I'm proud of my country (poll of world beliefs)

That's the way it is in the Rocky Mtn region too, Mike."Nobody judges and damns people to hell faster than the religious." I remember my grandmother saying something really close to this but it came home hard after 9-11 after some nice, holy church women informed all of us non-church goers that we were the cause of 9-11. All that horror was on our head. Those twats were serious and they were mad.Whoa Boy,,,, I just felt the welcome mat of religion that day, I'll tell you.There's a spiritual knowing that most the religious will never know. The religious people that I've met here (in the West) just seem to have this thing about 100% religious conformity. Step out of their boxed-in thinking and they're all over you in droves to correct your behavior.edit: oops. reply posted to DC instead of Mike. Sorry. (I don't have to go to hell for this too, do I?)[This message has been edited by Azure Moon, 02-26-2004][This message has been edited by Azure Moon, 02-26-2004]

DC85 wrote: I question how much impact is felt because the US is really a young country settled by immigrants. We don't have the thousands of years of foundational history like Europe. My ancestral roots go back to Ireland but the reality is... so what? I'm not there and I'm not going there.

wj wrote: Heck yeah, I could be way off, it was only a thought on a surprising discrepency I didn't expect in the poll. It would really be interesting to get a religion anthropoligist's opinion on this wouldn't it?edit: spelling. fumbly fingers lectured[This message has been edited by Azure Moon, 02-27-2004]

Congratulations on the upcoming addition to the DC85 family.I was born in the North but raised in the South, so I know what you mean. It took us a few years of planning, but we left the South and I never regretted it one bit.The vocal religious are everywhere in the US, but there really is a tremendous difference in attitude when you get out of the bible belt.One difference I noticed right off was: Where I was raised, the older church women felt it was their duty to be present in the court house every Tuesday. This was divorce court day. You don't find that up here. Another is the church gossips in the south will literally plug up isles in the store gossiping.. I've never seen that here either. Don't get me wrong, church gossips are some kind of standard thing I guess and we have them too, but up here, they gather at somebody's house or off by themselves. Not in public like in the South.There is a major difference in the kind and intensity of religious persecution once you get out of the bible belt. The big explosions like what I went through after 9-11 can happen anywhere.What will increase in the North is the door to door neighborhood canvassing from the Mormons and J. Witness. I was not prepared for that when we moved here. But putting up a good No Soliciting sign takes care of 98% of that, and those that ignore the sign anyway get to hear me make a call to the cops. And that will stop it.I'm with you though, until this thread started, I had no idea that the persecution from the vocal religious wasn't a world wide standard that was taught to all ministers and reverends. But this thread has got me real curious to find out why.

Phatboy wrote: Dadgum Phatboy, that's an awkward position to be in. But I'm sort of glad you are. I found a lot of hope in that statement.