Anthony Lewis is retiring after 32 years as a columnist for the New York Times. Of course, no one has read anything he’s written in the last ten years. The passion which he brought to his column is matched only by how often he’s been wrong: wrong about the communist takover of Cambodia, wrong about the Soviets, wrong about the Palestinians. In his last column he’s wrong again, warning about the dangers of religious fundamentalism in this country. If it was dying before, religious fundamentalism as a political force in this country was killed off by September 11th. Jerry Falwell proved to everyone what kind of a fool he really is and Pat Robertson has resigned from a moribund Christian Coalition.

Which is a good thing. Religion which aligns itself with secular power is religion which will soon be derided and ignored. The First Amendment’s prohibition of an established religion and freedom of religious practice has given us a religously-active citizenry as well as an almost complete lack of anti-clericalism. Now if only we can get “The Reverend” Jesse Jackson and “The Reverend” Al Sharpton out of politics…