If we had to spend all day together everyday, we'd probably hate each other, but we don't, so we don't have to. The internet is full of cranky eccentric people we wouldn't want to live with, but who make life interesting, so amusement or amazement are more appropriate reactions than hostility.
The Revelation of Sinai isn't based on the authority of the Bible; the authority of the Bible is based on the Revelation at Sinai.
In other words, it's a matter of faith as the documentation is so skimpy as to what actually happened. And just who was there? "The whole people"? That might be definitive if you had testimony from all of them, but you don't.
Do regard all religious certainty as evil, or just mine?
Did I ever say "evil"? Is everything love it or hate it with you? There are people who are certain about their beliefs, but don't always think that what they believe would stand up in a court of law or that it is proven by scientific evidence or iron-clad logic beyond the shadow of a doubt. They recognize that faith has a role in religion and that makes them a little humble in their claims to know everything with total certainty. Moreover, many people are certain about the things that they believe, but don't always attack or run down what others believe as fraudulent.
If you believe that all religions are equally valid or that conservatism should rest on something other than G-d's Laws, why the blazes are you even here?
So Reagan and Goldwater and Buckley spent their time running down other people's beliefs? I didn't know that. I thought they were too busy trying to deal with the problems of the day. My impression was that religion was essential to conservatism, but that carping sectarianism and religious oneupmanship divided people and got in the way of doing what was important.
The documentation isn't skimpy at all. If you want evidence, I'm living proof. I wouldn't be here breathing and appreciating everything in this world He created. Too many times throughout millennia, man out of selfish greed and lust for power tried to stamp out the Jews. It never works.
Yes, it really IS that simple.