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Let's hope Leon said the Sinner's Prayer.

After you're dead it is too late. Even Blaise Pascal recognized the efficacy of this prayer. Take the time to follow in Pascal's footsteps and turn your life over to Jesus, and a loving God who will always be there for you. It matters not what life you have lived. No one is beyond God's love.

Actually it has concern has little to do with 'a certified union' and is more of a concern with the epidemic of single mothers forced to live on social welfare programs to support their kids, being given incentives to not have 2 parent families, and punished by the welfare systems if they attempt to establish or maintain a two parent household.

http://newsblogs.chicagotribun...
http://www.census.gov/prod/201...
http://www.actrochester.org/ch...
http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

These are just a few examples of the concern and impact this is having on society, and especially effecting certain ethnic groups.

Unfortunately while all of the corruption exist in Government this won't be fixed. You can do your own searching to find out why that is, but I'll give you a hint. Milton Friedman was one of many that explained this situation and why people want it that way.

So you are making an inductive argument based on a sample size of 1? :)

After a few minutes of googling, I found this. The salient bit is that 91% of Protestant pastors use the internet for church business. Note that the article is six years old. There isn't a lot of room above 91% for that fraction to have increased since then, but it seems likely that it has.

I have no doubt that it is technically true that "some" Protestants think the internet is a tool of pure Satanic evil. But I think it is probably a number too small to call a "significant portion", and also so small that it seems a little tendentious to base a comparison between Catholic and Protestant attitudes on it, even with qualifiers like "some" and "many."

The WSJ, owned by Rupert Murdoch, also owner of Fox News, can be assumed to to take the climate-denialist position on everything.

You mean like the hour long special from 2005, The Heat Is On: The Case of Global Warming where they were praised by the greens for being biased in favor of AGW?

I know it's hip to bash Fox News and all, but maybe you should actually watch it before you repeat what other pundits have said about it. You know, kinda like you should look over the source material for AGW before blindly accepting someone else's interpretation of it.

On the other hand, a shorter DNA strand has less room for errors that might be non-life threatening.

Meaning duplication errors are magnified.

It is interesting to see how people view news like this, as people tend to fit the results into their own world views.

The way I view this is not "XOR" logic, as it could be BOTH. Yes, there is less chance of problems, but greater chance those problems are life threatening.

And, just like I view things, there is blessing and curses in everything. Read the following link if you want a better look into my world view.

http://www.crosswalk.com/careers/11583282/

"(Jesus') enemies had their opinion about Him," Wright wrote in a eulogy of the late scholar Asa Hilliard in the November/December 2007 issue. "The Italians for the most part looked down their garlic noses at the Galileans.

"From the circumstances surrounding Jesus' birth (in a barn in a township that was under the Apartheid Roman government that said his daddy had to be in), up to and including the circumstances surrounding Jesus' death on a cross, a Roman cross, public lynching Italian style.

Actually, there's no first-person accounts of Jesus actually having existed at all.

2 Peter 1:16; 1 John 1:1-3; Luke 1:1-3; Acts 1:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:6-8; John 20:30-31; Acts 19:39-42; 1 Peter 5:1; Acts 1:9; Acts 2:22; Acts 26:24-28

I recommend reading the book The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell.

The Bible isn't a slasher novel, it's a love story. It's about these kids who run away from home seeking independence and what they perceive as life's true fulfillment, and a father who desperately tries to get them to return. The father pleads with them for years to come home and enjoy the shelter and comfort of his house, but they continue to ignore him until finally the father makes a tremendous sacrifice in order to open the door for them to return. Some of the children realize the father's sacrifice and unconditional love he has for them, and come home. The others continue to wander aimlessly. The subtle, but real, plot of the story is that the father knew all along what it was going to take to be reunited with his children, but he also knew he had to let his children suffer in order for them to realize what they'd given up and the importance of the sacrifice it was going to take to save them. You should read the whole book sometime. It's amazing!

that's a very good, summary.

however, i think folks who don't know so much about the bible would benefit from a few other tidbits.

1. the bible has a lot of blood and gore b/c people are bloody and gory.

