Re: how did the extreme religious right get that way?
Some religions captured some people (careful wording, there) because these individuals are not able to cope with a world where there are questions that have no answers...such as "what is death and why?" Therefore, fear drove these individuals into the arms of people who provided an answer. The fact that the latter were snake oil salesmen didn't land with the former, as they were so relieved to have an answer to their question.
What happens after death? I have absolutely no idea...but I can sail along merrily with that. I have a religion and its teachings provide me with a variety of possibilities, but proof? No. There is no proof. (I have a personal philosophy that explains why there is no proof, but that one is my own, not something provided by a "religion," organized or otherwise.)
One of the more fascinating aspects of life that few people know about is the small, nasty war going on between various pagan groups. In what is no doubt some ironic revenge for the Christians boosting the pagan holidays that the pagans have adopted the delightful "Our version of paganism is RIGHT and your version of paganism is WRONG" that drops jaws among the majority of pagans. Just as, I'm comfortably certain, the loud, nasty calls of the Evangelicals causes most christians to go "oh, for fuck's sake, shut up already" or a version thereof. (Lower case "c" on "christians" deliberate, to express what I call "the ones that paid attention to the teachings of Christ," separating them from the loud, angry, terroristic money-grubbers.)
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10-28-2005
Hybrid Mode
