Tuesday, 17 January 2006 - 6:27 PM CST

Some Christians believe they are right and everyone else is going to hell. They look upon religious tolerance as an affront and they perceive secularlism as an attack upon their beliefs. Target did not refuse to do business with Jerry Falwell's Liberty Council. It was t'other way 'round. Their insistence upon school-led prayers, school Bible study clubs, Ten Commandments displays in courtrooms, etc. is their intolerant response to secularism, their unwillingness to countenance civil venues free of any official endorsement or promotion of their brand of Christianity.

Tuesday, 17 January 2006 - 8:06 PM CST

Rider:

school-led prayers, school Bible study clubs, Ten Commandments displays in courtrooms, etc.

Those are your examples of Christian intolerance? That's pretty thin gruel there, pardner.

Tuesday, 17 January 2006 - 8:43 PM CST

Compared to beheadings? Sure. Certainly, these things are not evils; just totally inappropriate in schools and courtrooms. Still, they are illegalities and represent breaches in a comity that is built on mutual toleration and restraint of religious expression in civic venues. But it is in their insistence - which can be pretty strident and pretty vicious at times - that their intolerance lies.

Wednesday, 18 January 2006 - 11:17 AM CST

I'm sure the secular Iraqis are saying the same about their religious brethern:

I see a whole community who has embraced a young man whose Muslim faith is a significant part of his spiritual and emotional well-being. He is a success, in part, because of that faith.

Wednesday, 18 January 2006 - 11:18 AM CST

What I really meant to say is, I can't believe I've lived to see the day when YOU defend evangelical religion. I've known you long enough to remember when you defined yourself by your opposition to it and the belief in God.

Wednesday, 18 January 2006 - 11:25 AM CST

See, my friend, this is how far you've been manipulated. You're so desperate to spout the talking points--to be right no matter what the cost--that you take on positions totally antithetical to what you stand for. It's a shame because when this is all over (and I hope this criminal joy ride is over soon) not only will you have been proved wrong, but you'll have been lured into humiliating yourself. You won't even have the dignity to say you stuck to your principles. Another example is the Army: They announced they're accepting men up to the age of 42. You would qualify. Instead you and your Rt Wing ilk will only call for wars you yourself wouldn't deign to fight. In so doing, exposing yourself as having no honor. And it's sad because once you prided yourself on your philosophical consistency. You should reassert your philosophical independence. Reclaim your pride.
Look what these movement conservatives are doing to you...

Wednesday, 18 January 2006 - 3:17 PM CST

Which secular Iraqis are you talking about? Sunni Ba'athists who profess piety while exploding IEDs amidst crowds of job-seekers and schoolchildren?

Because I don't have a problem with decent young Muslim men who are working to build a new Iraq. If such a young man has an enlightened view of jihad ---in the sense that moderate Islam claims exists--- then I wouldn't doubt that it informs his identity.

But the ultimate goal for the West is to see to it that such moderate Muslims come to the fore and drive out the extremists.

Monotheism needs to be cut with the baking powder of polytheistic interests (e.g., the happy idols of technology, civil rights, and the arts). Otherwise, it grows the lizard brain of infantile devotion at the expense of our cerebra.

Wednesday, 18 January 2006 - 3:19 PM CST

La Rue:

And it's sad because once you prided yourself on your philosophical consistency.

I'm not afraid of putting things on top of other things. That's where you fall down (whoever the hell you are).

Wednesday, 18 January 2006 - 3:45 PM CST

"I'm not afraid of putting things on top of other things."
You sure aren't. Especially if it means putting yourself on the bottom. As we've been telling you movement conservatives for years: don't hold us down to your low standards.
Back when you had principles you could recognize that there was more to the US than striking out at those who cause us fear. You've totally succumbed to fear.
It's a pity.
So the rest of us will be strong and brave. And perhaps you'll remember what that was like.