Leslie, "fear is a powerful motivator" indeed. As a Twitter friend pointed out about this issue, fear and hatred are easy, but love takes work. People tend to gravitate to what's easiest, even though it seems like Jesus said something about his way not being easy, (but he makes our burden light). 

Alisa, sounds like another book for my reading list. Thanks! I just noticed today that "fear" is a decent-sized tag on my tag cloud here—it must be on my mind.

Wendy, I'm so glad you added that great verse about perfect love driving out fear. Instead of testing that maxim, it's this, I'm sad to say, that seems prevalent: "...maybe some are afraid that we will begin to truly love them, and love makes you do all kinds of crazy things, like listening instead of doing all the talking, and admitting when you’re wrong, and giving things up for the good of others...." 

Neal, yes, I'm afraid of things, too, and will be asking myself the same question—what am I afraid of and how is that fear shaping me? Thanks for jumping in here!

Gail, I couldn't agree more. I've written before about the tricky nature of certain terms—how "Christian" means one thing in one context (like media) and something very different in another (like in my heart and mind, and within my close community). A big part of my aim here is to help pry loose some of these stuck definitions people have, in one direction or the other. I'm giving this a shout-out: Not all people who call themselves Christians are like whatever you imagine them to be! (And by the way, I happen to think the verse you bring up from John 13 is THE litmus test, period.)

Brian, I hope you are right about the "overwhelming majority of the Christian Faith community" not adhering to these extreme views. When I'm reading blogs and books I like, and spending time with Christians I tend to see eye-to-eye with, I can begin to believe it's true, but for the most part it really feels like the bulk of people who identify themselves as Christians lean toward the "clanging cymbals" approach. Also, you're right about these views starting with conservative commentators like Limbaugh &amp; Hannity, but my guess is that a vast majority of their listeners identify as Christians, and tie the two together.

Archie, "getting people to ask any kind of introspective question is American Christianity’s greatest obstacle." Indeed, and isn't that the saddest thing in the world? Think of all the introspective questions Jesus asked his disciples, every day. It seems like those types of questions should be at the heart of our day-to-day faith, doesn't it?