"Some people have said in all sincerity that THIS is the hill they'd want to die on. In response, they have been called liars, fools, braggarts, and extremists; embarassments; clueless, judgmental, pious, holier-than-thou, un-Christian AND the equivalent of radical Islam."
I think you have it backwards. The trashing began with attacks on what these two kidnap victims did. There were people claiming that God would punish these men. If you or others want to practice this kind of fundamentalist Christianity, go right ahead. I respect your view. But I also respect those men and what they did.
I was here from early on in the thread, and I saw when it turned. If you want, tomorrow I'll sift through all the threads and show you some rather innocuous posts that earned incredibly hostile replies.
And by the way, you can call me a fundamentalist if that makes you feel comfortable, but I can guarantee you that I don't fit through whatever you have in your brain as your little "fundie" template. I came into religion fairly late in the game, and there's no reason for an adult to do that unless it's out of actual belief. If that makes me a fundamentalist, well gee, I've certainly been called worse.
You either believe the Word or you don't. If you do, you also have to acknowledge that in some matters there are higher expectations for believers than for nonbelievers. This was one of those matters. You can't get around that.