However, as shown in Tina Howe's play, the more gullible and weak-minded people have greater potential to be affected by these pressures and expectations.

The governor, who once famously called organized religion "a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people," has never really tried life as a compassionate conservative.

Remember when Gov. Jesse Ventura of Minnesota declared a couple of months back that religion was nothing but a "crutch for weak-minded people"?

Last week, he got into trouble for a Playboy interview in which he called organized religion a "sham and a crutch for weak-minded people."

Asked whether he believed priests and nuns and ministers and rabbis were weak-minded people, he explained that "being weak-minded is not necessarily a detriment."

Some regard the book as resorting to a stereotypical view of the Japanese, casting them as weak-minded people neglecting to change their country for the better out of fear.

"Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers," Mr. Ventura was quoted as saying.

Organized religion, he said, is "a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."

He has made national news, for criticizing the press and religion - "jackals" and "a crutch for weak-minded people," respectively - rather than for any accomplishment.

He tries to stop Roark from being successful by controlling weak-minded people.