Auto-da-fé.

Editor,

The public square, the public square.

Religion, unless you are talking about auto-da-fé (act of faith, torturing and murdering a heretic in the public square) is not about the public square. It is about one's personal beliefs.

Our Founders perceived religious zealots exactly of Rick Santorum's ilk as dangerous to the cohesion of the state -- proved by their own intimate familiarity with centuries of religious war in Europe.

Conflict inevitably occurs when religious fanatics confuse governing their own behavior on the basis of their religious beliefs with inflicting their religious beliefs on others.

Freedom of religion is freedom to believe what you want to believe and worship or not worship your gods in whatever manner pleases you.

The problem comes when you become obsessed with whether other people's behavior is consistent with your religious beliefs -- which is another way of saying you are obsessed with whether other people have the same religious beliefs as you do.

The Inquisition forced Galileo to recant his theory that the Earth revolves around the sun. This, and a multitude of large and small idiocies and atrocities inflicted on humanity by the Church, is why religion is ridiculed on campus.

If one's religion does not prohibit birth control or abortion, and a religious nutcase of another persuasion tries to impose their religious zealotry against birth control and/or abortion on one, then the seeds of religious war are sown.

Re: "Santorum Says Religion and Conservative Principles Are at Risk" (2/26/2012)