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Falwell Declares Teletubby gay!
sidhi sent us a link
to a CNN article where you can read that
Jerry Falwell has declared that
one of the Teletubbies is gay. You can read a bit on CNN about it.
I'm amazed he managed to deduce that much from the show. I watched
a whole episode and couldn't get that much out of it.
But what is apparent that these teletubbies are dangerous. Between kids
hugging their TVs and being crushed, to this blatant attempt
to subvert our children's minds. I think the only thing
more threatening then murderous homosexual teletubbies is
Jerry Falwell.
Uhhh...isn't pink, not purple, the gay pride color?
For that matter, if a purse is a sign of being gay, then why doesn't he declare kilt-wearing Scotsmen gay?
Answer: He's not stupid enough to challenge the Scottish, unfortunately.
Who the fsck is Jerry Falwell and why the fsck should it matter that a tv character is gay or not?
I know I HAVE heard it all now. My Furby is a Narcoleptic Bull Dyke with a bad case of Bunyons...oh Satan is about!! Dispell the evil!!!
Bah.
i think something is just a bit wrong with Jerry Fallwell. c'mon, you see the teletubbies and automatically think "homosexual"? That would be quite of a mental leap, to make that connection. I guess we know now what must be on Jerry Fallwell's mind most of the time. Garbage in, garbage out. Perhaps this whole homophobic bigot thing is just an act, because he has something he's trying to hide from us..?
you get my drift here?
anyone see the MadTV sketch with the artist with all the inkblot paintings, and the governor claiming the inkblots were full of naked boys, indecent, and needed to be banned? hmm
interesting to learn the teletubbies have sexes, anyway..
If I say something stupid can I get on the CNN website?
God has forsaken us, we now have gay aliens with tv's in their stomachs pandering their smut to our young children.
Please, for your sake, read all of the literature contained at liberty.edu (preferably with a couple of recursive web sucks at a time) so that you can be healed of the sin in your mind. Cleanse, for thou art forsaken in this land of unholiness. God has given you a purpose in this land of evil, walk towards the light. Download the tiny digital bits of goodness that have sprung forth from the loins of Rev. Falwell. Drink in his bits, for that you might be as holy and righteous.
AMEN!
Mike The Big FortyTwo!
Can we dispel the myth that geeks tend to be conservative republicans?
Never heard that one... the one I always hear is that geeks tend to be either bleeding heart liberal democrats, or off-the-scale wacko libertarians.
I, myself, am completely apolitical...
Since when have geeks been republicans, or God help us, conservatives?
;) But I do believe I am a member of the minority.
Every geek I've ever met is liberal as the ACLU (honest). Not too many Christian geeks either.
I am, for one, a greek conservative Christian (and I would vote Republican, if I cared
Hey kids do you know the word of the day?
It's on the TV right now so the folks at home can see. Its "FAGGOT ASS TELETUBBY" Use it at home when you call into that live radio station or T.V show. Try to use it in a sentence with an ignorant southern accent like
"I'm just calling because I think that preacherman Fallwell is doing a good job protectin our morals. I mean we have got to protect our children from them there sexual predators and FAGGOT ASS TELETUBBIES!"
or
"Ye'all got happy meals right? That their toy ain't a FAGGOT ASS TELETUBBY is it?"
Use it and feel the love and blissful ignorance.
The thing that gave me the biggest laugh is the recall of the disney videos
Slashdot shouldn't be giving any voice to crap like this. Slashdot is better than this.
Bring america down?
Sounds like a worthwhile cause to me!
nt
My seven-month old daughter and I love the show, although it is pretty weird.
The teletubbies are BABIES. Aren't small children expected to do a lot of goofy things?
Did you notice that one of the teletubbies is a wog and another is a nigger? I suppose in outerspace they are supposed to have multi-cultural ETs.
What's wrong with Conservative Republicans?
Gary Bauer for Prez and Elzabeth Dole for VP!!
The same thing that is wrong with being gay and supporting the NEA, donating to public television, and being an atheist.
Libertarianism. They're the only ones I know of currently who aren't busy trying to tear down the bill of rights.
Right, they are trying to bring us back the the 1920's when labor unions were outlawed and business had absolutely no regulations to protect the public from them. Big improvement.
I fail to see how this can possibly be a newsworthy subject on Slashdot--"News for Nerds?" Stick to techie stuff--we can read this tripe elsewhere.
I read slashdot so that I don't have to put up with normal news exclusively. Don't mix the two.
Carcass
"Teletubbies" is a wonderful show, aimed at one-year olds.
Falwell is the devil incarnate, may he rot in hell! That scum-sucking Nazi asshole has been trying to impose his psychotic views on everyone else for years. It's frightening that a fair number of Americans actually share this lunatic's beliefs.
"Teletubbies" is a wonderful show, aimed at one-year olds.
Falwell is the devil incarnate, may he rot in hell! That scum-sucking Nazi asshole has been trying to impose his psychotic views on everyone else for years. It's frightening that a fair number of Americans actually share this lunatic's beliefs.
I'm not sure this topic really fits with slashdot, however.
Not having any kids, I hadn't the faintest idea
what those were. All I know is that I've seen
adverts on night-time television for some-or-
another product associated with them. Every
time I see 'em, I think to myself "Geez, those
look like down-right evil aliens. What's the
attraction?"
Teletubbies, eh? To me they look just plain
scary.
I just cracked up when I read:-
Steve Rice said. "It's a children's show, folks. To think we would be putting sexual innuendo in a children's show is kind of outlandish."
Who the %^&* Steve Rice is i don't know but anyone saying anything like that obviously has no idea of the long standing tradition of british kids TVs association with drugs!
Purple
Who is Jerry Falwell?
Imagine someone that manipulates religion to bring out the worst of human depravity. There, now you have Jerry Falwell.
Substitute "gay" with "Spic", "Nigger", "Black",
whatever. Such timeless prose.
You sound just like all those nice, well-meaning people:
"I have no problem with Them. I just don't want them breeding with us White people. It just ain't right."
"They just don't know how to live right."
"Why can't they just stay on Their side of town?"
etc.
For those who are insecure in their role in life, sure, it's all "gay propaganda".
But I can't say I've ever been woken up at 7:30am in the morning by a couple of good looking boys in nice white dresses riding fancy bikes at my door, handing out pamphlets urging me to throw away the chains of my heterosexual lifestyle and change to the freedom of homosexuality (as if it really worked that way), warning me of how the continuing sins of the world could bring me [implying heavily that I am thus not a participant in those sinful things that might be bringing me closer to Judgement Day] and where to go if I did by chance reconsider my lifestyle "choice" and look for freedom.
Nor have I been approached in high-traffic areas by those fancy people who are always so well-dressed! to come to a Revival somewhere.
and I don't have to watch stupid commercials on TV hinting that I have an meaningless, empty life and that if I just considered a different "lifestyle" that all would suddenly become better, after reading a book that I can get sent to me if I call some 1-800 number, and that "there are no strings attached". Duh, it's an 800 number...
Maybe if those Gays come up with their own TV network that is as equally garrish, insulting and pathetic as TBN or Pat Robertson's schlock ("700 Club"), then maybe I might become a little concerned about things...
Don't believe me, check out their website:
http://www.libertarian.org/
Sorry I actually looked up and read about the party and understood it before I became a fanatical devotee of it, like you. The only dangerous person is an ignorant person.
Anything that pisses off a fundie asshole like Falwell can't be all bad.
And how exactly does one determine the gender of the TeleTubby characters?
Fiscal conservative = I'll dick over the working class in the name of profit.
Social liberal = I want to be high when I do it.
Scott Adams said he hoped religious conservatives ...
would attack his books
I, for one, have seen no "gay propaganda" anywhere. Simply people living their own lives responding to anti-gay propaganda and persecution slung by the self-proclaimed "moral majority."
Maybe Falwall is so outspoken just to avert attention to his own obvious homosexual tendencies.. maybe he ought to get himself caught with another hooker to dispell doubt.
Looking at this, I wonder what does Falwell think about Barney now... OK, so according to him, purple is gay, eh? So, that phrase should change to "cute gay dinosaur". Duh. He's high on something, I guess.
Just because being queer is the "in" thing right now does not make it right. Notice I don't use the word "gay". There is nothing "gay" about homosexuality or cross dressing.
Unless you are a Christian, you probably cannot understand why this is a bad thing. It is like a square trying to grok a cube; the square simply lacks the depth necessary. By bringing Jesus into your heart you add an extra dimension to your life that will allow you to understand the deeper meaning. This is all explained by Jesus to Nicodemus in the book of John chapter 3 before the infamous 3:16 verse (which doesn't make as much sense on its own unless you understand the verses leading up to it).
God made this world in seven days, made man out of dust and woman out of man's rib. He can build you up and cut you down with only a thought. Who are you to question Him when He commands not to commit these sexually immoral acts? He deserves not only our praise and worship, but our obedience and our remorse and repentance when our obedience fails.
Any "Christian" that tells you "gay is okay" is speaking for themself and not letting God speak through them.
NOT IN ANY WAY A STANDARD FOR A WAY OF LIFE
..up to the point of commiting terrorist acts
It depends on the society. Read about Sparta for example. Being 'gay' was completely normal for that society and they weren't the current stereotype of a 'fag'. Some simple study of other civilizations will dispel your myths.
Incidentally, Christianity is bunk. Read Martin Luther in depth, since he is generally respected by the Christian establishment. Read complete works, not the abridged (i.e. edited) versions.
But religion can solve the worlds problems right? How anybody can not be an atheist is now beyond my comprehension. Must be ignorance.
yes, it is stupid. that's why /. printed it. to show the stupidity of it.
Hearing Falwell attack a children's show is pretty hillarious.
After all, this is the same guy who declared Jews some great evil a couple weeks ago and ended up making a Clintonesque apology. He claimed that the "beast" is a Jew alive today. Wonder if he consulted a spiritualist to determine this?
Indeed, I wonder what the view is like within his glass house.
well let's see. I am a christian. my office mate is a christian. my colleage next door is a preacher. my two assistant webmasters are christian. my department planner is a christian. And that is just in my office and the two adjacent to me. within my department there are many more. mostly baptists. and mostly originating from parts of the U.S. not considered to be ultra-conservative or christian regions. all of us are either programmers or originally programmers now doing something else for the company.
there are an AWFUL lot of christian geeks out there. Many more than you think. I think they just don't frequent slashdot because most of the vocal folks here have liberal agnostic politically correct viewpoints. heck, it's easy to agree with the popular mindset. how many of you have the testicular fortitude to stand up for what you know deep down to be *(right* though?
This so-called-preacher is the closest thing to the Anti-Christ we have in this country. He also hasn't been in the headlines for some time and is looking to get on the Larry King Show to shoot off his fat mouth.
Looking at him recently, he doesn't look too healthy. Hopefully he will die soon.
I'm an atheist, so don't think I'm a complete Falwell fan, but I really don't understand the reactions of you people. You sound like a bunch of ignorant Southerners about to lynch a Negro because some thought he might have looked at his daughter the wrong way. Have you no tolerance for other people's religion? I supect most of you have don't because you have no understanding of religion. Too much time staring at video screens of one form or another.
The bible Falwell reads and attempts (yes, attempts - he, like everyone is hypocritical to some degree - at least he tries to practice what he preaches, no doubt) to follow says that homosexual activity is sinful activity. Sinful activity (not the sinner) is supposed to be discouraged through words and other sanctions. That's want he's doing. That's what religious men have been doing for several thousand years. Let him rant? Your skin is too thin. Have some tolerance for god's sake! (Whoops - there is no god, is there?)
They showed the tubby on a morning show:
1) The tubby wore purple, said to be a homo color.
2) The tubby wore a triangle, said to be a homo symbol.
3) The tubby pranced around, said to be a homo thing to do.
4) The tubby carried a purse, said to be a queer thing to do.
If you don't think queers are made and not just born, then you haven't been in jail or boy's school or any other place where influences toward queerness are strong, then you need to do some reading and learn something besides what you hear at the bar or on Jay Leno. If you don't think childern are influenced by what they see on TV, then you're just plain stupid, and there's no hope for you.
I'm glad to see Rob is posting something more interesting than another cartoon movie review.
Whether or not the show has any redeeming value is a completely different discussion, and while it's a valid argument it isn't relevant.
what we're talking about here is how silly the conservative right's gotten.
I agree, one-year-old children should be watching things that improve their minds, such as Sesame street, not things that make their minds worse, such as Teletubbies. Teletubbies is obviously not intended for children; it is intended for stoners, similar to the old TV show "HMS puffnstuff"
Most geeks are Libertarian by nature. Don't put up with no crap no how, why don't you go fs*k yourself.
Anything that gets people watching TV is baaaaaaaaaaaad. Stupid mindless rot. I suppose that idiot Falwell will just call attention to it.
By the way, the Prez's favorite T Tubbie is Po. That round thing on her head might be a little big, but it's just the right height.
I really don't think geek has anything to do with political affiliation. I'm a registered Republican, and a Christian, and I'm geek.
Actually, if you look at the article on "hacking" that was here yesterday, and look at the creeds, the core belifs of a hacker/geek [Music Starts softly: "Glory Glory Hallelujah"]fall more in line with the values that America was founded on than with either political party, race, creed, color or religion! It is my further belief that we should band together under the freedom and rights bound to us by our US Consitiution (for those of us who are American, other nationalities are free to be bound to theirs, ours, or make up their own), which are reflected on the OpenSource community, and the GNU Public liscence! [music grows louder] My friends, there's a war out there! I'm not talking about the wars between countires [Audience : NO!], not talking 'bout wars between races [Audience : NO!], not even 'bout wars between religions [Audience : NO!]! [Music getting really loud] What I'm talking about is the war between OpenSource and Commercial software! We have the right to own the source code to what we put on our machine! [Audience Cheers, "Amen"s] We have the right to use free software that is superior to the commercial counterparts! [Audience Cheers, "Amen"s] We can live and knoooow that we have the best OS on the planet because of us and others like us! [Music takes over, audience cheers and claps along].
Sorry, I just get kinda preachy when it comes to OpenSource.
It shouldn't matter at all to Slashdot. Its just another way for people to perpetuate their bigoted hatred towards Christians by taking something said by a good and decent man and twisting it to make all Christians look like crazy conspiracy minded morons.
Face it. Y'all are using PCs because you felt the New iMacs coming in colors was a little too effete for ya all...
She come in colors everywhere...
She combs her hair...
...She's like a Rainbow
Combing colors in the air...
Oh everywhere...
...She comes in colors...
Right on! I've been saying this for years, and thought no one agreed with me.
...means God will judge.
Sinner you are not worthy to judge anyone else's life.
There are no acts of love between adults, that one can or should condemn.
-- the Dalai Lama
I am a Christian, and I'm a geek. My brother and sister-in-law don't allow thier two kids to watch TT becuase they are just stupid. The show's mostly nonsense. The kids love to watch VeggieTales, and I really like to watch them, too. Not only do they have good morals, they can be pretty funny at times (imagine "Monty Python" doing Christian children's programming -- if you can). Plus (my favorite part) the whole thing is CG, done in SoftImage. You know there's gotta be some geeks in that company.
Agree totally with the above post. Even if some of the Teletubbies are gay, and you don't like it then you turn off the T.V. You should be supervising what your kids watch anyway. These Christian nutter just make the world a shitty place to live. Can't we live our lives without some fanatic shouting down our ears.
The sooner we drop our crappy 'ideals' the sooner we can get along living together. Is there something seriously wrong with being gay? I'm sorry, I just don't see it. Who the hell are you to say that it's wrong. And don't give me that your speaking for 'God' (whatever that is). Show me the guarantee. I want a signed certificate with his signature on it.
The world is pretty crap. In fact, for some people, existence sucks. People like this Falwell guys just go and screw things up even more.
Senzuri
---[ Christianity sucks ]---
Science has only scratched the surface of God. Without understanding His depth, you cannot hope to argue against Him.
Oh, BTW, you will be held accountable at some point. Not likely right away. Maybe not until you die. But you will be judged. And it boils down to this: One "Oh, Shit" cancels out all of your "atta-boys". Period. You CAN NOT get to heaven based solely on being a nice guy (and even if it were, you would still be doomed).
Let's see. One of my coworkers is a former Jew that is now an atheist, I'm a former Catholic that is now an atheist, my best friend (phD EE) is a former Jew that is now agnostic (married to an former protestant that is now agnostic), and 2 of my coworkers are Christians that believe the world is about 5,000 years old and the evolution is bunk, and radio carbon dating is invalid.
Another former coworker in Indiana is an atheist married to an agnostic that works with 2 people that think that creationism is a scientifically defensible proposition. Back in Indiana, one of my coworkers (a tech) would mass mail the company warning about the evils of Halloween, another used to post articles to his cubicle walls about DNA evidence found in dinosaur fossils (I researched the article and located the scientist Jack Horner who found the fossil who subsequently told me that there was no DNA located in the bone at all and that Creation magazine had fabricated what his collegue had said). Another former coworker was and still is Catholic and went to Catholic schook, believed in evolution and went to church once a week.
My conclusion. Some Christian geeks are nomal everyday people, but a lot of them are just plain wacko's and I wonder how they ever got into engineering with such a terrible undertanding of science. I've also discovered that (at least for me) the atheists were better engineers, except for the one Catholic evolutionist who was a great engineer.
hahaha, this article makes me laugh. Those Christians should be ashamed of themselves, saying kids shows have gay characters. So what if they do, someday the kid is going to see someone gay and wonder what they are doing and why. If we desensitize them now, we won't have to worry about it later. For all you Christians out there, I believe in what George Carlin says about Religion. When people pray, 50% of the time, it happens, the other 50% it doesn't happen. He says, why not pray to the Empire State building, you'll get the same results.
