About FF It has been said that the Internet allows any nut with an opinion to be heard by a great many people I am one such nut. This particular nut goes by the name of Brian Barrish. I am a thirtysomething man who resides in the wonderful city of Philadelphia, PA. So… one might wonder exactly why I have such a problem with religious fundamentalism, to which I might respond, “Why doesn’t everyone?” For thousands of years, humanity has suffered under the oppression of religious extremism. A few hundred years ago, some really intelligent folks in Europe decided this was a rather bad thing and came up with a little something called The Enlightenment. The religious establishment did not much care for this radical new concept and has been fighting against it tooth and nail ever since. There are a great many of us, however, who rather like the ideas put forth in the Enlightenment… ideas like scientific observation of the universe, equal rights for all humans, and respect and reverence for the world in which we live. Fundamentalists, on the other hand, seem to hate these ideas, preferring instead to shape society around the idealogical writings of nomadic Bronze Age goat herders. While these principles may have, in fact, served said goat herders well, they do not really serve as a practical foundation for twenty-first century society. (It is also my understanding that the goats didn’t care for them, either.) In modern America, the religious right is actively promoting discrimination and censorship. They would like us to believe that our environment is doing just dandy absorbing all of our pollution. They would like us to present mythology in science class as being a valid “alternative theory” to actual science. They are, in effect, attempting to return our society to a delightful little period affectionately referred to as “The Dark Ages”. I, for one, would like humanity to move forward. It’s a radical concept, I know… but it might be just crazy enough to work! I hope it does. I kind of like goats, but I’m not sure if I’d like to devote my life to herding them.