[The Urban Sombrero]

Like I said, if just saying stuff made it so, you'd be unstoppable. I like to reference my posts, and I like the truth. You might start with those two parameters before demanding respect, which last I checked was a two way street.

In any case your criticisms and spiritual assessments seem somewhat hollow in view of the hundreds of posts you've put up in the defense of liberalism--- "A political theory founded on the natural goodness of humans and the autonomy of the individual and favoring civil and political liberties, government by law with the consent of the governed, and protection from arbitrary authority." Now if that isn't you nothing is. Essential liberty and freedom of conscience anyone? At any rate from the Biblical standpoint on human goodness, the Apostle Paul said the following; Romans 7:18 (KJV)
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

In other words liberalism is a lie, and one that opposes God's clear condemnation of the human state. You mitigate, I indoctrinate. You can't expect me to help you look good while making excuses for the left. Which in my view gives the lost more reason to soldier on in darkness. The Church played it the way you'd like to see it (nicey nicey) for the past 6 or 7 decades, and all she has gotten for her compromise is today's enhanced contempt of the lost. Christ, with no apology, called the orthodoxy of His day a generation of snakes, and many in this day are no better. Mine is to define liberals, not to judge them. But in so doing I don't have to be a thing if not honest.

Liberalism has shortly after WW2, undertaken to oppose the Church and Christian ethics in America with great zeal. Check the record.

Anybody allergic to straw? Grab the Allegra D folks, TRT is posting again.

Essential liberty and freedom of conscience are neither liberal nor conservative. I would say they are more libertarian than anything if folks like you demand a label.

And, dearest Culture Warrior, in defending Christ (which he said "Follow me" and not "Defend me") by stepping outside the Spirit of Christ you place yourself firmly in the finest tradition of the Dark Ages, the Crusades, and all those who had zeal but not intimate relationship with the Savior.

I respect your sincerity. I don't agree with where it leads you in the church/civil government discussion in many areas. It seems to me that this nation has afforded Christians every freedom possible to freely and fully worship God as they see fit. Apparently, you don't want to live in a nation which allows first trimester abortions or gays to marry. I respect that, especially the former. I believe this nation affords freedom of conscience and essential liberty. People make choices, use and misuse freedom, worship what they please when they please and in the manner they please. Or not at all. The civil government in this republic allows that under the banner of our Constitution. The ultimate disposition of the human soul is not a matter of adjudication for civil authority. How a person exercises essential liberty and freedom of conscience is, ultimately, a matter beyond government.