I respect all the respectable ones.
The list is long. Polycarp is near the top.
Sadly, no, he didn’t survive. Actually, I’m not sure he was ever in a concentration camp per se, but he was in prison and was executed by the Nazis.
[/nitpick]
If I may pitch two pennies on the table?
Yes. I have found through personal experience that, in almost all cases, the louder and longer someone proclaims their godliness and righteousness and religious beliefs, the more important it is to stand with my back against a wall with a hand on my wallet until I can get a whole lot of gone between me and them.
There have been very few exceptions.
This is a guess, but I think Cecil Adams is a practicing Catholic. At least that’s the impression I get from his columns. He speaks of a Catholic upbringing, has never renounced the church in his columns, (and I’ve read most of them), and in this column about excommunication he says if they threaten him with the “old book bell and candle” ritual he’ll never miss mass again–implying that he goes to mass at least occaisionally.
Do you find the same pattern with other belief systems? I.e., the longer and louder someone proclaims their liberalism, conservatism, vegetarianism, carnivorousness, etc., the more annoying they are?
That’s the pattern I’ve seen. Evangelical zealots of all stripes chap my hide.
Daniel
Surprised no one’s mentione Barry Lynn (Director of Americans United) yet…maybe it’s cuz he looks like Steve Forbes