After reading a CounterBias.com piece by Dr. Mel Seesholtz, I got to thinking about the Christian Right and their blind devotion to George W. Bush as their moronic messiah. Then I read another piece by Joshua Frank of CounterPunch.com about the shrinking number of new recruits for our overextended military.

Since evangelicals are so jolly for King George and his policies, they should put their enlistment where their mouth is.

Recruitment is down. How does one expect the United States to continue the Christian Crude-oil Crusades without fresh bodies… er, soldiers?

This is the evangelical's opportunity to really march onward, Christian soldiers. Where’s their loyalty? Bush is their president. They might as well fight his wars. If they're too old, what about their eighteen-and-over able-bodied children? Given our current economic conditions, it’s a perfect chance to kill two birds with one stone: 1) one less mouth to feed, and 2) loved one could go off to war and return to a hero’s funeral… oops, welcome.

And for their sacrifice, these true Christians will receive a nice commemorative flag and letter complete with the rubber stamped signature of the president thanking you for raising such a fine, upstanding, God-fearin’ patriot and making such a huge sacrifice (for no apparent reason).

It is wise to remember that the president is busy, so he won’t attend the funeral personally. For the chance at a face-to-face meeting, one would have to wait for the next "town hall" meeting when he graces the nearest hamlet with his presence to sell his latest sham-of-the-month.

This unholy alliance between Republicans and their loyal subjects only further bastardizes what’s left of this democracy. The Religious Right is being played for fools; Republicans will do anything to get their votes. They know that as a whole, these loyal subjects are not exactly the brightest group of people.

That’s certainly not to say that Christians aren't bright. But anyone – Christian or otherwise – who is not wealthy and/or who thinks this administration is good for America, is a tad dim. What other conclusion can be drawn? How do you reconcile the rhetoric and the actions? Christians running around quoting certain parts of the Bible to make their points are often hypocrites.

Whoopi Goldberg’s recent HBO special highlighted this point. She talked about how the book of Leviticus says that a “…man shalt not lie with another man as he would with a woman…” This is one of the anti-gay groups’ favorite passages. The problem, as Whoopi went on to illustrate, is that Leviticus also suggests that a man who sleeps in the same bed with a woman during her menstrual cycle should be put to death.

This is what I mean by hypocrisy. The Religious Right is very selective in their practice of Christianity. How many religious conservatives have committed the offense of "sleeping with a menstruating woman" before the eyes of God? Likely many as recently as last night; yet no one is knocking on their door, calling them out to be stoned in the town square.

The single motivating factor that drives the Religious Right is not God, or morality, or values. It’s fear. Fear of their own imperfections; fear of their own transgressions against God. Case in point: News Hounds recently reported that right-wing violence-inciter Neal Horsley was into bestiality as a kid growing up on a farm in Georgia.

Here’s a quick excerpt from his interview on FOX Radio with Alan Colmes:

        Alan Colmes: "You had sex with animals?"

Neal Horsley: "Absolutely. I was a fool. When you grow up on a farm in Georgia, your first girlfriend is a mule."

AC: "I'm not so sure that that is so."

NH: "You didn't grow up on a farm in Georgia, did you?"

Later, Horsley said, "You experiment with anything that moves when you are growing up sexually. You're naive. You know better than that... If it's warm and it's damp and it vibrates you might in fact have sex with it."

Now, I grew up in the city, so there weren’t a whole lot of mules or other farm animals to “date”. I guarantee, though, that I was just as horny a teenager as any Georgia farm boy, but sex with an animal was never a consideration – even if that was all that was available. If it had been a consideration, maybe I would have lost my virginity sooner.

These are the same people who claim bestiality is the next step after same-sex marriage. It makes me wonder if young Neal had some other tendencies. These are the same people who are calling for violence against doctors who perform abortions, or violence against judges they don’t agree with. Yet they claim some huge edge over the rest of us on morality?

It is fear driving the Religious Right’s attacks on the theory of evolution and Darwinism. The biggest fear creationists (or "intelligent designers") have is that humans will one day evolve beyond our limited definition of God. I certainly hope so. Evolution suggests that things change over time to adapt to their environments. Humans have done this for our entire existence.

The irony is that science checks itself. If the theory of evolution is wrong, in time, science will acknowledge that. Religion, specifically the bastardized version of Christianity that many people profess to follow, does not. You cannot question, you can only accept. Never mind that the bible is flawed and full of contradictions.

I wish the Religious Right would stop calling themselves Christians, because they hardly follow the words of Jesus Christ (the very namesake of the religion). Christ would be against war. Christ would be against discrimination. Christ would be against all the hate that spews from the mouths of many of his apparent followers. If Christ were to return, as many Christians believe he will, I think a lot of self-proclaimed Christians would be in for a rude awakening. I am obviously not a Christian, but I believe that if such a scenario were to occur, a lot of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, other non-Christians (and even atheists!) would make the trip while the majority of those self-proclaimed Christians would be left behind like Kirk Cameron.

The Religious Right uses the Constitution just like it does the Bible. It picks and chooses the pieces of either that fit the argument-of-the-minute. They tout the Constitution to argue for gun ownership and trample it when it comes to the freedoms of other peoples’ speech or choice. They quote the Bible for their arguments only to ignore it when their own sins are in the spotlight. Contrary to what some people believe, religion has no place in politics. That is not to say one’s faith should not be a factor in decision making; it just shouldn’t be the only factor because, like it or not, situations and people do change. It’s called evolution.

I am certainly not claiming that any religion is wrong and another is right. Everyone has the right to practice whatever faith they choose, or to follow no religion at all. The problem arises when one's faith infringes on the rights of others. I’m reminded of a question Bill Maher asked Bill O’Reilly recently::

“Does President Bush remember that he put his hand on the bible and swore to uphold the constitution and not the other way around?”

O'Reilly didn't answer Maher's question. Mr. O’Reilly, we still await your response. (No spinning please.)

My final message to the many dim-witted, half-hearted, hypocritical blowhards of the Religious Right: You sure talk a good game about patriotism, but America is fighting a war – a crusade if you will. It's time to put up or shut up! Come on, Christian soldiers… enlist! The next war in your glorious leader's agenda of global regime change has your names on it. Maybe, one day, they’ll even put those names on a wall.