Before you blindly condemn a entire group of the population, why don't you try to consider life in their shoes? It is extremely easy to condemn those whom you do not understand, especially in a society so accepting of homophobia. Do you have any idea what being gay is like? There is no choice involved. It is something that one simply has no control over.
Yes, there are groups that say they can 'convert' homosexuals. Thats is simply not true. All they do is push them way into the closet of repression. According to the American Psychological Association, homosexuality is not a disease. They also go on to say that what the ex-gay movement does to those whom they 'convert' is extremely dangerous.
If what you say is true, I refuse to worship a god who makes certain people a certain why, then wants them to live a life of severe depression and mental illness because He will not allow them to act in the way he has made them feel it is natural to act.
Since when is sharing and the accepting of others an alternative lifestyle? Oh yea, since moral majority collapsed. Next they are going to accuse it of being a show for people on drugs.
;) ...
Nice publicity stunt, farwell
Here's the e-mail for comments
If you don't like it - go find another site. Perhaps you missed the second part of the saying - Stuff that Matters... When you start maying for the site, then start complaining...
Just check out Wired today... Interactive dolls with real televisions on their tummies
I think Robin Williams is dangerous. Is that news?
The story was kinda funny though.
No kidding!
This is as bad as that Jon Katz article about free lovin' on the web. Slashdot's going down the tubes with all this political crap. All it does is incite flamewars filled with ACs. (No small amount of hypocracy intended.)
This is NOT slashdot Material. It is not news for nerds. It is not stuff that matters.
More than anythin I think Commander Taco was trying to get people to post comments to bitch about Falwell (who I personally do not like, but that does not matter). If that was not his intention then I'm sorry. But this article STILL does not belong on slashdot. It is an obvious candidate for fragmenting the geek community by having people argue religious and moral beliefs (as evidenced by the postings).
Can't we stick to geeky stuff and remain whole as a community? I don't care if my fellow geek is atheist or christian or buddhist or zoroaster(sp), nor do I really want to know.
It pisses me off just as much to hear people rant about how stupid falwell is as it does to read falwell saying one of the telletubbies is homosexual.
James Blachly
I think we'd have a lot less invective from the religious right, and two VERY happy people.
: You CAN NOT get to heaven based solely on being a nice guy
Nope, but by the standard reasoning that's been spouted by devout bible-thumpers, you _can_ get in by being a serial killer, or any other sort of evil person, and 'accept god into your heart' before you die. Honestly, at that, I'd rather go to your hell anyways, better company.
Everyone knows that!
Science has only scratched the surface of God. Without understanding His depth, you cannot hope to argue against Him.
First of all you only have some book that says it's the word of god. It could just as well be the Qu'ron or Talmud that is the actual word of god. There isn't any way for you to know.
Let me suggest that the one true religion cannot be corrupted. We know that the Inquisition was corrupt religion and so was the Children's Crusade. This invalidates Christianity as being the true religion in my eyes. The bible could have just as likely written by Lucifer himself, or more likely man.
Oh, BTW, you will be held accountable at some point. Not likely right away. Maybe not until you die. But you will be judged. And it boils down to this: One "Oh, Shit" cancels out all of your "atta-boys". Period. You CAN NOT get to heaven based solely on being a nice guy (and even if it were, you would still be doomed).
Gee, the standard obligatory threat of believe me or burn in hell forever. Maybe a priest thought that one up to beef up donations, after all the priest depends on donations for his livelihood. I especially like the "you can't get to heaven though deeds" because it absolves you of any responsibility toward your fellow human beings. It demonstrates nicely that religion is useless and the followers are ultimately selfish.
There is no evidence at all to suggest there is a god, none. If there is a god, you are likely worshipping the wrong one, maybe you will be punished for eternity for worshipping the incorrect one. Atheists are just like Christians, we reject all other gods except we don't make any exceptions like Christians. Personally, if god is willing to punish somebody for eternity simply because that person didn't believe in the correct god and had no way to determine which was the correct god during the course of his life, I find no difference between that and Satan? It would be morally wrong of me to worship such an abomination.
Your position is that you believe you are worshipping the correct god, that you have to have faith, and that it's impossible to test your faith. The fact that it is impossible to test your faith should be a warning sign. As an atheist it seems contrary to logic to trust the people that created the faith. You are reading a book that is supposedly transcribed by men acting through god, the more likely explanation is that you are reading a book written by men who thought they were talking to god. It's not like this has not happened before, read the book of Mormon, read the Qu'ron, read Greek myth. Why do you think the Christian version of events is correct?
I should also point out that God should have been literate enough and well spoken enough to write a book that wouldn't lead to wildly differing interpretations. We have everything from the Shakers to the 7th Day Adventists and all of them are reading the same book. Why couldn't GOD write a user manual that everybody could understand? The conclusion should be obvious, the bible wasn't written by god. Maybe Satan wrote it, although I think he's a better writer than that - at least I hope he is.
Personally, I wouldn't give a rip if Laa Laa was a cannibal, Dipsy was a Jehovah's Witness and Po sold angel dust in the back lot. (Hey, I still like Pee Wee Herman.) What they do on their own time is their business. My 1-year-old granddaughter enjoys Teletubbies and is learning dangerous and subversive things like "rabbits are cute" and "it's fun to play in the rain" and "let's love each other very much." BIG HUG!
I refuse to worship anything that hates a particular group of people just because of who they love. If YOUR God really exists, I will proudly burn in hell rather than to stand by his side.
I am proud to be a free thinking individual. I do not need to let YOUR God speak through me. I do not need some ancient books to tell me how to think. And I surely don't need your pretentious ass telling me what I should believe.
WORSHIP YOUR GOD AND LET ME LIVE MY LIFE
First of all, go to www.libertarian.org and find out what libertarians are officially about, not what some libertarian states they are about. I am not exaggerating. They use the "Chicago school of economics" which was largely debunked when the PhD's that came up with it went sank the Hedge Fund that Greenspan bailed out. Libertarians rely on an ideal to make the politics work, idealism isn't realism. Check out the site, they aren't nazi's by a long shot but it is just about as realistic.
Second of all, read "On the Jews and their Lies" written by Martin Luther and see what the influential thinkers of Christianity really thought instead of the politically correct watered down junk you get today. Christianity brutalized women for 800 years, supported slavery, and killed 10,000 kids in 1212, and that's not the half of it. Christians believed they were morally superior to other people and many still do today, but have no rational basis for this bigotry. Just because some book you call the bible says you're doing the right thing doesn't make it the right thing shock of shocks.
Finally, you are mistaken about sex-saturation in a program aimed at 2-3 year olds. A child of that age doesn't realize or know what is proper for a woman or man to wear. In fact, children cannot reliably distinguish between genders before 2 much less think about sex. This is simply hysteria. It's a little crazy to classify a 2 year old as gay.
I would like to add that I did not start out an atheist, I became one after researching the religion. To be sure, there are plenty of people claiming they are an atheist because they never really were indoctrinated into any religious belief system. I am an atheist because I escaped the belief system through study. Atheism is the result of applying logic and Occam's Razor (he was a Franciscan monk paradoxically enough) to evidence. You believe a book was written by god through men, I believe it was a book written my men period. If god wanted us to believe, he should have written the book himself, too bad Christ (the so-called messiah) didn't leave a memoir, maybe the Inquisition wouldn't have happened if he did.
"Reason is a whore" - Martin Luther.
When is that magical "evaporation" thing going to
happen? Isn't God supposed to suck up all the
Christians into heaven?
shit, I thought WINE development was slow...
Superintendant Chalmers on the issue of school prayer:
"God has no place within public schools, just as facts have no place withing organized religion."
Superintendant Chalmers on the issue of school prayer:
"God has no place within public schools, just as facts have no place within organized religion."
>Why couldn't GOD write a user manual that everybody could understand?
:)
:)
He must have been a programmer
Let's hope he wasn't a COBOL programmer because then we will be in trouble in 2000.
I personaly think that sexual orientation news should not be on /. Read the title "Slasdhot: News for Nerds. Stuff that matters" does this story fill "News for Nerds?" I hardly think so. Unless of course being Anti-Gay is part of being a nerd (as this article seems to be when it includes being gay as a qualification along with a murder). If Anti-Gay is part of being a nerd then I might just as well go back to knwoing nothing about my OS. What sense doe that make? It doesn't! Thats my point. Anti-Gay has nothing to do with being a Nerd except maybe the fact that nerds don't get out enough to realize who really is gay. Take the fact that 60% of mail on the net is going through free software writen by a gay person. Grow up a little and realize that sexual orientation is as bad of a reason as color to judge people by. The most rediculas post I read was about gay people endangering our species because they don't procreate. Get out from behind the moniter!!! The world is totaly over populated. What makes you think we need more?
Tired of the homesexual agenda? Tired of mud people polluting the streets of London? Tired of the stink of rot faced immigrants? Tired of the ``gay'' teletubby? Join The British National Party.
Yeah libertarianism would definitely be the likely position of the average geek, but you never know. The new Right Wing isn't like the old, not when many of the young RW'ers I hang out with won't stand for corporate welfare anymore than welfare for lazy people, or monopolies. (In fact the growing power of the US Federal government is not unlike what happens with a corporate monopoly.) Some even see huge corporations as being as big a threat to personal freedom as governments, and place more faith in the small business area, even though the legislation they desire to deal with big corporations remains yet to be agreed upon; most agree that voting with your dollars works best.
Hell in Los Angeles some pharmacies ganged up to buy in bulk so they could get supermarket level prices and compete with the big dawgs (Savon, etc.). This is something I'd see as endearing to the right wingers I hang out with. Hell even an honestly-run labor union sits well with some as a worker's right to have organized labor (since corporations have organized management and consumers have consumer groups, what's the difference with organized labor? After all they knocked the USSR outta Poland
The old saws of sex on TV doesn't mean crap to them when it's all on cable and you as a parent can choose to lock out Showtime after 10pm, etc. Homosexuals? C'mon. Jerry Falwell is up on that crap but all the people I know just dont want it pushed on them. Nobody wants to go around firing gays and beating on them; we've seen enough bias and prejudice against Christians and hard core conservatives that we can understand this. Abortion is still a big issue but without the pointless gay issue they're more free and clear to divert resources to...oh well hehe you might not want to hear that.
As for Falwell... who listens to him?? I just checked the right wing's flagship publication on the web, www.worldnetdaily.com. No mention of Falwell and the teletubbies.
when I declared Falwell a buffoon? I have a better case than Falwell does.
It seems to me that it would take a sex driven animal to even find this in The Lion King. What the hell is he talking about?
Let me put it this way: The Christian god is a fuckup. I can't put it any more plainly than that.
..an open mind on the matter..
despite doctrinal differences on the periphery, a Good ThingÛ, not an invalidation of the "user manual"
Gee whiz, I never realized that the Inquisition was a "good thing", nor did I realize the Children's Crusade was a "good thing", or burning a 'witch' at the stake was a "good thing". Perhaps I should rethink my position. I'm talking about extreme and dangerous positions that lead to bombing abortion clinics or the World Trade Center or genocide or hysteria. Not whether you should eat meat or abstain from sex for a lifetime. Go ahead and take a critical look at your religion, like when the arch bishops of Cantebury voted on whether woman had souls or not in the 6th century.
Might I interest you in a translation of Martin Luther's "On the Jews and their Lies"? I have a complete copy, and since he was responsible for the birth of all protestant religions, I think it's worthy of reading - that's if you have an open mind of course. I started out Catholic, my open mind let me to atheism. I've thought a lot more about religion than you have I'm certain. Please don't attempt patronize me, I know what I'm talking about in this area, you're the one that's ignorant with a closed mind: the very definition of faith. I will no longer open my mind up to a religion that practiced systematic mass murder and encouraged its followers to do the same.
And Microsoft is fallible, God is supposedly omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent - that sounds like he should be a little better than Bill Gates don't you think? If God can't write a better user manual than MS, heaven and hell are equivalent. Comparing OS's to a neurosis and mental heath isn't really a comparison and is specious.
he comitted suicide because people couldn't/wouldn't accept his sexuality... a great loss to most of our chosen professions. When will people learn?
yeah i read the bible and it says any man that sleeps with an animal shall surely be put to death. well, there goes the entire christian redneck community. it also says not to cut your hair or shave your beard. ever seen a "christian" who never cut his hair or shaved his beard. it also says anyone who raises their voice at their parents shall surely be put to death. well, there goes every teen-ager in the united states of america. it also said he who is without sin cast the first stone. ever met a non-judgemental christian? i met one...once.
yeah i read the bible and it says any man that sleeps with an animal shall surely be put to death. well, there goes the entire christian redneck community. it also says not to cut your hair or shave your beard. ever seen a "christian" who never cut his hair or shaved his beard? it also says anyone who raises their voice at their parents shall surely be put to death. well, there goes every teen-ager in the united states of america. it also said he who is without sin cast the first stone. ever met a non-judgemental christian? i met one...once.
You haven't the faintest idea what the ACLU is, I guess. "ACLU" is an acronym for "American Civil Liberties Union", and what they do is they have lawyers who go to court to defend people's rights under the constitution. They do a lot of test cases. While the "libertarians" sit around and do absolutely nothing about things like the CDA (except whine and complain), the ACLU is actually out there trying to put a stop to censorship. You've fallen for some really lame, transparent right-wing propaganda here. Your thinking is buzzword-arithmetic straight out of Josef Stalin's playbook: "ACLU liberal because Rush say so. Liberal bad because Rush say so. That mean ACLU bad. Me think cryptography good. Me think ACLU bad. Therefore, ACLU opposed to cryptography." Try getting some FACTS, kid. You know what facts are? No? Here's a hint: If you want to know what the ACLU thinks about cryptography, try actually FINDING OUT WHAT THE ACLU THINKS ABOUT CRYPTOGRAPHY -- instead of linking together a chain of right-wing disinformation and bad logic to generate an arbitrary answer off the top of your head.
I've never heard of a "Libertarian" who didn't basically agree with the Christian Right about everything that mattered.
Well, I guess this is a good time to advertize my atheist links page. Religious fanatics make atheists look so reasonable and acceptable by comparison when they say crap like this. Check out a rational alternative:
http://www.hti.net/www/atheism/athlink.html
...if the only things he can think up to worry about is large, sexless purple beings in a plotless TV show.
(But, then again, isn't that how Barney got his start?) (Augh! alt.b.k.k.k.d.d.d. all over again!)
Just because you "can" do something doesn't mean you should. It doesn't mean that your results will be valid, either. There's no escaping the fact that the Bible condemns homosexuality in the strongest terms possible. A lot of so-called "Christian ministers" (and others) have flailed about desperately attempting to deny this. All they have succeeded in doing is discrediting themselves. They have demonstrated a complete absence of integrity.
It's one thing to not like what the Bible says; it's quite another to pretend (and teach others) that it says something it really doesn't.
Okay, this is a bit off the original topic (how often do we let that happen?) but I don't have much to say about Teletubbies (never seen the show) or Jerry Falwell (never seen him or read his stuff). But I do find it interesting when people say explicitly or implicitly that God is not real and that all intelligent people (especially good geeks like us) can see this.
Friedrich Nietzsche was probably the first to publicly state and very convincingly argue that "God is dead." It seems that lots of people today like to believe this, or at least live like God is irrelevant. But what many people don't know is that to take God out of any part of our lives is to remove the foundation for a corporate and individual morality. Basically no one has a right to say what is right and what is wrong in any area where God is totally taken out of the picture.
One example, albeit extreme, of what happens when God is removed from the way we live and what we think is Hitler. It is a well-known fact that Nietzsche's writings became the cornerstone of the Nazi Party and Hitler's personal philosophy. And we all know what atrocities he did in killing millions of people. But again with no God, life really has no basis for value. We are either illusions or just the product of random acts of physics. But as several "intelligent" people throughout history (C.S. Lewis "Problem of Pain", Pascal "Pascal's Wager", Francis Schaeffer, Ravi Zacharias) have written and intelligently argued that these are untenable world views when taking all of life into account.
Another thing that isn't widely know is that Nietzsche had a breakdown at the end of his life and spent his last years in an insane asylum. That's something I am trying to avoid.
Now as far as further arguing for God or Christianity many other people have done so far better than I could probably do here.
The only thing I will say is Christianity hinges on the man Jesus who lived about 2000 years ago. If he was God, lived a perfect life, was crucified on a cross, died, and rose back to life, then you would be a fool not to be a Christian. If any of these were not true or did not happen then you would be a fool to be a Christian. It's your call, check the "facts" out yourself. As for me, I'm betting my life on Jesus.
Some good sites to check out that intelligently discuss Christian, Philosophical and Scientific issues are: RZIM with Real Audio clips of intelligent discussions and talks. Some in college settings. Christian Answers for stuff on Evolution, Dinosaurs, and Space Exploration
Or look up anything on the Philosopher Pascal or read one of C.S. Lewis's books (other than the Narnia Chronicles).
Something that I will throw in for free to lend some credibility to Christian Computer Geeks: The Book The Mythical Man Month: Essays on Software Engineering - Anniversary Edition by Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. contains many Christian references and principals and the author seems by all accounts a Christian. I will say that one reason that this book is such a great book (check out the review and discussion in Slashdot: link above) even after 20 years is because it is based on Christian principals. He has just applied them to Computer Programming and Computer Projects.
Then of course there is the Bible. Try reading it sometime. And a word of advice, remember the context of the scripture before you start quoting it all over the please.
Norman http://welcome.to/normand
I've probably watched more hours of TeleTubbies than almost anybody else who's posted here, because I happen to like the show AND I have an almost-2-year-old daughter who is equally enamored. This doesn't make me right, of course, but at least I have some experience with the subject matter.
