraries, and legislatures to remove any hint of a secular society. But here's a guy who actually gets it.

Finding God (or whatever) doesn't qualify you to be a Supreme Court justice any more than it qualifies you to be a surgeon.

I was simply amazed--and delighted--to learn that not all evangelicals are the insane jackasses I've endured over the years.

[MuseRider]

1. They are not all like that but

you rarely hear from the one's who are not.

[patrice]

2. Miers's Constitutional competence should matter to them.

Being anti-Choice won't be enough. She needs to understand the Constitutional issues well enough to deliver the kind of opinion that closes as many opportunities to challenge as possible. If she simply rubber-stamps the desires of the Evangelical Church-cartel, she could do more harm than good, right?

[sam sarrha]

3. that is good, but a moment is not a trend,.hopefully they,ll evolve..

:rofl: