LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

jahbulon sent me this link:

How To Fight The Religious Right

Here's an interesting paragraph:

Fundamentalist Christians use the Bible as their sole authority. Anything else is suspect at best - satanic at worst. If you wish to mount a good defense, you must use their own "authoritative" book against them. You might think such a defense would be impossible, but it's not. Remember, Fundamentalists use a made-truth, one of their own creation, and despite their claims to the contrary, the Bible often contradicts their point of view. It happens because most Fundamentalists don't actually read it for themselves. The Bible, therefore, becomes the perfect weapon to use against them.

I've done that more than once myself, and am slowly amassing a small library of theological and historical rebuttals of many of the things they claim as The Truth ™. The irony of the whole thing is that in some of these encounters, it's clear that I know more about the history and internal workings of Christianity than most Christians- including seminary graduates. I always remember that True Believers ™ do not want you to think for yourself- heck, they don't want you to think at all unless it is to promote their particular cause- be it religious, political, or whatever. Any more, though, I don't want to waste time, thought or breath with them, and prefer to walk away. Keeps the blood pressure down.