As far as I can tell, Falwell is probably correct. (I never thought I'd say those words.) The genders of the Tubbies are explicitly stated on the show: Laa-Laa and Po are girls, Tinky-Winky and Dipsy are boys. Tinky-Winky is quite effeminate, his purple color tends towards lavender, his 'favorite thing' (each Tubby has one) is a purse, his antenna is a well-known symbol for gay pride, and he LOVES to wear the skirt, even to the point of throwing a tantrum of sorts when his turn is over and he needs to take it off. (In constrast, as was stated above, Dipsy runs away when it's his turn to wear the skirt.)
All of these things do not necessarily make Tinky-Winky gay; in fact, a large percentage of male cross-dressers are heterosexual. But it seems highly likely to me that Tinky-Winky's character is intentionally designed to strongly and frequently imply that he is homosexual. I don't for a minute believe that it's a coincidence; rather, it seems like cheeky British humour (with a 'U').
I think it's great.
I think a good children's show should be educational, positive in tone, interactive (inasmuch as a TV show can be), relatively non-commercial, and, of course, interesting to children. I think a _great_ children's show is a good show that is also interesting to the parents or any other adults that happen to be watching. This is usually accomplished by layering humour and meaning in ways that most children will miss, and/or by incorporating real artistry into the production of the show. TeleTubbies, IMHO, is a great children's show. So is Sesame Street.
I look forward to the day when my daughter is old enough to read between the lines while watching the TeleTubbies, and she realizes that the show she loved as an infant has a whole different layer of meanings. I think it's great (much to Falwell's chagrin, I'm sure) that there's a children's show that introduces such gender-bending behavior as though it's perfectly normal. For some folks, it IS perfectly normal. For those who are the by-product of a long legacy of religious dogma as an excuse for sexual, spriritual, and creative repression, conceiving of cross-dressing and/or homosexuality as perfectly normal is blasphemy. These people are, again IMHO, idiots. And probably no fun in bed, either.
-posting anonymously because I forgot who I am
hi all I tried to install tubbytoast 0.0.0.10 on my linux boxen and I got an error msg "bighug: need shared lib liblaalaa.po." where gan i get this lib? and will it work on glibc 2.1?
hi all I tried to install tubbytoast 0.0.0.10 on my linux boxen and I got an error msg "bighug: need shared lib liblaalaa.po.0" where gan i get this lib? and will it work on glibc 2.1?
And see what he makes of that.
:p
Seriously, this is a fairly sad comment on world
society isn't it?
BTW, the debate happened in England about a year ago and think the general conclusion was yes
Time for Tubby ButtFuck!
Don't even get me started with the Mormons. Smith, the founder, originated in my area in the Adirondacks. He claimed to have found a 'seer' stone that could magically translate any language into English (Kings English ala KJV bible!). When a woman (I believe one of his wives) stole the translation he was working on and challenged him to reproduce the translation perfectly (thereby proving the seer stone actually translated and he wasn't pulling it out of his but) he claimed that the Devil had modified the original translation. This and other 'translations' became the Mormon bible.
Also, Smith 'translated' Egyptian into english before the Rosetta stone was discovered, except when the Mormons did the translation the Egyptians were apparently Christians and not sun worshippers. I suppose the Rosetta stone was touched by the Devil as well. This embarrassing mistake of translating a language which was latter decoded is now being covered up. The Mormons still posses the so-called 'seer stone' although for some reason none of them has proven its power.
Religion is just a form of brainwashing. In extreme cases it is a form of insanity. I don't think atheism will bring a world utopia but I doubt it would be any worse than this sorry ass superstitious state of affairs we are currently in. Also it is apparent to me that atheism is freedom, people who are deluded into a false faith and arrogance bred from supposed authority of god deserve their enslavement. If you want to be religious, be religious, it's your one and only life waste it if you want.
Interesting the Jerry Falwell should go off on something as stupid as the Teletubbies. Wonder why he doesn't make a big deal about the "Moonies"? (Unification Church...er...cult) Oh yeah, that's right. Jerry's Liberty University in Virgina was almost bankrupt. Sun-Yung Moon bailed him out. Talk about Christian Fundementalists getting the proverbial bed with the Devil.
Interesting the Jerry Falwell should go off on something as stupid as the Teletubbies. Wonder why he doesn't make a big deal about the "Moonies"? (Unification Church...er...cult) Oh yeah, that's right, Moonies and Jerry are buddies--now. Jerry's Liberty University in Virgina was almost bankrupt. "Reverand" Sun-Yung Moon bailed him out. Talk about Christian Fundementalists getting the proverbial bed with the Devil.
I noticed a lot of the good points made by Christians have been removed by the Slashdot gestapo. I thought you liberals were supposed to be open to alternative ideas? So to achieve that goal you close off the traditional & conservative ideas?
The Christian God is a fuckup. Well said. In the Ten Commandments, it says that the Christian God is a jealous God. A Jealous God! What a loser. Maybe he should go on Jerry Springer and complain about how people are worshipping other Gods and he has problems dealing with it. Whaa! Poor God. Did they take your toys away from you?
As an American citizen who can make his own decisions based on my set of experiences and skills, and learn from them, I am appalled that viewpoints like Mr. Falwell's get any more attention than the Weekly World News.
As a gay man and registered geek, I'm even more appalled that this man is still alive to keep talking this crap. And he rakes in more money in yearly donations than your typical pro football team makes in the regular season.
America is based on free speech and free thought.
Falwell's brand of conservatism is based on the concept that God has already done all the thinking for you, all you have to do is act. Which is precisely NOT why we all have the ability to reason. Anyone with a SHADOW of a clue laying around the house should know better than to accept a rich conservative's viewpoint over their own. Get with it, America, use your brains (that's what they're meant for) and stop paying attention to morons like Falwell.
I am a conservative christain republican too, although as of late I plan to hold a public burning of my voter card since my party don't have the spine to do the right thing and remove a traitor.
i8086/Fishhead
Just because billions of people believe something doesn't make it true. Look at slavery...the majority of Americans were OK with it, if not endorsing it for the first 100 years of the nation's existence (and the 100 years before it was formed). Was it right? Should everyone believe it's the right way?
Besides, there are THOUSANDS of different religions. Look at how religion transformed from poly to monotheism, and how both types exist today. Religion was created in a time when man couldn't (sorry to use the word) rationally explain their existence. The Romans said that weather was caused by gods, and famines and everything else. As humans became more aware of their ability to reason, they realized this was irrational and that there are physical laws governing the universe. So perhaps God put these laws into motion..perhaps. But then why waste your time worshipping someone who created us long ago and obviously doesn't have the ability (or will) to interfere with us now?
Eventually we will explain how and why the universe was created, just like we discovered how and why physical "phenomena" occur. Or perhaps the discovery of alien life will put an end to religion, or the creation of our OWN life (such as concious machines). I myself don't doubt a "God"'s existence. It's perfectly plausible that someone created the universe, at least with our current knowledge of the vast world we live in it is.
How else can we explain it? The Big Bang? Well then, WHERE was all that matter? If our universe is all that exists what happens when the whole universe is colonized? How can there be an end to what we can accomplish if infinity can not be reached? Just thinking on such matters makes me WANT to believe there's a god and an afterlife, that we don't just die and rot away to become what we were made of.
I want to believe it, but I can't. My concious won't settle on such an easy answer. There is no such thing as "faith" for me, perhaps unfortunately. I know that I can never believe anything for certain. There's always a chance that everything we know is false and all our endeavours will have been in vain. Maybe God does exist and science is just the work of the devil to turn us away...maybe.
Guess I'll have to wait until I die to find out. Until then all arguements are useless.
How many people like Cmdrtaco and Jon Katz and many of the Slashdot users feel so threatened by anyone with a sense of right and wrong and a belief in a higher power.
Here is some advice the online community has given me more than once and I tried to take their advice.
GROW UP ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's truely sickening to watch.
i8086/fishhead - proud geek since 3/11/74 (birth)
jason.salopek@usa.net
p.s. I am beginning to see why so many people want anonymous post disabled so they can disable accounts like a good little nazi, when they don't like something someone says.
Amen Brother! Preach it!
;) He's another example of a Christian Geek.
if ($preacher_man_says_something_good) {
print"Hallelujah!\n";
print"Glory to God!\n";
}
foreach $atheist (@slashdotters) {
&pray_for($atheist);
&testify($atheist);
&back_off if $atheist eq 'hostile';
&give_glory if $atheist eq 'repenting';
}
Larry Wall would like this, I bet
toodles.
if people would worry less about 2 frames of nekkid people in disney movies, and more about making this country (USA) better,
it would be a much better country to live in. instead, we have these bastards dissecting each disney movie frame by frame. come on now, if you look in _anything_ you can
find sexual content. after all, the biggest biologial urge anyone(anything?) has is to reproduce. so, to anyone that thinks disney is EVIL! BAD! HORRIFYING! get a life. disney doesn't intend anything of the sort.
Think about it!
1.) Jesus hung out with 12 men. Quite an orgy, if you ask me.
2.) "No man cometh to the father
Jerry, you're going to hell. Jesus don't like you filthy "straights".
I'm an undecided, also called an agnostic by some. Here's the thing, with you and with the person who posted above you, I have no problem. I'm sure most non-believers do too, but I can't speak for others. However, you have to admit that most Christians do give Christianity a bad name.
I could care less what people believe. Just stay out of the law books, stop harming people who are different from you, and we'll get along fine.
I like apple pie.
slashdot is always censoring. fact of life. get used to it or use a better source for news (there's tons available)
the comments about slashdot censoring comments have been censored.
bahahahah
There are THOUSANDS of different religions. Look at how religion transformed from poly to monotheism, and how both types exist today. Religion was created in a time when man couldn't (sorry to use the word) rationally explain their existence. The Romans said that weather was caused by gods, and famines and everything else. As humans became more aware of their ability to reason, they realized this was irrational and that there are physical laws governing the universe. So perhaps God put these laws into motion..perhaps. But then why waste your time worshipping someone who created us long ago and obviously doesn't have the ability (or will) to interfere with us now?
Eventually we will explain how and why the universe was created, just like we discovered how and why physical "phenomena" occur. Or perhaps the discovery of alien life will put an end to religion, or the creation of our OWN life (such as concious machines). I myself don't doubt a "God"'s existence. It's perfectly plausible that someone created the universe, at least with our current knowledge of the vast world we live in it is.
How else can we explain it? The Big Bang? Well then, WHERE was all that matter? If our universe is all that exists what happens when the whole universe is colonized? How can there be an end to what we can accomplish if infinity can not be reached? Just thinking on such matters makes me WANT to believe there's a god and an afterlife, that we don't just die and rot away to become what we were made of.
I want to believe it, but I can't. My concious won't settle on such an easy answer. There is no such thing as "faith" for me, perhaps unfortunately. I know that I can never believe anything for certain. There's always a chance that everything we know is false and all our endeavours will have been in vain. Maybe God does exist and science is just the work of the devil to turn us away...maybe.
Guess I'll have to wait until I die to find out.
You better read Einstein's statements regarding religion again he was most certainly an atheist. CS Lewis lost his wife and basically lost it after that, Carl Segan's wife almost did the same thing when he died. Newton was also an alchemist, but you know what they say about genius being intertwined with insanity. Thomas Aquinis was a theologian so one would expect he wouldn't be an atheist and few people in the Dark Ages would survive if they ever admitted to non-standard thoughs much less to being an atheist - just ask Bruno, he said stars were suns like our own, and burned at the stake for it (whoops he's dead, he can't say much). Edison was also an atheist. I don't know much about the others.
:)
Since you're so keen on protestantism, read Martin Luther, the founder. Start with "On the Jews and their Lies", he's a model of what religion is.
You have 0 evidence for god. But you do have the Inquisition, the crusades, witch burnings, and other neat things. These are facts, and happened because of faith. Why wouldn't you be considered irrational? It is true that not all religious people are nutcases, but most atheists aren't either. I object to idiots like you saying I'm damned to an eternity in hell just because I don't believe in the same unsubstantiated beliefs you have. Beliefs that are to this day used to line the pockets of the professors of the religion, ask Tammy Fay Baker, or Mr. Falwell. You're one arrogant son of a bitch to tell me where I'm going especially when you have no evidence for it, you're already in hell stupid. Fuck you.
"I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions
of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own
creation. I cannot do this in spite of the fact that mechanistic causality
has, to a certain extent, been placed in doubt by modern science. [He was
speaking of Quantum Mechanics and the breaking down of determinism.]
My religiosity consists in a humble admiratation of the infinitely superior
spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory
understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest
importance -- but for us, not for God."
[Albert Einstein, from "Albert Einstein: The Human Side", edited
by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press, p.66]
Why do we care what some religious nut has to say about a TV program? Ignore these idiots and they'll disapear.
There's only the most tenuous evidence that the Telly Tubbies have gender at all - how can you say they're gay. I always thought the Tinky was an politically correct female role modle. She carries a purse but she's the biggest - "hey girls you don't have to be sumbissive". Well - makes as much sence as he/her being gay doens't it?
AdamT - no time to login
um, well, I guess gay people are going to hell but we're all going to hell so it doesn't matter much in the scheme of things. thanks for clearing that up.
Did you know that the entire male population in Sparta (the most feared army in the Old Word) engaged in homosexual activities? This was thought to force soldiers (all men served in the army) to fight more fiercely to save their lovers. It seemed to work.
Men in ancient Greece practiced homosexuality since they were not supposed to have sex with any woman that wasn't their wife (all wives had to be virgins and punishment was death for FEMALE adultery). Just look at history and grow up.
Jesus was a faggot anyhow, didn't you know? I never read anything about him dating a woman, so he must have been. He sure wasn't god, just a dead jew on a stick.
If God didn't want us to have anal sex, he should have made our rectums shorter and dicks much wider to prevent it. Oh wait, that's assuming god actually exists, which of course he doesn't.
God made this world in seven days, made man out of dust and woman out of man's rib. He can build you up and cut you down with only a thought. Who are you to question Him when He commands not to commit these sexually immoral acts?
God builds some men gay. If he doesn't want men to commit those sexually immoral acts, why does he create some of them gay?
You make two primary arguments. Both are false and are even more annoying than hearing someone say "Linux is just a fluke" or "Our company can rely on Microsoft but not on a bunch of hackers."
:-), and I consider myself to be a very moral person. My morality is based on many things (including, but not limited to a desire for others to treat me well, the betterment of myself and mankind, the warmth I feel when in love, and the general sense of wonder and insignifigance you feel when looking up at the night sky), but is in no way based on the fear that I will be judged by an angry jealous god when I die.
First, you say "what many people don't know is that to take God out of any part of our lives is to remove the foundation for a corporate and individual morality." I would argue that many people have heard this and concluded that it is not true. There are several philosophical arguments that state that 1) God is not required for morality and 2) God does not make a good foundataion for morality (references at the end of this post). Would you argue that Ghandi and the Dalai Lama were/are immoral because they do not believe in the Christian god? On a more personal note, I am an atheist/agnostic (depending on how I feel when I get out of bed in the morning
You also tried to give an example (Hitler) of what happens when we remove God as the basis of morality. This particular example is partially flawed to begin with -- Hitler used religious arguments to gain the support of his people. Whether or not he believed them is a different question. Now, lets look as what has happened when the Christian God has been used as the foundation morality:
- Martin Luthers anti-semitic teachings.
- The Inquisition.
- The elimination of South, Central and North American native cultures.
- The persecution of those who disagreed with the church (for example, the astronomer Bruno, who was burned at the stake for suggesting that the stars might actually be other suns with planets orbiting them)
- Televangelists extorting millions from the easily frightened.
- Anti-abortion sentiment which has contributed to the murder of doctors and placed unfair pressure on women who are making an already difficult choice.
- Hundreds of years of sexual opression.
Thirdly, you cite "Pascals Wager" (in your list of several intelligent people throughout history, and in your "Christianity hinges on the man Jesus who lived 2000 years ago" paragraph). Unfortunately, Pascals Wager is bogus if you take into account religions other than Christianity. If there existed only one religion, then it would be a useful tool for refining one's personal philosophy. However, there is more than one religion in the world, and in choosing any certain religion, one immediately alienates themselves from most of the others. What if I choose to believe in Christianity, and upon my death I come to find out that Hinduism is in fact the One True Way. A lot of good Pascal's Wager did me in that case.
Finally, I have read the bible. Much of it portrays god as angry and jealous. Numbers chapter 31 even condones rape while Deuteronomy 22 says that rape victims should be stoned to death if they do not cry for help (There are others, but since you seem to have read the bible I'm sure you have noticed). Should I use that as the foundation for my morality with regards to rape? I would rather use my own atheistic morality even if you think it is without foundataion. As for the parts about Jesus, they portray him as a pretty good guy. That is of course when they do not conflict with each other. And their accuracy is in doubt because they were written 30 - 100 years after Jesus' death, and in many cases not by the author to whom they are attributed.
In summary, 1) there is a strong foundation for morality, and 2) choosing to accept or refuse the christian god is not a simple decision as you seem to have implied. I think it is difficult to accept most of christianity if one approaches it with an open mind.
Some good URLs:
some moral arguments
one very good one
(When did Slashdot turn into alt.atheism? Oh, I guess that is my fault.)
It's not that. Its Because a whole bunch of huge hairy Scotsmen (in kilts) will beat the hell out of him.
Hmm. I am a mix of all three. I am totally shocked at how many christians just totally hate us. I go to a gay christian church here in Dallas and I found out that not all christians hate gays. They just dont understand because alot of homosexuals in conservative states kind of keep quiet about who they really are. What really hurts the most is being considered a pediphile/pervert or something totally disgusting, just because I am attracted to what society thinks is the wrong gender.
