Overheard

This newspaper [ Augusta Chronicle] is owned by a Christian businessman. God is the Supreme Being of our universe, and we make no apology for defending America's Judeo-Christian heritage and values.
CEO William S. Morris III
Morris Communication Corporation
"What We Believe"
Augusta Chronicle, Jan. 2, 2004

I say: enough of tolerance. I do not tolerate religious superstition, not when it refuses to tolerate me. Sweep it from the corridors of power. I do not pay my taxes for a Europe which can 'tolerate' a hardline Italian mate of Silvio Berlusconi and the Pope who takes to his job as Justice Commissioner the belief that tens of millions of Europeans such as me are sinners because we are gay. . .
Matthew Parris
Times, [UK]Oct. 23, 2004

If the inspiration of God or the Bible is purely personal or subjective, it's not open to debate--and decisions based on it become immune from scrutiny. The result is to short-circuit political deliberation, since democracy rests on the ability of the governed to check their leaders through reasoned argument.
David Greenberg
New Yorker, July 12-19, 2004

The most dangerous threat in America today is not from the Ku Klux Klan and it's not from the Neo Nazis, it's from the religious right.
Morris Dees, Co-founder
Southern Poverty Law Center
Birmingham News, March 7, 2004

Encouraging fundamentalist preachers to pound their pulpits and inveigh against gay people has consequences. It puts men and women in communities nationwide at personal and professional risk. There's nothing more despicable than creating a phony political issue (just how many gay couples are clamoring for marriage certificates in the state of Ohio, anyhow?) and preying on peoples' prejudices.
Columnist Timothy M. Gay
"Intolerance Is Not a Value"
Washington Post, Nov. 16, 2004