When you have a secular government and a free press, certain things seem to happen. Not all of them are helpful, but the strength of a secular government and a free press is that you can fix your mistakes.

Here's an example. Ahmad Akkari, a Lebanese Muslim, was upset that the free Danish press published cartoons that depicted the face of Muhammad and that the secular Danish government did not stop them. And so he also made use of the Danish free press, meeting with reporters to explain to them how insulting the cartoons were. But the cartoons weren't insulting, so Ahmad Akkari lied to the press and showed them cartoons that hadn't appeared in any Danish newspaper until he gave them to the press. The free Danish press was tricked, and the secular Danish government didn't stop the fake cartoons from being published. These deliberately insulting cartoons whipped up protest against the Danish free press and secular government, resulting in the burning down of the Danish embassy in Beirut and the death of 139 people in protests. More recently there has been some troubles in Lebanon. The secular Danish government has given free transport to over ten thousand people out of Lebanon, and among them is Ahmad Akkari. The free press (this time in the form of the Danish Mohammed Cartoons blog) identified and corrected the error of the earlier reporters.

Now, let's review. Secular government offers shelter even to theocrats and liars. Free press give equal time to all sides and corrects errors. Theist tells lies, incites riots leading to deaths, and simultaneously feeds off the secular government and free press. You know, I'm starting to think this whole "religion" business has long outlived its usefulness. And I'm starting to think the reason we need to keep a separation between state and superstition is the same reason we need to keep a separation between body and poison. I won't insist people believe only the "truth" or even believe the same lies. I'm just kinda sick to the teeth with Muslims, Jews, Christians and the rest taking the best of this world and burning it on altars to invisible monsters that live in the sky - while among the rest of us, discussing religion is just something not to be done in polite conversation. I've got to honor their diversity by not calling bullshit on religion, but if they want to kill people that's A-OK. And heaven forbid I point out that some superstitions have far more blood on their hands than others; the equal right to diverse views has become fully confused with diverse views being equally right.

Somewhere there is a United States of America that is a secular government with a free press. I little bits of it here and there. I'd like to see more.