With Pat R. latest quote, as mentioned here by Jim N., talk radio is awash today with calls about religion. And religion in general as a topic.

I've heard several who grew up in an environment that I'm sure is similar is many respects to Howie's environment. The people I've heard talk had the willpower you talk about to see that their lives revolved around an environment of fear. That "old fear of Gd".

The last call I just heard, the caller discussed how there are some who pick and choose what pieces of the bible they choose to put their faith in. Somehow they've missed the "help the poor", "don't judge others", etc. They are instilled with fear to keep them in line. Many have rejected this. But there are many like Howie who've embraced this fear.

>>>>Why don't the "intelligent designers" just back off, and everyone comprimise with "God was at/the cause of the Big Bang, and chance and evolution took over from there"? My 10-year-old's comfortable with this (in fact she even proposed it to me when we were discussing the subject)
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>>>C'mon, Terry, you know why. Fanatics are the same everywhere. These people Truly Believe - to admit that they are wrong would be akin to admitting that they are potentially wrong about a lot of aspects of their life. That's a bitter pill even for reasonable people to swallow.
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>>So...would you place yourseld in the "Fanatic" columns? Do you "truly believe" in your position? If you admitted you were wrong would you then also have to admit you were wrong about a lot of aspects of your life?
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>>Just curious why I'd be called a fanatic for holding to a belief...seems that would be a desirable trait...
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>I do believe that if anything I hold to be true turns out to be wrong, I'd be stupid to refuse to change my mind, or at least think it over. We do learn something new every day.
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>If I said science is infallible, I'd be a fanatic.
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>So, what's fanatic about you is exactly that lack of will to doubt your truths, and excess will to keep them no matter what. Whether that's desirable or not, probably depends. It may be the right tool for the job, but I can't imagine a job description for that.