I have yet to encounter a high level religous person who was NOT a bigot of some sort

[TZ]

You would think that this Warren thing would offend someone like me..an atheist, social progressive a woman and of Jewish heritage.
But it doesn't. And I think I know why. I expect them to be bigots..all of them.
Thats been my experience anyway. If its not the GLBT community, its women or its other religions (particularly Jewish) and of course no religous group likes atheists. Come on even the "liberal christians" have their own bigotries. I will never EVER forgive Jesse Jackson for his "hymietown" remark for one thing.
Year in and out I've encountered the various hatreds that the openly religous endorse. The sad part is the ones who believe they are tolerant but have just as many biases, even if they won't acknowledge it. Don't believe me? Its on display just about every day in R/T when the so call progressive believers (with a couple notable exceptions) talk about how atheists and agnostics have no place in that forum.
To tell the truth its the Jeremiah Wrights of this world that scare and alarm me more so than the Rick Warren.
Because to many of the left Jeremiah Wright is a hero..and that just makes me ill.
I think that by nature religion does encourage bigotry and hatred of anyone different. And that, more than anything is what makes me an atheist.

[trotsky]

1. Good point, sue.

Tribalism and religion have ALWAYS gone hand-in-hand. From tribalism grows the ugly shit - bigotry, judgmentalism, "holier than thou" attitudes. Is it worse on the right, where they embrace it, or on the left, where they still do it but deny, deny, deny? I dunno some days.

[Lost-in-FL]

2. To me it was expected.

Alliances between religion and political power has always occurred.

I am curious to know as to why Obama did what he did and I think it would be arrogant for him to think that he can convince anti-G&L (bigots) that they are in the wrong. I am afraid that this is only empowering bigots against the G&L community by showing that Obama is on their side.

[Duppers]

3. amen! and one who is capable of objectivity either.

They incapable of objectively discussing much of anything, any issue.

[Beetwasher]

4. I Dunno

I guess it depends on what you mean by "high level" and "religious". I've met some pretty cool, open-minded rabbi's and buddhists who I would not label as bigotted in any way.

[cynatnite]

5. I don't know...

I have a few friends who deeply believe God exists, but think the Bible is total bullshit and was written by men with political agendas. They don't buy into the RW's view on social issues such as homosexuality or abortion.

Then again, atheists represent what they fear most...that there is no god.

[Rob H.]

6. There's a local pastor of a Southern Baptist megachurch

who constantly goes on about the "evils of homosexuality," people who are pro-science (he continues to try to link Darwin to Hitler, so it's obvious to me he saw Ben Stein's documentary piece of shit propaganda film, Expelled), and how women need to "know their place." He's also one of those young Earth creationists. :eyes:

Oh, and despite all his moralizing, he tried to keep secret the fact that one of the male members of his "leadership team" molested his own son. He only went public with it when he found out the local TV stations were about to break the story, and when the church finally released a report on the incident months later they seemed more focused on how the pastor's "moral failing" had damaged the church's image!

[rrneck]

10. Which one was it? nt

[Rob H.]

12. Sorry about the delay in responding!

It's Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN.

[rrneck]

13. No worries! And yes, you confirmed my

suspicions. I used to live in Memphis. All the truck drivers used to call Bellvue "Fort God".

[and-justice-for-all]

7. I agree...nt

[HamdenRice]

8. That's sad. Not my experience at all.

I spent an afternoon with Archbishop Desmond Tutu back in the 80s visiting political prisoners. I've studied with Cornell West and John Boswell. I spent an afternoon as a go-fer for Alan Boesak. Had a sit down with Beyers Naude.

None of them had a bigoted bone in their bodies.

As for the comment about R/T, I don't think anyone says atheists have no place there; just that in a forum entitled, "Religion/Theology" it should be possible to have conversations in threads among people of faith about religion and theology from time to time without their beliefs being trashed -- in the same way that it should be possible for atheists to talk among themselves as well.

[roody]

9. Father Roy Bougeious, founder of School of the

Americas Watch, probably is not a bigot in any way, but I'm sure he is not considered "high-up." I like going to the yearly vigil because there are so many people of faith who are major peace activists and troublemakers there.

[hyphenate]

11. I've been told Universalist Unitarians

are pretty tolerant, though I don't know any. I know exactly what you mean about the lack of tolerance, but I would say that the evangelical/fundies have few peers in their hatred and their bigotry. This used to rankle me when my best friend turned into one--she would say something like how she didn't hate gays, but they weren't "loved" by god unless they remained celibate, because of some shit in the bible.

She turned from a reasonably intelligent woman into a sullen, gay-bashing, bitch, and that was close to the time that I wrote her off. We had gone camping, and at some point I called her and her idiot friends "fucking fundies" and she was offended--and I finally told her off. I never saw her again, as she headed off to Kentucky to marry a prison guard/evangelist/"christian," and I told her she was mentally unbalanced. She had been lying to me for awhile at that point, and married him the same day she went to Kentucky, after meeting him over the internet. She hadn't told anyone about that part, but evidently, she was willing to abandon everything she had back here in Massachusetts in order to go to Kentucky. If that isn't the action of a desperate soul, nothing is.