{pic by Loren Javier}

The death of that most holy of con men, the televangelist Oral Roberts, is certainly welcome news to all who value reason over superstition. However, there is no cause for celebration considering that millions of his followers remain, of whom many are convinced that he was actually a faith healer and could even raise the dead. The head has been removed, but the serpentine body remains. Multi-millionaire charlatans of faith like Roberts could not flourish in this country if not for the presence of so many troubled souls willing to believe almost anything, no matter how outlandish or unsubstantiated.

Anyone wanting a truly terrifying glimpse into the fact-free collective consciousness which is shared by much of the American public should peruse a recent survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life. The survey found that roughly one-quarter of Americans believes in reincarnation and astrology. Moreover, many Americans “mix multiple faiths” and “blend Christianity with Eastern or New Age beliefs.” As one benighted Catholic participant in the survey told The Washington Post, “even in the Bible, you have ghosts, you know the Holy Ghost. And with astrology, didn’t Daniel mention astrologists? Didn’t the Three Kings follow a star to Jesus?”

The intellectual problem with all of this isn’t the mixing of disparate religious traditions, but the fact that so many people choose to believe any of the empirically baseless gobbledygook that is so innocuously referred to as “faith.” Of course, if your plumber chooses to believe that magical fairy dust is the key to his drain-cleaning success, who cares? But what if your emergency room physician would rather not replace the two quarts of blood you lost in that auto accident because his book of religious fairy-tales says transfusion is unholy? “Faith” is a slippery slope. Once you choose to embrace one belief for which there is zero evidence, it becomes much easier to embrace other baseless beliefs. God and ghosts, gremlins and the Grim Reaper… it’s all pretty much the same from a rational perspective.

We generally expect children to let go of their imaginary friends as they get older. Apparently, this does not apply to adults…

{pic by Big Dubya}

Now, I don’t know much about what you might call “knowledge.” In fact, it’s probably safe to say that I know less than nothing when it comes to history, politics, economics, science, and all those other fancy subjects that liberal university-type people think are so important. But one thing I do know is that this Obama administration and this Democrat Congress are socialist. It’s not that I really know what the word “socialism” means, mind you. I mean, I know it’s like what they have in China and Russia and Cuba and places like that. It’s kind of like when a Big Government takes your money and spreads it around to everyone—sort of like the Feds do with Medicare and Social Security, except that I like my Medicare and Social Security, so don’t mess with them. But I don’t want anything else like Medicare and Social Security because that would just be too socialistical. I’d be against Medicare and Social Security, too, if we didn’t already have them and I didn’t already like having them…

But that’s not the point. The point is that people on the T.V. and the radio like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Ann Coulter tell me that Obama and the Democrats are socialist, and I believe them. It’s kind of like accepting that my 1978 edition of the New International Version of the English translation of the Bible is the Word of God. It’s something you just have to take on faith, and asking for proof kind of ruins the whole thing. I mean, demanding “proof” that the Bible is the Word of God is pretty much proof that you’re an atheist, right? So demanding proof that Rush and Glenn and Ann are telling the truth about Obama being a socialist is pretty much proof that you’re a socialist.

I just know what I know, you know?

I am brimming over with ill-defined pride and faux patriotism—and nothing you say could ever change my mind.

I am an All-American Fool.