Another "Doubting Thomas"

(Hey, as long as we’re invoking spirituality here…)

This is a familiar refrain for me, I know, but I have an issue with any news organization of some size serving a metropolitan area that publishes a column pertaining to matters of personal faith. And the reason why is because the opinions expressed inevitably lapse into kind of a Judeo/Christian sensibility, which would be fine if we were a Judeo/Christian nation. The problem, of course, is that we are not (in our entirety, I mean).

And those opinions inevitably come from people who believe they have the right to comment on the religious practices and opinions of others (and though I’m sure you may have noticed by now, I only comment on the religious practices and opinions of my own faith, because that is all I know).

With that setup out of the way, here is a link to today’s “On Faith” column in the Washington Post by Cal Thomas (a repeat offender based on this prior post), including the following from today…

It's peculiar that President Obama sees himself as a "person of faith" when it comes to lifting restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, but he is an agnostic when it comes to abortion. Apparently, Obama's faith serves his politics and not the reverse.

As noted here…

In (a) statement (from January 2009), Obama acknowledged that "this is a sensitive and often divisive issue," but went on to say "no matter what our views, we are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make. To accomplish these goals, we must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information, and preventative services."

Sounds like a common sense-based approach to me.

Oh, and I happened to come across this little item concerning Thomas and a faith apart from his own…

In his weekly commentary on WTOP Radio Monday (July 2007), Cal Thomas discussed the recent thwarted terror attacks in the United Kingdom.

"How much longer should we allow people from certain lands, with certain beliefs to come to Britain and America and build their mosques, teach hate, and plot to kill us?" Thomas asked. "OK, let's have the required disclaimer: Not all Muslims from the Middle East and southeast Asia want to kill us, but those who do blend in with those who don't. Would anyone tolerate a slow-spreading cancer because it wasn't fast-spreading? Probably not. You'd want it removed."

Thomas' commentary prompted the Council on American-Islamic Relations to urge its supporters to contact WTOP and voice their concerns. WTOP received many calls and emails from both sides.

On Wednesday, WTOP invited Ibrahim Hooper, a CAIR spokesperson and Cal Thomas, to separately respond to Thomas' previous comments.

In his response, Hooper said Thomas' comments undermined CAIR's effort to promote mutual understanding and social justice.

"For him, I would imagine that his next step is the expulsion of the Muslim-American community," Hooper said. "We condemn extremism. We've condemned terrorism....We've issued dozens of condemnations on dozens of terrorism attacks."

So, as far as Thomas is concerned, Islam is a “cancer” spreading to both good and bad Muslims.

Hmmm…

Looks to me like Thomas’s “faith” serves his politics, and not the reverse.