From reading his columns I get the impression Cary has said and done some mighty offensive things when he was drinking.

I would like to read something from him regarding to what extent we should take seriously the kinds of things people say after they've been drinking hard liquor straight from the bottle.

Sometimes I think the real reason why alcohol is legal and freely available while sick people have to get down on their knees and beg for marijuana is because alcohol makes people so belligerant and difficult to control.

Alcohol prohibition was a nightmare to enforce. The potheads go quietly. Maybe that's where they're going wrong.

Maybe if pot made people urinate on jail cell walls and call policewomen "sugar tits" then it, too, would become legal.

The only problem I have with Mel is he said he's sorry. Sorry for what? That you got caught saying stupid shit? That people found out your an anti-semite? That your a drunk?

Say what you mean and mean what you say. If you hate Jews, say so and be proud. If you hate blacks, say so and be proud. If you hate white people, say so and be proud. Don't say your sorry after you get caught with your hand in the jar and backpedal. Be proud to be fuckin nuts and move on with your life.

If Bill Clinton had only said, "Yeah, I screwed Monica and had a great time, so what?" he'd have looked a lot more like a man to me now instead of the weak pussy I see him as.

Tell the truth.

Anyone who wants to prove that their religion is the "right" one, feel free to email me. I'd love to be convinced and hear your "evidence".

Boy, Charlie, you got too much time on your hands!

Sorry, I am not going to address what I take to be the main point of this article, which I could care less about (Mel Gibson's career).

The problem of war does not originate with Jews. Or Catholics. Or Muslims. It originates with all religion. Wars are principally started over territory or religion.

Think of how much better life on Earth would be without religion. No, really. Don't dismiss it. Think about it for a second.

All religions, in fact, all "belief systems" that don't have a basis in science (by which I mean controlled experiments) are worthless. They are also usually debunked by a child's logic. This means you, Mel Gibson. You too, psychics and astrologers. And Wiccans. And Christians. And Muslims. And Buddhists. And, yes, Jews.

Anyone who wants to prove that their religion is the "right" one, feel free to email me. I'd love to be convinced and hear your "evidence".

But how Evangelicals see themselves.

Are the Salon boards really that filled with people who are the opposite of the Far Right only in viewpoint, but in action are the same rabid, foam-at-the-mouth, naval-gazing, lunatics?

I kinda' like the Salon boards. I'd hate to think that they turn into those kind of idiots when confronted with issue of the nature of the Evangelicals.

Having been a little bird on a lot of discussion about the nature of anti-semitism in The Passion and having heard a lot of excuses for the anti-semitism in The Passion from some corners of the Evangelicals (in places where I'm certain they didn't think a wicked little liberal might be lurking,) I'm deeply curious whether he'll be excused or not. For all the pointificating and nit-picking and personal gripes, I really haven't seen anyone here sit down and reasonably think about it.

Type until the veins pop out on their forehead and the spittle flies onto their computer monitor, yes. Consider the original question, uhmm. . .my apologies if I missed it. . .

I'm just a bit saddened at the lack of analysis and largesse of virulence.

Every time some "Christian" whack job gets raked across the coals there are inevitably the laments from "moderate" Christians who declaim that they and most other Christians are reasonable, loving people who are not at all like that. And here, too, we've seen it again, along with the criticism that if they don't want to be perceived like that they should stand up for what they purport to believe in and disavow the hate-spewing jerks of hate radio and the likes of Robertson, Falwell, and yes, Gibson.

Sam Harris has castigated "moderates" in the various major religions as being guilty of acting as enablers of their fanatical fringes. This is exactly what he was talking about. Like Sam, I don't hold the "moderates" in high regard for their sensibleness since they usually hold their tongue when the extremists rant and rave and are culpable as hell for allowing their religions to be represented—and in some cases, taken over—by their fanatics. Don't sleep with the dogs and complain of getting fleas.

Would that I could live to see the day when religionists will be looked upon as an oddity. Alas, I don't expect I will, and certainly not if I continue to live in the USA.

...and now for the obligatory "If you don't like it here, move to Russia" comments...

I used to like it here a lot more than I do nowadays.

You have a good point about the Pope. I should have been clearer that I am asking everyday Christians and Muslims for the apologies. Yes, the Pope done good but he is holding the responsibility for the religion; it is time for individuals to take some responsiblity.

I really almost never hear Christians and Muslims express regret for the aforementioned horrors. Does having a Pope as intermediary to God mean that he (the Pope) takes it on his shoulders? That could be an easy out. Some Jews, on the other hand, frequently beat themselves up about Israel and do it publically. Maybe a Christian could beat his breast for me once in a while. How novel.

To follow on my prior Whoa post:

What I would like to see are soem Christians and Muslims actually acknowledge their horror their religions have perpetrated on the people of this world. Maybe an apology or two. You don't have to take the blame; maybe apologize for the ravenous priest and imams. That would be a good start.

*******

Over the later parts of his reign, John Paul II made several apologies to various peoples that had been wronged by the Catholic Church through the years. Even before he became the Pope, he was a prominent supporter of initiatives like the Letter of Reconciliation of the Polish Bishops to the German Bishops from 1965. During his reign as a Pope, he publicly made apologies for over 100 of these wrongdoings, including:

The persecution of the Italian scientist and philosopher Galileo Galilei in the trial in 1633 (31 October 1992).

Catholic involvement with the African slave trade (9 August 1993).

The Church Hierarchy's role in burnings at the stake and the religious wars that followed the Protestant Reformation (May 1995, in the Czech Republic).

The injustices committed against women in the name of Christ, the violation of women's rights and for the historical denigration of women (10 July 1995, in a letter to "every woman").

For the sins of Catholics throughout the ages for violating "the rights of ethnic groups and peoples, and [for showing] contempt for their cultures and religious traditions". (12 March 2000, during a public Mass of Pardons).

For the sins of the Crusader attack on Constantinople in 1204. (4 May 2001, to the Patriarch of Constantinople).

For missionary abuses in the past against indigenous peoples of the South Pacific (22 November 2001, via the Internet).

For the massacre of Aztecs and other Mesoamericans by the Spanish in the name of the Church.

In March 2000, John Paul II visited Yad Vashem, (the Israeli national Holocaust memorial) in Israel and later touched the holiest site in Judaism, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, placing a letter inside it (in which he apologised for the Church's actions against Jews in the past). In October 2003 the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a statement congratulating John Paul II on entering the 25th year of his papacy.

Immediately after the pope's death, the ADL issued a statement that Pope John Paul II had revolutionized Catholic-Jewish relations, saying that "more change for the better took place in his 27 year Papacy than in the nearly 2,000 years before."

In 2000 he publicly endorsed the Jubilee 2000 campaign on African debt relief fronted by Irish rock stars Bob Geldof and Bono. It was reported that during this period, U2's recording sessions were repeatedly interrupted by phone calls from the pope, wanting to discuss the campaign with Bono.

In 2003 John Paul II also became a prominent critic of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. He sent former Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the United States Pío Cardinal Laghi to talk with American President George W. Bush to express opposition to the war. John Paul II said that it was up to the United Nations to solve the international conflict through diplomacy and that a unilateral aggression is a crime against peace and a violation of international law.

This is the short list.