The problem with the Christian Church today.

G.K. Chesterton wrote the book Orthodoxy, a defense of an orthodox position within biblical Christianity.

"The ancient masters of religion ... began with the fact of sin—a fact as practical as potatoes. Whether or no man could be washed in miraculous waters, there was no doubt at any rate that he wanted washing. But certain religious leaders in London, not mere materialists, have begun in our day not to deny the highly disputable water, but to deny the indisputable dirt. Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved.

Today society is witnessing a major struggle over religion, a struggle between the Religious Right on one side and on the other nontheists wearing their hearts on their sleeves. The nontheists see evil and sin and ugliness and inhumanity and their heart breaks, and then they turn around and makeh a nonsensical claim that the doctrine of Original Sin is nonsense. The Religious Right in turn witnesses the same things-- and it yawns. The Religious Right speculates as to what kinds of evils could motivate the complainers to complain (Do they hate God, hate Bush, hate authority, hate civilization, hate self?). Then it tells everyone that they need some bizarre quantity called "forgiveness of sins." WTH?

Both of these fools deny the one doctrine of the Christian faith, as Chesterton put it, which can be scientifically proven.

Here is some evidence. The campus police at UCLA brutalize a guy in a library, and then threaten with taser bites those who asked him for his badge number. This is the over the top part of the conflict. Maybe there is some scenario where you might say that the first trouble maker asked for it (I don't hold that), but the cop who threatens the person asking for the badge has crossed a line.

I first heard of this through a BoingBoing posting, and then here it is in a news report from a campus newspaper.