Reply #12: This is a thoughtful piece you've written and I want to respond to [View All]

[joemurphy]

it in the same vein.

First, your comments on Fundie-bashing are measured and probably accurate. As you say, when non-believers become outraged because a fundamentalist may be attacking their core beliefs, the natural inclination is to respond in kind. Imposition of creationist textbooks in public school systems, homosexuality being attacked as "sin", or Planned Parenthood being pilloried as a Satanic organization tend to inflame those not subscribing to those viewpoints.

That said, I think sometimes that we on the left, despite our paying lipservice to "multiculturalism" are sometimes more tolerant of Buddhism, Hinduism, and even Wicca Paganism than we are of Christian fundamentalism. Fundamentalists aren't going to go quietly back to their churches if they see those churches as under attack.

The problem I see with fundamentalism (and I'd include militant Catholicism here too) is the issue of abortion. It's something that adherents of certain fundamentalist religions simply can't countenance or tolerate. I can understand that viewpoint and maybe even respect it as a deeply held and genuine moral belief. The problem is -- how can you square that with the equally sincere and deeply held beliefs of those who do not view a fertilized embryo in its initial stages of existence and unviable outside the mother's womb as worthy of protection when the mother incubating it does not want to bring it to term?

My point is that abortion is the driving force making for the present gap between the Christian right and the Democratic left. It never goes away. Until science and human behavior finds a better way of curbing unwanted pregnancies, I guess I just don't see any answers to the present impasse between Christian evangelicals and Pro-Choice adherents.