Cornfed Hick
Ancient Mariner
My advice: stick to the major cities. In Los Angeles, for example, you would be hard-pressed to find one in twenty people who believe in strict creationism. In Chicago, the same. In Kansas City, which is a fairly cosmopolitan place notwithstanding its location, the number may drop to one in five or ten, though you will find that most residents would consider themselves Christians, maybe even what you call "fundamentalist." Go about an hour west, though, to Topeka, Kansas (my hometown, and also that of the infamous Fred Phelps), and things change -- even more so in the rural areas around that town. People have views that I find totally irrational, and often offensive. Still, things have progressed quite a bit since I was in high school. Then, a student dare not come out of the closet lest he get the crap kicked out of him. Now, there are quite a few openly gay people in my former neighborhood. Indeed, it is partly because of American society's generally increasing acceptance of less "traditional" lifestyles that you have a reactionary, highly vocal element of society that tries to speak out against such lifestyles, usually for religious reasons. Yeah, they're nut-jobs, but that's part of what makes America great. More on that in a moment.
What is troubling about some of these comments is that some people seem to regard "fundamentalist" Christians as stereotypically intolerant, ignorant and perhaps even evil. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most devout Christians I know -- my wife's family included -- are some of the kindest, friendliest and most forgiving and accepting people you will ever meet. (You know, kind of how Jesus Christ actually taught people to be.) Just because someone reads the Bible daily does not make them a racist or homophobe or bigot. I know, I know, no one on this thread actually wrote that, but Forostar's implication that the existence of a large number of devout Christians is a reason NOT to like the United States is seriously misguided.
Yes, we have our share of bigots. So does everyone. And yes, the Constitution expressly protects people who say things that other people might find offensive, so occasionally the bigots and religious nut-jobs get a forum here that they might not get elsewhere. For example, you could publicly insist that the Holocaust never happened and not get prosecuted criminally, which apparently is not the case in some European countries. You'd get hooted down as a deluded evil bastard, but you wouldn't be thrown in jail. In my view, not only is this not a bad thing, the ability to openly speak your mind about any ideology, religion or persuasion -- no matter how misguided -- is actually one of the best things about America. It is not without its costs, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Similarly, the fact that Americans have such diversity of opinions and beliefs is one of its greatest strengths. The "marketplace of ideas" truly exists here.
What is troubling about some of these comments is that some people seem to regard "fundamentalist" Christians as stereotypically intolerant, ignorant and perhaps even evil. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most devout Christians I know -- my wife's family included -- are some of the kindest, friendliest and most forgiving and accepting people you will ever meet. (You know, kind of how Jesus Christ actually taught people to be.) Just because someone reads the Bible daily does not make them a racist or homophobe or bigot. I know, I know, no one on this thread actually wrote that, but Forostar's implication that the existence of a large number of devout Christians is a reason NOT to like the United States is seriously misguided.
Yes, we have our share of bigots. So does everyone. And yes, the Constitution expressly protects people who say things that other people might find offensive, so occasionally the bigots and religious nut-jobs get a forum here that they might not get elsewhere. For example, you could publicly insist that the Holocaust never happened and not get prosecuted criminally, which apparently is not the case in some European countries. You'd get hooted down as a deluded evil bastard, but you wouldn't be thrown in jail. In my view, not only is this not a bad thing, the ability to openly speak your mind about any ideology, religion or persuasion -- no matter how misguided -- is actually one of the best things about America. It is not without its costs, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Similarly, the fact that Americans have such diversity of opinions and beliefs is one of its greatest strengths. The "marketplace of ideas" truly exists here.
) isn't that bad indeed, but to connect its content with certain groups is something else. 
