The Downfall of Western Civilization and Automatic-Flush Toilets

The downfall of western civilization in general and American democracy in particular is not going to be the gay and lesbian agenda, as is so often espoused and spouted by the Religious Right. No, it's going to be something much more insidious.

I came across this article on AOL News today about a Baptist college in Kentucky which has severed ties with its state's Southern Baptist Convention. Seems the Southern Baptist Church has become a much more conservative body over the last twenty years. (No!) Colleges, as the breeding ground for so many young upstarts who dare think for themselves [(aka liberals and progressives)<-- strike that...I've decided it's not fair], feel this change is having a negative impact on academic freedom. How can they wail about that? They should be happy to seek out and hire professors willing to teach that Adam and Eve were the first humans and that creation of the earth and heavens and everything in them took 6 literal days.

The Georgia Baptist Convention's severing of ties with Mercer University [Macon] followed an unsuccessful effort by the state convention, which did not have the authority to appoint the university's trustees, to gain that power. **Many Baptist leaders were also troubled by a forum at Mercer on issues affecting gay men and lesbians, Dr. Godsey, the university's former president, said**

This was the paragraph that struck me. God forbid we should help the young gay men and lesbians attending colleges in the south. God forbid we halp at all as they struggle with some of the most basic quesions about their existence. It is sinful to in any way support or condone such a horror and abomination. Really. God forbids it. I asked.

We all know the downfall of this society is not going to be the GLBT agenda. It's going to result from the death of personal responsibility in America. And it all started with automatic-flush toilets. (Doesn't so much of it, in the, ahem, end, come down to potty training mistakes?) [Actually, it all started with the pop-up toaster but this makes a much better post title.]

We no longer have to worry about flushing the toilet, turning on the water, pushing down on the soap dispenser, turning off the water and pulling some towels from the dispenser. It's all done for us. If anybody thinks this is a good idea, please show me how. It starts with flush toilets. Next thing you know it's about doing whatever it takes in whatever manner to supply enough oil to feed our gluttony, relinquishing our right to figure out for ourselves how we want our children to be taught in public schools, it's about election machines and someone else being in a better position to determine what is best for the American nation, someone other than the voting populace.

We have only ourselves to blame...our sloth and gluttony, our apathy, our laziness.

I'm glad many colleges in the south have decided they no longer wanted to walk beside the church's governing bodies or follow its edicts. There is fertile enough ground in the United States for bigotry and fear to flourish. What we need is a little more breathing room for the flowers to bloom. I hope more individuals and institutions find the courage to rage against the smothering of critical thought.

God help us all.

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