yet i don't sense any common ground that's well articulated. put the segments together and there's a whole orange of progressivism here.

the need for aggression mystifies me...  

i am grateful to you and the commenters for the attention to details i had not thought of, but we need unity to be effective, and hope we realise all these opinions can meet in the middle quite unpolemically if we remember what our common goals are, instead of playing into the PTB's hands by harping on our differences.

it seems that the mere mention of religion gets too many hackles up to stay civil, and that's not only sad but unnecessary, as without diversity-in-unity we fail against the wingnut idiocracy, every time.

their solidarity unites fine under 'greed-for-profit'... in hatred of minorities and the fomentation of division between us.

gays, jews, rom, women, immigrants, believers. why is it so easy to set us at each others' throats?

ET is a magnificent microcosm.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

It is very disturbing to see that this is the default religious education for you.

ha, that's the tip of the iceberg. what's far more disturbing is seeing chaplains preparing soldiers to get ready to 'do their duty' on the battlefield, or seeing how much suffering the catholics cause with their blockheaded refusal to acknowledge birth control, condemning women to AIDS and millions to misery.

add the centuries of false god-endorsed crusades and inquisitions and surely it becomes obvious why there are so many who come out in hives at the very idea of religion.

and thankfully a few who acknowledge how important the different churches have been in the anti-nuke movement, amongst other important issues like racial equality.

in the face of what we are staring down right now we need everyone we can get pulling for a better world, the more the merrier. it makes baby jesus cry to see how much friction and dissent are hardwired into our quarrelsome DNA.

i know because i deal with it in my own self every day, and others on this blog have seen me act out around religious/spiritual issues, so i am preaching above all to myself here!

...actually i hope i am not preaching at all, just pointing out the obvious.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

Unfortunately, most religious people I knew were like that (and I emphasize I mean 'normal' people; I had very little to do with pastors and priests). Stressing that humans have souls while other animals lack them was a particular point of confrontation I remember from childhood.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}