"[Obama] is a guy who understands the world through liberation theology -- which is oppressor and victim.” … Beck noted that, in contrast to the liberation-theology views he ascribed to Obama, he's a Mormon.” –AP (via Yahoo! News)

Let me repeat: “in contrast to the liberation-theology views he ascribed to Obama, he’s a Mormon.”

Umm, what?

How does being Mormon automatically mean that your views are “in contrast” to the “oppressor and victim” school of thought? In fact, let’s take it one step further and assume he’s talking about being Christian (as that was a large part of his rally on Washington Mall). So why does being Christian automatically mean you hold good, pure views on how society should be run?

Let me make it clear that I am not against religion- it has run life-saving charities more efficiently than the government ever will, been the inspiration of millions of remarkable lives, and is the bedrock of any society on this planet. What I do have a problem with are people who use religion as a pedestal to thumb their noses at people they perceive to be lower than them.

People like, say, Glenn “no, I’m not a neo-Hitler. I’m Mormon.” Beck.

I’m sure most Mormons-and Christians in general- lead virtuous, law-abiding, productive lives. However, it is absolutely not true that every single last one of them do. If that was true, Utah would have no crime whatsoever. But that’s not my real concern.

The real problem, like I said, is that some like to use their religion to condescend the views of others, even in matters totally unrelated to religion. For example, Beck also once stated that “If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop.” I’m sorry; I didn’t know that God was such an avid fan of Milton Friedman.

Or Sarah Palin (on the O’Reilly Factor, so there must not be any gotcha questions!) saying that U.S. law should be Bible-based- as if the views of nonreligious Americans should not be respected. Applying religion to politics has never worked too well- just ask those that got stoned under the Taliban for going out without their husband’s permission.

Or the insistence that building a mosque near Ground Zero would be a symbol of “victory” for Islamic people over the U.S.- as if Islam was somehow an antithesis of American (and, in this context, I would assume Christian) values. See my previous commentary for my beef with this.

If you have religious views, that’s great. However, said views do not make you better than others, and do not allow you to impose your views on others. This applies especially to the stereotypical modern conservative- for all their talk about keeping government out of their lives, they seem awfully fond of using religion to intrude in ours. When “freedom of religion” was coined, these sanctimonious individuals were exactly what the phrase’s authors were afraid of.