It seems to me that some people pick and choose which bits they want. I guess that's up to them.

Les, we cross-posted.

What I think is more accurate for the vast majority of believers (of ANY belief system) is that on the level of actually living their lives, what people tend to do is try to live the parts they understand, one moment of life at a time; living then tends to enlarge what one feels one understands.

Answering an individual with a strategy aimed at a group is not going to be very accurate to the spot an individual might actually be able to hear you. In my experience what works better than arguing, in dealing with anyone's rigidity, is asking them questions. If you engage their thinking, at a spot where they can actually think flexibly if invited to do so without feeling attacked, you'd be surprised how even the most fundamentalist belief system suddenly opens up to light. But that takes relationship.

~Susan