<DIV>Chas and Ted,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If by your logic Christians are extremists because their view is not held by the majority of the Earth's inhabitants, then you must also by that definition accept that you are radical extremists because the majority of the world beliefs in one God, the same God, the God of David and Moses, not as you do. Only about 5-10% of the world is Atheist. So if Christians are extremists in their views, Atheists are the dangerous radical nut cases. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Best Regards,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Donovan<BR><BR><B><I>Chasuk <chasuk@gmail.com></I></B> wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 4:43 PM, Ted Moffett <STARBLISS@GMAIL.COM>wrote:<BR><BR>> The belief that "Everyone deserves death, unless they accept Jesus as their<BR>> savior" is almost certainly viewed as extremist by the vast majority
of<BR>> people on Earth, those who are Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, and many other<BR>> non-Christians. Otherwise they would be agreeing that they deserve death,<BR>> given they do not accept Jesus as their savior. Not likely.<BR><BR>I can happily accept you clarification. Out of the (slightly more<BR>than) 6.5 billion people on Earth, this perverted view of human<BR>existence is extremist. Hopefully, the infection has spread as far it<BR>is able without transmogrifying. In South Korea, where they are very<BR>enthusiastic Christians, many of the faithful are also Buddhists, a<BR>concession which would not have been allowed here.<BR><BR>> I wonder if there is any data that would clarify whether or not the<BR>> literalistic unerring word of God interpretation of the Bible is or is not a<BR>> majority view among the global Christian community? The view that women<BR>> should be subservient to men, and that Gays deserve discrimination, is<BR>> certainly not
followed by millions of Christians, here in the US, and<BR>> probably more broadly in Europe, so it appears these Christians are not<BR>> following that particular form of a literalistic interpretation of the<BR>> Bible.<BR><BR>The literalists are rare. Even among the global Christian community,<BR>there are, thankfully, few (at least as a percentage). However, that<BR>doesn't mean they aren't influential. It is only a minority of<BR>Muslims who are nutcases, but those nutcases shape the opinion of most<BR>of the Western world about all of Islam.<BR><BR>Chas<BR><BR>=======================================================<BR>List services made available by First Step Internet, <BR>serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <BR>http://www.fsr.net <BR>mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>=======================================================<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><p>