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Entry: Of Prophets, Priests, and Pansies Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/of_prophets_priests_and_pansies#3995 Post contents: WLindsayWheeler, thanks for the lecture on "true conservatism." Now, perhaps you can tell me where I defended "unrestricted 'free speech.'" I can assure that I have never done so, and didn't in this case. As for the claim that "respect for religion, any religion, is conservative, it is a virtue"--really? Tell me--is Satanism a religion? If so, then your remarks would apply. What about the Mayan religion? Is respect for the practice of human sacrifice "conservative, it is a virtue"? African or South Seas animistic religions, which practiced cannibalism? Read the cartoon. As I wrote above, Breathed "isn’t . . . making fun of serious converts to Islam, such as 'Abdul,' the eighth-generation German-American convert whom I have been profiling in a series for Chronicles." Instead, he's quite rightly satirizing a particular type of religious dabbler that we see all too often in America--someone who adopts the foreign just because it is foreign. Such behavior isn't pious; it's superficial, silly, and destructive. And we're surrounded by it every day. The larger point of this piece was the inability of Americans to make important distinctions, which, combined with cowardice, leads to situations like these. A number of the comments on this thread have simply confirmed my point. Sent at: 2008 12 02