Reply #10: not every religious person is a dominionist or a paranoid schizo

[earthlover]

Hmm...I guess if someone complains that religious people are shunned for expressing religion....then you are called a dominionist or paranoid...or maybe worse! Good illustration of what the author was talking about!!!

Would it be so hard to comprehend that there are religious liberals out there? That not all religious people are Falwell types or dominionists? That there are religious people who are upset at the excesses of the religious right who have turned Jesus' message upside down? That separation of church and state is a belief supported by some Christians? That religious people have opposed war, fought the battles of the civil rights movement, fought for social justice?

There is a lot of anti-religious bigotry out there. Painting all religious people with the same brush, looking down on them, stereotyping them, and reacting to them on this basis--all in all, not a lot different from how bigots have treated blacks, and other minority groups for ages.

It is no longer politically acceptable to stereotype people on the basis of race, sex, etc. However, it seems to be quite alright to stereotype religious people.

There are people within the religious community who are trying to present a liberal alternative to the religious right. Unfortunately, when agnostics attack religious people as if they are all Falwell types, this hurts instead of helps, it reinforces the misinformed idea that the right wing is what Christianity is all about. This makes it all the harder for the religious left to find legitimacy.