That one person's religion is another person's belly laugh is a thought variously ascribed to:

• science fiction writer and perpetual crank, Robert Heinlein
• science fiction writer and perpetual genius, Isaac Asimov
• perpetual crank and perpetual genius, H.L. Mencken

Internet friend JMyste enjoys a good laugh at my expense, usually regarding spiritual beliefs. He has a keen wit and I enjoy laughing along (pretty much).

I especially enjoy living in a society in which such differences are more often a punchline than a threat. More often, but not always.

Among theocrats, religious disagreements can be deadly serious. Their joyless regard of theological differences is, in a way, understandable. To those who believe that America is, or at least should be, a Christian nation, religious beliefs are not merely expressions of opinion. A different view of the spiritual universe that might provide insights to a thoughtful person takes on a sinister tone for one who sees religion as part of government. Enforcing biblical ritual under the force of law is not a practice to be taken lightly.

Thus, one activist group warns against Glenn Beck. Beck would impose many things that sound pretty good, but the religion he would force on us is not real Christianity. "Our country was founded on Judeo-Christian values. Mormonism is not a Christian denomination but a cult of Christianity... The country needs to get back to the simplicity of the Bible."

Beck, in turn, apologizes (sort of) for suggesting that the President hates white people. He now realizes the problem is that Barack Obama is not a real Christian. "I don't know what that is, other than it's not Muslim, it's not Christian. It's a perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ as most Christians know it." The President refuses to impose real Christian law on the nation.

Muslim Imam Abdul Rauf defines the issue of the Islamic Center in Manhattan accurately enough. But his words apply as well to the broader struggle for freedom as "not between Muslims and non-Muslims, but between moderates of all the faith traditions and the radicals of all the faith traditions."

Those who condemn Islam, with its varying factions, are not concerned with evidence and nuance. The idea that a group of believers want nothing more than to worship in peace is contrary to all they know. That Muslims want to impose Islamic law is obvious. The only evidence bigots need is found in their own hearts. They know what they would do if they could take control.

Theocrats in this country are not against sharia law.
It just has to be the right sort of Christian sharia law.

18% of Americans believe that our President is a Muslim. Franklin Graham says this is because Barack Obama's father was a Muslim and that means that in 1961, the newborn baby carried "the seed of Islam" within him. Remember Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor for 20 years? Jujitsu is an acceptable form of political combat, I suppose, but attacking the President for being the wrong kind of Christian, then attacking him for being a Muslim seems excessive.

Now, some of my brothers and sisters in Christ are raising a new form of birther question. Can he provide authentication that he was born again?

Obama’s claim of being baptized is presented in the context of discussing the fact that he was not born and baptized a Christian. He describes his Muslim father and grandfather and attendance in a Muslim school as he was growing up. Obama acknowledges that, before he joined Wright’s church, some people regarded him as a Muslim. Wright himself dabbled in Islam before establishing his church, Obama concedes.

Oh my.

Christian faith, by a sort of reverse mental transubstantiation, becomes simple tribalism, then a method of exclusion and attack. Requiring faith within a "Christian nation" has to eventually go to some process of proving one's faith.

Does he mumble the correct sort of incantation? Are the words said in the right order? Was he Baptized using water?

The preoccupation with the right sort of private belief is not applied exclusively to President Obama. A theological cannibalism parallels the Republican race to extremism. Right wing religious groups urge real Christians to stay away from Glenn Beck. His message of exclusion and bigotry are okay. His attacks on the President for hating white people are okay. But he is a Mormon, and those people are not really Christians. Ann Coulter is not a real Christian because she spoke to a group of gay conservatives. She seems to care more about speaking fees than considering the critical question: Who does Jesus hate?

The old story has a virulent argument about faith ending with a proposal to agree to disagree. "You worship God in your way. I'll worship Him in His."

One day we will live in a country in which Muslims are accepted as are Catholics or Mormons or Jews or any other faith or non-faith.

We are not there yet.

