I think I'm starting to understand why my mom seems more conservative and less tolerant now than she did when I was growing up. Partly it's because she's older, yes, and partly it's that I've gotten way more liberal since leaving rural Alabama behind and going to live among the Yankees, Brits, and Left Coasters. But I do think she really has changed, and largely because our part of Alabama, while still as red-state and Bible Belt as can be in most ways, really has gotten a lot more secular and a lot more diverse WRT religions and lifestyles over the past 20 years. While she doesn't buy into the notion that Christians are horribly persecuted, and she and my dad considered Roy Moore an embarrassment to the state, she doesn't quite know what to do with all this change. Things like my Wiccan cousin or seeing women in Muslim headcoverings right there in Birmingham freak her right out in a way I have a hard time wrapping my urban coastal-dwelling brain around.

Should be interesting to see how it plays out over the next few decades, though. IME, Christians of the same theological bent who live smack-dab in the buckle of the Bible Belt get more bent out of shape about t insert bogeyman of choice here than Christians who are equally conservative theologically but live in places like Philly or Seattle where they actually meet the bogeyfolk and therefore aren't freaked out by the mere existence of different faiths and lifestyles.

Not sure what my point is, just rambling a bit...

I just found my new diety. Sam Wainwright is our Pope.

"Passing of the Peace" is replaced with "Passing of the SAA-LUTE!!!"

Of course, since the schism between the Buckis and the Royites, there's been tension.

Yowtch. The Pale Hose are crushing the Bosox.

t whimper

Considering that Boston doesn't have a bullpen, they may already be doomed in this series.

Don't count us out yet.

Those Christians who have helped push the GOP bandwagon up the hill will soon find themselves going off the cliff with it.

Yet another thing that baffles me, as many of the Christians who have pushed the Religious Right to prominance would tell you in a heartbeat that other politicians are pandering to get votes.

Why they think that politicians who say the nice religious palatives are genuine and on the level is beyond me.

Because they have THE FAITH in them!!

Who disowned her brothers, and sent back family pictures with herself cut out of them because her brothers just were not Christian enough to count (where Christian = Hyperconservative Southern Baptist).

Are we related? Because this sounds like my sister. She hasn't actually disowned her siblings. Yet.

Yowtch. The Pale Hose are crushing the Bosox.

WooHoo!!!

A recent competition to find the funniest religious joke decided on this

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump. I ran over and said: "Stop. Don't do it."

"Why shouldn't I?" he asked.

"Well, there's so much to live for!"

"Like what?"

"Are you religious?"

He said, "Yes."

I said, "Me too. Are you Christian or Buddhist?"

"Christian."

"Me too. Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

"Protestant."

"Me too. Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"

"Baptist."

"Wow. Me too. Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

"Baptist Church of God."

"Me too. Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God."

"Me too. Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"

He said: "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915."

I said: "Die, heretic scum," and pushed him off.

The rest of the winners can be found here [link]

Why they think that politicians who say the nice religious palatives are genuine and on the level is beyond me.

Easy. I believe X. Furthermore, like Susan's mom, or my in-laws, or lots of others of their ilk, everyone around me believes X and it's quite obvious to me that all reasonable people must believe X. A politician who believes X is quite reasonable, whereas that guy over there couldn't possibly really think Y....

The same applies to all kinds of Xes -- and Susan, I do think you're on to something with the homogeneous population part.

continues with Hee-Haw, The Donkey God

Hee-Haw loves me this I know! For his neighing tells me so! Big ears and teeth to him belong! I feed him corn and he is strong!

Sure. I'm more comfortable around people who are like me. The more different kinds of people I'm exposed to, the more I know the ways in which they are just like me. The fewer different kinds of people I'm exposed to, the more worried I get about the people not like me, because who knows what those people might do?