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Well it's Islam right now, but it was Christianity not too long ago. You know witch trials, Inquisitions, Crusades, the "Reign of Terror" all of that fun stuff. Well it was fun if you were a male owning white Christian. Otherwise it wasn't so fun. Then we have the Christian group arrested just last year for preparing for an overthrow of the US government.
But no, no you're right Islam is EVIL and BAD and Christianity is GOOD.
The 30 years war taught me all I needed to know about Christianity + Government.
No SCOTUS won't allow me to ignore these people. I have to raise my children in the attic like veal because people aren't willing to be responsible for themselves in public spaces respectfully. Not Madison ave, not corporations, not men, not women; not anyone worshiping themselves at the expense of all others around them. It's not dictating to you what you want to believe. Tolerance & respect is a two way street plain and simple.
You don't have ownership over public domains. Having kids isn't a trump card for every situation in life and I'm sick of hearing that excuse. People have a right to their freedom of speech and expression in public places whether you like it or not, whether it pollutes your kids' minds or not. That's why you have private property where you CAN dictate what comes into your presence. What you believe is "being responsible for themselves" may not match up with what I consider being responsible for myself.
Rest assured, slavery, women's suffrage, safety, and all the rest would not have happened if it were up to conservatives. It took a progressive movement to force the system to change. Even today, conservatives fight providing health care to those who can't afford it! As a pro-life Christian, that's just appalling.
We still need the balance between left and right to make the system work. We saw what happened under 6 years of pure conservative rule from 2001-2006: devastation. Same with pure liberal rule in the late 70s.
Credit where it is due--- it took honest white people to vote for the abolishment of slavery. They existed on both sides of the aisle to make it happen. It took honest white men to realize the crime they perpetrated upon womankind in their country by refusing her the vote. It took the support of honest democrats defending honest southern republicans to beat down dixie crats. In support of one nation, walking in truth and justice, we are strong. Put poison in a mans ear against his wife, the marriage fails. Put poison in a womans ear against her husband, the marriage fails. Lets talk about poison instead of blaming conservatives or liberals. Then we're back on track.
Pardon me-- humility goes a long way here. Lets agree that as individual human beings we are ALL ignorant to one degree or another. It's the nature of being human. This includes myself, and the Pope of the tradition I was raised in, and yourself. Some are more learned that others on one specialty or another. Stop trying to make this out to be a supremacy contest. You're blaming the dog catcher for the dog, the very same habit of faux christians. Blanket accusations for all becomes another form of prejudice/ injustice.
Zero objectivity in religion--- see the wisdom behind having 12 separate eye witness accounts (apostles) of one human being. It is an admission that there is bias in the eyes of each of us trying to make sense of the world as children. Owning our bias we see better. Confronting our own ego's is a healthy thing even if it's scary to imagine just how wrong we were. Own your bias, I'll own mine, then we speak respectfully to one another. I have no intrinsic hatred of you. My heart will not allow it. I have no desire to diminish you in any way to satisfy some BS supremacy. What's equality about? Equal rights? Think again who you are talking to and know that prejudices do exist when you ignore the individual you are talking to. The same is true when an honest black man has to listen to someone annoyed at black criminals and taking it out on the honest. It's an injustice. Competing brands of injustice- how's that working out for you?
The bold section offers zero proof of any of the religious fairytales presented in the New Testament as there is zero proof any of those alleged characters ever existed in the first place. Furthermore even if they did exist they could have lied, lying happens all the time.
Second off, I never tried to "hide my bias" I am a devout Atheist. I make it very clear I do not believe any of the bronze age fairy tales that the various competing religions present to me. All religions are inherently based on lies at worst, exaggerations at best.
Also, you take on the tone of caring, compassionate, and humble and you play that part very well. However I can see right through it lady. So please cut it. Don't pander to me and talk down your nose to me and then feign ignorance. "Oh heavenstobetsy! We're all equal and we all don't know things, it's just you know less than I do." You're not the first religious person to do it to me and I'm sure you're not the last.
That is why we have zoning laws, and controlled substance laws. I hope you understand the difference between someone selling crack, and masterbaiting in public and someone saying such things should or shouldn't be allowed, or someone joking about people who sell crack. As to Gilullani that is the usual result of giving people broad police powers. Imagine if Gilullani had been given the power to restrict speech he did not view as constructive or appropriate.
I hope you can see that the level of sophistry perpetrated upon the American public to make any percent of them at this late date convinced Saddam drove a plane into WTC is not to be denied. When a media group can install lies in place of facts and revise history so insanely as to convert every American into a hollocaust denier, we are doomed as a nation. We continue to be divided as a nation when we can't have the merest conversation or consensus without one yahoo deciding against the majority for self service BS. Those opposed to having any imposition of civilization are free to exit said civilization.
I'm not trying to shut down the internet. I'm not trying to put a gag in anyones mouth literally because I fear hearing truth. It's the whisper campaigns and the lack of psychological self defense missing in the masses we need to be concerned about. Discerning truth from lies has never been harder than in this era of evidence tampering becoming a high art form. People are getting sucked up into abstractions they never meant to participate in against their will Trojan horse style. Against what they mean to do and the real choices they mean to make in their lives. Representation systems mask over too much disease. Yes I am a fan of air and light. I am also an enemy of lies. There are too many citizens unarmed to defend themselves from lies. There are too many citizens unwilling to face truth with courage. They've been made junkies of tabloid crack.
I hope you can see that the level of sophistry perpetrated upon the American public to make any percent of them at this late date convinced Saddam drove a plane into WTC is not to be denied. When a media group can install lies in place of facts and revise history so insanely as to convert every American into a hollocaust denier, we are doomed as a nation. We continue to be divided as a nation when we can't have the merest conversation or consensus without one yahoo deciding against the majority for self service BS. Those opposed to having any imposition of civilization are free to exit said civilization.
