[mousepod]

Last week, after Prop 8 passed, I was having a conversation with GC about religion, particularly about the comments that some were making about the various religious groups that went out of their way to push for the hateful legislation.

I was defending the people on LoT who were saying terrible things about the Mormon Church.

I guess I've grown to believe that most of the religious people that I've encountered in my life use their religion - and more specifically the dogma attached to their religion - as a crutch, something to give meaning and hope to their lives. When they stop using their crutch to prop themselves up and start swinging it around to hurt others, it reminds me that there are an awful lot of people walking around with potential weapons. And that scares me.

So when people say, "Hate the club, don't hate its members," I find it difficult to see the distinction. In theory, I support a libertarian reading of the 2nd Amendment, but I've been in places in America where people toting their guns around gave me the willies. I feel the same way about people who "cling to their religion."

This ad campaign makes me smile, because it underlines my reality that I don't need that crutch, and I don't have to assume that my fellow humans are cripples.