Religious "moderates" and atheists

[Ryantology]

Neither do moderate religious types seem to have a problem condemning extremist religious ideologies and actions. Or have I missed the part where Westboro Baptist Church, the Ku Klux Klan and wholesale Biblical literalism, fundamentalism and/or Presuppositionalism has become predominantly celebrated in the Christian world?

This is an interesting thing, because I don't think it's quite so simple as this.

Do the Westboro Baptists have mainstream acceptance among mainstream Christians? No. Do their actions? Not for the most part. But, what about the driving force behind the WBC, a hatred of gays and homosexuality? That sort of thing has a great deal of acceptance among mainstream Christians.

The KKK? Most Christians would not want crosses burned on black people's front yards, but the racism which underlies the Klan's philosophy is still common and popular in large parts of White Christian America.

Biblical literalism? Not the whole thing, but certainly mainstreamers get literal when they feel like doing so. They aren't fundamentalists, but they'll vote for, and send money to, people who are (and how many fundies could sustain themselves otherwise?).

Mainstream Christians will condemn groups of people who are hateful and extreme, but the problem for too many of these mainstream Christians is the frankness of the hateful behavior, rather than the hate itself. It's like when the GOP shied away from Todd "Legitimate Rape" Akin a couple of years ago. It's not because they disagreed with the message of legitimate rape, but because you're supposed to be smart enough to keep it to yourself.