Pick a Striegel, any Striegel: Guest columnist seeks truth in all the wrong places.

I saw the headline on today’s Tribune “Opinions” page, glanced idly at the photo displayed alongside, and did a double take that hurt my neck and caused coffee to spill all over my nice clean pants.

Something’s screwy, indeed.

STRIEGEL: Celebrate our country, one nation under God, by Dr. Aaron Striegel, Local Guest Columnist.

The problem? Embarrassingly, the photo was of Judge Richard Striegel, and not the evangelistic writer of the subsequent 727-word essay in historical revisionism, who began his screed in this gentle fashion:

The other day I was driving down the road when I spotted a bumper sticker that said, “Liberal? Maybe just more educated!” A more accurate sticker would read, “Liberal? Maybe, just not properly educated.” Why? In 1962 prayer was removed from our public schools. Bible reading was banned in 1963 and in 1980 the posting of the 10 commandments were banned from public buildings.

The less said about it, the better … but I just can’t help myself.

For decades, we’ve been subjected to similar collections of quotes offered entirely out of context, blended artfully into an appeal for all-purpose godliness, and purporting to somehow “prove” that a wide variety of religious convictions on the part of numerous dead white men in the nation’s history adds up to better living through a doctrine-specific Christian theocracy.

It’s hogwash, but apparently it has the same appeal to Americans as sitting on the front porch for hours on end listening to single firecrackers pop, while remaining truly clueless as to the universal meaning of the holiday being celebrated today -- which has as much to do with freedom from religion as it does freedom to practice the faith of one's choice.

Judge Striegel should be highly annoyed.

Who wants his face associated with such drivel?