Nearly four centuries ago, in Galileo's time, it was believed God had centered the universe around the Earth and the Garden of Eden, but when Galileo looked through his telescope, he saw the earth actually revolved around the sun! (The Copernican theory). When he voiced this scientific truth, it trashed the pre-eminence of man's place in God's plan of creation. Ordered to Rome to be examined by the Holy Office of the Inquisition in 1633, he was charged with heresy and was made to recite and sign a formal abjuration. He died in 1642, still under house arrest, and would have been burned at the stake had he not lied and said he had not seen the truth he had seen.
In this way, the benefits of science were denied the people for untold years by the closed-minded intolerance of political correctness. Political correctness is not new. It has been around since the dawn of time and was probably responsible in part for that period in history known as the Dark Ages. Now it seems to be pushing America to the brink of a new Dark Age as we regress to a mind-set reminiscent of the days to witchcraft, when hexes and spells were cast by intoning certain words or phrases and using signs and symbols to inflict pain and misery.
Today, instead of making the sign of the cross or using a lucky charm for protection, you get a lawyer (preferably one affiliated with the ACLU) and instead of getting your perceived witch or demon burned at the stake, you label them a bigot, racist, homophobe, Nazi, extremist, terrorist, intolerant, conservative, etc. (The list is endless.) Get the media involved and you're halfway home. Does anyone ever step back and take a long, hard look at this and wonder what the hell is wrong with this picture?
Sadly, some politicians have latched onto PC big time as a campaign tool and they've taken it to new heights and this is but the beginning. Think about this! Who determines what is or is not politically correct? In Galileo's day, it was obviously the church, but today, God seems to be one of the banned. Until the citizens of this once-great nation stand up together and say "enough!" America will be ruled by the shadows of guilt or what George Orwell called "the thought police"!
D.F. Hemirick, McCutchenville
