Christianity in many places was eventually colored by local traditions and themes. For example, look at the folk tale the Grim brothers collected about the 12 apostles being brothers and too good to die so they were frozen in a cave until the advent of the Lord. Another example is witch burning which was an ages old tradition of some of the Germanic tribes. The early Christian emperors outlawed this practice because they figured the witches had no real power. But as the centuries rolled on, the folk belief in witchcraft outlasted Roman law in some areas and witch burning was taken back up.

That said, I do think it fair to say that there are many forms of Christianity do live in a polar world with angels behind every tree and demons under every rock. From your description, my first guess is that Wolpe was raised in such a milieu and it colors all of his analysis.

Also, I was required to take a course on sociology in 1990 as part of my first attempt through college. At that point my estimation was that it didn't deserve to be considered any form of science. I've never been tempted to see if things have changed much since.

re Heisbourg. Meh. He's probably right about McCain. But his ignorance of what the record of the Democratic candidates is illustrated by appealing to the Clinton years for examples of what the policies might be.

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There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic

Leave it to a techie like C4L to unquestioningly parrot Kennedy's instructions. This practice is so fucking unethical that I feel like puking after reading about it.

I'm sure that the Nazi scientists had a great time discussing the merits of Zyklon B, just like this here 'blog chatter! Fuck Kennedy for promoting this shite.

Irony: ammo says it's time. Tom is blocked.