I try to base my opinions on reason. But I understand that there are people out there who don’t like reason when it conflicts with their prejudices (see: The Maximum Leader on gay marriage). I understand that there are Christians out there who use our Lord to advance their hate-mongering agenda.

Note to hate-mongering fundamentalists: STOP HIJACKING MY RELIGION! What part of “Love thy neighbor” don’t you understand? Do you think your condemnatory tactics and attempt to impose a Christian character on public institutions saves souls? Shut the Frick up! (I had to clean up that last bit since I was appealing on religious grounds)

One wonders why fundamentalists need to demonize other groups. Is it so they can feel better about their sad lives? Try learning to think independently and you may be able to get better jobs and have better inter-personal relationships. Can’t land a good job in the science sector? Could it be that your blind adherence to an errant Creationist doctrine keeps you from understanding the Lord’s creation? Read history, my friends. Every single time the church has put itself in opposition to science (remember Galileo?) the church has lost. And that’s not because God was wrong - oh no - it was because some knuckleheads in positions of authority were a-feared of modernity and tried to use religion to suppress inquiry.

The whole point of the Protestant Reformation was that people should read the Bible and apply their individual reason to the text. But is seems that far to many fundamentalist protestants have turned off their individual reasoning skills and have allowed their preachers to TELL them what to think.

Independent thought is one of the neat things that has evolved out of Christianity. I tend (and this is not a reason-based position to reject it if you will) to believe that the kind of free, open society where we use individual thoughts and move beyond the historical prejudices of holy writ lead to a stronger, more just, and more economically vibrant society. Christians eventually moved away from sex discrimination, effectively doubling the brainpower of our population. Could that be why we have more technological innovation than Islamic society? Religions tend to promise success to their followers. Look around. A nation that is TOLERANTLY Christian is the most successful nation by almost any measure. If success is the mark of divine approval, perhaps a tolerant society is favored by the deity. I’m just sayin’.