[Mr.Atos]

To expand on Alamo-Girl's point... But now we see dissention all the time. As an example, there are individual posters on both sides of the evolution v creation debate who say the other doesn't belong at the conservative table.The Lurking Democrats are probably gleeful.

The point that is made with this observation is a critical one. It has reminded me of a tactic that I am witnessing elsewhere where radical Leftists and Greenies pose as Constitutionalists insurgents into the Libertarian movement attacking Capitalism and driving wedges between Objectivists and Conservatives. I've exposed such sappers enough now to believe that it is more tactic than coincidence. In the case of Capitalism, it is impossible to defend Constitutional liberty without legitimizing Capitalism... afterall that is the fundamental connection. This becomes a fatal flaw for 'sappers' by which they expose themselves.

I am not suggesting conspiracies here, just possibilities based on experience. Either way, I agree with both of you (RWP, and AG) that the extremes of either position are not dangerous in themselves. Afterall, someone must defend the fundamentals of a principle in order for it to remain as such. The danger arises when those fundamentals transend a basis for principle and are used to 'filter' thought. That is when fundamentalists become extremists undermining the same principles they seek to defend. And often times, they become tools of destruction at the hands of a lurking and sly enemy.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank y’all so much for your posts!

Conservatives can surely have heated discussions among themselves. Where this ceases to be useful, IMHO, is where the point starts to be made that 'anyone who holds viewpoint x is not a true Conservative’…

I strongly agree. And I also agree with Mr.Atos that we must consider that sometimes this may be the fruits of an agent provocateur in our midst. When I consider who benefits from such dissent, all I can name is the Democrat party.

Not that I believe all such dissent stems from agent provocateurs – indeed, some of it is truly heartfelt, particularly among those who believe themselves to be marginalized to begin with.

In the case of Christians and Jews, the marginalization is international and crosses political boundaries. The American Jews ran to the Democrat party for protection (but the Democrats have recently abandoned them in favor of others, so hopefully the Jewish voters will migrate to the Republican party.) The American Fundamentalist Christians ran to the Republican party for protection and have the numbers and will to reject abandonment.

At some stage, some self-policing has to be done. These people are posting, whether you like it or not, in your name, and profess the same beliefs you do. Unfortunately, Alamo-Girl, you are not the typical fundamentalist Christian on this forum.

Of course they profess the same spiritual beliefs as I do! We share the same Spirit, the same mind of Christ. But we are not alike in every detail. Christians have their own personalities and sense of priorities. Jesus did not burden us to be all alike, He choose twelve very different personalities to begin with and clearly acknowledged different church views in Revelations. Moreover, He choose not to settle the disputes between the apostles.

This is why I am troubled whenever Catholics say that Protestants are heretics, or vice versa Protestants say that Catholics aren’t Christian. Even among fundamentalists who believe the Bible to be inerrant, we do not share the same interpretation of Scripture. The Bible itself tells us this is to be expected – some can tolerate milk, others meat. We will see things differently. Add to that our personal philosophies and backgrounds in the disciplines of math and science – and what you get is a variety of views, especially with regard to the theory of evolution.

Truly, I cannot name even one person on this forum or off who sees ”all that there is” the same way that I do. Moreover, I’m very glad nobody puts a seal of approval on my view. I’d much, much rather they keep an open mind – read everything they can, pray about it earnestly and arrive at their own conclusions!

Lurkers: my views are documented on these webpages:

Evolution through the Back Door

Origins

I’ve been on the receiving end of a lot of presumption based on who I associate with on ping lists and such. But if anyone really took the time to examine my views, they’d see that I’m not hostile to other points of view – including both Young Earth Creationism and Evolution. My views are much closer to those of betty boop and Phaedrus, but I’m sure we don’t exactly agree either.

[Right Wing Professor]

The danger arises when those fundamentals transend a basis for principle and are used to 'filter' thought. That is when fundamentalists become extremists undermining the same principles they seek to defend. And often times, they become tools of destruction at the hands of a lurking and sly enemy.

I think that's well put.