Prudence and Madness

“Mythology is where all gods go to die, and it seems that Stark has secured a place in American History simply by admitting that a fresh grave should be dug for the God of Abraham - the jealous, genocidal, priggish, and self-contradictory tyrant of the Bible and Koran.”

And so says Sam Harris in his opinion article in the Los Angeles Times last March 15. He even went further by saying Stark is the first of the U.S. leaders (Pete Stark is a California Democrat) to “display a level of intellectual honesty befitting a consul of ancient Rome.”

I do congratulate Mr. Pete Stark for having the courage to come up and speak his stand about something as controversial and debatable as the existence of God. United States is not a wholly Christian country, but still, a big majority of its people believe in one God. It is expected that not so few Americans would be reacting negatively to Stark’s statement of disbelief in a divinity. It is no mean feat to stand up and claim your belief on one thing when everyone expect that such a belief is evil or unacceptable.

But, at least, Mr. Stark has been true to himself and responsible enough to make his stand known in an issue where most politicians would rather content themselves to choosing the more popular sentiment for the sake of their political careers.

Contrast Stark with our own politicians, who scramble for blessings/anointings from known religious authorities, claim that their decision to run for election was based on divine guidance, or claim that they are strongly Christian, Catholic, or Muslim but once seated will do the most despicable acts in the government. I’d rather have a politician who have enough intelligence, common sense, and honesty to speak out his disbelief in God and yet do good things than a politician claiming to be religious, even have the blessings of the bishops or the religious leaders of the country, but is the most corrupt among his contemporaries.

Read the rest of Sam Harris’ article here.