I guess what gets my passions up in discussions like this (and makes me say things a little more harshly than I'd like to), is that sometimes I feel that people here who look down on me because I profess a religious belief - that they view what I say because of their conception of me as a religious person, rather than simply on the merits of what I have to say.

I have worked all my life to try to be open to all perspectives, and I think that has given me a richer life. I admit that sometimes I have trouble respecting people who speak from a conservative viewpoint - but maybe I really don't. When I come across conservative intellectuals who speak from a rational basis rather than an ideological one, I listen. So maybe it's not conservatives I have trouble tolerating - it's ideologues of all ilks.

-Joe-