Quote Originally Posted by Kentriv View Post
Wow, you two have been up for a while.

Michael was absolutely correct, I didn't feel at all that you had implied the practice might be bigoted. It is just that about every time I have explained it in the past, people have felt that is was bigoted. People in the US are very sensitive about religion. No body wants to hear about your beliefs or to tell you about their beliefs.
Im not sure why the US is like this, but I have heard Europe is very different, and much more open about such things. Is Australia similar, James?
Well, it's hard to say Mat. It depends who you hang out with. I'd like to think that we are generally a quite religiously tolerant country - all religions, not just Christianity - as, for a small country, we are quite culturally diverse. Of course, we started (western) life as a predominantly Christian society - don't know what the mix is now.

However, the Christian right over here is, in the main, treated with suspicion and dare I say a bit of contempt - "we don't mind if people have their views, just don't shove them down our throats". Unfortunately, as I understand it, a lot of the Christian right movements are evangelical in Australia, so they tend to get in people's faces a bit, and the whole thing gets a bad wrap. So it's probably a bit like the US in that respect.

As an example, I was brought up strongly Anglican (Episcopalian - is that the right term in the US?). I even strongly considered joining the church as a minister when I left high school. However, my life took a different turn (another story for another time). Anyway, my mother is still heavly involved in our local church. About 5 years ago a new group of people began going to her church - they spoke in tongues and rolled around on the floor a bit etc, and overnight about half the congregation stopped going. The more "traditional" christians like their religion formal, organised, and prescribed over here...

Sorry, now I'm rambling on too - "JET LAG SUCKS!"

James.