10-29-2009, 07:16 PM
Quote:I'm looking at places like Czech Republic, Denmark, heck, Scandinavia. Even the nations you have mentioned as strong holds have experienced vast declines in church attendance.There's a yawning gap between "people have stopped caring enough to bother going to church" and "intolerance is rising against Christians." To my mind, the first means tolerance is increasing, to the point where the traditional State Religion is finally giving way to general live-and-let-live. Religion becomes a personal question, rather than a necessary social commitment. As far as I'm concerned, the second is a fantasy nurtured by reactionaries pining for a lost golden age of near-universal religiosity, and threatened by the idea that the next generations might move away from the treasured beliefs of their ancestors.
-Jester