"He's a man of character," said Cheryl Cheyney, a school bus driver from Cumming, Georgia, and a Republican. "He's very honest in the things he says. I agree with his belief system, the way he believes in God and is not afraid to show it. That's very important to me."

I saw this little quote on CNN�s website in an article about Bush�s sliding opinion ratings and I just started shaking my head. I find it amazing that there are people out there who will let their religion completely usurp any and all other relevant factors about our Commander in Chief or life in general. Now, I realize she is merely a school bus driver from Georgia, which more than likely puts her about 2 notches higher on an IQ test than feces flinging monkeys at the zoo, but still. I think it�s really sad that peoples� devotion to the concept of religion and God can take such precedent over real, tangible issues. This poor woman, who is obviously clueless isn�t worried about the economy, rising oil prices, global warming, corporate handouts, gun control, or our soldiers dying in Iraq� All she cares about is that the President will do all in his power to prevent two willing, devoted adults from getting married because they happen to be of the same sex. She certainly has her priorities straight! To hell with finding potential cures for cancer, Alzheimer�s disease, Parkinson�s disease or spinal injuries, we have to preserve the rights of a frozen blastocyte that, if not used for scientific research, will end being thrown in the trash. Religion has a disturbing way of warping people�s minds. People like this bus driver are opposed to gay marriage for the sole reason of the Bible saying homosexuality is a sin. News flash: outlawing gay marriage isn�t going to stop anyone from being gay. Just thought I�d throw that out there for anyone interested. And for the record, outlawing stem cell research isn�t going to save any babies. Those frozen embryos these people are so concerned about were donated to fertility clinics and if not used for stem cell research, are simply going to be discarded. So congrats, Bush! You�ve put a choke chain on stem cell research in the USA, and saved zero babies in the process. If this country doesn�t pave the way for the potential groundbreaking advances offered by stem cells, some other country will. Then we can sit back with our Bibles and wave goodbye to all of the scientists and jobs that move to countries that don�t allow religious bigotry to dictate federal law. What amazes me is that people like this bus driver fail to see the innate hypocrisy in their belief system. They truly believe a government that is dictated by Church doctrine is the way to go. They sit back and decry the absence of God on Capital Hill, and then have the gall to feign outrage at the oppression of women in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran. Most of the countries in the Middle East are run as Theocracies and denigrate their women to the status of property. Is that acceptable to you? No? Why not? They�re just running their countries the way their religion tell them to.
The really sickening part is that Republicans have gotten very good at exploiting this brainwashed group of people for their own benefit. People like Karl Rove, Bush and Bill Frist know that if they throw issues out there like gay marriage and abortion, the bible thumpers will forget all about the issues that really matter and vote solely on the idea that these people pretend to be good Christians. Do you really think Bush is a devoutly religious person when he mocks a woman pleading for her life on death row? Or when he deliberately turns his back on the poor in order to make the rich richer? These aren�t the things a good Christian does. In fact, I don�t think anyone who is a true believer in Church principles would have the stomach to be a politician, so you�d be better off assuming from the beginning that they�re all going to lie to your face in order to get elected. At that point, you can start asking yourself if you really want to vote for someone who is simply pretending to believe in something that you hold very close to your heart, or if you want to vote for a person who respects you enough to acknowledge and respect your beliefs, but refuses to force them onto the rest of the population.

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