2. yes, the father in the love story ended the lives of some clay versions of very evil people and societies, but he has not ended the potential for their eternal life, rather, he ended the misery they foisted onto themselves and those around them. literally, he put them out of their misery. he will raise them again and show them his way of happiness, peace and joy.

3. eternal hellfire doesn't exist. the wages of sin is death, not eternal life in some eternal fire. people have bastardized a parable about being kind to the needy into the magna carta for dante's inferno because, frankly, the bible teaches something entirely different from dante's inferno. think about - a man is literally burning in fire and can hold a normal conversation and asks for a drop of water to cure his dry mouth? yeah, right! god is love and love does not (permanent) harm to his neighbor). god is not the sadist most portray him to be.

4. this life is not the only life that eternal salvation will be offered to people. god NEVER offered the nation of ancient israel spiritual salvation. he will, one day. check out ezekiel 37 for details.

http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible. cgi?new=1&word=ezek+37&section=0&version=niv&langu age=en

5. there is god's way of life - care for others EQUAL (not more, not less) to oneself - and there is the spoiled clay child way of life - care for myself above others. the former leads to sustained happiness, peace and joy for the individual and the community while the latter leads to... well, look around you. then educate yourself. ~170,000,000 died in the 20th century due to the impact of war.

it would take you 5.4 years to count that many people at 1 per second. i guess that's an average of almost 1 war related death every 20 seconds for 100 years. let me assure you that the actual death is a pittance of the misery that led to that death.

kids starving left and right. i think 10k die every day due to starvation and illness.

yet many, even "intellectual" types, think the world is a "good" place. the truth is they deem their world "good" and they are so self centered they don't care about anyone else's world.

anyway, if you want to care about others equal to yourself, sponsoring a child or children is a great way to express it...

http://cotni.org/

they are rated 4 stars (highest rating, exceptional) by charity navigator:

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/sear ch.summ

Also, God rested on the seventh day and established His sabbath for mankind (Mark 2:27).

But... "Now Open 7 days a week"

A great museum, but they have a blind spot on this point.

Tobias addressed Sarah as "sister," but as a matter of respect not intended to denote immediate blood-relations. In fact, if you read the Book of Tobit you will find that Sarah's father is a cousin of Tobias's father, making Sarah one of Tobias's cousins, though it is not indicated how close or distant a cousin she is. The beauty of this Scriptural passage is that it teaches us how even marital sexuality is not to devolve into lust.

I have no idea where you are getting your facts from, your statement is totally wrong,

No, it's very correct. I base my conclusions on facts, not on any kind of religion.

please include a URL supporting your statements next time.

http://www.pmw.org.il/Latest%20bulletins%20new.htm #b261205

And there's more:
Only 41% of Palestinians viewed the attack on the world trade center as terrorism. Only 46% thought the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 was an act of terrorism.
http://www.pcpsr.org/survey/polls/2001/p3a.html
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=13420

In this poll only 36% of Palestinians thought 9/11 was an act of terrorism.
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/1226762.html

Thousands more can be found. Google is your friend. My favorite terrorist supporters are the ones in SE Asia (I think it was Bangladesh) that were running around with any pictures they could find of Osama Bin Laden, including one that had Burt the muppet from Sesame Street beside Bin Laden's shoulder! Here's the link http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blo samabert2.htm .


Oh, and by the way, "Palenstinians" is correctly spelt: Palestinians

Dude, its called a typo. They come easily when you do not have spell check.

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters...

continued...

http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible. cgi?new=1&word=Gen+1&section=0&version=nas&languag e=en

Notice that the Catholic church directly and publicly threw its weight behind evolution.

Sources?
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/weblogs/kmc/?adate=1 1/14/2005

http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_jp02tc.htm

Dueteronomy 24:19-20: "When you are harvesting your crops and forget to bring in a bundle of grain from your field, don't go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Then the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.

When you beat the olives from your olive trees, don't go over the boughs twice. Leave some of the olives for the foreigners, orphans, and widows.

In all cases this law makes it clear that the owner has first claim to all of their farm's produce, but that they should not pick them clean but should leave whatever was missed during the first harvest for the poor. The poor don't have first rights to any of the owner's property.

For a practical example of how this actually worked see Ruth 2.

