“They’re just birds”

Unlike their sister paper, The Guardian, who seem willing to pander to the crackpot anti-evolution right, The Observer not only reports on the Religious Right’s weird valorization of the film March of the Penguins, but is also willing to point out the truth in an editorial (aka leader):

If ever the world needed reminding about the oddities of America’s Christian Right, its espousal of the film March of the Penguins provides us with a perfect example. To the movement’s intellectuals, this French nature documentary – with its images of birds blinded by blizzards but still battling to protect their young – affirms decent, traditional norms like monogamy, sacrifice and child-rearing. Boys and girls have been urged to watch with notebooks to write down pious musings as they watch this life-affirming work. Penguin decency needs shouting about, it is argued. It shows us The Way…. We should remember the words of the film company executive responsible for March of the Penguins: ‘You know what? They’re just birds.’

What kind of beneficent god would create these wonderful creatures but make them endure 70-mile trips to feed their young?

(The NY Times ran a very similar article last week, using many of the same quotes, and its own editorial today.)