My Mother comes from an immigrant family. (My father too, but a generation removed) Originally they are all from Killkenny and Mayo, Ireland. As a kid I went to Catholic school, my mother was a Catholic school teacher and I was surrounded constanly by all manner of Irish culture... including the dark side. I had never (knowingly, at least) met a "Protestant" until i was 10 years old. For all I knew (from my grandparents rantings mostly. my mother never expressed an opinion one way or another) Protestants, most especially British ones were no better than six legged fire breathing devil monsters who opressed hard working Catholics, so they needed to be bombed, etc. Eventually we stopped seeing my grandparents as often as we had and the predjudices faded. I went on to no longer fear people because they were *gasp* teh eval pr0dz! and I even dated a girl who's father was "involved" with the Orange Order before immigrating to the US.
That all being said, I can understand why "fundies" are the way they are. You have to be one to understand, I suppose. All it really takes are a few stong individuals to influence the group, and others to stand by quietly. It took a long time for me to come to terms with what i thought as a kid, now I find it silly and embarassing. All of this hatred based on... what was it again? How God, Jesus and the holy spirit are seperate or united or some masturbatory theological nonsense... ugh.... Well thats all i have to say.
edit: goddamnit this was supposed to be in SLAM
