The direction this thread has taken troubles me deeply.

Ya know, I don't like the idea of the "litmus test" from liberals any more than liberals have liked the right-wing litmus tests imposed by rigid religious agendas. IMO how people actually tick is that we think what we think and do what we do (on any given day), whatever is in line with what we can understand at that moment in time. My experience from years of working intimately with people is that (whatever we may say about it) we tend to grow and mature over time and see things differently.

My interest is not so much in where any individual is on any given day. It's more in seeing what direction they are moving in, or whether they are moving at all. It's far more productive, IMO, to encourage movement than it is to judge what point someone is at in one particular moment. It certainly causes a lot less defensiveness.

If I believe something strongly, the last thing I want to do is move someone farther into their opposing corner just because I jumped all over their ass and they dug in their heels!

In addition to not liking a litmus test for people's positions, I don't like one for people's activism. I might agree with someone's position, and strongly, but that does not mean I think their resulting activism is the way for me to go. I might have different gifts to offer toward the goal, even if I agree on the goal. I might not have the resources (inner or outer/tangible) to have the same kind or level of involvement. I might be working hard in another area, on another front, and I might have counted the cost and found that I needed to maintain THAT priority.

So to exhort people is a fine thing, but IMO to demand particular responses is wrong AND not accurate to how people actually become moved toward effective action.

YMMV. But by God, MY mileage might vary from yours, too. MMMV.

~Susan