ESSENTIAL READING

I feel Andrew Sullivan's religious views, however personal and/or morally sturdy, are at odds with his sturdy views on just about everything else. And now, as the theater of the Bush years comes to a grotesque close, we see Sullivan grappling with dismal truths that we all should have faced long ago (like, pre-Inquisition):

"More than half of people who attend services at least once a week -- 54 percent -- said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified. Only 42 percent of people who "seldom or never" go to services agreed, according the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life."

Sullivan laments this as "depressing news." I think he's quantifying shame towards his own sect (he's Catholic), shame at being a part of this awful stat. But, who knows, maybe the blunt fallacy of religion is setting in. Two great sentences:

"So Christian devotion correlates with approval for absolute evil in America. And people wonder why atheism is gaining in this country."

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