"But what about the moderates?"

[xpastor]

I think moderates are the worst of the lot. They claim to really believe in God, but feel they have the authority to ignore his direct instructions with impunity.

I think you are being too harsh on the moderates. I can't speak with authority on Muslim moderates, but I have plenty of experience with Christians.

The ordinary pew warmers in a moderate church don't really read the Bible; they just get their attention directed to the warm fuzzy passages. In fact, this is largely true even in denominations like my old one where the inerrancy of Scripture is formally accepted but they are trying to incorporate modern values. In denominations like my old one, the clergy have a choice between suspending rational thought or developing a massive case of cognitive dissonance.

The clergy in moderate (liberal) denominations have all sorts of ways of getting around the literal meaning of the evil passages, usually something about progressive revelation or God having to work through fallible human beings. I don't buy it of course, and I still think they are giving cover to the raving fundies by claiming the Bible in some sense contains the word of God.

The important point is that moderates are generally nice people with progressive views. I've said before, and I will repeat: If some powerful genie offered me a choice between converting all the fundamentalists to moderate religion or converting all the moderate religionists to atheism, I would choose the frst option in a heartbeat.