#265: Lydia McGrew

Next up is Lydia McGrew. McGrew is another of the loons over at "What's Wrong With the World" (or W4), a collection of self-described "crusaders" who regularly exemplify exactly what is wrong with the world. McGrew earns her entry in the Encyclopedia by means of at least two striking instances of lunacy, one hilarious and one simply vile.

On the hilarious end of the lunacy spectrum, McGrew has argued that parents should not teach their children to believe in Santa Claus. In itself, this is not particularly noteworthy; this a view held by many Christians who would prefer to focus on (what they take to be) the true spirit of the holiday. The hilarious lunacy is found in her unique way of reasoning to that conclusion:

"Consider what it means to teach a young child to believe that Santa Claus is real. You are teaching a child that a person exists who is benevolent and has super-powers, who can do incredible things, who sees his actions while remaining unseen, who rewards good acts, and with whom ... the child can communicate."

McGrew then goes on to note with horror that many children, after they've learned that there's no such thing as Santa, will conclude that they shouldn't believe in that other benevolent invisible magic guy who secretly watches what you do and rewards/punishes you accordingly. That would be awful, of course, because McGrew knows that HER invisible magic dude is real. The irony of using a prolonged comparison between belief in Santa and belief in God to argue that belief in Santa is dangerous (instead of the more obvious conclusion one might draw from such a comparison) is apparently completely lost on her.

On the more vile end of the lunacy spectrum, McGrew has advocated making America an Islam-free zone (see a collection of comments here - some of the suggestions get even nuttier and more repugnant than McGrew's). How might we accomplish this, you ask? Among other measures, she defends halting Muslim immigration and revoking the visas of Muslim students, and further suggests (among other things) systematically refusing mosque-building permits (using non-religious justifications as cover) and screening military personnel for Islamic self-identification.

In short, McGrew is arguing that we should use religious affiliation to decide who gets to live here and who gets access to many privileges, with the goal of driving adherents of a religion she doesn't like out of America. There is no denying that McGrew and her crew are fascist crusaders for their faith, freedom of religion be damned.

Diagnosis: McGrew advocates some very vile, fascist, and dangerous ideas, but the hilarious irony of her "believing in God is a lot like believing in Santa" argument is almost awesome enough to make her overall influence on the world positive.