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This website is being renovated throughout 2008. Pages and the content of pages will continue to change until the end of the year and there may be some inconsistencies and missing links. Please do not quote from or link to specific pages (apart from the home page) without contacting the webmaster first. The Gwbaa Blog An occasional look, from a rational perspective, at the world we live in for previous blogs, click here Obama, gay marriage and Creationist teaching 8 November 
The week started off well. Obama's victory was clear in both the popular vote and the electoral college. (Wimp that I was, I placed a bet saying he would get nor more than 305 college votes.) Blogs and discussion boards pre- and post-vote made it clear that each candidate's style was reflected in the writings of many of their supporters. While Obama was cool and thoughtful, taking time to consider a wide range of responses before coming to a decision, McCain was emotional, more often reacting than thinking. Obama's approach suggested a man who had asked himself "what should I do that 's good for the country?"; McCain came across as a man who asked himself "what should I do that will get me elected?" It was, unfortunately, only in his concession speech that the Republican came across as a decent, honourable, thoughtful man. The same difference in temperament could be seen in on-line postings. There were knee-jerk Democrats and rational Republicans, but more often Obama supporters put forward relatively rational reasons for their choice, while opponents ranted about a candidate who did not exist - a socialist, closet Muslim who wanted to take away every American's gun. At the end of the day, however, more Americans voted for reason than for emotion, for inclusion rather than exclusion, for hope rather than fear. Obama has four years to prove himself. But no matter how well or badly he does in office, I suspect that the impact of his election will last for decades. After the dark night of the Bush years, I suspect, to borrow Ronald Reagan's famous words, once again it is morning in America. 
But not yet morning in California. In one of the most liberal states in the nation, Proposition 8, which seeks to restrict marriage to between a man and a woman, passed by 52% to 48%. Support for the Proposition was almost uniquely church-based, with the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) playing a prominent role. What can one say? Another example of bigotry masquerading as principle, of superstition overcoming reason. Perhaps the only reasoned response is to take the long view and to recognise that equality does not come quickly or easily. It took 120 years for the US to get from slavery to President-Elect Obama. Women and men do not yet have full equality of opportunity and are not regarded with equal respect in every field. Across the world, homosexual men and women have come a long way in the last 50 years. Let us hope that one day soon the United States will follow the example of Canada and much of Europe. Finally, a depressing poll from the UK, which suggested that 29% of a 1,210 teachers arguing that Creationism should be taught as a science. True, the sample was self-selecting, which suggests that only those with the strongest opinions took part, but the idea that there are at least 350 British teachers who want to give this joke any place in the classroom is bad news indeed. 
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If God existed, he would... admire the beauty of a universe that he did not create recognize that eternity is meaningless deny both heaven and hell disown all men and women who speak in his name denounce the harm caused by religious "morality" help the human race to thrive without him If God existed, he would be an atheist.
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