Rant Mode. Some Religious People Are Really Good.

[FatAndFaithless]

I don't think you can call religion a 'past time'. Even the hypothetical subject in your meme could understand the difference between a videogame and real life. Religion makes claims about this reality not some facsimile of an invented one, so I wouldn't even call religion escapism at all. As much as I can chuckle at those kinds of gamers (or people that read fantasy novels 18 hours a day, etc), there's a huge difference between using something to escape reality, and creating an entire edifice of ideas and commandments and declarations and tenets to define the objective reality that we all share.

Well said. But in referring back to those "liberal" theists who see their belief in one category over here and the world of experience in another over there, is there any room for religion to thrive with a modicum of respect in between superstitious delusion and enlightened fantasy?

I honestly don't think so. Even the most watered-down mealy-mouthed theist (if you can get them to actually state what they believe) will hold some belief that is inherently irrational due to the fact that it deals in the supernatural. And though 'delusion' might be a bit strong of a word (perhaps they're simply 'mistaken'), I still think they'd belong to the former category that you mentioned.