The O'Hair Paradox

The O'Hair Paradox - Reason's Tim Cavanaugh tells us why Christians need to be thankful for the legacy of Madeline Murray O'Hair.

One of many money quotes:

She chased religion into the private sector, and there it flourishes, through homeschooling, through church-sponsored schools serving every creed, in overtly religious programming on network TV, in countless "spiritual" bestsellers. Most or all of these would have been anathema in the era of big-tent Cold War liberalism; in an age where the individual’s duty to the state is no longer so clear, we live with them comfortably. Lately even some atheists have gotten into the act, demanding to be called "brights" and respected for their deeply held beliefs. Such a wild ending could only have been cooked up by a master storyteller, but God, as we know from His published works, has little appreciation for irony.

Was religion an overfed, smug, complacent institution before O'Hair? I wasn't there, but it'd be another of those post-WWII institutions that I'd love to try to study.

At any rate - read it all. It's worth it.

Posted by Mitch at February 20, 2004 04:44 AM