Rabbi, I'm quite sure that you are wise enough not to want censor other possible viewpoints, but many of Bush's supporters would like nothing better than to dictate what can and cannot be taught in schools, or for that matter, studied in or out of laboratories. Many of them think that Bush believes as they do and that's one of the major reasons that they support him. And, of course, Bush is not inclined to disabuse them (or anyone else) of the notion.

I am reading an excellent book entitled The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason by Charles Freeman, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2003. Freeman does a very scholarly job of outlining the excellent start the ancient Greeks (particularly those who embraced the philosophy of Aristotle over Plato) got on learning the nature of the world around them. When Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, with his statement "What I wish, that must be the canon," religious dogma took on the force of law. It would not be oversimplifying to say that this, combined with the writings of Augustine, soon resulted in the Dark Ages.

It's a fairly hefty book, some 400 pages including his excellent notes, but if you feel inclined at all, I would be most interested in what you, as a non-Christian, think of Freeman's thesis.

In any case (Zeus notwithstanding) I do attend a Christian church from time to time, but whether or not I could legitimately be called a "Christian" remains to be seen. And as I am sure you are aware, not all Christians see a schism between religion and scientific thought. But those who pin their hopes on Bush to turn the United States into "a Christian country" are especially noisy (and, some feel, give Christians a bad name). I find great wisdom in Judaism, as must any Christian who has a sense of history and understands the roots of his beliefs.

Don Firth