Christendom is in the early phase of counter-attack against humanism,
culturally speaking
Indeed it is!
Free speech & press, freedom of religion, separation of religion from government and all the other values that the cartoon controversy are all about have been resisted tooth and nail by christianity over the last several hundred years.
That we have as much freedom as we do is in large part due to the efforts of, yes, humanists, over the last 400 years who were willing to demand these freedoms in the face of overwhelming and very often violent opposition and repression on the part of "Christendom". That they did so even without hope for divine reward is something that deserves our jaw-dropped respect and admiration.
I for one do not wish to be ruled according to anyone's gawd-given holy book and its self-appointed prophets.
For example, I was at a book reading the other night on "How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America" And frankly I was shocked at what the pro-life movement is up to. The latest technique is to introduce laws into state legislatures to ban abortion-inducing pills and other such devices, in anticipation of the forthcoming overturn of Roe v. Wade. But -- and here's the kicker -- they are apparently intentionally using the fact that most politicians are scientifically illiterate to lobby to get the bills to prohibit "abortifacients and contraceptives" as if they were the same thing.
Also in the legislative pipeline: giving pharmacists and other employees of firms that sell contraceptives "ethical choice" to not fill prescriptions for contraceptives, and apparently this right is being extended to whole companies and even to cashiers etc who take an "ethical stand." Of course the countervailing ethical choice for men and women to prevent pregnancy apparently counts for nothing with these theocrats.
All this is going on despite the fact that an ovewhelming majority of Americans -- including those who oppose abortion -- want contraceptives to remain freely available. And this is all going on despite the demonstrated fact that the greatest reductions in abortions have occured in states where contraception and sex education widely available.
People are giving money to these pro-life organizations thinking they are helping to reduce abortions. In fact they are funding a stealth campaign to reimpose patriarchy, invade our privacy, and gain control of the bodies of both men and women according to religious dictates all in the name of turning the clock back as far as possible to 'the good old days before those humanists came along and messed up America's gawdly christian heritage'
-DG