Don't listen to the voices in your head

The world has officially gone mad. I agree with Michael Portillo.

He's written an article in today's Sunday Times on why overtly religious politicians are a bad thing for the rest of us; basic thesis being that if they are taking instructions from their imaginary friends then they probably aren't listening to the voters very much.

Even more worrying I agree with a lot of what Justin Hinchcliffe has said in the comments of Tim Montgomerie 's surprisingly weak response to Portillo's article over on Con Home. You would have thought he could have come up with a better response than Hitler was atheist (he wasn't) and lots of good people were religious (and lots of nasty people were too , suggests that religious belief is independent of "moral" behaviour).

One chink of light amongst this insanity. Portillo suggests that perhaps religion is useful in teaching children right and wrong. Rubbish. Indoctrinating children in dogma that has at its centre the mentality of a stalker, to steal A C Grayling's metaphor, is not a way to teach right and wrong. All the religions I know of work around the basis premise of do as I [god] say or bad things will happen to you (eternity of torment in hell, reincarnation as a newt etc.). The strong bullying the weak is hardly a good moral lesson to teach the young, as [insert right wing politician of your choice here] shows.