The Damned

There's a small part of me that hopes for terrible things to happen.

I hear a lot of talk from the conservative base about 'getting back' to some bygone era of morality. Some 1950's Leave it to Beaver fantasy world where father knows best, mothers were happy to get a feather duster as a birthday gift and a child's biggest problem was eating his vegetables. Ike ran the country smoothly, no one used swear words and certain folk stayed on their side of town. Of course, it's easy to put the lie to this fictionalized television ideal. It never existed, folks, anyone with any insight into modern-era history can attest to that. The 50's were a time of outspoken racism, hidden domestic abuse, rampant amphetamine addiction and great cultural inequalities.

The people who idealize this era are the same types who cringe when 7th grade classrooms make banner promoting tolerance. (I actually have talked to Christian Conservatives who hold the position that 'tolerance' isn't something we should teach our children. That tolerance is the "capacity to endure pain or hardship." Apparently, conservatives don't understand what 'connotations' are.)

But that's all old guard thinking. Real old. And even though there are those trying to bring that type of thinking back, like this asshat who thinks 'health care' and 'social justice' are in fact code words for REPARATIONS and THE RED MENACE!!

Conservatives are so obsessed with that era that even their fears are stale holdovers from the 50's.

By contrast, look what a great job we're doing raising this generation. Not that they're perfect, but even from a cursory glance, children today are clearly more moral creatures than those from the era of 'duck and cover.'

First off, despite the conservative claim that our public schools are 'liberal institutions' (and therefor, somehow, BAD) the fact of the matter is, studies are showing our current social education measures have positive effects. Bullying, for instance, has sharply dropped throughout the U.S.

NEW YORK — There's been a sharp drop in the percentage of America's children being bullied or beaten up by their peers, according to a new national survey by experts who believe anti-bullying programs are having an impact.

The study, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, found that the percentage of children who reported being physically bullied over the past year had declined from nearly 22 percent in 2003 to under 15 percent in 2008. The percentage reporting they'd been assaulted by other youths, including their siblings, dropped from 45 percent to 38.4 percent.

The lead author of the study, Professor David Finkelhor, said he was "very encouraged."

"Bullying is the foundation on which a lot of subsequent aggressive behavior gets built," said Finkelhor, director of the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center. "If it's going down, we will reap benefits in the future in the form of lower rates of violent crime and spousal assault."

Finkelhor noted that anti-bullying programs had proliferated and received funding boosts following the 1999 Columbine High School shootings in Colorado.

"There is evidence these programs are effective," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if we're seeing the fruits of that."

Here we have a clear example of a culture focused more on brains than on brawn overcoming an unnecessary evil. Something that, in previous generations was accepted as a social norm, bullying, is being shrunken to the size of unacceptability. Hooray.

Unfortunately, for the small-minded Christian conservative types, that same focus on brains over brawn has other consequences.

Even though the misogynists are desperately clinging to their ancient, crumbling idea of 'masculinity,' little girls today have seen a women run for both president and vice president as well as the first woman speaker of the house. They may, tomorrow, see the first woman director win an Oscar. Although women may still earn 70 cents on the dollar, the tide is turning on this as more and more women are challenging traditional roles.

Another of the unfortunate side effects of intelligence is critical thinking. This 2009 survey projects withing 20 years, a quarter of the U.S. population will claim no religious affiliation. As it is, around 15% call into the 'nones' category.

If current trends continue, a quarter of Americans are likely to claim "no religion" in 20 years, according to a survey out today by Trinity College. Americans who identify with no religious tradition currently comprise 15 percent of the country, representing the fastest growing segment of the national religious landscape.

And even moderate conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan has harsh words for Christianity in light of these numbers.

In the end, the intellectual bankruptcy of the theocon right and Christianist movement counts. Very few people with brains are listening to these people any more. They have discredited Christianity as much as they have tarnished conservatism.

And even those who do stick with their religion, are really breaking with the old guard within the religion itself. Check out religion writer Terry Mattingly's column on Catholics who don't give a shit what the Nazi-pope says (actually, he's talking about John Paul ii, but like most atheists and ex-Catholics, and evidently some current Catholics, I can't pass up an opportunity to knock this Nazi motherfucker.)

Young Catholics wrestle with truth

In one of the defining works of his historic papacy, Pope John Paul II argued that if people — believers and nonbelievers alike — want true freedom and peace, they must accept the reality of “universal and unchanging moral norms.”

“When it is a matter of the moral norms prohibiting intrinsic evil, there are no privileges or exceptions. … Before the demands of morality we are all absolutely equal,” wrote the pope, in his 1993 encyclical Veritatis Splendor (“The Splendor of Truth”).

“In the end, only a morality which acknowledges certain norms as valid always and for everyone, with no exception, can guarantee the ethical foundation of social coexistence, both on the national and international levels.”

It would be stating the matter mildly to say that young Catholic adults in America disagree with John Paul II on this issue, according to a new survey commissioned by the Knights of Columbus.

An overwhelming 82 percent of Catholic Millennials — the generation between 18-29 years of age — agreed with this statement: “Morals are relative; there is no definite right and wrong for everybody.” In comparison, 64 percent of other Millennials affirmed that statement, when questioned by researchers with the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.

So, there it is. Sea change. And, as predicted, with less reliance on religions and more reliance on critical thinking, peacefulness is able to thrive. That may be a little simplistic, but I see these kids today and I'm so proud.