T. B. – “The Left hates organized religion, unless of course it's anti-Western.”

There’s no way to continue an argument which starts with a statement such as this. Tell it to the Friends, and the Roman Catholic priests fighting dictatorships in Central America. And so on. Sadly, the rest is as irrational as any statement based upon prejudice.

Raoul, I think that most Americans will say that religion is important, meaning the principles. And I think that means they’d LIKE to believe in them more.

I don’t know what regular church attendance in the US is, but it’s very low. The rolls of churches may be reasonably large, but I doubt many of those actually show up two times a month.

But the stated principles are ones most Americans will say they’d like to believe in. But organized religion in the US is more influential in the idea than practice.

Frankly, it doesn’t seem to have a product. I don’t see many of the most devout Christian fundamentalists, for instance, leading lives which reflect the love and care of Christ. Jesus was absolutely inclusive, whereas fundamental Christianity as practiced in the US certainly seems to be divisive and hateful.

Arf