And the bigots just keep on talkin...

AMERICAblog:
AP: Lawmaker stands firm on Quran criticism

I left these comments at Americablog (some of the points refer to comments by others):

Just a couple of points -

1) American democracy is an amalgam of Greek, Roman and Native American principles. The founders were strongly influenced by their contact with the First Nations as well as classical philosophy.

2) A lot of racism is slipping through the media lately with almost no challenge. Is anyone organizing a campaign to respond to this?

3) Judaism, Christianity and Islam are the same religion at different points in history. They all worship the same deity, the "god of Abraham" and have a common source. Only the prophet changes. There's only a little difference between the Christofascists in this country and the Islamofascists over seas. Both of them think this is a "holy war" and that makes them both extremely dangerous.

4) Not all religion is bad, but not understanding one's own religion is very bad. People are ready to kill and be killed over books they haven't even read, and are too ready to believe what some cleric tells them instead of doing their own research. That's not faith, it's gullibility.

5) Saying someone's religion is evil or wrong will turn them off completely. Challenging their beliefs is easier if you know what their religion really says.

6) We need to destroy illusions. The idea that Christianity and Islam are in opposition is an illusion. The idea that Yahweh and Allah are different deities is an illusion. The idea that we were attacked by, or are at war with, Islam is an illusion.

7) America is not a Christian country and was never intended to be. The idea of theocratic rule was considered by the founders and had notable proponents like Patrick Henry, but it was soundly defeated. They voted to reject the idea of associating our government with any religion, including Christianity.

I know the readers here know most if not all of what I just said. We're the proverbial choir. The question is - how do you get people to know all of this when they don't read and don't think for themselves? When the media reinforces their bigotry instead of calling it out? When their clergy will lie to get them to kill?

Any ideas?

Seriously - how do you drag people out of an adolescent level of ethical development into the realm of critical thinking? It has to be done, somehow, but I don't know how you do it when they're so smug and shut down. It's infuriating.