[adm]

In my observation, you have two types of Serious Believers;

1) True Believers, who do deserve the same level of pity as any other extremist, and one should be careful around like anything else that is potentially dangerous.

2) Hucksters, who are trying to sell you something, either for money, or political power in some form.

Note this generally applies to other groups like political parties and religious groups as well.