Musafir's Musings

Gaining ground or losing it?

There are days when I come across unexpected treasures in the world wide web. Had never heard of "The Edmond Sun". A small city chartered in 1925, Edmond,Oklahoma, has a population in the low 30,000, predominantly white. Daily circulation of The Edmond Sun is below 11,000.

Under the byline of Leaman Harris, on June 21st The Edmond Sun published a column on religious intolerance that is worthy of national newspapers. Mr. Leaman is serving a one-year assignment that is "nearing its end".

I quote from the article:

• "You can check these statistics by searching on the web for "Statistical Abstract of the United States 2004-2005." These statistics are in Section 1, Population, Table 67. The Abstract is a publication of the U.S. Census Bureau. The government is not allowed to ask questions about religion on the census taken every 10 years, but the Abstract references the study done by the City University of New York as a reliable source.
  

• "The most significant fact about this study is that 14 million more people claimed to be atheists in 2001 than in 1990, a more than 100 percent increase. It is a larger gain than that experienced by the Catholic Church and non-denominational churches combined. Meanwhile, non-Christian faiths are making significant gains. If the goal of fundamentalist evangelicals is to convert Americans into followers of Jesus Christ, then they are failing.
  

• I am convinced that the reason for this failure is the bigotry and intolerance displayed by a relatively small but very loud and arrogant group of fundamentalist evangelicals."
  

A naturalized citizen, I love America---the beauty of the land and the diversity of the people. America of Thomas Jefferson and Walt Whitman; the America where a Christian book store, Vietnamese restaurant and Indian grocery store thrive in the same shopping center; the America where students of different colors and ethnic origins happily chatter on their way to school. I find recent developments in political and social arenas distasteful and bothersome. Bigotry has raised its ugly head. The country is being hijacked from those of us who are not part of the "religious right" and did not vote for G.W. Bush. The bigots here remind me of the Taleban mullahs in Afghanistan and the jackbooted thugs of Nazi Germany.

Reading Mr. Leaman's column gave me hope. Mr. Leaman did his home work and produced a column full of facts and figures on this important topic. Very timely. Perhaps all is not lost.

I wish him well.
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