Just like cybergrrl, no one knows am I gay unless I tell them. I can totally identify with her. I don't wear makeup or look like Rupaul or even act femine. I just act and think like a regular guy and I am a regular guy. The unix geeks at work consider me one of them. Only 2 of them know I am gay and they dont care.
Alot of people see a transvestite or a butch women and think, Woaa their is a queer. What these people don't know is that average looking women with long hair and regular bussiness clothing and the guys with suits who act totally macho and act like regular guys are gay as well. Alot of you just didn't even think that ordinary people are gay and not just the more vocal freaks.
Hmmm, I did not see anywere in you bloated comment where you showed regligion to be rational. You only pointed out that some reasonable people believed in God. Hardly the same thing. Many people are drawn to believe for many differing reasons, fear of death etc.
People choose to ingore reality if it doesnt suit their needs. Look at all the seamingly reasonable people who smoke or practice unsafe sex. Are you saying just because they make rational decisions in one area of their life that somehow they use the same coherent thinking in all areas?
I was taking an ancient civilizations class a few years back, and we were reading the Illiad. The teacher laughed how the ancients believed in these Gods. The teacher was a Christian. I asked her if believeing in the virgin birth was any more rational than greek gods sleeping with virgins. She wanted to toss me out of the class right there.
Another clue to how much rational thought goes into becoming a christian is how well they read the bible. I find it completely hillarious when I ask the typical christian about what the bible says about say Caine or the tower of babel or even the creation story and they dont have a clue what the bible says yet will defend it as the literal word of god.
Now I am into letting people believe what they want, the problem I have with christianity is their need to force their irrational ideology upon everyone, for prayer in school, to limiting our medical choices. Also christianity in its very foundation says that anyone who doesnt believe as they do are deserving of eternal damnation and suffering in hell.
Doesnt that sound like hate speach?
First of all, there's no way watching a TV program will keep a kid from learning how to talk. I would assume your friend's kid hears a lot of normal conversation from his parents, other shows, etc. Perhaps the kid tries to talk like these characters just for fun.
Second, the Teletubbies are supposed to be babies and early toddlers. One year olds enjoy all kinds of play without worrying whether it is feminine or masculine. Their parents might put boys and girls in different clothes and even give them different toys, but the kids sure don't give a darn whether they're in pink or blue.
Falwell's off his rocker. He might as well be banning kids from playing with a one year old boy because he plays with dolls.
Many of my posts have dissappears as well and I'm an atheist. Man you religious dinks are paranoid.
Hmm, weren't Knuth and some big C-designer both Christian? Wasn't there a whole lump of TeX software designed to assist in typesetting bibles? Isn't there a 'biblical' category at Freshmeat.net? :)
:) It kinda stinks of a religion in decline, as apparently here in the UK the church cannot 'advertise' miracles without solid proof, lest they are found guilty of contravening the Advertising Standards Authority. What's good for Benetton is good for the Church - makes sense to me. I wish that kind of legislation was around while people were busy misinterpreting the bible over the past two thousand years. Hmmm... what's the most-read book in the world? The Bible. What's the most used software...? Case rested.
:)
Anyway, I digress. At the end of the day, even Hitler got laid.
There are better ways to be upright than by practising deference to authority figures, and if more smart people realised the stupidity of default deference in the light of proofless mental masturbation perhaps the world would be a better place. Like, maybe don't drive your car to work. And don't blah blah blah, don't let me get started.
Anyway, if you have any sense, you'd be Church Of England, which has officially pronounced Hell as Not Real. So what do you have to lose?
Actually I know some quite well balanced christians. I also know some psychotic aetheists. And a psychotic Zealot like Falwell will always find a front to cover their neuroses. Didn't someone once say "Turn the other cheek" before their persecution and murder? Can't remember who though... oh well.
Ac - does *not* want his/her comments to Slashdot logging in Saint Paul's phone-book-of-sin.
What the hell are you talking about? Jesus was gay himself. That's the whole reason the Romans hated the Christians. The Romans were bisexual and they didn't want some weird homosexual cult taking over. The Christians had to convert people over to their religion in order for it to survive because they couldn't reproduce. Ever notice the Christian prayer position? Yes! It is what you think it is, performing oral sex on a man. Jesus never mentioned loving women, only loving men. It was a brotherhood of men, a huge men-only religious orgy. Also, the last supper, that part of the Bible was changed by King James. They all drank Jesus' semen and passed it around.
Read the Bible you moron!
Has anyone heard the dolls talk? One of them says "Your a little f--got". A friend who works at a toy store says one person has even returned their's because of this. Very Strange.
He carries a magic bag.
He is purple.
He has a triangle on his head.
He's gay.
Every other gay person I know carries a bag and colors themselves purple and wears triangles.
I bet those filthy gays are right now trying to figure out how to inplant TV's in their tummies.
I bet that when two gay people meet, they say "uh ooh" as some kind of recognition code.
But I digress. Has anyone else noticed that TW waves his right arm alot? But he doesn't flex his wrist like other people do. He's actually indoctrinating young children into the neo-nazi movement by acclimatizing them to the Hitler salute!
He's a faggot NAZI!
Did you notice that TW doesn't even have a JOB? How does he earn a living?
He's a faggot Nazi on WELFARE!
I don't see him going to church, either. He doesn't wear a cross.
Hes' a faggot Nazi ATHIEST on welfare!
His antenna. It looks LIKE a triangle. But it has a stem. Like a coat hanger. Like the kinds those feminists keep ranting against.
He's a faggot Nazi PRO-CHOICE athiest on welfare!
*starts to foam at mouth*
This FILTH must be removed from our airwaves IMMEDIATELY! No Christian society can bear the glofication of these "values" in a public media. It's even worse that these liberal, Clinton loving anti-family messages are targetted at our CHILDREN!
I can only re-iterate my speech from the Republican convention in 1996.
"Feminism teaches women to practice witchcraft and sacrifice their children."
*severely foaming now*
They are EVIL!!!!!!!!!
You don't happen to have a PhD from UAB and work for SGI now?
I happen to be a Christian and a scientist. I don't see that the two are mutually exclusive and, in fact, think that they can coexist peacefully.
Also, religion != God, no matter how much you and the Catholic church want to believe it.
As to your "which has given us more -- let me pick the worst of what I hate and the best of what I like" statements, it shows your close-mindedness and ignorance. I could play your same game and point out the positive things religion has done for the world and the negative things science has done for the world. It's an easy game to play.
Can god make something so strong that god can't break it?
(insert tongue in cheek)
You know, after scanning over some of the garbage that this unfortunate story has generated, I wonder if some of these folks might not be happier with a spinoff website. I used to think that religious fundies were sort of quaint and amusing, but as of late they've simply grown irritating. Did all of these people get new computers for Christmas, or what?
At any rate, it would be interesting to see the new site in action. News for the Morally Superior! Sancitified Supercomputers! Holy Handhelds! Baptismal Bitstreams! And, best of all -- No Queers!
PRAISE THE LORD!
Wow, way more morons use slashdot than even i thought was possible.
before slamming gays, consider that no priest was ever accused to molesting girls.
and all the nuns are lesbians too.
Before you morons fly off the handle, please note that same-sex marriage was practiced by the catholic church for hundreds of years.
Its funny that modern day bible-nerds who can quote the bible as easily as jack off to tiger beat don't see this (and yes, all bible boys are closet cases to the extreme - admit it now while you have some dignity left).
in fact, during a little period of history known as "the pornocracy", the pope was known to have large size gay orgies.
don't believe me? look up the pornocracy in your history books you bible thumping trannies.
I come to Slashdot to read techie news. I don't need to see Christian bashing, Gay bashing, religious arguments, Jesus bashing, Athiest bashing, God bashing, etc.... This is rediculous!! Some of the content on Slashdot lately is making me think about looking for an alternative geek news source.
Of course Tinky Winky isn't gay.
;-) !!!
Mind you, all the of the Teletubbies ARE ecstasy popping ravers
Mmmmmm...tubbi-custard...
Ha and here I thought I was the only demented one that thought of this.
TELETUBBIES ARE THE SPAWN OF SATAN!!!!!!
So is Falwell, of course, but my respect for him has inched almost up to zero for denouncing these vile cretinous neon rags. Underneath their vulgarly expressionless plastic masks, all the Teletubbies look like Linda Tripp after a fight with a weasel. The BBC should have sold crack and heroin in playgrounds before it vomited forth these monstrosities.
coool!
Sorry, but the New Testament only declares that the Old Testament ceremonial law -- i.e., the laws relating to the Temple and sacrificial system -- are fulfilled by Christ and therefore no longer obligatory on us. Nowhere do you find any support for this notion that Jesus or the apostles somehow "repealed" the rest of the Law.
As to death penalties: God rarely imposes it directly himself in this life. He positively imposes it upon *everyone* in the next life who is not a believer in Christ in this life. But this has nothing to do with what the *civil* penalties for certain crimes ought to be now. The civil penalties ought to reflect what God commanded them to be in the Old Testament (yes, including death penalties that most sinners find frightening).
Have you ever asked yourself why you can enjoy music?
Why do I enjoy sex? Hmmm. Why do I enjoy biking? Hang gliding? Sleeping? Is your explanation because god made me enjoy this stuff? Then by your logic, murderers like killing, sadists like hurting, and molesters like molesting because god made them enjoy that stuff.
There is a God. I'm sorry you don't see him.
Hey, it's not like I didn't spend 13 years getting my confirmation and reading the bible or something. I just didn't stop developing there. I'm not an atheist by birth.
Why do you think we are worshipping the wrong one? Do you have a personal relationship with God, has he told you that Christianity is wrong?
Why do you think you are worshipping the right one? What? You think because you happened to be born into a culture that believes in Christianity that Christianity is automatically right because it was the first religion you were introduced to? That's how 99% of people end up Christian or Moslem, or Jewish for that matter. You just assume you are right, with the certainty that doesn't need logic or reasoning to back it up. That's kind of nuts.
Ha. YOU know what is right and wrong? Silly mortal.
Oh yes, silly me, I wouldn't kill an animal to sacrifice to 'god'. Well that makes me bad doesn't it? How can I ever appreciate wrong and right when the Inquisition clearly showed that highly religious people have higher morality than I could ever hope to achieve?? Silly self deluded fool. I don't have to be moral to god, I have to moral to people, like you for example. God doesn't give you superior morality it just clouds your judgement, just ask any inquisition victim, oh wait they are all dead.
Anyway, I can see why you don't think Christianity is all that... we humans tend to muff up God's glory. Sorry about that. And I'm sorry you haven't seen God at work. Try to get outside once in a while
Yeah, like that little mistake called the inquisition. Why don't you try to get out once in a while? I'm not sheltered in the least, but you are.
I feel sorry for anyone who has ever wasted any segment of their life going to and giving money to a church.
Don't. I spent a some time in Church and I'm a better person for it. I understand religious fanaticism and can comprehend the confusion of a religious person. I will never ever go back to being religious again because of my experience. This is a good thing.
I am Antichrist
You put out a call; and I answer. You ask to speak to me; and I respond. You wonder what is to come and it is
I. I am Antichrist, I am here and I am now. Fear me not, nor my Father, and be not misled by the lies of the
Church and the duplicity of her doom-prophets.
I send you, Slashdot Readers, this open letter, an open letter to all mankind, not because the Father has chosen you, not
because I have chosen you, not because you are worthy but because you endeavor to contact me. I have
listened to your program on occasion, I am amused by those who call in and claim to speak in my name. I laugh
in contempt and disdain as I listen to the fools offer up profane dissertations in my Fathers name. As I write
these words I know your thoughts, "My God," you are thinking "can this be true?" You wonder what my ultimate
goal might be. No, the time has not yet come, I can not and will not make known all of what has been arranged
by the Father. This much, however, I will disclose:
I was born as any man but I was born of violence and rage and lust and rape, conceived in the misused womb of
a drug sickened whore. This wretch carried me inside her until the fullness of her time was close at hand.
Suddenly knowing what was to be, who I was to be, and learning who was truly my Father, the harlot attempted
to kill me in the womb. She plunged inside herself a barb and bloodied me, and as I then came into the this
horrid world, I was dead. She plunged me into a refuse bin and struck at me again. This scar I wear on my
forehead even unto this very day. There she left me for dead, in amongst the rats and vermin and trash, but my
Father, as always, was nearby, he came for me and lifted me from the filthy heap and breathed into me life. Life
and power, and then as the horrified women who had killed me fled I reached out my tiny newborn arm and in
my fist I reached into her and took hold of her very heart. With my pint-size fingers I squeezed it until I felt the
life pour out of her, I was alive and I was avenged! I gazed into my Fathers eyes and he revealed to me all that
was to come, all I was to be, and I knew that in me he was greatly pleased.
Then he placed me again on the trash knowing that I was soon to be found, and covering my eyes with the palm
of his hand I fell quiet and slept. I remembered nothing from when I awoke, until only a few years back I was
raised in ignorance of my lineage. Oh, there were glimpses of what was to come, veiled in the nightmares of my
youth. How often I would dream that I stood atop a great hill and the Leaders of all nations bowed down at my
feet. I dreamed that I outstretched my arm to them and clasped in my fist I held thunder and lightning, and they
would scream and cower in sheer terror and I would laugh.
I am come in truth, and I deliver unto all mankind the truth that is truth, designs from long ago, from the time
before time, from when alone my Father battled the perjurer are soon to see fruition, and soon will I be gifted
with all of the power I tasted as an infant. Into my hands has the Father promised to deliver all creation, he called
to me and spoke thusly, "Come my son, listen and receive the truth, a darkness gathers in the West, a great and
glorious tumult is amassed just over the horizon. Just as the blood of the assassins victim runs short and brings
and end, so to are the days of the perjurer soon to end. I shall return and set you above all mankind, and give
you rule of all men and of every beast and bird, and of the thunder and of the lightning and of all nature. You are
my son and rightful inheritor of all the Earth, it is to be given unto you. You are soul of my soul, blood of my
blood, breathe of my breathe and power of my power. We are all that has ever been and all that is ever to be.
Rejoice and embrace!"
In truth I am come, and I will destroy the prevaricators and remake the world as my Father had originally
designed. Oh, how many of you wretches believe the perjurer and have accepted the writings of his unholy book
of lies. I tell you the day is soon to come when the blinders of the world are to be lifted and all will see the truth.
The Perjurer^Òs book of lies has for many generations hidden and twisted and warped the truth. How many of
you believe that my Father was created by the perjurer and that all the world was the creation of this falsifier.
Lies!! But even in his attempt to mislead you he has not succeeded utterly, for hints of the truth still can be seen
by those who look. Is it not written in the book of lies that, "In the beginning was created the heavens and the
earth^Å and Darkness was over the surface of the deep." Yes darkness was first! Darkness, the domain of the
Father. I tell you today that my Father is your creator, for all time and from before all time has my Father
existed, we are the darkness, we are the creator, we are the all and everlasting--
Forgive me, I begin to rant, the point is this, look not at what is to come, search not for the future, for it has been
preordained from time long ago. Accept what is to come, it is true peace and fulfillment of and for all, seek not
the light but strive for the Darkness, embrace the Darkness and you too will know the truth.
I encourage anyone to email me at: antichrist@jahoopa.com
I am Antichrist
Jerry gives southerners a bad name.
I have no patience with dogmatic folks. Zealots who want to get in people's faces to try and convert them should be aware that there are people who can and will "go trailerpark" on 'em.
"Corporate Welfare" largely consists of giving tax exemptions to corporations, which is to say: letting people keep more of their own money. The other type of welfare entails taking some people's money and giving it to others. The latter is far more objectionable. If I accost you on the street and demand your wallet and give you back half of the contents, then are you a recipient of welfare?
What's the matter, did a libertarian scare your mother while she was pregnant with you?
Nobody expects a black, female, rural, unenrolled (politically), christian geek, either. But they *do* exist.
I think geekdom's big enough to accomodate a *very* wide range of people. Isn't what's in your head the most important thing?
I'm not a coward, just anonymous.
Kind of ironic how the "non-slashdot" articles tend to be the ones that attract the most discussion (even after the "this shouldn't be here" postings are subtracted.)
Okay. Sorry, but I think one can be a tad overprotective.
A) If a teletubby carrying a purse and wearing a skirt now and then makes it gay then our world is in trouble. We are under the assumption that Tinky Winky has a 2 or 3 year old mentality. It is well known by child psychologists that for someone of that age to have a purse as a toy is not abnormal. Saying that a 2 or 3 year old boy with a purse and a skirt is gay is like saying that a girl who wears pants or likes short hair is a lesbian. Go talk to a real child psychologist if you're concerned and find out what the true impact that a large purple teletubby (who carries a purse and sometimes wears skirts) will be on your child. Chances are your child wouldn't even take notice. If you'd stop interpreting the picky details of a show and accept it as a preschool conduit for creative learning, you might actually end up with (god forbid) creatively inclined children who could become singers (men who sing in church-- are they automatically gay?), writers (Hmm...those pastors write pretty creative sermons-- are they gay?), or actors (that boy playing the third wise man in the nativity pageant is an awfully good actor-- could he be gay?). If you keep your children locked in a tower their entire lives, you'll find that once they catch a glimpse of the real world, they'll be gone in a heartbeat. If you give your children the freedom to make their own choices, you might just be surprised at how good those choices are.
