KMO wrote:
>The success of Unitarian Universalism, the examples of the Prisoner's
>Dilemma, the Civil Rights Movement, and Ghandi's campaign for Indian
>independence are all as important to me in my approach to navigating
>what has become a very strange trip as are the concepts of differential
>selection, and selfish memes. The ability of UU to succeed with it's
>gentle approach in a social climate of hard-driving competitive
>strategies is not that mysterious to me. Some people are turned off by
>aggressive proselytizing, intolerance, and rigid dogma but still have
>use for the community of a church. There's a market for being gentle in
>an environment of brutality. It may be a nich market, but that's okay.
>It works for me, and, appearently, it works for a lot of other people
>too.
>
>If you have read this far, I thank you for your indulgence.
No problem, the pleasure was mine. In fact, I do know a number of Christians (my friends) or others who have some sort of 'faith', but are turned off by religion. They tend to go their own way, choosing an individual religious path that's similar to that of the Unitarians, and if they joined any 'community', that would probably be it. Having the frequent encounters with outrageous Bible-quoting preachers that I do, and observing the harmful effects the 'pious' cause, it's easy to become jaded and forget that not all believers are cut-throat Jesus-freaks in an iron mask, but it is possible to be a caring, thinking, benevolent Christian.
Too bad this "gentle" approach doesn't work for the media and the entertainment biz.
~kjs