How can Christians not admit Christianity is all a pile of garbage when ...?

[Minimalist]

I think it's kind of ridiculous to read a book of stories and poetry as a constitution for enforcing morality, but that's just me.

Why are you a Christian then if you think the Bible is just stories and poetry?

Well, regardless if you're a Christian or not, the Bible just is a book full of stories and poetry (well, and some letters in the last part). Those are just the genres the books of the Bible fall under. I think the real difference is whether you decide to use those stories as something to inform your moral, metaphysical, and epistemological imagination, or try and use them as a literal book of laws to be enforced modernistically and uncritically upon everyone.

I see it as the difference between using a great work of literature to inspire your own art, and using it to practice diagramming sentences. It's the same words either way, but if you pin them down you lose the fecundity of the language.

A great post, coffee....the fundies will hate you for it... but that really takes so little, doesn't it?

I agree with you. Every year I attend a performance of Handel's Messiah not because I think the story is anything but bullshit but because Handel believed it and was inspired to compose one of the greatest works in western music. Really one has only to look at the cathedrals of Europe to understand the inspirational effect - not to mention the money wasted - because of religion.

We can dream of the money being used for more productive purposes but men being men they would have either started even more wars or given tax breaks to their rich pals....just like now. In either case, we would have fewer magnificent buildings and much less marvelous music.