B) As for psychic (witchcraft) overtones, my word to you is WHATEVER!!! Okay. If you choose to interpret it and educate your kids that witchcraft is involved in the broadcasting of TV signals on the tummies of teletubbies, then feel free. I, on the other hand would take a more scientific approach. People with braces have been known to receive radio signals via their orthodontic devices. Do we call those people witches and boycot them due to an unexpected reception on a dental appliance? These teletubbies have somehow been brought into existence with televisions in their stomachs and VHF antennae. Are we to shun these creatures because of their natural (god given?) abilities? Sure, these are fictional characters; but since you seem to validate their actions with real-life reaction, I've chosen to add another dimension to this already silly display. Honestly, you seem more affected by television than most preschoolers I've met. It's time to re-evaluate which of you is more guilty of TV-worship; You, or your children?
I am not a Christian. Nor am I an Atheist. I'm probably more Agnostic. I also apologize for putting many different arguments into two incredibly long, somewhat incoherent paragraphs. Quite literally, I am shocked by this whole issue. I, personally, think teletubbies are cute, lovable TV characters who happen to appeal to young children. I've watched the show with toddlers and have found it to be colourful, creative, and educational at a level most beneficial to children of that age. If there's anything bad about this show, it's the people who don't see it for what it is. Anyway, that's my rant.
- Aron
First things first. I thing Jerry Falwell is lame.
I once considered myself a leftist. Not anymore.
I believe in a God. I don't believe in the hereafter. I believe you formulated your opinion on the Falwell/Teletubbies/Gay story in the very way the Clinton News Network intended. Bait, tease, set the hook.
Go to google.com. Enter teletubbies gay in the search field. You will find quite a few hits, most of which come from the british press, virtually all mentioning the adoption of one of the teletubbies as a gay icon in the british gay community. This has been echoed in several US publications over the last year or so. Did CNN mention it then? NNNNNOOOOOOOOO! They were waiting for anyone who is a political or idealogical enemy (and who is stupid enough) to make reference to the subject. Then put on big boots and leap from a high place into their shit.
They had their targets. You got hit.
Take this simple poll.
I form my politcal opinions from:
O 30 second soundbytes
O Adopting the positions of "cool" people
O The back of a YooHoo bottle
O Huh?
Can't you people take a step back and look at this for what it really is?
Something REALLY FSCKING FUNNY!!!
Remember: Don't take life so seriously!
Hail Eris!
All Hail Discordia!!!
Let's see, falwell is fat and tall, and so is barney! So does that mean he is?
NO! This guys logic is really Fscked up.
Besides, he claims to be a "man of god, a servent of jesus"
I seem to remember something about preaching
"love everyone".
This fasicst s#!t of Falwell's is to too much.
Let's follow his example and, reveal his flock to be dangerous racist bastards.
I've always found it humourous that atheists and agnostics always seem to gloss right over this idea.
Not all of us are unaware of Unitarians. I'm an atheist simply because the world seems in every way indifferent to every creatures plight. This is the world I would expect if there wasn't a benevelant god that cared for us.
There still remains the question of what created us. The more difficult question to answer is what created that which created us. We're lucky to be alive for the 70 or so years, I find it remarkable that so many people would waste that privlege worshipping something that doesn't exist, funny too.
Let's face it, toddlers are just a wimpy bunch. They like to dance, sing, and paint. They're not good at fistfighting or tolerating physical pain. Little kids are just wussy. Most kids shows have catered to this in the past. It's hard to picture "Barney" going out and boning cheerleaders two at a time, or Mr. Rogers drinking Coors and shooting deer. I can't think of *any* kid's show hosts who weren't effeminate. Well, Captain Kangaroo was a war hero. But you get my point.
You from Wisconsin?
Let me explain to you my position. I did not start out as an atheist. I started out as a Catholic. I've read quite a bit about my former faith and did so when I was faithful. I've looked at history and I've read Martin Luther. I know what the Inquisition is about, I know what happened in 1212. I know about the Taipeng Rebellion in China. I started from ignorance and went from there, I've done my homework on the subject.
I know how radioactive carbon dating works. I know how rocks are dated and why the "radioactive clock" is reset when the rock is heated. I understand and have read Darwin and I even spotted the errors he made when he discussed trait inheritance. I know how distance to stars is calculated, I know how far the Hubble telescope can "see". I know there is 0 evidence for a global flood, and I've read about other religions, and the bible cannot be taken literally if you have an ounce of sense coupled with education.
Religion is a method of control. Any enforced thought system is a method of control. Hell is a concept to insure that control is maintained. It is no mistake that the Fruit of Knowledge is the forbidden fruit. I have not come to the obvious and only rational conclusion easily or willingly but it is the obvious and only rational conclusion. There may be gods, but they care not about us.
You rely entirely on a book that was written only by men. It is known to be written by men, but supposedly these men were inspired by God. If God wanted to spread His message why didn't he write it himself? The bible can be used to justify anything, from slavery, to freedom, to murder, to forgiveness. Ever read a horoscope and realize that it can apply to anybody? The bible can be applied to anything. I encourage you to read it although it is 99% work and 1% pleasure.
You go ahead and make your leap of faith, I'd prefer not to fall back into the abyss of the intellectual comfort of mental laziness. Baa baa sheep, be happy being one of the flock. Sheep are easily controlled, I wonder why they were chosen to represent the faithful? There is a lot of symbolism that you are intentionally missing, the writers had one hell of a sense of humor. You consider what that filthy book full of rape and murder actually states. My current position wasn't obtained lightly.
You may not understand it or ever care to, but some people think it is really, really important that you don't go to hell.
I fully realize, what you don't realize is why. This is the primary method of recruitment. Convince the followers it is imperative to convert other people lest unbelievers go to an eternity of hell simply because if you never knew or heard of the one true religion. The more people that are indoctrinated the more power the patriarch of the religion has. Ask L Ron Hubbard, ask David Koresh, ask the pope, ask Jerry Falwell, ask Stalin, ask Hitler, ask Mussolini. Indoctrination methods differ but the goal is the same. Control. Think Christianity is an exception? There are no exceptions. Think that all people recruiting know what they are recruiting for? Ask Trotski, ask your priest. Many do believe in what they are doing, maybe even the current pope does, but not all popes. Read about the Inquisition and THINK about why it happened, don't just fret over the fact that it did happen. Why did the Crusades happen? For some piece of land or to kill the Muslims, to convert, to destroy the competition? History has a lot more to tell you than dates.
What I've come to understand is that God wants all of his children to know him, trust him, and believe in him.
What I've come to understand is that priests want all of their followers to believe in him, trust him, so that the followers can be better sent off on a Crusade, or tithe, or to gain support to kill competitors called 'heretics' and pagans and to terrify the population with public executions and tortures to quell dissent. Read your history, investigate the purpose to a what you consider a false religion and I defy you to find any difference with Christianity. What I say now I can say because religion doesn't control every aspect of life, 500 years ago I would have been burned alive at the stake or forced to publicly recant, the reason this would have been done is if a few people believed me, they would stop tithing, going on crusades, and might incite dissent. The kinder, gentler religion is not the norm, brutality is the norm. God didn't give us freedom, separation of Church and State did.
And if god is real and is going to torture me forever for examining the evidence and making a logical conclusion and for thinking, he's immoral. Tell me if you could ever justify torturing anything for eternity. To set a trap for merely exercising my ability to think like that for anybody that dares to use his reasoning is clearly evil. There would be no difference between heaven and hell, you are siding with a Hitler rather than a Stalin and I won't take either side. However, I am comfortable in my conclusion that there is no god behind the church, just evil corrupt sadistic men that enjoy manipulation, Martin Luther for example or any pope. Read about them instead of blindly worshipping their tool which new generations now employ to control and manipulate you.
For many people, the Bible is a document as valid as any scientific textbook and they have to be willing and able to assert the truth as they know it, just as you are likely to do when you assert the truth of any scientific principle you know to be factual.
Science can be tested. I can show that e=mc^2. I cannot prove god exists. I cannot prove that leprechauns exist. I cannot prove the tooth fairy exists. I cannot prove Allah exists. I cannot prove aliens exist. Belief isn't faith. Faith is irrational belief with no supporting testable evidence. All things that don't exist are based on faith. Isn't it odd that god wants us to proclaim his existence and to love him yet he gives us no evidence and wrote a bible that claims the world is 5000 years old when the universe appears to be at least 13 billion years old? That funny trickster!
Maybe that bible was written by man... No that's an illogical conclusion, at least to you no matter how much evidence there is. This is why religion is irrational. Every culture has its myths, take an objective look from the outside, you have a better view and it really is quite fascinating. Ever wonder how people 2,000 years from now will look at us? The same way we look at the ancient Greeks. Some culture, primitive superstition, somewhat barbaric.
you're right, it is stupid.
What really makes me wonder is why do you think the Christian god is the right god. Please explain who you choose your religion. Please explain why you think the bible is the word of god.
As an atheist that actually has looked at the history of the church all I can say is you're a fucking moron. Michealangelo is a good example of the church condoning homosexuality, not this bullshit you pulled out of your ass. There's no god anyhow so what make up shit to support your position?
Even though there is a 99% chance you will never see this, let me explain why I have no belief in a god and you shouldn't either.
In society ideas and thoughts spread by word of mouth and by example. Let's say a religion called Christianity comes into existence in a polytheistic culture. This new religion has replication advantage over the current polytheistic culture in the following ways:
1) in the polytheistic religion homosexuality is accepted as legitimate but not in the Christian belief. Therefore 'closet' homosexuals that have already been indoctrinated into the Christian belief system will be compelled to mate since homosexuality is taboo hence slightly higher birthrate. Also bisexuals will be compelled not to engage in homosexual sex and will likely produce more children.
2) in the Christian religion there is a practice called circumcision. Males that are circumcised can no longer masturbate without lubrication (which is pretty messy for one and hard to get for another) and there is a taboo on anal sex, hence they have sex at an earlier age to relieve guilt over the taboo of masturbation and birthrate goes up. In the polytheistic culture the taboo or masturbation exists but anal sex is not taboo- birthrate goes down.
3) Marriage is mandatory before sex in the Christian culture. Since there is a taboo on homosexuality and masturbation this encourages more births. New children of Christians are easily 'converted' since parents have a high degree of control over children's ideas. There is no birth control or it is considered taboo. Birth rates go up again.
4) Christianity is easy to memorize, unlike the polytheistic culture so converts are won much more easily from the polytheistic culture which has a disadvantage because it is complicated and hard to explain. The concept of 'One God' that does everything is easier to relate so the concept is more easily spread to the uninitiated and retained .
5) Believers of Christianity are taught that infinite rewards are given for belief but that infinite punishment is given for disbelief. This compels believers to urgently spread their beliefs to friends and loved ones so as to 'save' them from the punishment of He double hockey sticks. In the Christian religion faith is more important than works although works are part of the faith as well. More converts.
6) Brotherhood between Christians is fostered with the "Love thy neighbor" belief (a central tenant of Christianity). Helping neighbors that are like minded has the added advantage of helping all believers. "Love thy neighbor" is the same thing as saying "Hey neighbor, love ME". The mutual cooperation ensures that greater likelihood that children survive since they can receive help from strangers in the belief system. This idea has the added advantage of convincing un believers that Christianity is more moral as well however this works mostly if the Christians are socially separated from non-Christians.
7) Non believers are said are evil. Since these non-Christians are 'evil' they are shunned and even killed. Public displays of executions of non-believers further enforces the need to conform to the Christian belief. Often non believer victims are tortured until they admit to fictional evil deeds further enforcing the concept that non believers are evil. Competing religions are thus destroyed over time.
8) The "love thy neighbor" belief propels missionaries to convert 'savages'. Again the same taboo's are applied to the new converts and the same beliefs given.
So, do you now see there is a logical reason to be Christian but the belief is completely irrational? Did I hit all the major taboo's? These are just a few examples, I can literally list hundreds of others. It gives reproductive advantage to the believers over non-believers. Early marriage, taboo's on sex that won't bring about children, the ease of spreading the idea, etc. all work together to further propel the idea to become a mass movement because believers enjoy a higher birth rate and children get many of their ideas from their parents. This is obvious to anybody that ever read anything about memes which is a relatively new field which actually goes a long way to explain a whole lot. It's the psychological counterpart to evolution. It is fascinating because it can explain morality, reason, innovation, etc. etc. etc. 20 years ago the meme of a meme was created, today it can be a valuable tool for use in studying a culture and the spread of idea's. It's nifty to me.
You might want to consider the fact that highly educated people tend to have less children. Atheists tend to be highly educated. Less educated people tend to also be fervently religious. Atheism, although true, will not become a prevalent belief system most likely so you have nothing to worry about us. We have to worry about you though because historically you tend to kill us. It will happen again, of that there is ample evidence. Fortunately I know when to keep my mouth shut and play along. Hopefully I won't have to do this in my life time unless the "moral majority" somehow become a political force again. I'm scared of you guys to be entirely honest. Some of your fundamentalist movements (in fact most of them) criticize public schools, ever thought of why they do? Less educated = more converts. You're stupiding down the planet but make no mistake you need us to run the world because without modern science the maximum human population is about 2 billion people, not the present 6 billion people.
Read Deuteronomy before telling me to read John (again). Deuteronomy is full of stuff on sex. People that don't have balls are excluded from temple, people that sleep with men or animals are put to death, people that leave the flock are killed. You better understand that you're religion is complete bullshit and it's more or less proven that it's complete bullshit. So want to convert me still? Of course you do, otherwise your ideas wouldn't propagate and they have propagated from a dead Jew on a stick to one the 3 major competing religions of the world. Do I want to convert you, of course I do but I know I'm likely to fail since it will give you less incentive to have intercourse with women at a young age without birth control. Believe me and you will likely have less children to pass your beliefs on to. Not appealing is it?
No offense, but why don't you put down the bible and actually learn something, at the risk of having less kids? Christianity isn't good for Christians, Christianity is good for Christianity and you're just the environment that it is suited to. Of course converts want to 'save' me from Hell otherwise the idea wouldn't have spread in the first place. You must see now that I cannot convert back. I know enough about how it works that it is no longer magic to me, just a simple thought replication mechanism. Christianity is as stupid to me as a flat Earth, all religions are. You're just a primitive savage to me that will eventually out populate me unfortunately. That's life. I wonder if I broke your conditioning? Even if I did, the idea is likely to die out since stupid people will never break conditioning, since stupid people are more likely to be intolerant of my atheism it is actually not in my best interest to convert you since you don't seem to be intolerant. Funny that.
Anyhow: back on to some sort of topic, Linux users usually know Unix and Windows both, Windows users know Windows only: Which group on the average most likely gets paid more? Usually the one with the most skills. If everybody uses Linux and never learns Windows, what effect will it have on the population of Linux only users? Migration to another OS will happen again for purely selfish reasons. All the world is a stage but the plot is a bit predictable.
One more thing, if homosexuality IS genetically linked the best way to get rid of homosexuals is to allow them to practice their homosexuality. Why doesn't any homophobe realize this? Also, gay bashers (at least violent ones) are almost always homosexual themselves since the 'I hate gays' meme is transmitted to ensure higher reproductive success. Gay bashing is survival trait so it will never go away. Deal with it people.
There must be a god or an all-powerful being. I find it difficult to believe that our thoughts, beliefs and opinions (some call this our "soul") is simply a scientifically defined consciousness. That humans are so vastly different from the nearest intelligent beings (chimpanzees and whales) in thought and learning processes convinces me that humans have something that other animals do not possess.
Yes we do have something unique: opposable thumbs and a large enough vocobulary to share ideas.
This god is, I believe to be, the Christian God. Showing love to your fellow human being is defined only by a handful of religions, and Christianity is one of them.
This is inaccurate. Every religion teaches to show love toward people of the same religion and something between indifference to hatred toward those of another religion. For example: Inquisition and Crusades. The "love the neighbor" concept and "help thy (Christian) neighbor" helps insure that those that follow the religion have a greater liklihood of surviving and rearing children. Parents pass down the same ideas they had that made them successful to their children. The more successful the idea the more children, the concept propogates.
The Christian God is the only god that loves human beings unconditionally. That is, regardless if you do something right or wrong in His favour, He is willing to forgive you if you are sincere in asking for it and will continue to love you dspite it.
Completely untrue. God destroyed the world with a global flood. God teaches that homosexuals should be killed or people who practice bestiality should be killed (Deuteronomy). The Christian church went even further and taught that heretics should be killed or forced to recant, thereby insuring the Christian religion alone propogates. Martin Luther advocated the destruction of the Jewish religion.
Religion exists because it increases the liklihood that individuals that believe it will produce more offspring. Taboo's against homosexuality decrease the number of practicing homosexuals which do not produce children, masturbation taboo's do this too. Taboo's against premarital sex increase the chances of offspring surviving to mate. Armegeddon beliefs speed the spread the belief of Christianity (one sect or another always believes the world is just about to end) by giving the impression that friends and relatives must convert as quickly as possible lest they go to hell. Collective beliefs about helping one another increase the liklihood that all believers survive to reproduce.
Every religion does this. Don't be so arrogant to think yours isn't one of them. Think there is no theory about how religious ideas propogate? Think again, Christianity can be broken down right into it's components. People don't have beliefs because it advantages them, beliefs propogate in order of propagate themselved. Idea's that lead to the death of the host, die off. It's as simple as that. The more successful and idea is at propogating the faster the hosts of the idea will reproduce. Hence early marriage, birth control taboo's, etc, etc.
Just because you entertain these idea's doesn't make you sane. Just because I understand why you entertain these idea's doesn't make me wrong.
Yes, I understand why you don't believe in God and why I shouldn't. You've already made that very clear, at least twice already. Unless I'm following the atheism threads of two different people.
