Hello, bkelly.
quote:
Human nature is that you will be lumped in with all Christians who are in turn lumped in with Pat Robertson.
Oh dear! this is not true at all!
It may or may not be a natural part of the human condition to stereotype, but the exact stereotypes will depend on the actual culture as well as the personal experiences of the individual.
Now it was true that at one time
I stereotyped Christianity as the Pat Robertson type, but that was because at that time my only experience was with the Pat Robertson type of Christians.
However, that is a result of my own experiences. I do not believe that, in general, it is "natural" to lump all Christians with Pat Robertson. Seeing how Pope John Paul II got far more air time on TV (at least the TV I was watching) it is just as "natural" to lump all Christians as Catholic, which are very different. Or, seeing how I once dated a woman who had close relatives who were Quakers (and left wing religious writers often write in the left wing periodicals I read) I could just as easily lump Christians in with the Quakers.
"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt