The presidential campaign brought out many issues facing America and mankind, most of them concerning the future.

What really didn't come to the forefront, but was in the minds of many voters, were the "right to life" and scientific advances issues our nation and new president (plus Congress and The Supreme Court)need to address.

During the election, I saw yard signs that said "Obama kills babies". I read letters to the editor opposing our president-elect solely on the grounds of his position on abortion. It goes without saying that the "far right"
base their party preference on the issues of "family values", anti-abortion, stem cell research, etc. They are usually very religious, Bible literalists, creationists.
I'll refrain from characterizing them any further.

The majority of "fundamentalists", however, oppose birth control, abortion ("respecting the sanctity of life"), health related research (i.e., stem cell), cloning, gene manipulation/engineering, etc. I respect their beliefs and positions. I just don't agree with their actions.

Religious leaders are running scared. For centuries, they have opposed the forces of science--from Galileo to Darwin to today's research scientists. They have used threats, intimidation, and scare tactics to fight the propagation of knowledge. It's a form of bully-ism. Their all-powerful God has taken a back seat to science.

The evidence of evolution, the discovery of other solar systems, the advancement in cellular and gene research are only a few scientific areas that displace their god. They refuse to accept modern science and come up with all sorts of "logic" to refute it.

Yet...., would they oppose a drug curing Parkinson's or Alzheimer's? If blindness and deafness could be reversed, would they be against that? If cancer can be prevented, to whom do they give credit? If they favor new health care techniques, how can they oppose stem cell or genetic engineering research? Scientists respect life and want to improve it just as much as "right to lifers". They're doing something about it!

Our future lies in the real hands of scientists of all kinds, not in the old, historic "hand" of some imaginary god. Let's move forward: encourage and applaud the efforts of all those hard working scientists out there wanting to improve the life of mankind.