Them Damn Liberals and Secularists!

(From AP) A conservative leader has called for a purge of liberal and secular teachers from the country's universities.

"Today, students should shout at the president and ask why liberal and secular university lecturers are present in the universities."

This conservative complained that reforms in the country's universities were difficult to accomplish and that the educational system had been affected by secularism for the last 150 years.  But, he added: "Such a change has begun."

What conservative is calling for an end to any liberal or secularist influence in institutions of higher education?  Is it Ann Coulter or Bill O’Reilly?  Is it Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson?  Is it David Horowitz, Marvin Olasky or Karl Rove?

No; it’s their spiritual brother, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.

This irony, of course, is completely lost on the current US administration, most conservatives and, oddly enough, many extreme left wingers as well.  How so?

Obviously while the right wing, in its typically (though not 100% of them) absolutist mentality, object to President Ahmadinejad because he adheres to the “wrong” absolutist system of belief, the left wing often sympathizes with opponents of the US reflexively, not understanding that opposition to US policies (even those policies worth opposing) does not mean that each opponent is righteous or moral in the least.

There is hardly any doubt that one can easily justify opposition to many current US foreign policy stances, but it is even more clear that Iran’s government opposes the very core of secularism and humanism, starting with free inquiry and respect for the rights of all persons, including and especially Iranian women.

The answer, as always, is for the US to proudly promote secularism and the use of reason, beginning here at home; and be a force for the uplifting of humanity, not by attacking and threatening other countries, but by setting a better example and helping countries that seek peaceful relations with the US.  It’s the “hearts and minds” stupid!