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Originally Posted by Emergency Exit
I think you're thinking of more extremist fundamentalist Christianity. Remember, what you hear and see in the news is far different from the mainstream. News about how some guy goes to church every Sunday, loves his Muslim neighbor as much as himself and gives regularly to charity isn't going to sell. Just keep in mind that on the news you're always hearing the more extremist version of a belief system whether it be Christianity, Islam, conservatism or liberalism. It's always the more extremist version. I'm not saying there aren't people like that that exist. There just aren't as many of them as you think. They're the ones that are always going around shouting about all the wrong in the world so you miss all the mainstream, moderate people who don't really need to say anything because they're complacent.
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I think you make some excellent points here. I was a protestant evangelical for many years, and I knew (and still know) some very good people in quite a few different denominations, including Catholics. I think that these folks really do not get enough attention at all. We are all human. Instead, they are slotted into the same box as Falwell and the rest, which is too bad for those who are actually trying to live a good life and imitate Christ. Some Christians deserve a very bad rap. Many others do not.
That said, I have stopped calling myself a Christian because I was no longer walking the walk, and I did not want to be considered a hypocrite. I was at the point where it was no longer real for me, and to go on pretending that I was still a part of the club, even as a "sinner," would have been disingenuous.
Anyway, I want to call attention to your second good point: that most of the moderates you mention are complacent. This is what I find to be the most interesting dynamic of American Christianity. What is with the "silent majority?" Are they so subdivided into their denominations and churches and leaders that they cannot come together and overcome their noisy, irksome brethren?