Also note that this was for basic sustance. These people would have faced starvation or out-and-out begging (and potential exploitation) if this type of law wasn't in place. Copying music, movies, or video games has absolutely no impact on your ability to survive, it's for pure entertainment.

Dueteronomy 24:19-20: "When you are harvesting your crops and forget to bring in a bundle of grain from your field, don't go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Then the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.

When you beat the olives from your olive trees, don't go over the boughs twice. Leave some of the olives for the foreigners, orphans, and widows.

In all cases this law makes it clear that the owner has first claim to all of their farm's produce, but that they should not pick them clean but should leave whatever was missed during the first harvest for the poor. The poor don't have first rights to any of the owner's property.

For a practical example of how this actually worked see Ruth 2.

Also note that this was for basic sustance. These people would have faced starvation or out-and-out begging (and potential exploitation) if this type of law wasn't in place. Copying music, movies, or video games has absolutely no impact on your ability to survive, it's for pure entertainment.

Do you mean to imply that every word of the Old and New testament were written by the "finger of God" rather than by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit? Or just the tablets that Moses brought down from the mountain?

In Genesis chapter 1 and Exodus 20, the original Hebrew the word for "Day" was "Yowm". The definition of "Yowm" was variable and derived by context. Here is a link to an online concordance that is worth looking at more than re-writing. http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi ?number=03117&version=nas

The use of "Yowm" does not provide a clear cut definition for the period of time by rules of language, but if we use context, then it can be inferred as a 24 hour period,,, but who's to say?

"Greece produced a wealth of culture. From Plato and Aristotle's philosophy on governments we derive our idea of the republic, where every individual's rights are important, and democracy, where the people rule."

Rome was a republic before the decadance of the imperial pagan Rome came into being.

Also, the Holy Bible has played a far more important role in rights and government in western civilization then greece, being found in everything from the founding of common law (Alfred the Great put the ten commandments in his common law document) to the Declaration of Independence (We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.) Note, that the Declaration proclaims it is self evident that their Creator.. - The greeks held a panthestic warring disorderly gods idea, which surely affected their viewpoint, nor where all the greek cities democratic.

The Holy Bible, at least the old testament, is older, and contains a lot of fundamentally good advice on good goverment. The people of early Israel governed themselves. God even gave them some advice on not getting a king like the people around them. 1 Samual 8 (read this).
http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible. cgi?passage=1sa+8&version=str&showtools=0

Something else to keep in mind: a "lot" is a method of electing people. "Ballot" comes from "ball lot". People use to write the names of the people they wanted to elect on stone, or pottery, which is where the name comes from. This same use is in the Holy Bible, although a lot of purposely bad commentaries would have you believe lot means a random dice throw, or try to hide it in some way (something akin to not having elections in some churches I believe, in contrast to the way the church of the apostles did it).

Wow.

Uganda, which has had the most spectacular success in Africa, if not the world!

Funny how you mentioned education. I just read two articles detailing the problems with current public education.

Revolution in the Classroom -- It's Time!
How Teaching Has Been Rendered Impossible in Government Schools

No, I'm not aware of any Christian group who believe that the Bible was "dictated" by God, and that is the position of many Muslims. However, there are a lot of Christians who believe 2 Timothy 3:16; that is that all scripture is divinely inspired. The fact that the Bible's human authors were left to find their own words for God's thoughts is not, in the end, very different from dictation.

What you say about "parables and accounts" is a slightly different issue. The Bible and the Koran both contain passages which are not intended to be taken literally, or where the meaning is just obscure. However, the examples I gave were taken from the books of law, which appear to be the Israelites' legal code. I'm not aware of any other way you can interpret these books. I would like to know about any interpretation which does not impart harshness to God in the way that comes over on a naive reading.

What I was trying to show, though, was the danger of learning about Islam by reading pro-Christian blogs. I have noticed a process where some blogger decides to have a look at the Koran. He finds something that shows Islam in a bad light, so he posts it on his blog. Perhaps it sounds striking, and so it gets copied by lots of other people. Unfortunately no one bothers to ask a real Muslim how they actually interpret that part of the Koran.

