I guess my point above, Roger…is that when followers of an ideology are willing to “cheat the truth” in order to advance the ideology, it ceases to contain the purity which gave rise to its beauty.

It is not the fear that we will miss the “messiah”, but that when we force the creation of “paradise” or “camelot” or “nirvana” or “heaven” into the march to perdition “by any means necessary”…we have lost the compass and map on our human voyage.

When the “message” of how to get there, trumps the rules of how to lead a human existence of principle and honor…when the attraction to “the faith” is based upon acceptance by the other congregants and not self-fulfillment of common decency in our days of drawing breath here…we all lose.

One sees this most clearly in radical Islam and radical leftism, but it appears elsewhere as well.

Take any modern “hot button” issue and apply first common human decency, honor and principle to the situation. (abortion at each stage [early, mid-term, late term], stem cell research, gay marriage, …as well as political issues such as the “fairness doctrine”, mortgage crisis, and the double standard in our current information stream)…and take this test:

Apply an approach devoid of anything except your purest human decency, erasing all “peer acceptance” by one group or another. Just simply apply principle, honor, compassion and fundamental fairness to each issue. Strip away where you “want” the conclusion to end up, simply follow the path of what you believe in, as right is right, fair is fair, wrong is wrong. It’s a very hard exercise for some. It is extremely difficult to let go of where you want to end up…putting the conclusion first, instead of last…where it belongs.

I have done this with several friends of mine who are self-described “liberals”. And I asked them take this little “field test” with abortion. At what stage do you get uncomfortable killing off the life form? They get very uneasy when you reach their stage of discomfort. Because I ask them…why is YOUR line, that you would not cross…the correct one? Faith? Morals? And why, more importantly…is someone who places their line earlier “an evil person” who needs to be demonized? Isolated and ridiculed?

Because they value the preciousness of life more openly? They automatically, without exception…immediately begin to recite the litany of “other” things “those people” believe which makes them “evil”. (bigotry, homophobia, xenophobia, etc). Not once, ever…has this not happened. Confronted with their own weakness in logic, they resort to demonizing the “other”.

Here is the lesson in it, Roger. THAT…is religion corrupted. THAT is faith in the “message” not in the principles. THAT…is how religion or faith is corrupted. When being accepted into “the group” is more important than the principles it advocates…all meaning is lost.

I happen to believe that the greatest gift we have, is free will. The freedom to be as dumb as a stump in our acts and deeds. And to make mistakes. Horrendous, mind-numbingly dumb decisions. This is how we learn to be better. And I fall into the category of folks who advocate against forced “decisions”. (of course, at some point there are acts which harm others and must be enforced, but, in general…free will on all other issues allows us to create our own path)

But, I do so with complete respect and admiration for faith-based folks who draw their lines on morality earlier in the game than I do. I am pro-choice…because of my belief in our “greatest gift”…the ability to be wrong. But I am not pro-abortion…because I think that decision is often made wrongly, based upon a devaluation of the preciousness of life….and made for matters of convenience and it treats life with a cavalier attitude that does not make our human existence better in any way.

Most people will refuse to engage in this test. It simply shatters their comfort zone.