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[Dodya]

I know it's hard to believe but sometime ago I would have been considered a religious zealot. My staunch religious stands have softened and, I think, I have developed into, what I hope, a person guided by reason and principle. Many of those principles are the same s taught by the church, the moral clarity I consider a gift from my years involved with the church.All that said... sometimes I would rather claim to be a taoist or something because of the actions of our "religious leaders". I'm not even talking about the scandalous events like homosexual relationships and prostitutes, I'm talking about things like Pat Robertson claiming the world would end in 1984(by the way doesn't the Bible say if a prophet is wrong you should never listen to him again? Why is he still on TV?) and I think now of James Dobson's comments. Would he really rather see a Hillary Clinton or Obama in the White house than McCain who has at least an 70-80% conservative voting record?

[Porfirio]

Q: "Do the actions of "religious leaders" make you step back from being affiliated with them?" . From all religious leaders? No.  From some religious leaders?  Yes. .  There are many religious leaders who do a tremendous amount of good for coreligionists as well as others in need. Many of these religious institutions are pluralistic, inclusive and accepting. .  I am a secular believer. But, there are religious leaders in my local community whom I consider aspirational role models. That is a long way off from making me "step back from being affiliated with them". .  Religious leaders are by definition(wo)men.  As such, they are fallible.  These leaders hold positions of trust in their communities.  If and when they break that trust, they lose credibility not to mention moral standing.  And, they often lose their positions.  I feel sorry for them; but, they are no better or worse than other men and women who have violated trust relationships and committed crimes. Failings in moral and ethical judgement would certainly cause me to back off.  But, I would resist affiliation in religious institutions that were not pluralistic.  I see little reason given how little time we have on this earth to spend much of my time with the arrogance of exclusivity and intolerance.  So the first reason would cause me to back away from individual leaders who had betrayed their covenants of trust.  The second would definitely keep me from affiliating with intolerant religious institutions along with their leaders. . As for your secondary Qs about Pat Robertson or James Dobson, I?m not sure I have sufficient data on them to arrive at an informed opinion.  I suspect they possibly fall into the second intolerant category identified above.   ronin, I hope this has helped you in answering your question.

[Seorus]

Only when they feel a need to dictate and even legislate their morality on the masses by political means. Religious leaders should lead via the church arena, not the political one. Ram-Bo 71 months ago Please sign in to give a compliment. Please verify your account to give a compliment. Please sign in to send a message. Please verify your account to send a message.