"Again, Jim, your generalizations are too broad to discuss. "
And again Joe, that is the religion we were taught at school.
I would be happy to learn that, now religion is in retreat and open to examination things may be different, but that is what formed the christian mind right up to my generation.
It's a little like capital punishment - now largely accepted as an evil of the past but somewhat too late to undo the damage already done.
"Here's why, Jim. You and Steve Shaw and others have created a caricature of religion,"
It really isn't a caricature - that is the religion that formed world though right up to the present day.
Can't speak for the others but my understanding of religion didn't come as an outsider looking in, but as someone brought in the midst of it.
I couldn't begin to claim to know what happen in America, but I do know first hand of how it ws in largely Catholic Liverpool and still is in Holy Ireland, where the word of the priest was the law, never mind god, though things are rapidly changing here.
By the very terms used, God reigned supreme and Mary was, and still is the Queen of Heaven and you questioned that in peril of your eternal soul.
You can still see this in the older, more conservative clergy who once ruled supreme.
Your type of liberal Christianity was once stamped on nearly as firmly as my atheism.
"And I would really like to more deeply explore the mystery of the missing noses on Egyptian statues."
More deeply than what Joe? - we were told what we were told and I've read what I've read - perhaps you might like to suggest some specific reading material.
Thank you for the comparison to Donald Trump, accepted in the spirit is was offered, I'm sure (thought we were under orders to stop name-calling - ah well!!)
I really have put my cas as clearly as I can without abuse and can only hope that to be reciprocated.
Jim Carroll