If you were cast away on a deserted island with only one choice for a companion, who would you chose? The thief, the murderer or someone morally righteous? I’d chose either the thief or the murderer. The thief would have nothing to steal and the murderer would have already solved his problem. Last on my list would be someone morally righteous. Righteous pride was Lucifer’s downfall, a sin that leaves little room for feelings of compassion or forgiveness.
The current election is certainly bringing out the worst in us and the media helps to keep the vitriol flowing. Sadly, intolerance is a trait commonplace among thinkers on the political left and right. Conservative writer, Joe Kotkin, decries that California is becoming a religious state of the liberal left. Laws have been proposed that come dangerously close to the tyranny of the majority. He cites as an example California’s Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act of 2016. It would “enable the state to prosecute any individual or company that has challenged the orthodoxy on climate change.” (“American’s new state religion,” by Joel Kotkin, excerpted from The Orange County Register in The Week, July 1-8, 2016, pg. 12.)
Kotkin has a point. I believe in climate change but does my belief trump free speech?
What I’ve learned in my almost 80 years is that when we feel morally righteous, we flirt with a dangerous mind set. None of us knows the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Let us be humbled by how little we know and reign in our wrath for the sake of our humanity.
Justin Scott, courtesy of www.unitedcor.org
Tearing people and ideas apart is easy. Forming a union that stands together is far more difficult and I worry that we Americans are no longer up to the task. That’s why, today, I’m honoring a man I’ve never met and only recently learned about, Justin Scott. Justin, loving his country, has assigned to himself a mind boggling mission. He is trekking across Iowa, his home turf, to stop at local governments to ask if they will proclaim a Day of Reason. (“Iowa City proclaims Day of Reason, FFRF, June/July 2016 pg 5.) So far, he’s convinced 3 small town legislatures. Others have refused, admitting they are afraid to stick out their necks. Who knew? In today’s angry climate, reason is controversial.