My quotes from the Bible were meant to highlight the fact that a similar process could be applied to Christianity. I don't know of any Christians who advocate slavery, whether or not for thieves. Yet it is there, in the Bible, and could give people a wrong idea about what Christians think.

I don't think the scammers are going to be complaining too loudly. 419 scams are a form of theft, and under Sharia law thieves have a hand cut off. Pretty barbaric, but these days liberal Muslims would much rather have a modern legal and penal system.

Islam doesn't have a unique claim to this sort of barbarity. According to the Bible, if you find a thief breaking in, you can simply kill him. If he is caught later, and doesn't have sufficient funds to make restitution, he can be sold into slavery.

The people the scambaiters need to fear are not the proponents of Sharia law, but the scammers themselves. The scammers are, after all, simply organised criminals.

I don't think the scammers are going to be complaining too loudly. 419 scams are a form of theft, and under Sharia law thieves have a hand cut off. Pretty barbaric, but these days liberal Muslims would much rather have a modern legal and penal system.

Islam doesn't have a unique claim to this sort of barbarity. According to the Bible, if you find a thief breaking in, you can simply kill him. If he is caught later, and doesn't have sufficient funds to make restitution, he can be sold into slavery.

The people the scambaiters need to fear are not the proponents of Sharia law, but the scammers themselves. The scammers are, after all, simply organised criminals.

bible littered w/storied of innocents hurt: sure, it's part story book and some of those stories pull no punches. Stories gotta have villains.

rape victims get stoned while perpetrators get lighter punishment: not sure I buy that.

Deut. 21:25--27

more general "adultery":

Lev. 20:10 (which is close to a more-famous verse which I'd like to ignore for the purposes of this little nano-conversation)

Did I miss something?

John.

bible littered w/storied of innocents hurt: sure, it's part story book and some of those stories pull no punches. Stories gotta have villains.

rape victims get stoned while perpetrators get lighter punishment: not sure I buy that.

Deut. 21:25--27

more general "adultery":

Lev. 20:10 (which is close to a more-famous verse which I'd like to ignore for the purposes of this little nano-conversation)

Did I miss something?

John.

>"Hate speech" only refers to speech that is intended to incite violence against individuals or groups.

"Hate speech" which incites violence, such as the bible, for a true example.

As an atheist, I really shouldn't care, but as someone who believes that only in a society where people don't have to discuss their true feelings (not matter what they might be) behind closed doors can we begin to make progress towards ethical and decent conduct, I have to say censoring the bible and emebllishments on it is just plain wrong.

Otherwise we will end up with secret societies (KKK) that remain outside government radar and do far more illegal and unethical things than uttering offensive language.

Your Grandfather plagiarized that from the author of Ecclesiastes.

How fitting ...

Wrong. Jewish law and the teachings of Christ, which are strong rules to many, both consider marriage to be unifying (see Matthew 19:3-12 3, search for Old Testament references.)

There's also valor in staying engaged - but it's better to get married if you can't stay chaste.

For those of us who are Christian, you made a oath in front of God that you loved each other. But that part doesn't matter much these days...

If one is going to use a homily, one should at least get it right, somewhat tricky when even biblical scholars can't agree.

Either way it is given as 'the love of money' not 'money' that brings the evil deeds.

The New American Standard Bible translates it as

6:10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Whereas King James gives it as :

6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

As to what Jesus would do?

He spent the first 30 years of his life as the son of god doing nothing particualrly holy. He walked past the sick and injured all the time and left them to suffer. He was busy learning to carpent to fill his and Jospeh's pockets with sheckles.

Eventually, when he needed to get laid, he took up being a messiah. One of his first jobs was to take an obligated pilgrimmage. Arriving at the temple he decided to make a name for himself.

He turned over the money lenders tables and poured their coins on the floor ("Aw, come on mate, that'll take me ages to pick them up"). And what was their crime? It wasn't because they were lending money per se it was becuase they were doing it at the temple :

"Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business." John 2:16

So, when you think "What would Jesus do?" the answer is usually "nothing".

If one is going to use a homily, one should at least get it right, somewhat tricky when even biblical scholars can't agree.

Either way it is given as 'the love of money' not 'money' that brings the evil deeds.

