Firstly, thank you for responding in depth.

For the record, I despair of the obscene and unholy union of politics, economics, and religion, especially when it comes to evangelical Christianity. What's happened in America recently is a case in point. Personally, I find much of evangelical Christianity appalling. I am far from perfect, but I certainly don't consider myself to be "cheerleading for war and cruelty, dismantling school lunch programs and social support systems for the poor, opposing efforts to preserve and protect the natural world, and elevating the ideals of the richest and most sociopathic".

My own journey of faith is rather different, to put it mildly. Again, I am far from perfect, but I can assure you I question a great deal of what you describe, and certainly don't pretend to have all the answers. In fact, that is one of the biggest problems with evangelicals, to my mind - ie they claim to have a neat tick box of every objection to the kinds of stories in the Bible that you mention. I certainly don't. I'm still wrestling with a great deal of what's in the Bible, and I don't mind saying I don't know when I don't know.

I once rattled an evangelical who claimed the Bible was "infallible". I asked him: "OK, which version is infallible? The version with the verse about certain demons being cast out with fasting, or the version without?" Those kinds of people don't like to ask questions. They prefer dogma. My own answer to that question is that of course the Bible can't be "infallible" as there are clearly inconsistencies (such as the one I just described). However, I do believe it to be "divinely inspired" which is another matter entirely. Does that mean I think everything in it is literally true? Of course not. Some things are obvious figures of speech ("The trees of the field shall clap their hands" for instance, I'm fairly sure isn't about Treebeard from The Lord of the Rings). I have loads of unanswered questions about Genesis as well.

I should add that you could well be on to something in your theory about why Christians might not like horror films.

Anyway, thank you again for commenting. Very much appreciated. :)