The Harmon (beauty products) cashier askes me if I go to church

[D Gary Grady]

15. No problem, but

I've known a lot of Christians (the woods are full of them), and I'm pretty sure a lot of them indeed are lying when they talk about "loving" everyone. But some are quite sincere, striving to love humanity in general to the best of their ability, the way others talk about loving nature or reason. Without going too far off on a tangent, they have a specific sort of "love" in mind that's distinct from romantic love and the love of a friend or a family member. You or I might term it "respect."

In any case, any blanket statement about Christians -- or for that matter Buddhists or Muslims or secularists or teenagers -- is unlikely to hold up to close examination. Anytime any of us feels inclined to say something about "those people" I think we ought to stop a second. I like to think of our side as the voice of reason rather than a mirror image of an angry fundamentalist.