Understood, but, these days, this is more the norm than not. Believing otherwise is just kidding yourself.

I highly doubt that Jen would show up on a church lawn or a Christian retreat grabbing people or even just peacefully pushing her agenda. I highly doubt that.

You would be correct. I actually brought that up to one of the more "enthusiastic" protestors and he said he wouldn't mind, nor find it disrespectful for someone to do just that. He said he has encountered that before. I shook my head...if someoen doesn't find it disrespectful that it's done to them they don't find it disrespectful to do it to others.

Jen

I know that this is a hair off of the topic but in all the Pro-Life rallies that I attended in Washington (when I was growing up Catholic, that is) I don't think that a rally ever ended that didn't have some type of violence attached to it (from the opposition, of course). These rallys can get very ugly. I don't care if it's for religion, politics-anything. People can just be downright ugly when they are angry.

Which is sick.

Tying that in with Jen's situation, we, as Christians, let alone human beings, should not be grabbing anyone. Our job, as Christians, is to love.

Do I hope Jen seeks Jesus as a spiritual leader someday? Yes. Does she now? No idea. That said, on judgement day, if Jen is as clean every day as she is here, I have a hard time believing Jesus Christ is condemning her.

Jesus is love. Jen is obviously love.

As tempting as it is to believe that, I can't quite make that leap. Human behavior, within a given arena, is always a continuum. Radical fundamentalist Christians are just that, radical. Gather enough Christians together and you're bound to find a few loons in the lot. The Net makes it easier to make such a "gathering", even if only in a virtual sense, so the looney fringe is that much more visible on a regular basis. But then so are those few souls at the other end of the spectrum who are compelled, by the very same religion, to behave in a markedly different and very loving way. In between are the large number who, to one degree or another, could be steered in either direction. They can be steered by appealing to their fears and by exploiting their ignorance, or they can be steered by appealing to what I like to think of as their "higher selves", their sense of justice and their desire for englightenment. The latter method yields people with a deep and abiding faith, one that is neither threatened nor prideful in the presence of other views. The former leads to more fear and hatred, and their frequently undesirable sequelae.

A former next-door neighbor of ours was perhaps the most devout Christian I have ever known, but to look at her or her home you wouldn't know it. There were almost none of the ostentatious behaviors or trappings that some "believers" seem to find so requisite to "living" their beliefs (I include believers of all religions here). Instead, "Linda" simply and truly "lived" her beliefs, working as a hospital chaplain and making frequent trips to South America with her medical colleagues to ease the suffering of those in need. Despite the fact that she was an Episcopal priest, she was completely unthreatened by, and ever eager to find commonality with us, her Wiccan neighbors. She was educated and well-read, so I must attribute at least part of her delightful ease to having done her homework; intellectually, philosophically, and spiritually. No ignorance - no fear. No fear - no hatred.

I mention "Linda" only to draw the contrast between her behavior and that of the militant fundies who are so frightened, and who feel such a need to force others to share their beliefs, that they will murder doctors, try to enact laws that hurt people who are different but who pose no threat whatsoever to anyone, or bully and frighten children into professing allegiance to this or that version of "the truth". These fearful and ignorant people are the relative few on one end of the spectrum. They will believe what they choose to believe, as do we all. Let those of us who would lay claim to any particular faith recognize this, that faith is always a choice. Let us also do what we can to cast those who would force their faith on others in as sharp a relief as possible, making them stand out as the relative few who just don't "get it".