The travails of Dr. Laura Schlessinger, late of radio, bring to mind another talk radio personality. Morton Downey Jr. lost his own 1980s radio show in Sacramento, California when he derided a local politician for the man's Chinese ancestry. Downey would not apologize and KFBK-AM fired him. They brought in a quick replacement, an unknown named Rush Limbaugh, and racially provocative radio became a supercharged tradition. Downey went on to television syndication.

He was not the first shock talk host. Joe Pyne was a television pioneer. Most of what I recall, as a youth watching the show, was Pyne at a studio desk, sharing it with some liberal guest. Pyne would berate the guest to the cheers of his studio audience. They provided his leverage. His shows were not exactly a Bill Buckley Firing Line variety. He suggested that one guest gargle with razor blades, and his audience laughed and jeered. He hated homosexuals and had one fellow on who shamed him. The guest told Pyne that pretty much any member of the audience could walk down any street holding holds with a lover with no problem. "If I hold hands with the one I love, we could get arrested." Pyne ended the segment with "The only thing YOU need is a good woman." Two odd things happened. The audience was silent, and after a moment Joe Pyne apologized for the remark.

In the 1980s, Morton Downey, Jr played a little rougher. He would scream at what he called "slime" or "scumbuckets." His audience screamed along with him. Once, when he paused for breath, his guest calmly asked, "So anyone who disagrees is a 'pablum puking liberal'? Is that how it works?" Downey lamely explained the format. Another guest, a black civil rights activist, challenged him more directly. "I'll tell you something, you won't have the guts to say back to my face." Downey smiled at the challenge. It was HIS show, and he had the audience with him. The man looked him in the eye and said, "I love you."

Eventually the ratings died away. There was a scandal involving Nazis attacking him in a men's room, painting a swastika on his face, backward as if drawn by looking in a mirror. Downey eventually departed his show. He was diagnosed with cancer, and died a few years later. He described in an interview the cards and messages from liberals, including Senator Edward Kennedy. He was bitter about the lack of concern from conservatives. He apologized specifically for encouraging young people to smoke, and spent his last years campaigning against the habit. He said he regretted allowing his show to become so extreme, and often described himself as "a bastard."

As Christians, we are tempted to betray our faith by judging people as opposed to actions. Is the hurt Downey generated mitigated by his late repentance? I hope so. Are Lee Atwater's filthy tricks on behalf of Republicans mitigated by his deathbed apology? How about Robert Byrd's life of civil rights support after so many years of opposition, including a brief stint in the KKK? John Newton wrote "Amazing Grace" and became a voice against slavery after decades as a slave trader, decades during which he put hundreds of Africans into chains. The Apostle Paul is first mentioned in the Bible as Saul of Tarsus, devoted to killing and imprisoning early Christians.

We believe in redemption. In part, it implies hope for all who need to turn from the evils haunting humanity. Laura Schlessinger, most Christians, many of other faiths, some with no beliefs at all. You. Me. We all need that hope.

We are here to assert the Islamic conviction of the moral equivalency of our Abrahamic faiths. If to be a Jew means to say with all one's heart, mind and soul Shma' Yisrael, Adonai Elohenu Adonai Ahad; hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One, not only today I am a Jew, I have always been one, Mr. Pearl.

If to be a Christian is to love the Lord our God with all of my heart, mind and soul, and to love for my fellow human being what I love for myself, then not only am I a Christian, but I have always been one Mr. Pearl.

And I am here to inform you, with the full authority of the Quranic texts and the practice of the Prophet Muhammad, that to say La ilaha illallah Muhammadun rasulullah is no different.

It expresses the same theological and ethical principles and values.

We are here especially to seek your forgiveness and of your family for what has been done in the name of Islam.

 - - Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, Muslim holy leader, February 23, 2003
     Expressing solidarity with the family of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, at a
     memorial service at B'nai Jeshurun synagogue in Manhattan. Imam Rauf
     was invited by the Pearl family to speak against the terrorists who had
     kidnapped and killed Pearl.