I'm not trying to shut down the internet. I'm not trying to put a gag in anyones mouth literally because I fear hearing truth. It's the whisper campaigns and the lack of psychological self defense missing in the masses we need to be concerned about. Discerning truth from lies has never been harder than in this era of evidence tampering becoming a high art form. People are getting sucked up into abstractions they never meant to participate in against their will Trojan horse style. Against what they mean to do and the real choices they mean to make in their lives. Representation systems mask over too much disease. Yes I am a fan of air and light. I am also an enemy of lies. There are too many citizens unarmed to defend themselves from lies. There are too many citizens unwilling to face truth with courage. They've been made junkies of tabloid crack.
Citizens are plenty armed to deal with lies. Often people are just lazy or prefer them to the truth. There is no way to ban lying, or stop people from believing lies if they choose to. There is too much ambiguity for that. There is also the matter of differing opinions, one mans civilization is another's darkness...Many of the things you have mentioned like Lady Gaga, Westboro baptist, or Beyonce go far beyond simple lies and true and get into personal choices and opinions...This ofcourse is inevitable when you try to restrict speech beyond very limited circumstances like liable, and criminal incitement.
The book this show is based on was written by a Christian, for Christians. I don't think the title is appropriate (more for its reference to women), but the content is not an attack against Christians if you scratch beneath the surface.
I just wish ABC would come up with quality programming rather than resort to these "shocking" titles to get an audience.
The book was written by my friend Kim, who went to high school with me in the 1970s in a privileged neighborhood in Dallas, Texas. It was called "the bubble" for good reasons. It was not the real world. It was a community driven by social climbing and old money. It was a tricky upbringing for people who stepped even an inch away from the status quo. There was also an ugly underside of drugs, drinking, suicide, racism and turning a blind eye to sexual harrassment and abuse.
I think you should withhold judgement until you either read the book or see the show. She skewers the hypocrisy of the "country club Christians" who take the word of Jesus and twist into justifications for racism, intolerance and hypocrisy.
Thankfully, Kim has a great sense of humor so, the hypocrisy she exposes is pretty funny. Her POV also exposes and supports the tenets of true Christianity--based in love and acceptance.
But you don't get to decide who is and is not christian.
This excuse is used to distance people from the reality of their religion-sharers.
All are self-identified. Even the Westboro Baptists.
What gives you the right to say who is or is not?
Chiel in my own growing I came to realize another meaning to 'judge not lest ye be judged'. A world of individuals with free will so much of our judgement subjected to personal bias intrinsic to ourselves as humans, the only point of those judgements is to discern for ourselves what is acceptable and what is unacceptable for personal use. We vote with our feet in our lives exercising our free will.
If you ask the Pope which tradition of Christianity is 'correct' his answer will be? Easy enough to take pot shots at the man when he's the only denomination that has such a visible public profile. Each denomination believes they are correct, each of them have kernels of truth that need to be taken into account, and I think if those hiding out under the catch all blanket of Christendom for nefarious purpose could be scrutinized in earnest.... when you have rebuke coming from the majority of the denominations pointed at another denomination it's a clear sign to me. It's a fuzzy legal question, and the inaction of denominations to address just how many charlatans/ 'false prophets' exist in America... that needs to get solved or real Christians wind up getting punished for non christians.
All that said, not that I'm in any stretch of the imagination a saint, can you recognize me as being in many ways different from those you take issue? Am I able to hear out atheist views fairly without losing my identity as a Christian? How many times have you seen me attack them or come at anyone with intentions of conversion? I accept that my maker brought to this earth gays, atheists, Buddhists et al for a reason, and I truly believe those reasons if we hold ourselves to truthful standards discipline, will ultimately heal humans. Don't allow your anger to cloud your judgment and perpetuate injustice. Point at the behavior you personally reject and allow them to own it. The truth is the first casualty in competing brands of dehumanization (extremism).
That will happen even faster if you limit who can put out information and opinions. There was a supreme court decision in 1833 called Barron v. Mayor of Baltimore which held that the bill or rights didn't apply to the states (it was latter fixed with the 14th amendment). The result was by the 1850s the Republican party in the Southern United States was banned and its activists were thrown in prison if they tried to campaign or distribute literature. Without freedom of speech, even freedom to lie so long as you are not under oath, then we will be right back there in a heartbeat.
My point is this-- in defense of one thing alone you've left another thing vital to healthy civilization unguarded. So... truth in advertisement. One side of the library needs to be fact, the rest relegated to speculation until proven fact. To do otherwise runs the risk of the intellectual mind spinning in a sea of gibberish. Too strung out in abstractions we are very ill as a nation. See this. We need to be grounded in some way. I do not pretend to have all the answers, but I am telling you with absolute certainty I see and smell danger when we are a nation too vulnerable to predators/ exploitation happening on too big to fail scale. We need to fix this or western civilization will become Afghanistan. We are in danger and it's in the ethers of our nation selling the equivalent of crack in one form or another.
Another reason we need to fight back against liberalism. They reek of everything vulgar, foul and degrading, destroying society.
Don't like it then don't watch it.
There is plenty of wholesome programming on TV and Christian oriented programming.
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You don't have ownership over public domains. Having kids isn't a trump card for every situation in life and I'm sick of hearing that excuse. People have a right to their freedom of speech and expression in public places whether you like it or not, whether it pollutes your kids' minds or not. That's why you have private property where you CAN dictate what comes into your presence. What you believe is "being responsible for themselves" may not match up with what I consider being responsible for myself.
