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6A Daily News – Wednesday, October 5, 2011 Opinion Politics and the bugnut Christians D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. 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How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 (MCT) Because I wrote a book with "Atheist" in the subtitle and I go on political TV shows to hawk that book, well-groomed meat puppets frequently ask me why politicians like Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry are saying bugnut- ty Christian stuff. I have an idea why these politi- cians have gone all religious, but I haven't found a way to explain it in a sound bite, which is why I'm writing this. I think the whole problem comes down to the word "Christian" and what it has come to mean in my lifetime. Christian used to be a throw- away word. People didn't used to use it much. People didn't start self-labeling or getting labeled Christian until the last part of the 20th century. Before that, you might identify as a Baptist, or a Southern Baptist or a Methodist. But there wasn't one identifier that put you in a fold with all the other believers. In fact, every religious cult was afraid of every other religious cult. The bugnutty Pentecostals didn't want the bugnutty Methodists to have too much power. There was no "Christian nation" for the sim- ple reason that the Christians were afraid of one another. America was founded on Christians not trusting each other, and they sometimes seemed more willing to reach out to the godless than to someone from another sect. Robert Ingersoll, "The Great Agnostic" of the 19th century, was courted by many politicians. Can- didates wanted Ingersoll, one of his era's great speakers, on board to show they were open to free thought. After all, if they were open to Ingersoll, a nonbeliever, surely they'd tolerate the other Christian cults too. I'm no Ingersoll, but I'm an atheist who, like him, speaks pub- licly about not believing, and I can assure you today's politicians don't court me. When I was a kid, politicians wanted to avoid talking about reli- gion if they could. John F. Kennedy couldn't duck the issue, being Catholic and all. So how did he address it? By reminding Americans that religion shouldn't be an issue, that he was concen- trating on big things like poverty and hunger and leading the space race. When he finally got around to talking about religion, here's what he said: "I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute." Can you imagine a presidential candidate talking that way today? "Freethinkers," a great book by Susan Jacoby, explained that the modern use of the word Christian was pushed to fight Roe v. Wade. The anti-choice people wanted a big-tent word for the religious objection to abortion, and that meant they had to bring all the Protestants and Catholics together if they wanted to claim God for their team. The word Christian did that. Since then, religion and politics have gotten ever more entwined. Jimmy Carter happily identified as born-again, and that phrase and the magic word Christian started to be used more and more. One Ameri- can president who mentioned reli- gion constantly and seemed to appear in a different church every time you blinked was Bill Clinton. Slick Willy really rammed home the idea of Christian. He was a church slut, not caring what church he appeared in as long as he was seen at a church. And, now, we come to Bachmann and Perry. I've used porno- graphic images, obscen- ity and poetry to try to make even the most doubtful blush, but I've never come close to Bachmann's insult to the gentle, honest faithful when she said the suffering and casualties of natural disasters were her God's message to wayward politicians. What she said was dis- gusting and not generally Christian at all. But her blasphemous mes- sage was delivered on the news as just that. Bachmann was a longtime member of the Salem Lutheran Church, a small denomination that has some odd teachings. But even in the broadest definition of Lutherans, there are only about 13.5 million, and that's not enough to elect you president. Now Bachmann has moved to Eagle Brook, an evangelical church, but even if she wins all the evangelical vote, that gives her only 26.3 percent of the American people. With those percentages, you need to shut up about religion. You need me on board to show that you won't sell out all the others. Perry is the same deal. Perry has moved away from his Methodist background (which claims about 8 million American members) and moved to the Lake Hills Baptist Church, which went Guest View Penn Jillette on to drop the word Baptist to be more inclusive. When Perry did his big apolitical political rally in August, he was very careful to call it nondenomina- tional. It was Christian. Now let's watch Mitt Romney as he works on trying to convince Americans that his sect, with