The Plank In Your Eye

One thing that Pat Robertson's latest outrageous outburt has done is make people take a closer look at him and what a hypocrite he is. The fact that he cannot see that his views are a mirror image of the views of Islamic extremists is sad. Hopefully more people will begin to see it and also see how inappropirate it is to have him so dangerously close to the President of the world's sole superpower (a president who has yet to condemn or dispute anything Pat has said).

And yet, these spiritual bling-bling artists are not -- or at least, shouldn't be -- ignorable. We may say it in mocking tones, but these figures do indeed represent a striking parallel to the religious extremist movements that pose such significant threats in the Middle East. Consider the ever-expanding list of parallels...

• Though not strictly part of government, hold such substantial political power as to be able to dictate many government policies, with well-known religious figures holding forth in frequent public court on government policies and actions.

• Extremely distrustful of science as being contrary to religious values. Generally anti-intellectual.

• Intolerant of those with differing religious values; view other religions -- even generally closely related sects -- as illegitimate. Associated persecution complex which presumes religious-neutral or religious-absent law to be intentionally oppressive of their own beliefs.

• Attempting to weaken state-based education systems in favor of a government-funded network of religious schools dedicated towards the teaching of strict fundamentalist values.

• Demand government support for their religious agendas, including the passage of laws based on their particular religious beliefs, under the assertion that the country was "divinely founded" and therefore inherently subservient to their religious sect.

• Generally dismissive of the rights of women.

• Generally dismissive of the rights of minorities.

• Calls for God to "remove" political opponents by killing or otherwise rendering them unable to serve.

• An extensive worldwide fundraising network that includes financial connections to the bloody West African "conflict" diamond trade and other questionable financial activities.

• And finally, as we have seen in the last few days: willing to publicly endorse the utility of violence against international foes. Significantly, actions against purely political or socioeconomic foes are justified based on questionably religious grounds.