MANGER MANAGEMENT

 I must admit that I am not a religious person.  I don't consider myself an atheist because that would involve constructing a point of view.  As a kid I would always mumble "under God" when I said the Pledge of Allegiance.  I wasn't going to make a court case out of it.  I was building my career as the "class clown" then and didn't want my disbelief to detract from that.  At the time I had a fickle fan base.  There was some mention of God in my little league pledge too.  That was probably the one time that I flirted with religion as I asked the Supreme Being to let me hit the ball out of the infield at least once in my life.  I guess the man upstairs was busy; as I continued to take another third strike.

 Here's what I believe in:  I have the best wife in the world.  Dwight Howard should be a Laker.  Treat every person the way you would want to be treated unless they work for an insurance company.  That's it, and it gets me through the day.  I don't worry about an afterlife.  I worry about who is going to be eliminated on Master Chef.

 I never felt the need to share my beliefs with anyone.  I never felt the need to tell believers not to believe.  Whatever gets you through the day.  If you wanted to take your kids to church on Sunday morning while I watched the Patriots and the Giants game - more power to you.  Hope you make it back for the fourth quarter.
 But, things have changed.  Religion has more than crept into politics, legal questions, and civil rights issues.  Not all religions are doing the creeping.  Haven't seen Buddhists trying to close J.C. Penney stores because of Ellen DeGeneres commercials.  Haven't heard much from the organization:  Jews Against Planned Parenthood.  Hindus in sweltering heat aren't disputing climate change.

 It has gone beyond the blowhards like the late Jerry Falwell.  Now, there are well run and heavily financed organizations that make Jack Abramoff look like a meek lobbyist.  Groups like the Family Research Council.  Their President is an aptly named Tony Perkins.  A psycho in a thousand dollar suit.  He believes that his voice and the voice of his organization is just as legitimate as others.  He and his followers certainly have a right to their voice but I wouldn't categorize it as legitimate.  I would characterize Mr. Perkins and his group as an organization that is closer to the grassy knoll conspiracy freaks than rational thinkers.

 "It says so right here in the Bible."  Where does it say, "Love thy neighbor unless they are a series regular on Glee".  Tony Perkins was quoted as saying, "The month of June has been declared gay pride month.  When is adultery pride month? When is Drunkenness pride month?"  What an idiot! Everybody knows that Drunkennness pride month depends on when Spring Break is.  Adultery pride is not limited on a monthly basis.  See Tiger Woods; or former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford.

 It is not just these "you gotta believe what we believe" organizations.  The Catholic Church has decided to make up their own workplace rules.  If you are a non-Catholic nurse working in a Catholic hospital you will not be able to get a morning after pill prescription filled.  After a day of cleaning bed pans these poor nurses can't go home and get laid.  That sounds worse than the old days of burning women with opinions at the stake.

 Vaginal probes, closing abortion clinics, denial of global warming oh my.  All points of view derived from religious beliefs.  In years passed I didn't care if Jack Kennedy was a Catholic.  I didn't care if Reagan went to church or not.  I always thought that they were able to separate Noah from Roe vs. Wade.  That seems to have changed.  Now, it is important to know if your candidate believes in evolution; or really believes that the world was created in ten days including the widening of the lanes on the 405.  If you are going to be the leader of the free world it is not wrong if the candidate is asked this question, "It is 100 degrees on January 2 in Milwaukee - thoughts?"

 Feel free to believe in what you believe in.  The secular world is not the enemy.  Just let Elton John marry whomever he wants, let a woman decide who or what goes into her vagina, and let kids study science like many of us did in the old days when our country thought that it was important for the youth to be educated.  God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.