I think I'll launch a Hoboesque diatribe on religion

[MichiganDriver]

I'm sorry... did I miss it? Was THIS your "hoboesque diatribe?" Pitiful.

And, you're gonna start by attacking two of my most FAVORITE actors? BOTH of them were avowed Liberals and even when playing "religious people" in their movies, they managed to show their disdain and "amusement" (contempt is too harsh a word) for religious dogma.

And then you transition from the cinema to the "tele-pulpit" by suggesting that the likes of Jerry Falwell could be the heir to the throne of moral instruction that these two fine people represented?

I want to think you are pulling my leg! You can't seriously be blaming Hollywood for putting out propaganda movies... when everyone KNOWS it is the hotbed of liberal decay!

If you want to know from whence came the religious abuse that has afflicted so many in this country... you should come to, and consider, the source. [or, one of it's victims.]

The only thing I blame Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn for was helping to set the bar too high. Don't you remember? Religious folks in the 60s and 70s were different. Some joined the Peace Corps because they wanted to help people in underdeveloped countries. Some became missionaries for similar reasons, and to "spread the good word". Some just became "Jesus freaks". But the much publicized and widely shared concern of the religious people of the day was helping poor people. What inspires people and where do mores come from? The people we idolize is as good an answer as any I think.

So who do religious people idolize today and where did this confounded obsession with money come from? Even more damning imho, is the prevalent attitude that the poor are unworthy of assistance. Most people that call themselves religious took a wrong turn and couldn't find their way back to "There, but for the grace of God, go you" or "The Golden Rule" if their lives depended on it.