But is it possible we are being taken by political manipulation disguised as faith?
The Virginia General Assembly can hardly resist any bill, no matter how loopy, that has the slightest whiff of appeal to religious conservatives.
Anyone wondering what Thomas Jefferson would think should read his Statute of Religious Freedom, which reads in part:
" . . . the impious presumption of legislators . . . have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible . . . hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world, and through all time."
The debate continues over whether people are being wrongly denied expressions of faith in public places and spaces. But when science museums start censoring science, it suggests we must now tiptoe around religious fundamentalists in the most secular of arenas.
You'd expect that in Iran, perhaps, but not here.
IMAX and other media centers will have to find some backbone and make the ultimate decision on whether or not to succumb to the hysteria of the Fundies or whether their larger mission must remain "Freedom of Speech" to show programs that are useful to the vast majority.