Yes but do you now understand that there is not only a great lack of evidence for god but a wealth of evidence that there need not be a god? This is the missing link. We now have a pretty good theory of why we have "morality" why we think "that is good, that is evil". I find it stunning. This may be just as significant to psychology as evolution theory was to biology. Finally, psychology might actually be able to make predictions without having data but by investigating the fitness of the meme.
Beliefs and faith as little more than assiduous control over an intellect that would otherwise be free to see that faith and belief as absurd and atavistic. The faithful as blind robots repeating the control program to some sublime conclusion that involves killing the non-believer or attempting to control the non-believer by espousing only the program. Conversion as the ultimate rape of the free human intellect. Weakening the power of the mind by strapping it involuntarily into the discomfiture of the Bible or Christianity or Catholicism or Islam or whatever. We must not be allowed to run amok with our inherently evil brains!
What are you talking about "rape of the free human intellect", "weakening the power of the mind", "strapping it involuntarily in the discomfiture of the Bible", allowing our brains to "run amok" or that our brains are "inherently evil"? That is bullshit. It has nothing to do with any of those things and everything to do with the success of a group and the ideas they possess as a group. We survive because if we didn't have these ideas we wouldn't reproduce as quickly or effectively or have as great a likelihood of surviving to sexual maturity as those that did not have the concepts and beliefs. That is the theory and there is a heck of a lot of evidence amassing that indicates that it is true. "Evil" "good" are abstractions to insure the propagation of the idea not the survival of the individual, but the survival of the average individual with like mindedness. The host of the meme serves to further the meme, meme's that are beneficial to the host have a greater likelihood to being passed onto offspring, neighbors, strangers, etc. Meme's mutate, change as they pass from individual to individual. You exist because the idea's you posses existed before you.
Try this one: Why do religions clash violently? Why is there religious persecution? Why does each religion teach community within the group of believers? Why is religion associated with morality? You tell me. I can answer each question systematically. Tell me how God figures into these facts. Have the miraculous bible explain this to me. I would be very interested in hearing a cogent defense of how a loving god set this up, him being perfect and all.
Yes, I can understand that narrow intepretation. Based on that interpretation, I would despise, fear, and otherwise misrepresent the faithful too. Since that's the only interpretation that works for you in your intellectual rigor, in your tireless pursuit of "ism-ism," then that's all I've got for you.
"Narrow interpretation"? Excuse me but this theory can explain everything from sexual taboo's to why we make love and not war. Your narrow interpretation is that a book called the Bible is the source of all morality. Do you seriously think that another civilization can thrive when it is at constant war, when the inhabitants are constantly fighting among themselves? You do realize that there are other civilizations don't you? Civilizations that for thousands of years were far more successful than ours?
And what do you mean that I "despise, fear, and otherwise misrepresent"? Neither do I despise nor do I fear typical Christians I cannot say the same for people blowing up abortion clinics and telling me I'm going to Hell - they hate me for absolutely no reason. I'm just an atheist, a straight one, I'm even a pretty decent guy I think. I also do not misrepresent, the facts I gave are facts. Christianity did have an Inquisition, it did kill of 9 million people, it did put women subservient to men, it did carry out Crusades. Martin Luther was an anti-Semite, he wrote "On the Jews and Their Lies", they did kill heretics and atheists. I'm not misrepresenting anything, it's just that I can now finally explain it and take your entire religion apart into fundamental and identifiable components. I can do this with any religion in fact. There is no hole in my logic like it or not. Your religion can be shown to increase survival rates of the hosts and demonstrably so as well as increase birth rates. Where are the Shakers? They didn't believe in having SEX - there are 3 left! How are those Mormons doing? Growth rate more than double that of the US. How about the Amish who have a taboo against modern machinery and have more children because of it? TRIPLE!
Why don't you expand your interpretation instead of accusing me of limiting mine? Why do children that receive NO affection from parents during the first 5 years of life invariably become sociopaths? Why do fundamentalists still refuse to accept evolution although there is a mountain of evidence to back it up and NO evidence for creation? Why did the Inquisition happen if Christianity is the one true religion? Why does www.godhatesfags.com exist? Why do people bomb abortion clinics? Why did the US not intervene in Bosnia? I can now answer all of these questions. Try to do that with a bible.
And a big F.U. to all you loosers out there that didn't think of this first! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
I have no life.
There is a God. I'm sorry you don't see him.
Why do you think we are worshipping the wrong one? Do you have a personal relationship with God, has he told you that Christianity is wrong? No, Atheists believe in no God. Christians have a personal relationship with God. There is an extreme difference. In fact, I'd have to say that Athiests are the opposite of Christians. Ha. YOU know what is right and wrong? Silly mortal.Have you ever read much by C.S. Lewis? In The Last Battle Lewis conjectures that those who repent of their sins to God, trust in God, and believe that God has forgiven them are saved. Regardless if they call Christ by name.
Now, I don't know how right Lewis is -- although I find his works to be fairly right-on in general -- but it does say what is more important and what is less important in Christianity... going to church is less important than realizing your shortcomings and bringing them to God for forgiveness.
Anyway, I can see why you don't think Christianity is all that... we humans tend to muff up God's glory. Sorry about that. And I'm sorry you haven't seen God at work. Try to get outside once in a while.
-- Erich
Slashdot reader since 1997
Doesn't talking Po say "faggot, faggot, faggot, bite my bum"?
Anyways, I sure am glad I don't believe in that insane Christian stuff. Else I wouldn't be allowed to watch Kids in the Hall, on top of Teletubbies.
(why are the others posting anonymously???)
:-)
The teletubbies probably are evil (if not gay), but it's a tad bit pathetic of Falwell to do this, and even more pathetic that it's infesting an excellent site like Slashdot.
For those that are thinking it's a Christian's "job" to bash gay people, I'd like to clear a few things up. Engaging in such activity is indeed a sin, but so is pride, greed, and merely thinking for a picosecond that you don't need God. And how many of us (especially Christians) are innocent of all that? Jesus said "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
The point is that there is so much sin in the world that it is ridiculous to single out homosexuality. Jesus wants you to come to Himself just as you are. You don't need to change your sexual orientation, stop using drugs, or anything else first. When you make Him Lord of your life, He will convict you of whatever needs to change in your life. In fact, He spent most of His time on earth with people that the religious leaders of the days considered sinners. Did he condemn them? NO! He offered them salvation, and affirmed them when they had a tiny bit of faith.
Sorry...I'm not a preacher...really. I'm a Linux and Perl hacker. But, hard as it may be to believe, there is Someone even higher than Linus Torvalds and Larry Wall.
Falwell is just pissed that the Teletubbies are more popular than him.
One example, albeit extreme, of what happens when God is removed from the way we live and what we think is Hitler. It is a well-known fact that Nietzsche's writings became the cornerstone of the Nazi Party and Hitler's personal philosophy. And we all know what atrocities he did in killing millions of people. But again with no God, life really has no basis for value./i.
That's a completely invalid arguments. You're saying that since Hitler liked Nietzche's philosphy, and Hitler killed people, therefore Nietzche's philosophy causes people to be murderers. Take a logic class, please.
By your reasoning, all religions (especially Christianity) would be likewise invalidated, as Christianity is what caused people to kill others (Crusades, Reformation, etc.), knowingly send innocent children to their death (Children's Crusade).
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
One example, albeit extreme, of what happens when God is removed from the way we live and what we think is Hitler. It is a well-known fact that Nietzsche's writings became the cornerstone of the Nazi Party and Hitler's personal philosophy. And we all know what atrocities he did in killing millions of people. But again with no God, life really has no basis for value.
That's a completely invalid argument. You're saying that since Hitler liked Nietzche's philosphy, and Hitler killed people, therefore Nietzche's philosophy causes people to be murderers. Take a logic class, please.
By your reasoning, all religions (especially Christianity) would be likewise invalidated, as Christianity is what caused people to kill others (Crusades, Reformation, etc.), knowingly send innocent children to their death (Children's Crusade).
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Umm....where does it say libertarians want to outlaw labor unions? This one doesnt.
Try reading up on something before you cluelessly bash it.
Posted by Ms. Donna:
You are quite right that Tinky-Winky is not gay. He is transgendered and crossdressing is but one of many forms of transgender expression.
Because he carries a purse a times, he is assumed to be gay, the (faulty) logic here being all gay males exhibit overtly feminine qualities.
He has exhibited no signs of a homosexual orientation (or any sexual orientation for that matter). The inference that he is gay stems from a profound lack of knowledge about transgender identity on the part of society at large.
It's a matter of ignorance, nothing else.
For some more insight into Tinky-Winky, as well as other information about transgender / transexual identities, check out:
http://www.transsexual.org/Teletub1.html
Love and Stuff,
Donna
Posted by OGL:
;))
Do you have room for one more in the UK?
(I just hope I don't get sick there due to an overdose of exclamation points!
-W.W.
Posted by Mr. Assembly:
Just remember you read it here first.
With what sort of bizzarre reasoning did you come to the conclusion that not> being Christian is somehow 'going with the crowd'? I was ostracized for not being Christian all throughout my childhood years and I still refused to pretend to belive in a god that has no evidence, even though that would have been the easier path.
So go take your "testicular fortitude" and shove it where the sun don't shine. I've got plenty of it, or I would have given in long ago.
And since when are slashdotters liberal? We're not sheep, if that's what you mean, but there's Republicans and Libertarians aplenty here.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
No. "Asking forgiveness for things you've done wrong" means "asking forgiveness for things you've done wrong." It does not require a God to do so.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
No, but if it happens often enough it *does* prove that the operating system in question isn't as great as it's egotistical proponents claim it to be.
A parellel can be drawn here to Christianity.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Thank you. In once post you managed to singlehandedly combine most of the invalid Christian apologists' arguments concisely. Let's go over them, whall we?
Circular reasoning: You say it is invalid to claim that God does not exist, because he's the moral underpinning of everything in our lives. (He can't be the underpinning if he doesn't exist, thus your argument is nicely circular.)
Hitler quoted Nietzsche some, but one aspect he did not share with Nietzsche was atheism. Hitler was a Catholic. In "Mein Kampf" he claimed to be doing the work of God. You can say that he wasn't really doing the work of God and he was mistaken, but you would be lying if you claimed he was an atheist.
Oh, Puh-lease. Pascal's Wager is bunk. To keep it short, the problems with it are:
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
I've been unable to get down to the 'second level' hierarchy of posts on slashdot - they sometimes come up empty. There is no pattern to it. It's random. This thread is not the first place it's happened, either. Something is broken. This sucks, but not as much as censoring would suck if that's what were really going on (which it isn't).
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Let me suggest that the one true religion cannot be corrupted. We know that the Inquisition was corrupt religion and so was the Children's Crusade. This invalidates Christianity as being the true religion in my eyes.
Does a BSOD invalidate all of computing?
God can't be adequately "solved" or grasped via some sort of scientific study or legal cross-examination. If He created everything, his existence lies outside of everything (does Woz live inside of a Mac ROM in Peoria?), outside of our mundane temporal/spatial existence. Scriptures are a starting point, but to just stake one's belief upon dead-trees-and-ink will not be adequate either.
Christianity is not, first and foremost, about science and cross-examination. You're barking up the wrong tree. The diversity of expressions of Christianity is, despite doctrinal differences on the periphery, a Good Thing®, not an invalidation of the "user manual" - I would be somewhat turned off if it was all some Southern Baptist thing (Baptists, please don't take offense; I'm just talking about styles of, and cultural differences in, expressions of faith).
There may come a time when you get tired of the BSODs in your life. I hope you will, someday, rm -rf your preconceptions, and fdisk and install an open mind on the matter. Don't let media whores like Falwell drive you screaming from the notion of belief. I think he means well, to some extent, but he does get on one's nerves with thought-police garbage like this. Leave Tinky-Winky alone, Dr Falwell!
Disclaimer: I am neither a theologian, an evangelist, or an eloquent spokesperson for Christianity.
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Agreed. I'm a Christian who detests Falwell's politics, but I find him a very charming individual. The U.S. is a secular republic, and gays and lesbians (and bisexuals and transgendered individuals, etc, etc, etc...) are due the same protections under the laws of the nation as everyone else has. If we are to hate anything, it should be the smear-and-obfuscation campaigns ("militant homosexuals are demanding special rights!") by Falwell, Bauer, Robertson, and Dobson - and a bunch of politician-lemmings and voter-lemmings - to deny the humanity of a segment of the populace.
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You should have read my post before spewing. The things you've mentioned are obviously not good things, and I never said they were. The rest of your post damns the religion of a billion people (and religion in general) by selecting a bunch of wacko items and incidents dating back to the 6th Century.
But here's the riddle, here's the clue: I wasn't talking about religion.
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Just as Jerry Falwell and his peers tend to make a mockery of Christianity with their petty non-Christian agendas, the various horror stories you've cited were incited by utterly bogus motivations - it would be inaccurate to attribute them to a religion. I don't condemn Islam because of the fatwah against Rushdie; I don't condemn Hinduism because of the sectarian violence in India - the same goes for Christianity and Ulster. The wrong-ness doesn't come from the religion; it comes from the mob of adherents who are trashing their own religion in order to achieve a secular "greater good" - the elimination of mob-defined (not God-defined) "infidels".
Just as you shouldn't let an insistence on rational thought or scientific proof get in the way of your relationship with God (...if I may be allowed a bit of Xian jargon), you shouldn't let politicians^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hpreachers like Falwell get in the way either. They don't speak for all of Christianity, and, even worse, it's a rare day when they're on-topic enough to be able to speak for Jesus. Even Gandhi had a good word or three to say about Christianity; I'm sorry if things have happened to you to prevent you from being so charitable.
I would much rather have someone like Thomas Merton, Mother Teresa, John Paul II, or Francis Schaeffer be the "public face of Christianity". Yes, they were/are flawed individuals. No, I don't always agree with their actions or writings. But at least they were on-topic, and none of them were/are the utter embarassment that people like Falwell are.
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Back to a distant, earlier point: You shouldn't attribute the actions of despots to religion. A despot uses whatever is at his disposal to control his subjects, be it religion or something totally unrelated.
A million prayers never put a single loaf of bread on a table. God doesn't help people, people help people.
There's tons of examples of God helping people through the works of people. There was an orphanage in England, I believe, that never asked for a dime from anyone; the head of the place just prayed for the resources to be supplied. And for years those resources were supplied, no matter how obscure the request. People brought the money, food, materials, etc, in answer to the guy's prayers. I've seen and heard similar, though usually less spectacular, stories throughout my travels.
Instead of wasting your time going to Church once a week, donate some time to a charity instead. It's exceedingly easy to pray it's a lot more difficult to actually get off your self-righteous ass and do something.
You don't even know me. I've wheedled and schlepped produce to soup kitchens, I've given to charities, probably above and beyond the giving of most people; I've hung out with the homeless and counseled drug addicts (and aspiring drug addicts); I've even broken the law in attempts to help others. God doesn't necessarily just do spectacular things on his own to help people (e.g. things like unexplainable physical healings) - he often works through the actions of people like you and me. You don't even have to believe in God to be an unwitting tool for His purposes.
You call me selfish, look in the mirror you sanctimonious twit.
When did I call you selfish? You may have me confused with someone else. I've tried to keep the discourse on a somewhat polite level.
I already told you that I didn't endorse her 100%; I'm not Catholic, and my views on birth control are the same as most others - it doesn't take away my admiration for John Paul II and Mother Teresa; I don't necessarily have to like everything about a person I admire. I think you're letting your anger override your reading skills.
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Apparently so.
What did you do? Bomb an abortion clinic?
I'm pro-choice, actually.
I once took in a drug dealer after he got arrested by the cops. The cops stole his cash, his stash, and put a shotgun to his head, never charged him with anything and threatened to kill him. He works as an Oracle DBA now, of course he was just selling pot to get through college and sold to only those that wanted it. Like me.
I kept 2 people housed for 1 entire year. I was making very good money, they were still struggling through school. Does this make me a good person? NO. I receive similar help, from my parents, and I know how much it sucks to be really really poor.
I've done the same sort of things that you have, plus some hack^H^H^H^Hcracking (after a great deal of soul-searching) that I'm probably not at liberty to discuss. I don't do "good works" in order to prove myself to be a "good person" or to earn some place in heaven or something. That's not part of Christianity. The "good works" are simply part of one's responsibility as a Christian ("For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat..."); I've only scratched the surface of what I could or should be doing. If God provides the wherewithal and the venue (as He has done in the past), I'll do 1000x more. And I would still be only scratching the surface of what I could or should be doing. That's something I learned from the "evil" Mother Teresa, even though I'm well aware of dozens of complaints (often valid ones) about her - and not just in Calcutta.
I have done a great deal of "soul" searching you haven't done any.
Bully for you. I was born into a family that includes an Anglican minister and several church organists. Church stuff bored me and I became a 6-year-old atheist. Many years later, through studying Zen and Hinduism (and almost becoming a monk), I decided to look into the Bible after reading Gandhi's autobiography. I've done my homework; I've taken the Leap. I've been amazed; I've been disappointed. To this day, I'm annoyed at the Culture of Christianity here in the States - I feel, in some churches, like I'm crashing the party. There is a great deal of daily soul searching that goes into being a Christian. If you think there's some sort of blind, unthinking component to faith, then you haven't done your homework, you are the one being irrational. Faith != Sheepfulness. I think some pop-Xian theologian once said "Faith is a verb" or something like that; there's a grain of truth to it.
Note: previous use of the word "charitable" had nothing to do with money or charity-giving. It was in relation to being generous in terms of finding a good thing to say about one's enemy or foe.
