Thursday, August 09, 2007

How Many Angels on the Head of a Pin Department

This woman, Linda Seger, is so going to hell. She's author of "Jesus Rode a Donkey: Why the Republicans Don't Have a Corner on Christ," which would alone certainly get her in the door of Hades. But she's also posted this discussion about the different ways of thinking common to "liberal" and "conservative" Christians.

From which this is quoted for your edification:
I have found more hypocrisy and self-righteousness among Conservatives than among Progressive/Liberals. Since belief is so strong, they sometimes are not reflective and introspective, pointing their fingers at others rather than looking at their own behavior. They speak more about the Letter of the Law than about the Spirit of the Law. There is much more boxing in of ideas, as if everything has to have a clear boundary and a Scripture passage to back it up, even though their Scriptural choices are often very selective, as are everyone's. As a result, their clear and absolute boundaries can make them judgmental of others which can cause deep psychological and spiritual wounds. I have spoken to so many wounded ex-Catholics, ex-Baptists, ex-Fundamentalists, but don't recall speaking to a wounded Methodist or Lutheran or Presbyterian who feel freer to change churches if one doesn't suit. So many wounded Christians simply leave the Church, since they don't feel they have choices. It's one way or no way. I find far less of this from Mainstream and more Liberal Churches, where we are encouraged to question, to struggle with figuring out our relationship with God, and where it's just fine to change denominations, to experiment, to search.
True enough, in our Texas hometown, the Methodists were generous, patient people who held Friday night dances for teenagers in their church basement, while the local Baptists gnashed their teeth. None of those Methodists that we're aware of ever propositioned a plainclothes detective in the men's room of the local Texaco.

But still. Arguments based on such comparisons are not arguments that any sane person hopes to win.

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