The New American Standard Bible translates it as

6:10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Whereas King James gives it as :

6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

As to what Jesus would do?

He spent the first 30 years of his life as the son of god doing nothing particualrly holy. He walked past the sick and injured all the time and left them to suffer. He was busy learning to carpent to fill his and Jospeh's pockets with sheckles.

Eventually, when he needed to get laid, he took up being a messiah. One of his first jobs was to take an obligated pilgrimmage. Arriving at the temple he decided to make a name for himself.

He turned over the money lenders tables and poured their coins on the floor ("Aw, come on mate, that'll take me ages to pick them up"). And what was their crime? It wasn't because they were lending money per se it was becuase they were doing it at the temple :

"Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business." John 2:16

So, when you think "What would Jesus do?" the answer is usually "nothing".

I laughed, but they were completely serious. Apparently libraries have been sued before because of the content of the internet! But if the library installs filters, they violate first admendment rights.

I know this doesn't help with your decision, but you might want to have some sort of disclaimer up stating the cafe is not responsible for the content of the internet.

Setting aside for a second all the technical details about no sound in space, and speed of light and such, this is still an interesting concept- but not a new one at all.

One of my favorite passages in Tolkien's work is his story of the creation in The Silmarillion, where Middle Earth flows from the Music of the Ainur. As somebody else already posted, Aslan of C.S. Lewis's Narnia Chronicles sang Narnia into existence. And many Eastern religions have associated sound with creation. Even in Genesis (and later on in John) the creative force was the "Word of God".

I'll leave conclusions to the reader, but it does make one think- why do so many people (and now add some physicists) associate sound with the beginning of the Universe?

About Laodicea: there were two earthquakes in Laodicea, one in 60 AD, and one in 65 AD. The Laodiceans rebuilt after the first one, and then had their town destroyed again in the second earthquake. The town was eventually rebuilt a century later. So there was no town of Laodicea in 96 AD; in fact it wasn't there when Jerusalem fell in 70 AD. Thus, John wrote the book of Revelation before the fall of Jerusalem.

1st Pasture beef & Lamb are actually cheaper than feedlot beef & lamb.

Forgive my ignorance, but I don't know what "1st pasture" and "feedlot" mean in this context. Furthermore, I wasn't asking which was cheaper. I was asking for evidence that US Beef was unhealthy for consumption.

Huge amounts of expensive anti-biotics & hormones are need as the cattle have to cope with living waist high in shit.

I requested that you remove the exaggerations. What part of that request did you fail to understand?

Ontop of which there's the huge enviromental cleanup costs

The concept of "protecting the environment" is subjective.

the cattle have spent most of their lives waist high in shit & it's embedded into every pore of their skins.

I asked you to remove, not repeat, your exaggerations. As if every cow has every pore filled with feces. How would one know? Do we examine every pore on every cow for feces? Or could it be that emotional arguments are more fitting to support your position than rational arguments?

Here's some linkage

The New York Times has about as much credibility as the World Weekly News. It is a spokespaper for Leftist agenda. The New York Times recently added itself among the ranks of some of the most evil corporations in the country: those who abuse eminent domain NPR is also a Leftist mouthpiece and whipping boy of the powerful Jewish lobby. You need to come up with more objective and rational sources for your position.

Sounds like just the winning lawyer I'd want on my side in a battle against a multi-billion dollar company.

Well, before hiring him :), you might want to check out these links:
Gore Recount Lawyer Faces Ethics Sanctions
GORE LEGAL TEAM GUILTY OF SEX BIAS

My-my-my-my (U can't touch us)
SCO tries to bill me so hard
Makes me say, "Oh my Lord, thank you for blessing me
With a mind to think about the O from SC"
It feels good
When you know you're right
A superdope winner in a court fight
And SCO knows as much
And they'd just get beat-uh!
U can't touch us

I told you homeboys
U can't touch us
Yeah, that's how we livin' and you know
U can't touch us
Look in the GPL, man
U can't touch us
Yo, let me bust the funky code
U can't touch us

Stop! RICO time!

(With some apologies to MC Hammer, but mostly to the people who read this.)

Just to think, years ago, it took 450,000 cubits just to store the genetic sequence of the known animal kingdom...

