Hindus Propose Monkey God Statue in State Capitol

Despite the power shift in the elections on Tuesday, it's good to know that politics in the USA is as crazy as ever.

On BoingBoing, I saw this humorous example of the right-wing's sense of religious entitlement backfiring on them.

Hindus Propose Giant Monkey God Statue 

On Oklahoma Capitol Grounds

The "monkey god" statue is that of Hanuman, the ape-faced Hindu deity who I used as an avatar for this blog for awhile.

Christian lawmakers, in Republican-controlled Oklahoma, wanted the 10 Commandments to be placed on the grounds of the state capitol. Therefore, they passed a law allowing religious displays on public property. Since the state constitution declares that all religions should be treated with the same respect, religious groups such as Satanists & now the Hindus are petitioning to add their memorials to the capitol grounds.

This is a perfect example of the perils of choosing ideologically-driven fundamentalists to govern, using their personal beliefs (instead of common sense & logic) as a guide. They tend to think of personal & religious freedom as the "freedom to do things that we agree with." They want these freedoms for themselves, but will resist others expressing their own beliefs.

The idea of religious freedom, that this country was founded upon, means everyone being able to believe & worship as they choose, uninhibited by the government. However, this principle of religious freedom also means not having any one religion favored by the government. Unfortunately, hard-right conservatives prove time & time again that they can't deal with the idea of people thinking & living differently than them.

For some reason, when I subject myself to FoxNation or other insane right-wing message boards, I always see people frothing at the mouth at how "liberals" are so intolerant. This is the ultimate form of projection, as it is the rigidity of conservatism that is antithetical to the tolerance of other viewpoints & perspectives. True liberals/progressives may think your beliefs are ridiculous, but would not usually try to ban you from expressing it.