Acceptance: We Live in Primitive Times

It's December 30th, and thoughts of the coming year make me think of the passing of time and the kind of world we live in.

Recently I read in the paper that Cecil Bothwell, a city councilman in Raleigh, North Carolina, has become the center of controversy. People who oppose him want to take the city to court for swearing him in, because he doesn't believe in God. It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of Americans are uncomfortable with the idea of an atheist holding public office.

The North Carolina constitution disqualifies officeholders who "deny the being of Almight God." Obviously, the language is an artifact, still present and uncorrected in the law. Surprisingly, six other states, including my state, Texas, have similar provisions.

And yet, a person should be allowed the freedom of religious belief, and the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in 1961 that states may not require any kind of religious test to serve in public office.

As a human race, we continue to move towards enlightenment, but sometimes the movement seems glacial. Incidents like this remind me that in spite of dazzling advances in computer science and all the new gadgets, we still live in primitive times. If you pay attention when you read the paper or watch the evening news, that's the only conclusion you can make.

Still, acceptance is hard, and sometimes I wish that what seems to be true weren't true. I wish I didn't live in primitive times. But accepting the truth - even a hard truth - is beneficial, because doing so keeps me in touch with reality. It keeps me from bumping into things as I make my way through the semi-darkness towards the light.

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