Cheaper to buy the Afghan Opium Crop?

[Taem]

It's not the exaggeration, not hardly, it was the generalization which elicited my response in the first place. You seem to have fallen for the meme that religious = conservative. Go back thirty five years. The greater bulk of Americans were "religious" then as well, but dope smoking ran rampant, and was an accepted societal norm, albeit illegal, to a far greater extent than today.

[. . .]

Then let's look at some of my local Catholic friends. They have faith. They tend to vote conservative. They are vehemently opposed to the death penalty, to the point of siding with the liberal opponents of the death penalty. Oversimplification, perhaps, this alleged mapping between faith and politics? Likewise, Christians in the anti war movement: how to you resolve that with your correlation? Is it due to painting, as I suggested earlier, with too broad a brush?

[. . .]

If you assume that All Christians are the Same drones, sure. I note that Christians have the same gift as other religions, in bickering about who is right within that box.

Yikes! That one was extremely obvious. I fear your assessment of me was actually warranted, because I was so engrossed in my views of the conservative Christian, that I couldn't see past that issue even when you painted the picture for me... with a big brush I might add. Perhaps I know too many conservative Christians who do a wide variety of things that irk me (and politicians), that I took out my ire against the whole religion with some untrue comparisons. I feel kind of foolish now however, because you were right, and I was being a bigot. I was throwing all Christians into a stew and assuming they all believed in the same thing, when I myself know better. For someone who prides himself on being open to suggestions and different points of view, and is loathe to listen too fanatical pastors spewing their rhetoric, I was acting just as bad. An interesting experience this was, to be sure; a lesson well learned.

How you intend to account for that is of interest to me.

Put another way: Christians and Muslims in America, Bhuddists and Jews, Hindi and Wiccans, are all voters to. Who are you (or anyone) to tell them they can't participate, or can't vote their conscience?

I was preaching to the politician that caters to the conservative Christian, but my view was in error (see above).

[kandrathe]

Perhaps I know too many conservative Christians who do a wide variety of things that irk me (and politicians), that I took out my ire against the whole religion with some untrue comparisons.

Christianity can be weird, especially in California. My world view was rocked about 15 years ago when I attended one of the Dalai Lama's events here locally. If only Christianity had a leader that so conveyed the message of compassion, open-mindedness and peace. Most people who claim to be "Christian" use it as either a shield or a sword, and they miss the major theme. In other words, their karma was run over by their dogma.