Old Time Religion
I had to laugh when I read about the Republican congressman in America who said in a recent rant that evolution, embryology and the Big Bang theory are - “lies straight from the pit of hell” - which are meant to convince people that they do not need a saviour.
Now these rather ill-informed and offensive remarks were made by the representative for Georgia - Paul Broun who was giving a speech at a sportsman's banquet at the Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell - on 27 September 2012.
Apparently, Mr Broun is a medical doctor and for some reason he is running for re-election in November - unopposed by Democrats.
Every last word, dot and comma in the Bible is the word of God - according to the good doctor and his fellow fundamentalist Christians - who believe, for example, that the world is only 9,000 years old and was made in just six days, as the Holy Bible says.
But the problem with fundamentalism is that all fundamentalists believe that their own 'Holy Book' is the last word - the real deal - when it comes to God and religion.
For example, fundamentalist Muslims believe that their own Holy Book - the Koran - is the literal word of God as well.
And that as their prophet - the Prophet Mohammed - came along in 700 AD then the divine words spoken to Mohammed by God - mean that the teachings of Islam trump anything that the Old or New Testament have to say.
Just to complicate things further there are of course even later 'prophets' than Mohammed - such as Baha'i Faith (founded in Iran) or Joseph Smith who founded the Mormon Church in America - both in the early 1800s funnily enough - though both would be seen as heretics and blasphemers by their religious rivals.
All I can say that I'm glad I live in a society where fundamentalist religious beliefs are rare and have no role in running the country - though there's no room for complacency because given half a chance the God Squad would like nothing better than the chance to tell the rest of us how to live our lives.
