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I have to admit that I had never even heard of Duck Dynasty until the controversy surrounding its star cast member, Phil Robertson, hit the news.

Now that I do the word idiocy comes to mind. The word has two primary meanings: One is “something notably stupid or foolish.” Another is something “unusually offensive.”

That to me pretty much sums up the support Robertson got when he was suspended from a television show I find it difficult to believe people actually watch.

First there was the outcry that his freedom of speech was being violated, an obviously stupid and foolish comment to anyone who bothered to think at least a minute or two about what was going on.

Then there was the defense of Robertson by Christian fundamentalists who insisted that all he was saying was what the Bible says about homosexuality. I found that utterly offensive.

What took the cake, though, was the fact that in the same interview he also said that blacks working in southern farm fields when he was young were happy and content living as they were in a segregated society as second class citizens. something none of his defenders bothered to mention.

But it gets worse. A 2009 video has now emerged showing Robertson advising young men to marry underage girls 15 and 16 years old because they are easier to control. And he was speaking to the Sportsmen’s Ministry based in Georgia.

If anyone wonders why Christianity is in decline in this country, here is a primary reason. With so much religious idiocy in the news, who would want to be identified with it?

But political idiocy is not far behind.

Take, for example, Florida’s law requiring drug testing of welfare recipients. A judge ruled it was unconstitutional, stating that the study cited by the state in support of the new law was patently unscientific and worthless. On New Year’s Eve a federal appeals court upheld the state judge’s decision to strike it down.

On top of that, what testing did occur before all of this happened, at considerable cost to the state, showed that drug use by welfare recipients is a third of what it is in the general population. Yet the law still enjoys widespread public support and other states are considering similar measures, even though it has been declared unconstitutional. That fits both definitions of idiocy.

You have to wonder what is wrong with people. How can idiocy sound so right to them? I often think it must connect with deep rooted prejudices they are clinging to in spite of their religion.

Whatever the reason, it doesn’t do religion or politics much good when idiocy is promoted as a right everyone has or is defended by people who you would think would know better.

So I have this hope that 2014 will be the year when idiocy becomes so obvious and embarrassing that no one will listen to it or allow it to influence their politics or their religion.