Have you killed any kids lately?

No? You're a humanist, aren't you?

What's this about? I suggest you read Mind Siege, by Tim LaHaye and David Noebel.

Once upon a time I would have laughed at this book. You see, Mind Siege devotes 354 pages to the claim that "Today's wave of crime, pornography, promiscuity, venereal diseases, no-fault divorce, guilt-free sex education, out-of-wedlock births, abortion, homosexuality, bisexuality, AIDS, self-obsession, shattered dreams and broken hearts can be laid right at the door of Secular Humanism."

Wait, there's more:

"Today's humanists control nearly all media by dominating a few wire services and a handful of major television networks."

How about this:

"If the truth were told, we probably would all be shocked at the procommunist influence in Hollywood."

Now that you've had a good giggle, consider this last quote:

"No humanist is fit to hold office."

What keeps this book from being merely ridiculous and offensive is the fact that one of its authors (LaHaye) has sold over 30 million books. LaHaye is also one of the founders of the Council on National Policy, whose membership includes much of the leadership of the Republican party. LaHaye's coauthor, David Noebel, is also a member of the CNP. Noebel's Summit Ministries has trained thousands of high school and college age students in programs to combat humanism. Noebel is also the author of Communism, Hypnotism and the Beatles (Paul wasn't dead, just Red). I am not making this up!

Both LaHaye and Noebel are part of a growing, well-funded movement to attack what they see as a decline of Western thought and morals since the Middle Ages, when Thomas Aquinas mingled the logic of Aristotle with the theology of Paul.

Next month I will take you a little deeper into the strange land of the Anti-Humanists. Be prepared.

Oh, yes...and if there's another school shooting before then? It's your fault.

--Richard Garrard