My time's run out. Flame away. I wasn't trying to convert you or anything; I just get annoyed at times at both secular culture's lack of understanding about Christianity and (U.S. evangelical) Christian culture's lack of understanding about the secular world. It's been fun, and I hope you live a long, long time and revisit these issues. Have a nice weekend, fellow /.-er. I gotta go bomb an abortion clinic :)
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=8^
I think you're missing the issue in part; Creationists and Fundamentalists don't speak on behalf of all Christians, and they don't speak for me. If I regard the creation or flood accounts in Genesis as poetry (instead of scientific fact), it doesn't mean that I'm a heretic, and it doesn't mean that there isn't a truth or two to be gleaned from that poetry. Obviously the world isn't 5,000 years old - and I'm not sure the Bible explicitly says so (but I'll defer to you on that one).
On the future *cough* "Saint Teresa of Calcutta" *cough*: I've been described, in an Everything node as a Pinko Commie Bedwetter. That's probably not far from the truth. My qualms with the Mother were politically-oriented (no, I don't have insider info about her, if that was what you were asking about). But my point was, if I had any point at all, that I could take the Christopher Hitchens version of the truth about her (which is an account that I respect) and still use that as material with which I could teach a Sunday School class.
Gotta go! In the words of St Ahnuld: "I'll be back!"
(Unless Rob's database totally craps out in the interim :)
--
--
=8^
Try "I'll tell you what I kneejerk".
--
Xenu loves you!
IMHO, irrational behavior is the default setting for humanity. Rationality must be practiced.
Much of modern scientific thought comes from people who believed in God (Newton, Einstein).
Well, first of all, being irrational doesn't imply being incapable of discovery. Oh, and by the way, Einstein has this to say about god: "It was, of course, a lie that you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called 'religious' then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."
Dogma literally means the teachings of the Catholic church.
Confusing the etymology of a word with its meaning is a symptom of irrationality. Be careful not to bolster the original poster's position. If you cannot admit that natural languages are in a constant state of flux, then there's no firm ground for rational discourse.
In short, matters of faith are non-rational, by definition: accepting a non-falsifiable hypothesis as truth is a leap that is not supported by structured reasoning. You'll have to attack that point directly if you want to make any headway in this thread.
The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...
Falwell is just like Hitler. If he were to come to power under similar circumstances, he would be just as bad.
I don't have a problem with people believing that I am a sinfull person for being bisexual, but it is necessary to forcefully speak out against people (like Falwell) who want the goverment to use it's power to eliminate "devient" speach and behaivior. It is people like Falwell who are directly responsible for inciting the hatefull attacks on gays, lesbians, and bisexual people.
For the record, I don't believe in so called "hate crime" legislation, I think it is unconstitutional to punish thought and speach. Fortunately, there are already laws against assult and murder, and a "hate crimes" law wouldn't make a difference in the case against the killers of Mathiew Shepard, since they are already facing death.
My philosophy on this is informed by the Bob Dylan song "Only a Pawn in Their Game", to summerize, the song is about the killing of Medgar Evers', who was a black civil rights leader. The song makes the point that the gunmen were not the only ones responsible, as they were raised from birth to hate blacks, and were simply used as a political tool in the hands of those in power. While I don't think Shepard's killers should go unpunished, I think we need to condemn (through forcefull speach, since we can't bring the law down on speach) those who were using them as a tool.
Ultimatly it is the thirst for power, the desire to pronounce ones will over other people, that leads to this evil. Even members of oppressed groups are not immune (or even less prone) to this mindset, one only has to look at how the Palistinens are treated by the Isrealies to see this. There was an incident recently where a gay Mardi Gras group denied membership to several people, simply because they were bisexual, and not gay.
Anyway, I'm rambling, so I'll shut up now.
"Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
Actually, from what I understand, Islam doesn't condemn Jews or Christians, and actually holds them in a sort of respectful position as kind of "sister faiths", since all three religions were "revealed" by the same God (according to Islam), who is called "Allah" under Islam.
Of course, different Islamic people and governments may have different policies in that department, but it is they who are in violation of Islam, not the Christians.
Islam does call for pollythiests to be put to death, however, especially if the pollythiest in question converted from one of the "revealed" faiths.
This is all from memory of a high school class nine years ago, so I may be a bit off on the particulars.
"Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
The point is that there is so much sin in the world that it is ridiculous to single out homosexuality.
:)
I reject the idea that homosexuality is a sin. God made me bisexual, and did not do so in error, as I'm sure you'll agree. It would be a sin for me to not accept who I am.
If you say that it is ok to be queer, but not to "be a man who lies with another man" or whatever, then I say horsehockey! It has been shown time and time again that the relivent portions of The Bible that get quoted all the time are either simply not relivent within context, or are mis-translated, probably deliberately by Falwell like people who wanted to exert their power over other people, or use homosexuals as a scapegoat to focus their followers attention.
See my previous post on Falwell for more info.
I just can't shut up, I guess.
"Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
OK, lets disect this, shall we?
Now this is interesting. Well, not really, it's the typical narrow mindset of homosexuals in general.
Starting with a broad, bigoted generalization is a great way to flag yourself as a dumbass.
This guy implies he's openminded and thinks for himself, yet is so closeminded that he can't fathom people actually coming to the conclusion that they oppose homosexuality of their own accord, by their own reasoning.
People don't form bigoted views on their own, they are tought by people like Falwell. A good example of this process is what hapened in the south with white laborers who identified with the black slaves more then with the slaves' masters. The white laborers were treated little better then the slaves, and they, and of course the slaves as well, were getting adgitated. So the masters pitted the white laborers against the slaves by breading fear and hatred, and soon enough a revolutionary coelation between black slaves and white laborers was imposible due to the bigotry.
It's not POSSIBLE that anyone has either been gay and is no longer, has read up on the subject in both spiritual and scientific texts, or has possibly just sat down and thought about it and now opposes the lifestyle
The ex-gay movement is a sham and nothing more. The largest ex-gay ministry, "Exodus", was founded by two men who ended up falling in love with each other and leaving the ministry. They have detailed how they were responsible (when they were running the program) for falsifing studys that touted how successful the program was. For more information, rent the documentary "One Nation Under God", it details theirs' and others' stories. Furthermore, you could check out the website Anything That Moves for a Bisexual perspective on the whole ex-gay thing. The basic gist of it is that those who are held up as "success stories" of the ex-gay movment are most likely really bi, therefore it is unremarkable that they are able to function in a heterosexual monogamous relationship. People who are totally homosexual, on the other hand, simply can't be "cured", or even made to look cured in the long term.
I swear, talking to gays is like talking to irrational children.
This would be another one of those "dumbass flag" thingies I was talking about earlier.
I oppose homosexuality because not only does it contradict biblical values, but because my brother is a psycholgist and my other brother and father are doctors, and i've seen/heard of the evidence of it's destructiveness
Why do you care what I do in my bedroom? How can that posibly dammage you? Do you believe that God erred in making me bisexual? Are you aware that pretty much all of the professional psychologist and psychietrist(sp?) orgainizations have universally condemned the concept that homosexuality and bisexuality are diseases, or for that matter even, in themselves destructive? Are you even listening to yourself talk?
OH MY CHEESE, I'M THINKING FOR MYSELF BASED
ON INFORMATION AND ARRIVING AT A DIFFERENT CONCLUSION THAN YOU.
Oh my cheese? Huh? What the h e double hockey sticks is that supposed to mean? Oh yeah your really thinking for yourself. Open up your eyes, and you will see that you are being manipulated by those in power so that you pick on gays instead of realizing what a looser you are.
I won't say anything about teletubbies, i dno't know anything about it. But i can't help but think cmdrtaco, whom i'd respected till now, is furthering an agenda of his.
Well, it's his website, he can do what he wants. It's called freedom, and if you try to take it away from us, there will be h e double hockey sticks to pay.
"Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
The only thing I have to say is... I couldn't of said it better myself!
"Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
Clearly, Falwell has it all wrong. He's not gay, he's bent on world domination!
Can't you see it? Purple is the color of royalty. The triangle...the trilateral comission! And he "sees" television with it...the eye in the triangle!!! Must be Illuminati!! The purse! That means he controls all of the world banking organizations! Finally, Television....A perfect tool to lull the masses into a stupor.
For Sale lakefront property in Fl, what a bargain!
The red teletubby, Po says "faggot" when you squeeze it. :) Now, Mr. Fallwell revels to the world why!
Why is this on slashdot?
The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
I guess the Americans never will get the British sense of humour (with an "o-u-r"). This goes along the same lines as Captain Pugwash (with "Seaman Staines" and "Master Baites") and the magic roundabout. These are subtle jokes, and even if it is about homosexuality, we don't care - it's only adults that care, and even then, only US adults apparently.
Matt.
--
Matt. Want XML + Apache + Stylesheets? Get AxKit.
I keep wondering if all you people are closet homosexuals. I mean no "gay propaganda" in the world can make me gay and I never had any such feelings in my childhood either. The only reason I can see you being so against "it" must be that you aren't comfortable in your chosen sexual preference.
/mill
Heh, hmosexuals shouldn't be mistreated or discriminated, but you fear kids will fall for their "gay propaganda" and therefore might "burn in hell".
Oh, btw, if you fear procreation is threatened rest assure that I will save the world if it comes to that. I am sure I am not the only one that knows one will always be heterosexual - propaganda or not.
PS. "standard for a way of life"? Need of authorities to tell you how to live your life? DS.
At least as a cow one would be loved by the GNOME developers AND sacred :).
/mill
Maybe someone should start a US version of the British show "Tiswas", complete with Phantom Flan Flinger, and invite this guy to speak on it. :)
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
From what I've read here, it's a tv show that's on in the mornings. Sounds like I'm lucky that I don't know what channel it's on. I don't know what channel Falwell is on either.
I guess I'm extra lucky.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
I watched the show over christmas break to check out what all the controversy was about. The only thing I think they are guilty of os throwing around a pretty psychedelic world view. Or maybe that is how one year olds perceive things? Most likely, though I cant remember. I really wonder why anyone is making a big deal about the show, that crap just makes me like it more and more.
I am not too worried about it messing up kids either with the babblespeak the tubs engage in: kids will learn how to talk dont worry.
There is a psycological term for his behavior: projection.
An esoteric scratched itch:
Homeworld Map Maker Tool
> Why do you have to be Christian to get blanket
> forgiveness? Why can't you ask Allah, or the
> Goddess, or Zeus for forgiveness?
Because their religions are somewhat different on the concept of forgiveness. If you ask for forgiveness from a ancient Greek god, then you should expect whatever the ancient Greek religion entitles you to after you die. Similarly for Christianity--you have to practice the Christian acts of asking for forgiveness to get the "Heaven" thing.
> Second, why does anyone not forgiven get an
> eternity in hell? That's mean, unfair and
> unjust. Punishment should fit the crime, and I'm
> not sure any crime deserves an eternity of
> torture.
There isn't anybody perfect. We've all committed some wrong in our lives. Until all of it is forgiven, we cannot enter the presense of God (ie. Heaven).
The crime is that we've all failed (or sinned), in some way or another. As long as we continue to have this sin in our lives, we deserve a punishment (ie. Hell).
<tim><
> How can ANYTHING happen for eternity? That's
> like saying you CAN reach infinity.
Think of the concept of space--to us, it will always be infinite in size (ie. we cannot prove that something can walk past the edge of it). Time, now long regarded as the 4th dimension is sorta like this. Just because it's always been there in our existence doesn't mean it has and always will. Eternity can be possible, simply because there is no way we can comprehend the full capacity of time.
> And even if I do go to hell, I'll just sit
> around and laugh at the devil when he tries to
> make me do something.
Why do people kill themselves? To end suffering. That means, death is preferable to suffering. Think of Hell as suffering, rather than death, and you'll see what I mean. Trust me--it won't be boring.
>I'll [...] raise an insurrection against the
> devil
That would not be advisable...Satan is not greater than God.
<tim><
Ok, I'm going to start some serious religious ranting here b/c this is the only way I can explain it...desert the topic if you want.
...we have to end up somewhere. There's only Heaven or Hell in the afterlife. And since we've all sinned (ie. crossed that line) we deserve to end up in Hell. Now Jesus, the only "perfect" person to have ever been born died on the cross...the way it works is this: He didn't have to die, because he was without sin. But He did, making Him the ideal "sacrificial lamb" (previous to Him, people [ie. Jews] could only redeem themselves worthy with sacrifices), and in so doing made it possible for Man to live with God after death. That is, he died for our sin.
Now as to why Hell: God cannot bear sin. God is in Heaven. That means sinners (who haven't asked forgiveness yet) have to go somewhere else--that is, Hell.
Hope this helps straighten out a few things.
<tim><
> Why do we have to end up anywhere? And if we
> can't simply be destroyed, an omnipotent god
> could certainly make something besides Heaven or
> Hell, couldn't he?
Sure, he could. But then why? Reward those who obey him, punish those who don't...makes sense to me.
> As I said before, I'm not sure anyone, however
> evil, deserves Hell.
Your definition of evil is different from what God sees as evil. To Him, it is totally unbearable. Think of something totally unbearable to you. That's what God thinks when somebody sins--any sin.
> Perfect => sinless, right? The Bible records a
> couple places where Jesus sinned - Luke (?)
> records an instance where as a child he wandered
> off at church, and when his parents came back
> looking for him, he gave a smart-alek responce.
The child you're referring to was actually Jesus, who went to the temple because it was where he could be with God. His exact response was, "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" This isn't a "smart-alek" response, imho. It was neither sarcastic nor in contempt of his parents. You can find this passage in the second chapter of Luke if you want to see for yourself
> He is also recorded as having told his disciples
> to take (i.e. steal) a donkey.
He didn't steal the donkey. If you're referring to the beginning of Matthew 21 then you'll see that there is nothing that said the disciples stole the donkey. The disciples could've asked permissions, or not. It just doesn't say.
> I hate to say this, but I'm in this just to kill
> time and becuase I enjoy taking part in
> religious arguments.
Hey, I'm in this for the "debate" factor too. Don't worry, I'm not here to convert you. Just inform you to make more accurate judgements about what christianity really is. As long as you don't take it personally, then I won't either.
Cheers,
<tim><
I meant to hit preview, and instead hit submit. :)
It doesn't look like URL's longer than a line get interpreted correctly--remove the spaces from the URLs to get teh correct page.
<tim><
> Good. Actually, this is has been my best debate,
:) So nice to be able to log in and track your own discussions.
> judging by the actual communication. Neither of
> us seemed to miss any points. Since it appears
> this is about over (this board will get closed
> sooner or later, and we've about worked it to
> death), I'll thank you and bid you goodbye.
I was surprised you revisited the topic
Thank you for your point of views--it's difficult to carry on debates like this w/o people being offended.
<tim><
I have despised this sorry excuse for a man ever since I can remember hearing about him. After watching all these kids' shows, he still hasn't figured out that barney is a child molester.
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-- Knowledge shared is power lost. -- Aleister Crowley
What relevancy does this have to "News for Nerds?" I read /. for my daily tech news, not to get insight on the gay rights movement or toddler's shows on PBS. I can get that on any other news site. Please, keep us posted on tech issues, esp. as they relate to Linux/*BSD/Un*x, not social/political ones.
Jerry Fallewll is completely insane. Let's see: he's decided Tinky Winky is gay because: he carries a purse, he's purple, and his antenna is a triangle? Let's see:
1) while men who carry purses are still a rarity, they do exist. It's not even supposed to be a purse anyway, so the point's academic.
2) OK, so he's judging a Teletubby because of the color of his skin? Gee, doesn't that shed a new light on Fallwell's character?
3) Let's see. A triangle... considering that the antennae are supposed to be all different shapes, and you already have a straight line, a circle, and a curlicue. You need some other type of shape. Perhaps Fallwell would have preferred something closer to Dipsy's rather phallic straight line, which has become the subject of more jokes than TW's bag ever did)?
By the way, the Teletubbies do, in fact, have definite genders (as someone who worked in a store which carried way too much Telletubby merchandise for its own good I know this). But that doesn't mean anything at all.
Leviticus 20:13 states that homosexuals must be put to death. Do you agree with this? Would you carry out the sentence?
I saw a TV documentary recently which interviewed convicted gay-bashers. The testimony of one convict (who said that he did it because he was taught that that's what the Bible commanded) is an argument that the Bible (or parts of it) should be kept out of the hands of those prone to hatred.
Anyway, does anyone really expect loony right-wing pious twits from Bible-Belt-land to actually understand Teletubbies!?!??!?! After all, the show's aimed at young toddlers whose minds are developing and are open to new ideas!!!!! It's not aimed at old fossils whose minds are withered and are closed shut!!!!!! ;)
Anyway, it's old news- it's part of a developing Teletubbies urban myth in the US, a bit like the gerbil-up-the-rectum story...
===
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Old Fart!!! Of tha SENIOR DADS!!!!!
http://surf.to/seniordads/
Hmmm, this seems to have gone on a bit longer than I thought it would!!!! Still, hope you get my point.....
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Old Fart!!! Of tha SENIOR DADS!!!!!
http://surf.to/seniordads/
Hmmm, interesting point, but I dunno if I agree with it... I would agree that a lot of society is sex-obsessed, but sex in the Teletubbies?!?!?!?! I mean, come on!!!!!!! I think it's more a case of people not understanding the programme, and picking out things that mean something to them in their lives, but are not neccessarily actually part of the programme!!!!! In other words, some of the Teletubbies prog is so completely open-ended that you can put any interpretation into the diverse stream of wierd ideas that it chucks out!!!! I think Jerry Falwell's statement tells us more about his state of mind than it does about the makers of Teletubbies!!!!!
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Old Fart!!! Of tha SENIOR DADS!!!!!
http://surf.to/seniordads/
With the greatest of respect, postings like the one above are the reason why people in Europe tend to think that Americans are stupid!!!!!!
