An organization that for almost 40 years has tried to turn
gays into heterosexuals with prayer and psychotherapy announced earlier this
week that it is disbanding because its executives and many board members no
longer believe that sexual orientation can be changed. I suppose Exodus International and its
leadership started paying more attention to facts and less attention to what
they wanted the facts to be.
It’s another step forward for the gay rights movement
because there is one less organization around telling people that homosexuality
is abnormal or an illness. That’s a good thing, to be sure.
When I read the story, though, the first thing I did was to
look into the clear summer sky for flying pigs.
Then I began to speculate about the other myths and lies
that drive our national dialogue on political issues. Could we be seeing the beginning of the
secular humanist equivalent of The
Rapture, one characterized by people either realizing or admitting the
truth? Could I hope beyond hope that Exodus International’s disbanding is the
first in a long series of similar announcements?
What will be next?
Will the Discovery Institute admit that intelligent design
is folderol and repurpose the organization to support research that fills in
the blanks in the scientifically proven theory of evolution?
Will the Koch Brothers and other climate change deniers suddenly
make a public mea culpa about the
tens of millions of dollars they have spent trying to convince the public that
global warming is not occurring? Will they start supporting the environmental
regulations and development of alternative energy sources that we need to
address the rapid rise in Earth’s temperature?
Will the Catholic Church finally catch up to the 98% of its
adherents who have used birth control and declare that it’s not a sin against
the religion?
Will Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich shamefacedly cop to
using racist code words when he talks against food stamps and aid to dependent
children?
Will the House Republicans stop telling the lie that we have
to lower taxes on the wealthy so they can create jobs and admit that the best
way to create jobs is through government programs?
Will these Republicans look at the damage wrought by private
prisons, mercenaries (in the army) and charter schools and finally acknowledge
that sometimes a government solution is better than having the private sector
do it? Will they admit that taxes have been too low on the wealthy for more
than 30 years and that this low tax regime is what has caused virtually all of
our economic problems?
Will right-wing economists finally admit that environmental
regulations don’t hurt the economy, merely the industries they are trying to
protect, and that raising air and water standards will create just about as
many jobs as it will threaten?
Will those bankrolling the charter school movement finally
just tell us the truth that the only reason they are in favor of charter
schools is that they want to destroy teachers’ unions and thereby bring down teacher
salaries?
Will gun manufacturers and their lobby finally admit that
all statistics show that more guns in the street lead to more gun deaths and
that far more people are killed and injured each year from friendly fire than
from people using guns to protect themselves?
In short, will we finally base our public discourse on truth
and science, and not on myths perpetuated to benefit one industry or one group
of people?
I close my eyes and I see hundreds of pigs flying in a V
formation. Dancing around them are aurochs and unicorns. Blind men and women
are throwing away their canes. Lambs and lions are in bed together watching the
Chicago Cubs play the Seattle Mariners in the World Series.
But when I open my eyes again, the sky is clear and my
computer screen is filled with another politician hooting about how high taxes
are. The Rapture for Truth has not yet
arrived.
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