>In my view, Doug's belief that most Americans love authoritarian politics
I said no such thing. Could you represent your interlocutors' opinions fairly now & then? I said many Americans, and most white evangelicals. Neither of those formulations = "most."
> has a more negative political implication than many Americans'
>belief in angels, though two beliefs are equally mythical. The thing
>is that well educated people like Doug don't recognize their own
>beliefs as myths, while being very good at spotting the myths held
>by less educated people.
Many people on the Christian right are well-educated. You're imputing things to me I didn't say.
As for myths - I'm the Freudian here. I'm well aware that we all use myths and self-deception to get by in life. Even those of us who fling blockquotes in mass quantities.
> As a matter of fact, a widespread American belief in angels is
>contrary to the authoritarian inclination that Doug attributes to
>most Americans. Authoritarians should believe in Satan and hell
>rather than angels and heaven,
Almost as many Americans profess to believe in Satan and hell as in angels and heaven - as I recall, the diff is about 5 percentage points in favor of the nicer stuff. 70% of Americans believe in Satan; 12% in evolution.
Doug