In the US, christianity IS the mainstream, and that’s what you hear when most Americans speak. Perhaps it’s only the extremists who claim that their extremist beliefs are those of their religions, while normal people state their beliefs as their own.

(Of course, atheism is also mainstream. Pretty much everyone is an atheist for some god…)

http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs2/1559550_o.gif

well said.

It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you stake your claim on the religion v. science debate in the secular and non-scientific arena. We are fallible. This is one of the few points that religion and science both readily concede. If one moves the argument to a laboratory or a sanctuary there is an inherent correct answer to which system one uses to arrive at the truth.

I have a preference. You, reader, have yours. The world is much more than sanctuary or laboratory.

yeah, i have a lot of issues with how those sorts of personal beliefs start to bleed into public policy too. The “children of rape are a gift from God” thing is incredibly disturbing, and it’s unfortunate that the more rational representatives of Christianity don’t speak out more (or maybe they do, they just get shushed by the media).

What should be troubling to you and anyone of sound mind is that those kinds of views are becoming prevalent in public policy and those who would craft them. The fact that we even have any media coverage of what religion a candidate has. The fact that we have politicians saying things like children of rape are gift from god is a serious problem. And lastly the fact that moderate people aren’t totally disgusted by that is also a huge problem.

I personally disagree with religions of all stripes. I don’t go around telling people they’re wrong; they’re allowed to think what they want, but I have a serious problem when it invades rational thinking and policy. Unfortunately it seems like there’s a lot of even liberal christians who stand by and don’t condemn zealots like Anderson because of the faith.