Reply #18: I completely disagree. It's not assumed...

[chefgirl]

Obviously, the RW Christians have done their job well if you truly believe that Christians like me are the minority, and the hate mongering, bigoted, exclusionary faux Christians of the RW are the "vast majority".

THAT is exactly the problem I'm trying to illuminate. Don't fall for the bullshit.

You are right that Christians like me are quiet and barely visible, but we are NOT the minority, trust me. The reason we are quiet and keep our beliefs to ourselves is because of humility and tolerance. To constantly have to be lumped in with the radical RW religio-fascists is just as intolerant of us as you claim we are of you.

I would suggest to you that, just as we've learned to mistrust just about everything the MSM tells us these days, anytime you hear some gasbag declaring what a fine,upstanding Christian he/she is, you take just a moment to remember that for everyone of them, there are probably 10 of us.

The problem with that, however, is that people only hear the loud mouthed, attention grabbing blowhards who would force their brand of Christianity on everyone else.

I would assume your wish is to have people relate to you as an individual, and not heap upon you their distaste for those 'militant' atheists they might have come in contact with. For the record, for those whose atheism is as much a radical religious concept as Christianity is for the fundies, I say, there is no real difference between the two, and those are the 'militant' atheists I'm referring to here.

As a Christian, I'm completely tolerant of whatever personal beliefs a person chooses to hold, as long as they are not actively trying to denigrate my beliefs or push theirs on me. I'm just asking for the same respect in return.

If I can recognize that there are different kinds of atheists in this world, couldn't you guys at least attempt to recognize the same of Christians?

-chef-