Oh poop!
Sorry blowero & gex gex for the miss-attribution.
All yours, Degrance. Pleased to be spreading the gospel. 
gex gexianity has pretty much what I’d be looking for in a religion, if I were looking for a religion.
I think, though, that an answer to the Romano issue could be found in a wider context. I’ve been contemplating a pit thread (working title “Get Off My Side, Asshat”) about people who agree with you on a given issue but do so for reasons or in ways that make you wish they would join the other side, or at least shut up and stop constructing the opposition’s straw men for them.
Freedom of expression problems aside, wouldn’t it be satisfying if all of the Christians in the world could get together, have a nice democratic vote, and serve Fred Phelps with a restraining order prohibitting him from mentioning God, the Bible, or any other aspect of Christianity? “Sorry, Fred, you’ve been voted out”.
I see it as working along the lines of a professional association, like the Bar or medical licensing boards.
Of course, I don’t have a real reason for wanting an opportunity to make Ray Romano get off my side, he just arouses a John Teshian level of inexplicable and irrational animosity in my gut, but if the framework was there, I’d say we use it.
Hey, whatever I can personally do to distance myself from Ray Romano…
On the Christianity idea…Christians get mocked because the stereotypical Christian is a close-minded Southern bible-thumping bigoted misogynist who uses the ‘n’ word, has been quoted as saying “If English was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for you, too,” expects his wife to be barefoot and pregnant, disowns his son for being homosexual, bombs abortion clinics, and does not allow his own children to learn about the theory of evolution, birth control, or comparative religion. They get mocked because the noisiest Christians out there tend to state rather than debate, tell rather than show, and make decisions based on unproven documents and spurious logic.
I’ve met very few educated Christians that have even one of those traits. I don’t think I’ve met a one who meets all of them. My (ex)boyfriend happens to be a Christian – lapsed, incidentally, partly because of the immensely hateful Christians he’s run into…but before and after he stepped away from the faith, he has been one of the sweetest, kindest, most caring people I’ve ever met.
Pagans get to see the worst side of Christianity when they talk to missionaries and the like. I have a number of friends who are nasty to the JWs and LDSs who come to their door – one friend who answered it cheery and naked, another who smeared himself with ketchup and wanted to know who had disturbed the lord Astaroth from his slumber…I’ve got a lot of stories from my friends like that. They tend to be based in this fear-turned-loathing of Christians that a lot of pagans have.
Why? Because they’re sick of being told that their god is wrong, that they’re going to burn in a pit of hell, et cetera. Chances are good that they’ve come out to their parents as a happy heathen…and unless they had some pretty relaxed folks, that couldn’t have been a pleasant experience. So it’s true that pagans are nastier to Christians than the Christians deserve…but at least there’s a reason.
Being insulted, however, is a long way from persecution…and while losing your job specifically because of your religion is indeed religious persecution, it might be difficult to get a jury on your side in that one…
I’ve got this to say to the “persecuted” Christians, though – unless you’re a fringe Christian (in which case I’ll bet you have the same problem), have you ever been afraid to tell your boss/neighbor/kid’s teacher/whatever what your religion is? Have you ever been struck with the terror that you’ll be fired, shunned, or have CPS called on you because you revere Jesus? Have you ever stammered out your religion and had someone either look at you with a blank, stunned expression or answer you with the statement “Oh…so does that mean you worship the Devil?” Heck, have you ever actually stammered when you’re telling someone about your innermost-held beliefs? Has your faith been called a “cult” by the President of the US or your governor? (True story. Bush called Wiccans a “cult”, not a religion, and therefore not protected under the Constitution. He seriously wants to wipe them out.)
Say “I’m a Baptist” and they’ll think you’re conservative. Say “I’m a Mormon” and they’ll think you’re a polygamist. Say “I’m a pagan,” and they’ll think you sacrifice babies, worship Satan…
And don’t ever, EVER admit that you play role-playing games. Even otherwise reasonable folks may think you’re a freak at best, a proponent of human sacrifice at worst.
Hee.
Reminds me of the guy (I can’t remember who, and I don’t have a cite, my bad) who is a proponent of untaxed internet radio…because that’s one of the very few ways Christian bands can get any sort of airtime at all. 
I know where he’s coming from, but he’s kind of a weird guy to have on your side…
If gex gex is the new messiah of gex gexianity, and I was the one who called him on it, I guess that puts me in the John the Baptist role. And I was getting awfully fond of my head being where it is, too…
So, gex gex, how about giving your adoring hordes some words of wisdom? I suggest starting The Sermon on MPSIMS.
Boy, are you hanging around in the wrong crowd, or what? Yeesh. Is that the only stereotype of Christians you can think of?
