Religious Tolerance (Americans) & Condescending Bigotry (NY Times)

Nietzsche is Dead ^ | 1 july 08 | foutsc

[foutsc]

The NY Times reports that we are a quite religiously tolerant nation, thank you. I'm proud of that. I am a religious man. I'll talk about it to anyone who asks, but I don't see any reason to be obnoxious about it.

Three points in the article caught my attention and serve to highlight the anti-religious bigotry that thrives at that intolerant leftist flagship known as the New York Times:

"The findings seem to undercut the conventional wisdom that the more religiously committed people are, the more intolerant they are, scholars who reviewed the survey said."

Hmmm... those smug religious nuts aren't so intolerant after all!

“It’s not that Americans don’t believe in anything,” said Michael Lindsay, assistant director of the Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life at Rice University. “It’s that we believe in everything. We aren’t religious purists or dogmatists.”

He's taking aggregate data gathered on a population sample and applying it to each person in the population, a big logic error. It doesn't follow that each individual has many beliefs because the aggregate group expresses many beliefs.

“It could be that people are not very well educated and they are not expressing mature theological points of view,” said Todd Johnson, director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Slam! You religious nuts don't even know what you believe!

Here's my two cents: Like most Americans, I interact with a religiously diverse community in my daily dealings, and have done so all my adult life. I'm too busy working out my own salvation to worry over the salvation of others. Besides, I'm not God: It would be very presumptuous of me to wield the Lord's winnowing fan. I know what I believe, and I believe it to be true, otherwise I would be looking for a new house of worship. This survey shows that other Americans share my attitude.

We Americans have learned to be tolerant because we are religiously diverse. The alternative would be chaos. We've learned how to disagree with one another without cutting off heads or blowing things up. We also know that our God is bigger than some buffoon who mocks him by crafting religious icons of elephant dung or submersing a crucifix in a jar of urine. I am not the flaming sword of God. Yes, I should defend my religious beliefs, and even share them when appropriate. But no, I don't need to kill anyone to make my point.

It's no surprise the NY Times just doesn't get it. They still think terrorism is all President Bush's fault. And after all, he's a religious nut.

[foutsc]

The NY Times is surprised that we religious kooks are tolerant of other religions. I guess they expect us all to be like certain religious people who cut off the heads of those who disagree with them.

[skeeter]

I guess they expect us all to be like certain religious people who cut off the heads of those who disagree with them.

...or as intolerant of opposing points of view as are the committed leftist ideologues at the NYTs.

[WayneS]

You’re beliefs must not be very strong if you’re not willing to kill others over them.

[Verginius Rufus]

Michael Lindsay's reasoning reminds me of a fallacy in my college logic textbook:

Major Premiss: American Indians are disappearing.
Minor Premiss: That man is an American Indian.
Conclusion: That man is disappearing.

[WayneS]

Sorry... YOUR beliefs... etc.

[WayneS]

That’s a good one.

[foutsc]

LOL! You’re right: My message would be so much effective if I just simply said: I KEEEL YOO! </Sarc

[Verginius Rufus]

Yes, that’s why I remember it so many years later—the book was written before “Native Americans” had been invented.

[ClearCase_guy]

“It could be that people are not very well educated and they are not expressing mature theological points of view,” said Todd Johnson, director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Unfortunately, there is something to this. Look at Oprah, and many other people like that. What does she believe? I'm not sure it's well-defined. She just thinks things are good, things work out, you should behave, be a good person, don't be afraid ...

This is not a mature theological point of view.

I don't expect everyone to be able to recite the Apostles' Creed, but some folks know what they believe and a lot of other folks are kind of winging it.

[foutsc]

Good point. Many people really don’t know what they believe or why. My point was to highlight how liberal elites just don’t understand religious people.

[ClearCase_guy]

I agree with that. As a point of interest, my brother used to take the view that the US was a theocracy, every bit as much as Iran. George W. Bush, you see, as an open Christian, was transgressing the Separation of Church and State (my brother was convinced that the Constitution talked about the Wall). Iran was no better and no worse than the US in this respect.

I don't know what my brother's current view on this is -- we talk about other things now.

[free_life]

Jesus died for the nations (all people) and I don’t care what the NYT or anyone else thinks. I will tell all people of Him.

[foutsc]

And thank God we live in a country where you can do that without fear of persecution.