Reply #76: I think that it's best not to purposely insult evangelicals [View All]

I'm a liberal who grew up in a very conservative and evangelical community (Grand Rapids, MI). Evangelicals are not bad people, even if I disagree with them about politics or doctrine. It would have sucked to grow up hating my neighbors for disagreeing with me or my family over religion or politics.

Most christian conservatives care about their country and it's citizens. I disagree with a lot of how they want to go about expressing that concern (like making abortion illegal), but I don't question that they are acting out of concern. They truly believe that abortion is murder and that women who have them are going to have serious repercussions for it. They believe that gays are unhappy in their lifestyle and that they would be happier if they were not gay.

Now, I'm not talking about the Jerry Falwells or the Pat Robertsons, who are shallow, manipulative power brokers who use their followers' good intentions to do harm. I'm talking about your average baptist, dutch reformed (my former neighbors) or conservative catholic, people who go to church weekly, give to the poor, live decent lives and so on. Calling people like that names does no good for anyone.