It's a shame we don't have posters with different faiths and different levels of faith.

Listening to fundamentalists leaves me quite sad.

There's a video flying around twitter which, if you've got 2 hours to waste, is quite remarkable. Check PZ Myers or Matt Dillahunty's feed.

I suspect we do – well, certainly with different levels of faith. I suspect that there are plenty of people here who have a sort of religion lite, if you will. Or simply who don't feel sure, one way or the other.

But I also suspect that they don't feel secure enough in that being able to explain that in such a situation as this, as a fundamentalist does.

Plus there's perhaps a sense that some might 'have a go' at them if they do try – as, indeed, did Peggy some time back when explaining a situation he'd found himself in, in which (IIRC) he tried prayer out of a sense of desperation.

It would be interesting to hear from someone like, say, Rowan Williams, who has a deep faith but also has doubts and difficulties. I'm not saying I'd be convinced by him, but it would be interesting. I interviewed Donald Soper some years ago – I didn't have to agree with everything he said or to believe everything he believed, but I had – and retain – great respect for someone like that (not for their faith per se, incidentally) and for him, a deal of warmth. He was a genuinely nice man, who cared about his fellow human beings in general and went well beyond what the church(es) at the time considered acceptable (in his support for LGBT rights, for instance).

Agreed.
I almost feel sorry for the fundamentalists themselves. If their delusions were based on anything other than religion, with thousands of years of fabrication to reinforce them, they would be offered psychiatric help.

I don't have a problem with people believing in whatever God(s) they wish to, except when that belief impinges on the rights of others, although I believe in none. To deny anyone their right to superstition would be as intolerant as the op itself.

I believe that everyone should have the right to believe whatever they want, but that everyone else should have the right to challenge that belief as robustly as they see fit (within reason). I have every right to believe, for example, that global warming is some massive conspiracy on the part of the world's governments, designed solely to keep us in fear so that they can tax us more heavily. You, on the other hand, would have every right to ridicule me for holding such a stupid belief in the face of directly contradictory evidence. As far as I'm concerned, the same applies to religious belief, whether that's extreme fundamentalism like kirkstaller's, or the religion-lite that Mintball describes.

The term 'fundamentalism' is getting thrown around without any proper consideration of the true meaning of the word. Believing in God's creation, the resurrection and his second coming does not really warrant such a label and the rabid connotations which come with it. For a short summary of my beliefs, they are broadly in tune with the following basis of faith: www.eauk.org/connect/about-us/basis-of-faith.cfm Nothing controversial, nothing nasty, nothing offensive. If you want to see real fundamentalism, go check out the hyper-calvinistic churches in the US. The WBC get most of the exposure but they are the tip of the heresy iceberg. At least I'm trying to save you; these people just want to gloat.

The term 'fundamentalism' is getting thrown around without any proper consideration of the true meaning of the word. Believing in God's creation, the resurrection and his second coming does not really warrant such a label and the rabid connotations which come with it. For a short summary of my beliefs, they are broadly in tune with the following basis of faith: www.eauk.org/connect/about-us/basis-of-faith.cfm Nothing controversial, nothing nasty, nothing offensive. If you want to see real fundamentalism, go check out the hyper-calvinistic churches in the US. The WBC get most of the exposure but they are the tip of the heresy iceberg. At least I'm trying to save you; these people just want to gloat.

No. No, it is not.