its magic under- wear and its belief that the Garden of Eden was in North America, really is just another Christian offshoot. Atheists are growing way fast, from under 2 percent to about 8 percent just in this century. If you throw in self-labeled agnostics and those who identify as not reli- gious, you're getting up to around 20 percent. Evangelicals are about 26 percent, Catholics about 23 percent, Jews, 1.7 percent, Mormons also 1.7 percent — if you start breaking Christians up into their smaller groups, nonbe- lievers come close to being the dominant religion, if you can call no religion a religion, like calling not collecting stamps a hobby. Let's just hope our politicians keep expanding the group of peo- ple they want to serve. Rather than embracing Christian as the magic word of politics, we can move on to the truly magical word: American. And maybe we can even go a step further and make the magic word "humani- ty." Penn Jillette, the louder, bigger half of the magic/comedy team of Penn & Teller, is the author, most recently, of "God, No!" He wrote this for the Los Angeles Times. ___ Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2635 Forest Ave. Ste. 100, Chico, CA 95928; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Making it through the rain Commentary I hope Barry Manilow didn't really change his mind. A few weeks back, the Gram- my award-winning musician told The Daily Caller that he agrees with "just about every- thing" 2012 Republican presi- dential candidate Rep. Ron Paul says. "I like him. I like what he says, I do. I like what he says. I think he's solid," said Manilow, who even contributed money to Paul's 2008 campaign. I found this piece of news refreshing, because I had been certain that Manilow, the master of touchy-feely, emotional songs, was a liberal Democrat. I figured if a fellow like him was embracing the libertarian principles Paul espouses, then maybe there is hope that Ameri- ca will have the will to get our affairs in order, so we can resume prosperity. Why would Barry Manilow cause me to think such a thing? Well, stick with me here. See, whereas conservatives tend to be more logical and ana- lytical about issues, our liberal friends tend to react with their hearts and emotions. Engineers and businessmen tend to be conservatives -- fel- lows interested in generating real results (presidential candi- date Herman Cain offers a fine example). Actors, artists and others who hold touchy-feely professions tend to be more left-leaning. They think talking is the same thing as doing. Famous actors lecture us about their political causes at awards ceremonies, because it makes them feel good about themselves. Well, Barry Manilow, I had thought, has been a perfect reflection of what the left-lean- ing, touchy-feely side is all about. While conservative Republi- cans can't get far enough away from the gooey tunes Manilow sings, liberal Democrats tend to be on the opposite side of the planet. They're down at the Copa, Copacabana, the hottest spot north of Havana. Conservatives are more likely to listen to guys such as Charlie Daniels, who sing about patrio- tism and how we're going to hand it to them there fellows who mean us harm. Conservatives dislike Manilow tunes because they tug at the emotions with the deftness of a meat hook. Such tugging agitates those on the right, who are general- ly better able to keep their emotions and their thinking separate. But Manilow tunes cause the left-leaning to get all misty. They have plenty to be misty about lately, too. With President Obama floundering and the 2012 elections tilting Republican, the liberal wing of the Democratic Party can't laugh and can't sing and they're finding it hard to do anything. So I was delighted to learn that Manilow was not only pub- licly supporting a libertarian candidate but had donated to him -- though I feared it was too good to be true. Manilow wrote a note to The Washington Post last week to clarify his position. "Although I agree with some of what Ron Paul says, I am not actually endorsing him in the 2012 presidential race, nor have I ever told anyone that I was," he wrote. Manilow's representative said Manilow will vote for Obama next year and "he loves his president." Ah, well, I'll embrace Manilow's sugary optimism and hope he had to issue this correction so as to not alienate his fans -- most of them Obama supporters. I'll hope he really is Tom Purcell for a new kind of hope and change in govern- ment policy. I'll hope Manilow's true feelings are a sign that America is going to be OK after all -- that we're going to make it through the rain. Hey, with a little luck, we'll keep our world protected -- and we'll find ourselves respected by others who got rained on too! Tom Purcell, a humor columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Visit Tom on the Web at www.TomPurcell.com or e-mail him at Purcell@caglecartoons.com. ———