I always have to read your posts several times to make sure I understand them.
Gee. :-( And I try so hard to write clearly! Well, must try harder.
The fact is, I am thinking on the fly, and so may not come up with exactly what I want to say the first time around (or the second, or the third, or the & etc.).
So. Onwards.
I am not sure I quite understand you, either. :-)
The beliefs that one would consider oppositional or unorthodox (like witchcraft)are considered so because we contrast them to an accepted base established by a predominantly Christian ethic.
Christianity is not the only influence to have shaped our ethical beliefs. Some have even been born out of the struggle against orthodox Christianity --our stress on the principle of tolerance, for example. (And it could be argued that some traditional Christian beliefs are not "ethical" at all.)
To me, the presence of the common myth [Christianity] doesn't necessarily imply everyone accepts it as his own truth, but as some sort of what? mark? for defining his own.
I presume the word you are hunting for is "benchmark."
Personally, I believe that Americans should be familiar with Christianity, and should have read the Bible at least once. That is so that they can understand history (and English poetry), in which Christianity has played an important role. But why should they use Christianity as a benchmark for their own beliefs, if they are not Christian?
Many "free thinkers" in fact do, having come from Christian backgrounds; so they define their beliefs by the degree to which they have consciously rejected the ones of their childhoods. But what about those born into the Muslim faith? Or the Buddhist? Or those who never received any religious training at all, and/or are uninterested in religion in general?
I don't get it...
And, as I said before, I don't agree that the "center isn't holding here." America is cohesive enough for me.
And of course, we can communicate with people who "work off a different symbolic base." Different religions (if that is what you have in mind) have much in common (including common ethical principles), as do different philosophies.
For example, I do not believe in the divinity of Jesus, or in the Resurrection, although I find the Cross a profound and moving symbol of the Fate of the Good. I explicitly reject the orthodox Christian doctrine of Redemption and Salvation, and the notion of Saved vs. Unsaved. But you can communicate with me, can't you?...Or can you?..
Joan
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