CULTURAL DECAY - Secular pluralism means EVERYONE gets to express themselves!

This Opinion Journal column is why I really like James Taranto: he hasn't divorced himself from his critical reasoning skills. No, it isn't because he agrees with me; it's because I agree with him.

If you feel like you have no voice, if you feel like the current culture is running roughshod over your views, or if you feel like the no one even notices what is happening ... Taranto's opinion piece is for you!

I am not a Christian, or even a religious believer, and my opinions on social issues are decidedly middle-of-the-road. So why do I find myself rooting for the "religious right"? I suppose it is because I am put off by self-righteousness, closed-mindedness, and contempt for democracy and pluralism--all of which characterize the opposition to the religious right.

One can disagree with religious conservatives on abortion, gay rights, school prayer, creationism and any number of other issues, and still recognize that they have good reason to feel disfranchised.

Taranto didn't arrive at this point by a sudden epiphany ... he arrived here by using his brain to think through the issue and by allowing his reasoning to take him where it took him. It seems that so many on the cultural left have divorced themselves of their thinking skills or, if those skills ever kick in, they simply shake themselves and go back to their old ways.

I personally know what it is like to wake up on the wrong-side of history ... during the '60s I was selfish and oblivious, during the '70s I was angry and self-absorbed, during the '80s (B.C.) I was learning about another way, during the '90s I was applying what I'd learned and raising six people with some thinking skills, and now I'm other-absorbed and trying to help them see The Way.