What's wrong with this world?

[Xantar]

I think the point is that some religious people (note here that I used the word "some") use the Bible to support their political positions by quoting single passages out of context. Just because some atheists or non-Christians don't understand how to interpret the religion doesn't mean that many actual Christians know that any better. Take your point about interpretation being a good thing and how the Bible is something meant to be interpreted. Plenty of Christians in the world (and right here in the United States) would reject that point of view utterly.

But the thing is if you use the Bible quoted out of context to try to prove to people that Christianity is against affirmative action (for example), then it must also be valid to quote Psalms to exhort everyone to dash their babies on the rocks. Obviously, both positions are absurd, but one of them is actually taken seriously by some people.

By the way, what do I hate? Let's see now...

I hate people who don't read or can't be bothered to read carefully (come to think of it, that applies to a lot of people in this thread).

I hate people who can't ever think of any way to contribute to the public discourse except by shouting at the other side, calling them stupid and telling them to shut up (hey...ditto!).

Really now, this is pretty sad. Whenever people complain about arguments on this forum, my reaction is usually to say, "Oh no! People are disagreeing!!! Get over it." But if this is a typical political discussion, I think they have a point. You just keep running around in circles, never getting anywhere. I wonder how you expect anyone to respect your positions this way.

Let me just put out a thought for you: The Strangler and I agree on pretty much nothing. Gun control, taxes, the war in Iraq, Bush or Kerry, Xbox or GameCube, Swarthmore or Ursinus....we take pretty much opposite sides on it all. But you'll never find either of us calling each other stupid or saying that the other needs to shut up now before making a greater fool of himself. And I think that if we ever met, we'd get along pretty well.

I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that we're both over 20...