Reply #1: Don't hold your breath for the moderates to confront the fundies [View All]

[moggie]

Religious moderates, at least US moderates, need the fundies. Europe shows what can happen when the fire and brimstone goes out of religion: it dwindles to a mildly eccentric hobby for a minority, ignored (or regarded with amusement) by the rest of the population. The moderates want religion to remain a major force in American life, and they know that, ultimately, the fundies provide the driving force for that.

Secondly, I suspect that a lot of moderates privately believe that fundies are better, or at least more knowledgeable, Christians than themselves. Many Christians' knowledge of the bible is surprisingly shallow; they feel able to argue with atheists about the bible, because they don't expect us to know it, but going up against someone who regards it as the literal word of God in its entirety risks exposing their poor grasp of the book they claim to love and respect.