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They have kindness in their hearts and truly believe that forcing their particular brand of values on the world is an act of love.


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What I can't reconcile is how what they perceive as love for their fellow man is undeniably bigotry to me.


What exactly do these people do that you consider bigotry? Is it bigotry to believe that your set of values is better than someone else's? Is it bigotry to fight for the value you believe in politically?

Because I don't see either of those two things as characteristics a bigot. Rather, that is how the process work\s. Most people do believe their moral values are superior to others. I see it all the time on this very BBS, and yet I happen to believe this is one of the most tolerant group of people that I've run into. The laws the govern us are decided by values, and not ones with which we all necessarily agree.

The way I see bigotry is closly related to intolerence, and believing that you are right and someone else is wrong is not intolerant. We all make those value judgements, and most of us (here at least) are pretty vocal about those judgements.

Now if a person believes he or she can mistreat another human being because of a different value, THAT is being a bigot and intolerent. Is this the kind of behavior you are witnessing, or is it that you don't agree with their moral values? There are plenty of value based laws that I don't agree with that come from the liberal side, but I don't call the people who've supported them intolerant or bigots. I think these are misguided or misinformed, but those who support such laws aren't doing anything to me personally other than trying to get the laws passed that they think will best impact this country. And this is all I see conservative Christians doing, but when they do it it gets labeld as intolerent and bigoted.

If trying to advance your values through the system is bigotry, then we are truly a country of bigots, every single one of us.

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I can't speak for the rest of the country, but around here this is done by Evangelical Christians who don't want their kids taught those new fangled ideas like evolution. It's also largely unregulated.
Yes, well why should the government regulate it? They aren't paying for it. If a parent is willing to take the time and responsibility to educate his or her child, what does it matter if they are teaching what you or I want them to learn? Personally I'm not into home schooling, one reason is that I agree about school being a social experience, but we'll likely be considering a private, Christian school. But that is the personal choice of my wife and I. Why should the government tell us how to raise our children? The public schools are a mess, and frankly I believe that knowledge of the Creator is as an important aspect to education as any other. For me it's not about evolution- it's about God being a context for everything that I (and presumably my children) do. And no, you won't be paying for our children's education. Rather, I'll be paying twice, once for an education my children won't use and again for the one they will.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.