I don't know shit from shinola but my limited time spent on this mortal coil gives me a perspective that the loudest Christians are the leastest followers of Christ.

You become a Christian by saying you are one. In Protestant denominations, you also get to interpret the Bible for yourself, so you yourself are judge and jury of whether you are following the teachings or not.

So, I take them at face value, regardless of the individual's personal positions on doctrine.

especially when leading my life involves blindly following some born-again pastor who needs to make some bucks.

Been there.

I don't see why you have to take their word for it. Then again, most atheists probably don't care enough to bother.

So, I don't tell them what their religion is. I follow the rule of reciprocity as well as I'm able to. Being human, of course, I sometimes fail in that regard, though.

I might ask a person who claims to be a Christian what he or she thinks Christianity is. That's fair. I'm happy to answer such questions about how I define atheism.

...in a funny kind of way.

yes it is strange. One should only speak for oneself, I think, rather than speak about Christians in general.

I give you the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter. Should you choose to accept, I will disavow you at once.

Those that weren't often found themselves as the star attraction at the town BBQ. Catholics kept the bible under lock and key for centuries to keep people from making alternate interpretations. Non-literal views are actually a recent phenomena, and those that are can thank free thinkers for ushering in the freedoms they have to do so.

I'm guessing theists who use the term "literalist" as an insult do so to distance themselves from the crae crae wing of the club. The problem is without them nobody would know who Christ is.

We end up by having non-literalist Christians attempting to insult atheists for being Bible literalists. But, since atheists generally consider the entire Bible to be an ancient work of fiction, there's a comical flaw in the accusation.

And then, there are those who go so far toward the boundaries of the non-literalism spectrum that they are unable to articulate what they believe to be true and what they understand as metaphor.

Personally, I see that as a very short step away from outright atheism. That must be a frightening place to be standing, I would think.

Most Bible non-literalists have a superior morality than what is preached in the Bible.

TlalocW

I don't have enough evidence.

And I'd have to say that I would rather hang out with the Christian who ignore what the Bible says on homosexuality than the Evangelicals who don't.

TlalocW

Better to hang out with those who acknowledge the inherent fallibility of the bible than those who give it a pass. Those who try to pretend the bible doesn't say what it was obviously intended to say are just less honest.

Christian Sects in the world. Each with a different take on Scripture. Makes one think that the text are not all that clear.

sects. Sometimes, a single passage of scripture is the sticking point.

are partially Bible Literalist.

To say that another way. All Christians take some part of the Bible literally.

But try asking them what part of the Bible is factually true and be prepared not to get a straight answer.

The question has been asked here, but not answered. Frustrating.

Also a true statement.

Also almost guaranteed to elicit the first statement from your OP.

Does one have to take the ENTIRE bible literally to be called a literalist? I doubt it, because no one can do that. There are parts that directly contradict other parts.

But then the question becomes.. how MUCH of the bible do you need to take literally to be a literalist?

Because the kicker is, if you consider yourself a Christian, you MUST take at least a few verses literally. Bare minimum the stuff about what Jesus allegedly said, right?

Not all football players, some might say.

Even so...

Since we are talking about a subjective determination the question is kinda like asking how do most Americans like their eggs.

However there is some empirical data that can give us an idea. 38% of Americans believe in young earth creationism according to Gallup. In a country where about 75% of the population identifies as Christian, that suggests the majority of Christians believe in a rock hard literal interpretation of the bible.

A large portion lives by these creeds:
Fuck the poor.
Fuck the homeless.
If you can't afford health insurance, fuck you too.
Harass and vilify the stranger.

Definately not biblical literalists.