Logic problem: The founding principles of the U.S. and Christianity.

[Ziploc Surprise]

When it comes to denominations within Christianity, Christians have become more tolerant.

While some would like to see you lynched you where you stand, you debauched sinner! Like the Westboro Witch:

They haven't become more tolerant at all! Just less powerful to act on their intolerance. But that can flip in an 'instant': remember how fast the Tea party gained traction? One skydaddy lover in the White House and you could have an honest to goodness inquisition on your hands.
Again.
(McCarthy)

The Westboro group is a bad example because it's only 70 or 80 assholes. It's true that society and government puts a choke hold on religious intolerance. I would say that the cause of the lightening up on intolerance did not come from the Bible or from the Christian interpretation of the Bible. Society in the West has become more tolerant and the mainstream denominations must adapt or die (die because they will not be able to attract a large enough congregation to sustain itself.) Case in point: The Westboro asshole church's congregation. It consists mostly of related individuals.

In other words societal norms, which have evolved to become more gentle and tolerant, have forced (or perhaps strongly encouraged) the Christians to reinterpret their Bible. Case in point (and there are a lot of these cases to choose from) at one time in the recent past the Bible was used to justify segregation. I recall watching a video in which two famous people (one a preacher and the other strom thurmam I believe) said that humans shouldn't break down the barriers that god had put up. The barriers they mentioned were segregation barriers. I didn't watch farther to see how they thought that god had put up the barriers in the first place, mind you I was drowning in bullshit by then and didn't want to listen farther.

Specifically when you look at relative changes you need to measure it in two ways. How it's changed relative to itself, and how it's changed relative to the external changes. In the case of religious changes it always seems to be several steps behind -insert cheeky humorous statement here-. For example churches are finally accepting divorcees, former drug addicts, people with long hair and those who wish to wear informal clothing. These changes happened in society When? Say about several decades ago? The church is as always lagging behind. Now for my nasty comment: Perhaps god isn't leading and guiding the church. Looks likes it's society which is evolving to become more gentle and tolerant.

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Thomas Jefferson quotes

"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes."

"The whole history of these books (i.e. the Gospels) is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are genuine. In the New Testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills."

Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him (i.e. Jesus) by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being."

.....and this is one of the founding fathers of the U.S. that many fundies try to slap a religion on so that they can say that he intentionally wanted the U.S. to be a Christian country. BTW Thomas Jefferson also created his own edited version of the bible. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible