You often hear the term ‘moral relativism’ used pejoratively compared to the continued use of the morality of 2000 years ago. What this needs is a new term – much like the use of the positive word gay instead of homosexual or pro-life instead of anti-abortion. Moral relativism means is that your notion of morality changes over time – but like the arrow of time itself it always moves forward – moral relativism means moral progress, as compared with the static and eventually obsolete morality endorsed by all religions. Quotes by Pope Ratzi: “Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. … Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and ‘swept along by every wind of teaching,’ looks like the only attitude acceptable to today’s standards.” Indeed it is, and moral progress is better by definition.

Home schooling has traditionally been given to kids whose parents are on the extreme fringes of society, hippes on the left and bible bashers on the right. Because of the growth in religious extremism, there has been a similar growth in home schooling, meaning that some schools have had their budgets cut as they lose pupils and per pupil funding. To woo pupils back, a school in Oregon is changing its curriculum to include creationism in science classes and biblical texts in English literature classes, leading to a crappy science and boring, one-dimensional art education for everyone. So for those that do point out that the US is by and large moderate, here is a concrete example of how the passion of a mindless minority over the apathy of the majority leads to an undemocratic situation where the minority view is enforced rather than tolerated. Oregon District Aims to Woo…

Great post by Ryan at ‘You Know what Part’ that shreds my last post on the US becoming a theocracy. You Know What Part: Religion, politics and my ticket to Hell Things that Ryan is right about: 1. I did invoke Godwin’s law. Godwin’s law is useful when ranting. 2. The US is not really becoming a theocracy. In actual fact as the Economist pointed out, most people have centrist, moderate beliefs and politics, but the margins are where elections are won. 3. Progressive circles have their fair share of hypocracy and there is something even more irritating about liberal self-righteousness – because they should know better. 4. As my friend Alex pointed out – as a founder of an Internet genealogy company, I have a vested interest in the Earth being older than Biblical claims. But… There are a bunch of religious nutters whose voice tipped the margins in…