You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to conclude that the present Iraq War is folly. But to form a principled judgment you need a moral framework.

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The Jesuits at St. Joe’s Prep taught me that the worst sin in religion is hypocrisy. So it is not an attack on religion to question if the politicians invoking God’s name to bless the United States of America are doing anything more than seeking votes.

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When it is the earth that created you, care of the environment becomes a central religious tenet. But believers who use the Hebrew Bible and Christian Scriptures as the basis for their concern about the environment have a bigger mountain to climb than witches.

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Catholics believe marriage is a sacrament. Since the sacraments give grace to the believer with their practice, the renewal of marital love in the physical act of sex is – for Catholics — a source of divine grace. The more times you have sex, the more grace you both receive.

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There is theological wiggle room to ask questions about the capacity for people of the same sex to enter into lasting relationships that have faith-filled meaning, despite a physical inability to propagate except by extraordinary means.

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Religion is like an elephant-sized furry monster with extra eyes and legs. It can’t be grasped in its totality by one view alone, any more than the proverbial blind men could describe the elephant by touching only one part of its body.

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This excerpt from Mr. Hitchens’ book is remarkable when one examines it for benign tolerance, reasoned evaluation of the facts, careful treatment of the historical record and unbiased conclusions about five thousand years of human history. Chris is giving us what he sees as fair and balanced treatment.

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Religious presumptions about sex outside marriage often produce a mismatched hodgepodge of sanctimoniousness and Manichaeism instead of righteous behavior.

In the public and political sphere of the United States, we too easily slip into the presumption of a generalized Christian norm that we impose on celebrities and leaders. The Christian norm borrows on the fear of the flesh in the ancient religion of Israel that struggled against fertility rituals in competing earth religions. Where do concepts like “monogamy” and “sacred vows of marriage” come from except a Judeo-Christian premise? People of faith are free to choose these as normative of sexual behavior, but in an increasingly diverse society they provide diminishing return.

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If attitudes of pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth become normal and socially acceptable, they are more deadly than when found scattered among individuals.

One of the contributions to modern religion came from Latin America’s Theology of Liberation. In addition to traditional views of sin as committed by individuals, Liberation Theology added the concept of “structural sin.” The idea is that the social climate fosters sinful attitudes as normal behavior. It can be found in the biblical passages about “having eyes but seeing not” and in St. Paul’s frequent denunciations of “the present age.” It need not sound religious. Take, for instance, the common dictum: “It’s a dog-eat-dog world.” Acceptance of this sentiment makes it OK to be mean and vindictive in the “real world.” Another slogan to the same effect is: “Nice guys finish last.” Verbum satis sapientibus.

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