Holy Racism, Batman!

Psychologists at the University of Southern California have looked at 55 studies over the last 45 years involving more than 20,000 people (mostly Christians) and found a strong correlation between religious beliefs and racism.

"The studies show there’s significantly less racism among people who don’t have strong religious beliefs, while "highly devout" religious communities exhibit more prejudice against people of other races."

Surprised? Doubt it.

Religious fundies have always been the ultimate 'we're right, everybody else is wrong' clubs. This wouldn't be so bad if their ideas of right and wrong applied only to other people's beliefs and opinions. But they also apply right and wrong to race, sexual orientation and social class so people end up being discriminated against for things they have no choice about.

This is an important reason why so many people object to conservative Christians and wingnut pols teaming up to tamper with the delicate balance of Church v. State. It's one thing to have a racist pol seeking to influence minds - voters can choose to ignore them. But it's a different deal when those pols are parroting the megachurch pastors and presenting their nasty prejudices as the word of God with which you can't argue. Or vote against.

I know we're fast losing track of fact-based reality in America thanks to the antics of our Limp-baughs, Palins, Becks, etc. But we need to talk about this stuff. How can the GOP present itself as a democratic, secular political party in a country where the separation of Church and State is law when they're openly discriminating against various constituencies on behalf of their religious base?

And how can the Teabaggers and paleoconservatives argue that race has nothing to do with "taking our country back" when, as this study suggests, their 'spiritual wing' is pushing white supremacism from the pulpit?