Not a troll.
read for yourself this passage in 1 Tim 4:1-5 and make your own conclusions.

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> When Jesus returns, I know it will surprise a lot of peoeple, including most Christians.

No doubt... :/ At least if the pre-trib rapture turns out to be the truth. Seems like it is, but I can't say for sure on that one. There is some reasonable evidence for the mid-post-trib position (i.e. after the Mark of the Beast but before the wrath).

> As I just posted in another article, I think it is kinda sad that the internet causes Christians to get in to these nasty flame wars with each other on places like Slashdot.

well I don't think this was a flamewar. I've certainly seen far worse! Agreed, the Bible says that people will know we are Christians by our love for each other. That is SO key. If we can't show some respect for each other on Slashdot, we're screwed!

My favorite place to discuss Christian issues is Crosswalk.com Forums. There's a great bunch of people there and they chat on everything from the silly to the serious. I'm 'yodermk' on that board.

re: evolution

I'm not going to say I'm 100% certain here, but I *do* lean towards the regular 6-day creation account as recorded in Genesis. I think there are a number of reasonable explanations for how that could be possible. One thing I read just this week that really bolstered my faith in the Genesis account is a book called Eternity in their Hearts by Don Richardson. It talks about how "primitive" folk religions actually point toward Christianity in some amazing ways. There are some tribes that have been isolated and never would have had any contact with Jewish or Christian witness, but they have beliefs that parallel the Fall of Man and the Flood in absolutely astonishing detail! (Not everything in their legend matches the Bible perfectly, but it's surprisingly close.)

But like you implied, this kind of stuff is far less important than the basics of the Gospel. Not to mention getting actively involved in the Great Commission. The more I think about it, the more pumped I am about missions. There is simply no other reason for our existance on this earth!

Torture is another matter entirely, however

I'll get modded down for this (and you) are completely off topic, but toture is just as bad.

Interesting read? Try Matthew 5 - 7: Sermon on the Mount. That's some radical religious thinking for you.

Don't mean to stir up a religious battle or flamewar. Just thought I'd respond to your misperception.

Torture is another matter entirely, however

I'll get modded down for this (and you) are completely off topic, but toture is just as bad.

Interesting read? Try Matthew 5 - 7: Sermon on the Mount. That's some radical religious thinking for you.

Don't mean to stir up a religious battle or flamewar. Just thought I'd respond to your misperception.

Actually, I think some translations of The Bible are copyrighted.Remember, translating the ancient texts accurately requires huge teams of scholars.

For example, the Good News Bible.
These people seem quite upset about it.

> one should either take a literal interpretation of Genesis

Oh really? What does Gen 2:17 say?

Now since Adam did not literally die in the 24 hours that he ate the forbidden fruit, that means, that one must NOT take a literal interpretation.

Do yourself a favor, buy a Interlinear Bible, and READ IT. You'll be amazed at how many words are just plain translated badly.

I agree. I've had my opinion about filtering for a long time, that it's a flawed approach, and extremely dangerous to depend on. However, without actually trying filtering myself, I might have been just making it all up. So when I heard that CrossingGuard was a free server-based filtering service, I decided to try it out for myself and see if I was right or wrong.

I was wrong! Maybe CrossingGuard is just an extremely poor service, but I assume that they are giving their best effort, and that they are representative of other filtering based services. I also do not know if they do white-list or black-list based filtering. I believe it's black-list.

Anyways, I agree with your comment about filtering not just being about porn. It's not. It's about blocking out all speech that disagrees with the views of those doing the filtering. I'm a Christian, but not a protestant. So why should be views as an Anabaptist be censored by those of mainline Protestant beliefs just because they are different?

Anyways, the following list is some of the sites that I remember being blocked, either totally, or partially, as of Feb 8.

slashdot.org
freshmeat.net
linuxtoday.com
upside.com
about.com
mp3.com
anabaptistbooks.com
And others...

So, instead of filtering, I think that we need to better define web content. For instance, if the web was able to be structured in a manner like Yahoo, then people *may* be able to objectively filter content based on their own preferences. "Oh, this site is under *.baseball.sports.rec, and I'm looking for little flying mammals. That site probably won't help me."