"And so long as we remain committed to safeguarding the civil rights of all (including those in the minority groups), I'm OK with that."

When has that ever been a priority? Dude, it's been the exact opposite. My only problem with Christians is how they keep a boot on the necks of the nonbelievers. I know many lovely religious people and have absolutely zero interest in anybody's faith…until they come for me and mine. Then we got problems.

I was once accused of wanting to persecute Christians, which is (a) laughable on its face and (b) completely misses the point. I don't even want to know your religion, much less persecute you for it. Live and let live - except that's the exact opposite of the way religion operates.

"Whichever movement or group is able to successfully persuade the most people to their way of thinking."

The American people favor abortion, gay rights, and most other issues people who claim your faith are fighting so hard to roll back. This makes your statement seem weird - in general, the Christian right is the primary opponent to democracy, so it makes wanting to be democratic on issues that favor them ring hollow.

If your opinion were the true motivation, then as Christianity continues to fade as the dominant culture, all y'all would be OK with it. I don't know if you follow politics, but we have an entire political party dedicated to holding power and codifying their religion as the official one, regardless of public opinion.

"That's just the way it is."

America used to believe Black people were farm implements and the indigenous population was a nuisance to be eradicated. Was that good enough to be "just the way it is"? More recently, women and minorities couldn't vote. Women couldn't own property. "Just the way it is"?

A very few years ago, sexual preference determined whether you could claim the secular benefits of marriage, and firing based on it was legal. That's the "just the way it is" the GOP and white Evangelicals want to return to.

And no, this isn't just reading Twitter or searching for extreme voices. This is popular media outlets, party platforms, and introduced legislation. I know to ignore the real wackos because that's how the right views the left, and I don't want to play that game. So, for instance, if some random pastor gets up on a pulpit and says all gay people deserve the death penalty, he might be crazy. But if he has three GOP presidential candidates at his conference - including the front-runner - then that's serious.

Look, I want liberty and justice for all. I want freedom of religion, but that means everybody has to give a little. I believe the will of the people should at least be respected (though direct democracy has a mixed record at best, so representative democracy is probably the best bet) as opposed to the almost half of Republicans who believe the Bible should overrule it.

I'd like to see a kinder, gentler America that I think the best reading of Jesus would be for. But He's a split personality - kind Jesus is a liberal, like the Christian left where my friends reside. That's a guy I could get behind.

But the religious right really hates that guy.

Their Prince of Peace doesn't care for the poor or feed the hungry, heal the sick or turn the other cheek. He likes guns and discrimination.

As I said before, I'm not basing this on crazies ranting on Twitter, as your story implies. It's real, visible, in-the-news and mainstream. It owns an entire political party. It's the fastest-growing and most influential branches of the faith.

And yeah, a hundred people have told me that's "not the real Jesus," and those folks "aren't following Biblical principles." Maybe you're about to as well.

But here's the thing: none of that makes any difference to my life.

Y'all fight that out amongst yourselves. All that matters to me is the result, and the Christians I don't like are running the show.

So tell you what: how about all those "true" Christians pick up protest signs, hit the street against their coreligionists, and refuse to vote for the intolerant, even if it means holding their nose and supporting some things they don't like?

Until then, they're just as responsible as the worst because their acquiescence is the only reason the forces of hate and division win.