Religious fanaticism has crept over our land

Dear Editor: Once there was a time when everyone supported human rights, at least in theory. General resolutions like the one proposed recently at a meeting of the Dutchess County Legislature would have passed easily. Of course, our local government should “protect, respect and fulfill the full range of inherent human rights for all.”

That was before religious fanaticism crept over our land. Now, Christian fundamentalists and Jewish extremists hold sway, from the White House on down. And the right to be “completely free from discrimination because of race, creed, national origin or ancestry, color, religion, gender or sex, sexual orientation, gender identification, marital status, age, physical condition or disability” has become an anti-Semitic plot. Perhaps the only human right still acceptable to American Zionists is the right of Jews to oppress Palestinians in Israel.

Christian fundamentalists believe God will come to Earth and kill all the non-Christians when Jews return to the Holy Land. Jewish extremists believe God gave them Palestine in the Bible and all they have to do is drive away the millions of Palestinians who live there.

These ideas are both crazy and certainly don’t fit together. But fanatics don’t care.

Today, even proclamations like the Declaration of Independence are suspect. “All men are created equal” might be a criticism of Israel, since it is a nation built on Jewish supremacy. And the Bill of Rights might be another antiSemitic call to promote the boycotting of apartheid.

Fred Nagel, Rhinebeck