Chad Rhoades, the author of the column “Let the Revival Begin,” says “religion does not produce fanatics.” Yes, it does. Fanatics have the text on their side. We are perpetually in danger of someone looking to the text and saying: “Christian (and Jewish) brothers and sisters, hear me out! Immediately after God delivered His commandments to His chosen people, they were allowed to hold slaves, commit mass murder, and subjugate women! What have we been doing?”;

Chad Rhoades goes on to say that abusers of religion shouldn’t be linked to “the rest of those who are just seeking a moral life.” These two groups are inextricably connected by their reference to the exact same texts and teachings. Tangential point: these people who are “just seeking a moral life” are doing so in a manner that condemns original humanistic reason; Christianity demands deference to holy teachings for moral truth and everyday decisions. If you’re proud to sacrifice your human conscience and rationale to ancient, distilled, reorganized and manipulated texts: that’s terrifying, but it’s your choice. Regardless, they should NOT guide our national mindset and laws.

Chad Rhoades then says that ‘other’ members of a faith shouldn’t have to apologize for the reprehensible actions of ‘a few.’ The use of ‘few’ here is laughable. Just like the Catholic church recently released a list of 94 specific, and many other general, apologies for its past actions, professors of any faith must be prepared to defend not only the absurd claims in their faith, but they must also account for, and at least attempt to explain, the revolting actions carried out by their comrades (e.g., harassment and violence toward homosexuals, forced conversion of indigenous peoples, and alliances with quite unsavory individuals (e.g. Hitler, Mussolini and Mother Teresa and Jerry Falwell)). Why? Because these people followed the same ‘God’ as you do.


Religion should not guide our country and its laws. That’s lazy and illegal.

Thomas Anderson


senior, political science