I bring the popcorn.

with each other over whose fantasy deity was the real, one, true, He-Man of the Universe. It would be a Darwinian victory.

in the humble, selfless manner it was intended.

I did get a chance to see how it was applied in a constructive manner.

The wealthy had an obligation to help out the poor. They would have been ashamed not to. It was a society where relatives crossed various social levels, so there wasn't an us vs them attitude about it.

People actually felt good, about doing good deeds.

However, I could see a major difference between the city, where poverty was beyond control, and the smaller towns where people actually got to know each other.

But today, especially Baptist style Christianity, it does come off like a form of control. There is too much emphasis to raise children with blind obedience to the autocratic figure of the church and household. People are being raised to put aside independent thinking to follow whatever world order their parents see for them. And if one of their parents is a racist, you're dealing with an uncivil attitude that is being spread multi-generational.

You could also have problems with any religion that has closed itself off to the world. Over and over again, I see these religious home-school types coming out with an almost tribal set of values. They learn how to act among other people through their autocratic leaders. And what happens if that autocratic leader is a racist? Will they stand up to them? Mostly, no.

Time to wake up and recognize that WE need protection from people who have lost their way.

and in the last election there, two of the three major party leaders were atheists and nobody cared. The churchgoing percentage is much lower in the UK than here, and abortion is viewed from a scientific, not religious, perspective. Perhaps these folk should be careful what they wish for.

The washed up in the Americas and called themselves the puritans which is the root of what is basically wrong with religion in America today

We Americans have been putting up with their BS for over 400 years and that it too long for any country to put up with religious zelotry, time to kick them the f out and not give a care where they go or what happens to them

Spend some time with American Christian fundies and one will learn first hand they have no problem admitting they would kill to get what they want and they want a Christian theocracy