I'm saddened but not at all surprised that the House committee mostly ignored the elephant in the room. The very first story I wrote about the January 6th insurrection included a header photo with a great big Christian flag waving in the foreground as people stormed Congress.

The Christian nationalist nature of much of what happened that day was overt. And ever since, people who have defended the actions of the mob have called them good Christians.

The Trump wing of the Republican Party wears its Christianity loudly on its sleeve.

As a society, however, we are remarkably reluctant to criticize religious belief. We've elevated religious ideas to an altar off limits to strong opposition.

I see this all the time, from both the left and the right, as I advocate for dignity and equity for LGBTQ people. When I write strongly in opposition to certain political ideas and discourse, people might disagree with me, but they generally don't tell me I'm out of line merely for making an argument.

But the moment I strongly criticize a religious idea, somebody inevitably insists I have no right to do that. That I should stop doing that.

I'm not talking just about conservative Christians. Liberal Christians and liberal atheists have often taken the same position with me. Religious ideas for them are something that we must not talk about the same way we talk about other ideas. Religious ideas are special and protected.

This is a fairly peculiar American phenomenon in my opinion, as an American who's lived and traveled extensively outside the United States.

For example, Germany has greatly restricted the activities of the Church of Scientology, classifying them as an abusive organization detrimental to society.

I know hardly any Germans or Europeans who have a problem with that. The teachings of the Church of Scientology are ludicrous. More importantly, their practices are abusive, often physically abusive, to the point that members often complain about being kidnapped and imprisoned.

Yet, some American human rights groups (and international ones for that matter) say Germany is abusing the human rights of members of that ridiculous, abusive church.

If the group were organized as secular, nobody would say their human rights were being abused. I think this is a perfect illustration of how religious ideas often receive undue protection. In my opinion, religious ideas should be on the same level as any ideas, rather than being privileged.