The Evangelical Problem

Jax Secura wrote: Star Forge,

I am a Christian and a patriot. I do not believe Creationism should be taught in public schools in the US or anywhere else even though it could be argued that is as much of a theory as Darwinism. In the USA it clearly crosses the line of separation of church and state and should be left alone.

Where I live, in Indiana, a bill proposing the teaching of Creationism had a stipulation to also include instruction in origin of life theories from multiple religions including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Scientology. Fortunately intelligence has prevailed here as this bill has been shelved. For how long? Who knows.

Public schools should focus on a curriculum of study that is based in and supported by facts.

Media is king in the US. The extremists would seem to be the commodity that drives viewership and the news media continues to put a camera in front of them. I am not one to rattle chains or get stirred up when I have an opposing point of view but I don't completely ignore it either. I take it for what it is as I see it and with matters of government I, when given the opportunity, vote. That, I can control.

I am an individual and I know me. I have never been a fan of labels. They have a tendency to create stereotypes that inaccurately place people under this umbrella or that one. In turn society has a tendency to judge all based on the acts of a few. It's not just in politics either. Commerce could be shoulder some blame as well. Targeted advertising subdivides consumers and business decisions are made based on the results. It can be a bit of an animal and society feeds it.

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." Tommy Lee Jones as Kay in "Men In Black."

I place my faith in the individual as opposed to the group. It is at the individual level where we can impart the most change. One by one within ourselves.

No one speaks for me even though they may likewise call themselves Christian. All the statistics they can churn out does not lump me into a demographic or percentile or speak on my behalf.

Apologies if I got a bit off topic.

Humbly,

Jax

I'm not arguing against people, just bad theology. You can't say that everyone, or even most people in Nazi Germany were bad, but you can justifiably call Nazism evil as a doctrine.

From what I've observed, there is one element among the fundi Christian's, republicans, and the media which puts them at the front every time... drama. Anything that excreets "drama", is what the media and its watchers seem to crave. This makes for a good story. Christian fundamentalism is a breeding ground of drama (god hates fags, the unsaved will burn in hell, etc etc). The right republicans (if that is the correct side I'm thinking of?) operate much upon scenarios around drama (war and terrorists). This is typical brainwashing (whether intentional or not) because many people seem to be attracted to where the action (drama) is and that has a huge influence in what goes down.

Christian fundamentalism and Islamic extremism will either destroy each other or the planet.

Proteus wrote: From what I've observed, there is one element among the fundi Christian's, republicans, and the media which puts them at the front every time... drama. Anything that excreets "drama", is what the media and its watchers seem to crave. This makes for a good story. Christian fundamentalism is a breeding ground of drama (god hates fags, the unsaved will burn in hell, etc etc). The right republicans (if that is the correct side I'm thinking of?) operate much upon scenarios around drama (war and terrorists). This is typical brainwashing (whether intentional or not) because many people seem to be attracted to where the action (drama) is and that has a huge influence in what goes down.

Oh, the Democrats love drama just as much, but theirs is about trying to find racism where it doesn't exist, or some other kind of discrimination. In the case of either party, it's just small, extremist sides on either side thriving off artificial controversy.