The 'Other' Religious Extremism

In this time of terrorism with attacks and numerous threats of attacks coming out of places like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen we often forget that religious extremism is not unique to the Muslim community. Take for example the recent remarks of evangelist Pat Robertson. It is his contention that the tragic earthquake in Haiti was the fault of the Haitian people because some time ago they made a pact with the devil. This is a guy who boasts of millions of 'followers'. There have been other examples of this kind of thing right here in the good old USA, i.e. Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell. These men and their followers are dangerous people. They are ignorant and hateful people and while I'm all for freedom of speech I also believe we have the right to contradict or at the very least ignore their views. I suspect the numbers of followers they keep telling us they have is highly inflated but even just a few is a sad commentary. Fortunately, the Obama administration handled it well by giving it as little attention as possible and simply stating it was stupid. I'm reminded of the previous administration who had a similar mind-set as that of Robertson and others of his ilk. Let's hope the upcoming round of Congressional elections doesn't result in more of those kinds of people in office. Cast your vote carefully.