Intolerance is only for the Religious Right

Dr. Timothy Shortell, an associate professor and chair elect of the sociology department at CUNY has found himself in the middle of a firestorm of controversy over remarks that he wrote in an essay he published in 2001 in the Internet journal Fifteen Credibility Street, in which he argued that religious people are "incapable of moral action."

The comments that have ignited this firestorm:

"On a personal level, religiosity is merely annoying - like bad taste," he wrote. "This immaturity represents a significant social problem, however, because religious adherents fail to recognize their limitations.

So, in the name of their faith, these moral retards are running around pointing fingers and doing real harm to others. One only has to read the newspaper to see the results of their handiwork. They discriminate, exclude, and belittle. They make a virtue of closed-mindedness and virulent ignorance. They are an ugly, violent lot."

Ok, how is this analysis wrong? So, much misery and war has been crafted around fanatical and extremist religious thoughts and justifications, that I think it wrong to dismiss Dr. Shortell's comments out of hand. At least place them into the context of the essay discussing problems in forms of religious thought and action.

If we actually read the article he makes several good points about how closed minded and absolutely certain the religious mindset can become for the fundamentalist. He may not have used delicate language but how offensive is his essay when compared to members of the religious right who tell gay and lesbian people that they are "evil and unnatural" or that anyone who disagrees with the religious right agenda is "going to hell?"

So, now Dr. Shortell has stepped down as chair of his department, I wonder if that will be enough for the intolerant religious factions in this country? Surely they will want his job, right? The next step must be to brand him a heretic and take out the tar and feathers for him.

I guess intolerance is a value reserved for the religious right because those of us who may not lean toward seeing the world in a religious way do not have freedom of speech anymore; even in institutions that are supposed to be founded upon freely discussing ideas.