But of course, you are from Texas, where the stereotypical Texan is an ignorant homophobic conservative bigot with a pickup truck and a hound dog, who favors the death penalty and spits tobacco…well, what would we expect? 
<< notice the smiley
Yee-up.
Other Christian stereotypes:
Airheaded woman with a helmet of hairspray and a flowery dress, baking cookies, starching underwear, fainting like a cartoon character whenever anything remotely sexual or obscene is alluded to.
Evil horrible psychopathic mom/teacher who gets up in school board meetings to complain about the lack of prayer in schools. Check out Donnie Darko for a really good example of this one.
Missionaries who want to come in for about six hours to convert you to whatever their favorite brand of Christianity is…and won’t leave until you set the dogs on them.
Anyone with Brylcream.
Tammy Faye Bakker. (“Ah thayank Ah’ll sang.”)
STREET PREACHERS! God Almighty, these guys are free entertainment. I get tired of quoting the book of Matthew (Don’t pray on the street corner, basically) at them, so just sitting and watching in stunned awe is a good second. Like watching a car accident. They take themselves so seriously…but honestly, these people have driven SO many people away from their religion! Personal attacks don’t tend to win people over, FYI…
And Ah’m from Austin, thank’ye. Basically, that means I’m a granola-munching, tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing Libertarian/Green Party environmental activist. In a band.
But I still drive a pickup truck.
Um. Half of this statement is true. The other is false.
But the half that’s true isn’t a bad thing…
Christians are so persecuted that the magazine I work for has a bible verse on the spine every month…
…and I felt unsafe wearing my Herne pendant when I flew to Cincinnati.
gex gexianity my hairy ass! If Discordianism ain’t good enough for ya’, go out and found yer own damned religion!
What a wimpy denomination.
You can’t raise the Holy Spirit unless you use poisonous snakes.
For a variety of groups, spreading the word that you’re persecuted has many uses. It creates a warm glow of faux-martyrdom (in that you’re sacrificing by Doing Right) and connects you to your forebears who actually were persecuted. It draws the group closer together. It has some function in creating sympathy, and in shutting up people who criticize you.
If the claims of persecution convince others that you’re a daft whiner, well then, that’s just more evidence of persecution.
Actually, athene, my ex-boyfriend did something like that to a Jehovah’s Witness once, and he was Catholic! Yep, he was evil, and I loved him.
Actually, I think one reasons Christians get tarred with an anti-intellectual brush is because of the Christians who get publicity opposing such things as teaching evolution in schools. The Christians who support teaching it have to reason to be outraged or seek publicity, or at least, not until the former get the upper hand, so no one hears about them. In the church I grew up in, at least half the men were engineers, and I’ve always found independent thought to be encouraged in the Episcopal Church, but we’re not noted for getting much publicity.
As for me, I make no secret of the fact that I’m both an intellectual (actually, a geek) and a Christian. If anyone has a problem that, I’ll happily let them keep it their problem, if, of course, I don’t manage to change their mind.
CJ
Just to be totally fair, the lady who is personally responsible for keeping Revlon and Estee Lauder in the black during the 1980s is also the most vehement ally of gay people among evangelical Christians – she even has an advice column for gay teenage boys in XY magazine, and not a judgmental one but one aimed at helping them cope with their sexuality, their beliefs if any, and how they’re treated in life as a result of their gayness.
I dunno, but there’s a girl down the street who’ll give you one for a dollar.
I suppose you’re one of those people who actually understood THAC0 too. Getting rid of that makes up for the armor class going the wrong way a hundred times over.
Gee, Poly, are you sure? I always thought the column in XY magazine was a parody. Is it really Tammy Faye herself who writes it?
So, human sacrifice isn’t a bad thing, now?
Athene1765:
Hey, could you arm me with a few choice anti-preacher creature quotes? (and cite the location please!)
Amor class goes up as it improves, and they ditched THAC0? THAC0 is part of a mathematical equation! They can’t. . . oh, well if it goes up. But what kind of sense does that make? How can it go UP? This is BS. THAC0 was our friend, people. It makes it easier to calculate hits. It speeds play. Imagination isn’t what it’s about, it’s about whether Kirk was better than Picard! God help these kids today. . .
I think if anyone should be complaing, it’s atheists/agnostics. Now it’s not like they have to deal with the stuff that, say, blacks or homosexuals do (just to give two examples), but is it possible that they are one of the last people left that the majority thinks it’s ok to pick on?
Example: George H.W. Bush’s quote (I know it’s old, from 1987) about how he thinks atheists aren’t citizens or patriots. If he had said the same thing about blacks or women or gays, his political career would probably be over.