Questions of value

     Like many of my ilk, I find myself today questioning whether or not my life-long views of my fellow humans have been founded on flawed thinking. Raised in a family that held that FDR not only saved the world from fascism, but also save my country from a  political crisis over the role of capitalism in a democracy. Those beliefs, at least on my part, have been predicated on the view that as a society we have been working toward some "better angels of our nature." Granted the movement has been unmeasurable at times, but nonetheless, there was always room for hope.
     I look at the killing and hatred that has been spawned by the various sects of Islam and want to believe that we (Americans) have figured out how to live in a tolerant society by respecting the rights of others to hold beliefs that are not personally our own. But more and more I see politicans and religious leaders putting up walls and pointing to "them" as the source of all the evil in the world.
     In listening to the rhetoric of the GOP presidential candidates I hear degrees of savagry and demogagoury that indeed scares me. I hear the rattle of sabers over Iran even as we leave Iraq after a long and bitter struggle that never should have been started in the first place. I hear candidates redefine the wall between church and state in such a way that has only one logical conclusion--writing the Book of Leviticus right into the U.S. Constitution. We have gone from the first Catholic to be elected president having to clearly state that he will respect that wall of separation to a Catholic candidate who finds Kennedy's position nausating.
     To be sure, President Obana has shown himself prone to poor judgment on some issues, but the mandating birth contol coverage for institutions run by religious organizations who are morally opposed to birth control seems to be handing the opposition a ready made issue for dividing this nation in ways that have not been seen since the fight for Civil Rights of black Americans.
     As a historian, there is nothing that scares me more that the spectre of religious dogma backed by the power of the state. Most of the human caused suffering and death in the world can be laid at the feet of some form of relgion that somehow gained control of the reigns of governmental power--whether through kings, emperors, dictators, or elected leaders.
     Make no mistake. The man who brought about the US invasion of Iraq ran for president because he felt God called him to and large numbers of people voted for him because they believed God called them to. Fits my definition of a theocracy. Are we to have another man elected to the US presidency on that same basis--a president who will then be hell-bent on disarming a government run by men who believe they have been called by Allah to rule?
     There are days when I fear that we are entering a new dark age that will as devoid of freedom of thought and expression as Europe saw centuries ago. And will be as violent and deadly.
     Only the love of my family and the joy of my grandchildren keep me from total dispare. For their sake I pray that my fears may never be realized.