There have been so many stories that have reinforced my distrust of extreme religious organzations. It has not just been the conversations over the years with evangelicals where my discussions challenging thier version of Jesus made them so made I thought they were about to go to their car and shoot me. It is not that so many Christians seem to think it is ok to kill doctors who take care of women. It is not the radical Muslim who behead their enemies. It is not even that I can't buy liquor or Sundays, or when I was in New Hampshire I could not get a Guinness and scotch. It is not even the continued violence of Sarah Palin and her family. It is that these self righteous enemies of civil society seem to have little or no ability on how their selfish action effect anyone else.
For instance, it is no secret that radical religious groups want to end civil education in the US as we know it. This American Life ran a story of a group of Hasidic and ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups that actually did it. They almost completely defended a public school district in the name of fiscal responsibility. One of the leaders essentially said the school district was a business that stealing their money, and because their kids did not go there, it was not a useful service. This of course is a common theme of radical religious groups: an unwillingness to admit that they are part of a larger civil community, with responsibilities that extend beyond their selfish needs.
Then there is this case where Pennsylvania wants to put a kid in jail for two years for mimicking oral sex with a statue that is intended to depict their version of Jesus. At least this statue is not lily white and blonde, but I think an extreme christian community might be more concerned with the first, second or third commandment, since as far I can tell there is no commandment against fondling a statue. And although it may not be a fair comparison, geographically or practically, this is just 150 miles away from the place where a group of high school students gang raped a girl, and at least one has served less than two years for that crime and is not welcomed back in school playing football as a registered sex offender.
I know everyone will say these are isolated cases, and religion is not a basic enemy of those who want a civil, secular, and peaceful government. To those I would say I largely agree, but consider the of Eric Rudolph. He was a christian terrorist who engaged in the only terrorist attack of an Olympics on US soil. He evaded US authorities for 5 years, and when captured rather than being treated as terrorist, he was given a plea deal. He still have a presence on the Army of God webpage, which is still not treated as terrorist organization. While I would say that religion may not in itself be dangerous, it is a convenient cover for those who wish to indulge in self serving violence and general destruction of civil society.