I honestly cannot believ that this crap is for real!!!!! Do you actually strain your braincells for one minute to think how incredibly stupid your post is??!?!?! I mean, Barney The Dinosaur is purple- by Jerry Falwell's "reasoning", he must be gay!!!!! And he's nice to people- obviously he's a God-fearing "Christian" Right person then!!!!!!!!
Forever shying away from imagine "tendancies", "supersititions"- what a paranoid attitude to a life you have. I really feel sorry for your children...
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Old Fart!!! Of tha SENIOR DADS!!!!!
http://surf.to/seniordads/
... and it can be treated- by education!!!!!! ;)
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Old Fart!!! Of tha SENIOR DADS!!!!!
http://surf.to/seniordads/
Excuse, but I should point out that when the Nazis misappropriated Nietzsche's writings, it wasn't exactly with his approval!!!!!! (If I remember, it was his sister, who was a bit anti-semtic, in contrast to Nietzsche's own views- I think "vile" was the word he used for anti-semitism: not exactly the words of a Nazi supporter, is it?!?!?!) And if the Nazis supported Nietzsche's "God is Dead" statment (I'm not too sure you're taking it in it's proper context anyway!!!), then how come Hitler mentions God (in favourable terms) an awful lot in Mein Kampf?!?!? And how come a lot of the Christian churches actually supported Hitler!??!?!?! And why are you as "Christian" going to such lengths to FUD against athiests by attempting to link them with the bloody Nazis?!?!?!??!?
BTW Pascals Wager is only valid if there is only one God to choose from!!!! You cannot logically believe in the Gods of all the Christian denominations and Islam, and others, all at the same time, (More so since in most cases each require you to believe in only one God- theirs!!!) so you have to not belive in at least one God, in which case, the whole thing falls down!!!! I think the wager was just clever answer by Pascal , but as a serious reason for actually believing in a diety, it's just an excuse for lack of faith!!!!!!!!!
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Old Fart!!! Of tha SENIOR DADS!!!!!
http://surf.to/seniordads/
I'd take the replies a whole not more seriously if people I know who are gay didn't say it first.
Just my $0.02.
PS -- I feel this site should be devoted ONLY to tech news, MicroDuff or otherwise. That's why we have CNN for the other news.
Sanity.html - Error 404 not found
Ah yes. This explains it all:
do not presume to know what illnesses I have overcome through the grace of God
You've lived a BAD life, haven't you? (At least that's what they told you, and you believed them, because you were feeling lost, alone and unloved, and were willing to sacrifice your self-esteem in return for group approval).
And now that you have come to see your self-denigration as a WISE and LOVING and WONDERFUL thing, you want to share it with everyone else. Because you want them to be happy too? Nope. Because if you can drag them down to your 'humble' and 'repentant' level, you'll gain more approval from your new friends, and your faith in the brand new lie that is your life will be strengthened.
Oh the joy! Show us the way!
If the life you've lived is so bad, go to the cops and turn yourself in. If you're feeling unwashed, take a good hot shower and change your fscking underwear.
TOMORROW'S ANOTHER DAY!
**>>BELCH
> He turned kinda green, and never mentioned creationism again while I was around. (Though he did try to exorcize me a month later...)
Did it work? (the exorcism, that is)
Eric
Falwell is a DICK-head, and he appears on his own TV channel.
....
Showing a DICK qualifies for pornography, does'nt it?
IMPROVE YOUR IQ BY 80 POINTS,
AND YOUR SOCIAL LIFE BY 300%
THROW YOUR TV OUT OF THE WINDOW!
Plus it will make a nice pop noise when it hits the floor.
1st of all .. gay or not .. this show has 0 redeeming value. A good friend of mine has a 2 year old that had been watching Teletubby's everyday for a few months. Instead of learning how to talk, he babbles like the characters on the show.
... a couple mornings ago while getting ready for work I flipped on the TV. They had a girl and a boy teletubby. The girl was in a skirt, and dancing and having a fun time in it... then they boy said "My Turn". He took the skirt and began prancing around like a girl.
.. but definatly had female personality traits .. and with all the "political-correctness" garbage that's been going around, I wouldn't be surprised if the characters creator intended this character to be gay.
As far as one of them being gay
I wouldn't go as far to say the boy was gay
Adolf Hitler did kill several million Jews by himself. He had people - and a nation - help. Interestingly enough, those people and that nation were Christian.
Please look up Pascal's wager in the Alt.Atheism FAQ sometime. One point is that there is many religions that will send you to hell for being a Christian, and some that will send you to hell for being a Christian but not an atheist.
As for Jesus being perfect, which I assume means sinless: (I don't have a Bible at hand, so I apolgize for the paraphrases)
1. He had his disciples steal a donkey when he was coming in for Passover.
2. He dishonored his mother and father, when he was a child, by not going home with them after church and mouthing off to them when they came back (a day's travel) to find him. (This is in the first part of Luke.)
3. He did it again when he was an adult, and his mother and siblings came to see him.
4. He destroyed some pig farmer's herd of pigs. (Luke and the legion of demons.) (I'm not sure this was technically a sin.)
I've read the Bible. It really makes me wonder about those who would worship a god like that. Try Job's kids. Why did they deserve to die, just because their father was a good guy? And what answer did Job get - roughly, "who the hell are you to speak to me that way! I am almighty, you pipsqueak." The context usually terrifies more than the details, because the context implies motives for God, and those aren't love.
Why do you have to be Christian to get blanket forgiveness? Why can't you ask Allah, or the Goddess, or Zeus for forgiveness? Even if they don't exist, your act was as right as any Christian act of forgiveness, and a great god, a loving god would accept that.
Second, why does anyone not forgiven get an eternity in hell? That's mean, unfair and unjust. Punishment should fit the crime, and I'm not sure any crime deserves an eternity of torture.
Do to others as you would have them do to you is _not_ sound advice. It's a shallow aphorism, that assumes a non-existant symmetry. Anytime the symmetry breaks down, the golden rule breaks down.
For instance: You're a bum. You want people to give you money. So you give them money. Or: you're an immature adolescent male. What you want most in the world is for a girl to strip for you. So you find a beautiful girl and strip for her.
Where on earth is evidence that all these deities are the same? The only reason to believe something like that is because you want to. It's the ultimate in feel-good religion.
Why would atheists like this idea? God is real is the antithesis of atheism, no matter how it's dressed up.
And effeminate is better?...
My wife said that very thing that Jerry Fallwell...only she said it months ago, before all the hoopla.
I do consider myself a religious conservative and we do not allow our children to watch Telebubbies because of Tinky Winky's effeminate tendencies, homosexual leanings (like either is good) and psychic (witchcraft) overtones.
It must be true b/c he said so...
"I am Linus Torvalds, I am your god..."
Hallelujah!! Praise Linus!!!
--Rick
My mom-in-law told me about this, and I thought she was kidding at first -- I laughed and laughed! When I realized she was serious, I said, "Well, you know, I wonder if he's ever thought about Kukla, Fran and Ollie -- an interspecies menage a trois. And what about that strange relationship between Buck Smith and Howdy Doody -- as wholesome as it seemed on the surface, didn't those too seem kind of clingy? And Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, and Capt. Kangaroo -- who's to say what the hell's really going on here? (Raised a Catholic, I can remember a time when nobody would dare *imagine* a priest doing anything unwholesome with a child.)
For anyone cursed with a sex drive, the world is a dark, evil, frightening place. That's what Jerry's tapped into.
Just my thoughts.
"How many light bulbs does it take to change a person?" --BMcC-->
Funniest thing I've heard since Pat Robertson went on the Today Show about ten years ago pimping his then current book where he claimed that the breakup of the Soviet Union was a communist plot.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
I saw Mr. Fallwell on Politically Incorrect one night. I didn't know who he was at first, he just looked like a kind, fairly jolly grandfather. He was charismatic and made you want to like him whether you agreed with him or not.
Then I realized who he was, and I became very, very afraid.
Brothers and sisters, there is a devil among us and he lives in Lynchburg. How ironic is _that_?
Eviscerati.Org: All Hail the Eviscerati
Those whacky Christians...when did 'treat others as you would have them treat you' turn into 'torture and burn those who aren't you'?
And although I did laugh loud and long at our amazingly silly Rev. Falwell...uhm, where's the nerd/geek angle here?
An Anonymous Troll^H^H^H^H^HCoward diligently typed:
"Gary Bauer for Prez and Elzabeth Dole for VP!!"
I'd like to see G. Bauer get the Reptilian nomination too, because he'd get trounced. That would let the conservative zealots know how far they are out of step with the ordinary people.
boethius sez,
"Dogma literally means the teachings of the Catholic church. A very large percentage of Christian believers are not Catholic and therefore not 'dogmatic.'"
Wrong. Dogma are normative and fundamental teachings, so that to deny them is to cease to be a member of a particular body of believers. It is a much narrower realm than "teachings" of a church, and certainly narrower than pious beliefs not officially taught. The Orthodox have dogmas, Anglicans have dogmas, many Protestant denominations have dogmas, though they might not use that term. A purported Lutheran who denied the divinity of Christ would be in heresy, and no longer a Christian or a Lutheran. So it is not the case that only Catholic Christians are "dogmatic".
Let's see, the Rev. Falwell has decided that a nonhuman character on a children's TV show is gay because:
Well, gee, Mr. Falwell, why can't we say that this is obviously a Christian character?
And Po? Obviously a commie. She's Red. "Po" rhymes with "Ho", and surely old Jerry hasn't forgotten Ho Chi Minh?
I hardly think this character is a role model. The character certainly won't be the decisive factor in whether anyone at all is gay or straight. If some gays have adopted the character as "theirs", so what? I understand that Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand are big icons for some gay men, but that doesn't make them lesbian and didn't make their fans gay.
Get a life, Jer.
Even though I feel that this discussion is beneath the minds of most /. readers, I am proud as a parent and /. reader at the majority of the responses to this posting. Yeah, I'm kinda concerned that my 2 year old stops, drops, and tunes into the teletubbies whenever they happen to appear on the screen, but hey, I grew up with PBS programming, and I would rather have my daughter watch some mindless,passive show that may have some social applications hidden in their midst than a violent badly drawn animated waste of time, when I do happen to have the television on. I seem to be blessed however, since my daughter would rather sit on my lap while I'm programming or work on her Macintosh 6100 while dad is trying to work out networking issues, than watch TV.( My hope of hopes is to get her to be the first kid in her kindergarten class to reprogram the schools PC's to run Linux...:^))
Anyway... television is pointless at best and a waste of time that could otherwise be spent reading Either books or a monitor. Let's all remember folks Television is entertainment. Lets keep the learning flowing, and not try to limit the aspects of social growth with censorship and predjudice... Once again.. good to see that the same people I go to for help with my computer system seem to agree with this philosophy....THANK YOU ALL
"Here's 50 bucks, take this in case I get drunk and call you a bitch later." - Ricky (Vince Vaughn)Made (2001)
Think that Falwell is nuts. But then even though I'm conservative doesn't neccessarily mean that I'm Christain though either. I'm a Shingon Buddhist and prefer to make my own decisions as I don't really believe that people like Falwell have the moral authority to make decisions about what my kids will and will not watch. Besides, my kids range in age from 1 to 14 and except for the youngest..... we all like Scooby Doo!
I've have to tell you though...a Buddhist priest once told me to "beware of those who seek to divide, they only want people to join them to re-enforce the dogma they themselves are unsure of." It makes scense to me so....
My 2 Cents
Nick
LSG
So he's outed one of the teletubbies. Thats interesting, from what i've seen, they seem more asexual than homosexual. One has to wonder, who's next? Bert and Ernie? Mr Rogers? Big Bird? Kermit? Everyone but Jerry Falwell? Where will the madness end?
0 1 - just my two bits
Way down at the bottom of the page in very small type is a "Comment" link...
A brainless bastard. He is the one hurting our children, not purple smurfs with tv's on their stomachs. 'nuff said about that.
Can we dispel the myth that geeks tend to be conservative republicans?
Where did this come from? Did I miss something? Most geeks I know are pretty apolitical, areligious, etc. I know *two* Christian geeks, and a few that are religious but not Christian (myself included). I don't know of very many geeks that even give a flop about politics (although I do).
Just my personal experience. Perhaps it is different in other places.
This sig is false.
There is a very fine line between finding some sexual content in the Teletubbies or the Lion King and being sexually attracted by a pre-teen boy.
If he sees a sexual content in those TV shows, it must be really looking hard for it. What a waco...
M.
Many others have thoroughly refuted your utterly bogus statements, so I just thought I'd mention this one.
The only thing I will say is Christianity hinges on the man Jesus who lived about 2000 years ago. If he was God, lived a perfect life, was crucified on a cross, died, and rose back to life, then you would be a fool not to be a Christian.
And I say that you have got even this very wrong. Say, for the sake of argument, that Jesus was God, etc. Also for the sake of argument assume that the Christian fundamentalists are right, and that Jesus' teachings have not been completely corrupted/ignored/twisted by the very people that call themselves his followers. Given then that I will surely go to Hell if I do not repent my sinful ways and become a good God-fearing Christian - will I do so?
No. I proudly choose to go to hell. I will not do what I know is immoral, under threat of torture in Hell. I will not take your Heaven, your pieces of silver, in return for selling my own morality. You may buy and sell your beliefs, your morals, but I will not. Now, that may make me stupid in your books, but then I guess you think that the German citizens that spoke out against the Nazis during the war were "stupid". (you started with the bloody Nazis, not me).
Anyway, this whole thread is bogus. Goodwin says you lose.
- "I never could learn to drink that blood and call it wine" - Bob Dylan (Tight Connection to my Heart)
A healthy percentage of us are Libertarians (including myself).
Libertarianism is probably the only political belief system that is entirely consistent, and that makes it appealing to computer types.
Basically, the upshot is: "Government is totally incompetent and restricts our freedoms; let's have as little of it as humanly possible in all respects".
How little that is, of course, is one of the biggest controversies in Libertarian circles. All Libertarians, however, agree that government is out of control in our present society and desperately needs to be reined in.
D
And what have you been smoking?
Your dogmatic Christianity is only causing trouble, so why not shut your pie hole? Religion per se isn't a bad thing, but anything that you can use as an excuse to preach senseless hate and destruction just plain sucks.
Why not be obedient to god and kill yourself.
The revolution will be mocked
And you are a virus. 'Nuff said.
The revolution will be mocked
Thanks for posting that. I'm a Christian too, and it upsets me when people promote their conservative agenda under the guise of Christianity. Christ only had one agenda -- salvation. People should not promote their own agendas in His name.
Great post.
I know these messages are kinda off-topic, but so is the teletubbies article, so touche. =)
An ex-professional wrestler ;-)
i don't know if Tinky Winky is gay or not; i've seen episodes where he does indeed carry around a purse, though. (my year-and-a-half old son loves the show, so we taped a few episodes to pacify him when there's nothing else on...)
i rank the question of Tinky Winky's sexuality right down there with the Gay Rights activists proclaiming Bert and Ernie (of Sesame Street) gay. that is SOOOOOO stupid! who the heck CARES? they're MUPPETS for crying out loud! kids shouldn't have to care whether or not characters on their shows are gay or not!
...and yes, i consider myself a "religious conservative".
_______
When politicians are involved, everyone loses.
Can we dispel the myth that geeks tend to be conservative republicans?
/. poll. I think Jerry Falwell is...
I for one would be much more uncomfortable with my (hypothetical) kids watching the 700 club than with them watching a gay teletubby.
Maybe this could be a
This is a subject for psychiatric examination. A detailed one...
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
I, along with many other geeks I know, tend to be a "fiscal republican". Fiscal republicans are conservative when it comes to your wallet, and liberal when it comes to your bedroom.
I'd rather not dick over anyone, personally. Remember, when someone makes money, it isn't _always_ at someone else's expense. Admittedly sometimes it is, especially with the very rich, but of the friends that I have that are "well off" none of them can claim that they got there by beating down someone else.
Wow, never thought that among the "intelligent" people that frequent Slashdot that there would be such bigoted schmucks in the crowd....
Being Christian is about loving your fellow man, NOT judging their lifestyle.
I'm no butch dyke. I look like every other "straight" professional female out there. But I'm still hurt by these remarks.
Jerry Falwell is not a TRUE Christian. He has a bizarre, Klannish agenda all his own. Whatever happened to "loving your fellow man"????
Makes me sad that people judge me without even knowing who I am. Guess that's just the way it is, but I don't have to like it......
Cybergrrrrrl
Who is Jerry Falwell?
I was kind of forced to wonder if this was News for Nerds or not. I don't think the musings of the religious right, unless they are explicitly trying to take away some of our rights, is really Nerd-worthy.
:).
Having said that, it was the funniest thing I've read today
I remember reading a little snippet in TV guide about the show. It has a quote from the creator about how Tinky-Winky shows kids that "It's OK to be Gay". Personally I think Jerry AND the creator of the show are off their rockers :)
ahhh-men, brutha!
...suckling from the sweet amnion of life...
How in the hell can you be "against" homosexuals? Are you also against black people? How about Chinese? Perhaps you are also against people who like ketchup on their scrambled eggs?
And speaking of homosexual destructiveness...the major argument I've heard is that we don't want them "gays" influencing our children. But hey, it's perfectly fine for teachers, preachers, parents, and other leaders to pursue destructive heterosexual lifestyles. That's an ok influence. If the male gym teacher harrases all the girls in the senior class, that's fine, but hey...if he hits on the boys...well, that's just sick!
Geesh...some people just really need to get their priorities straight.
And as for the Bible...hey, nice piece of fiction, but that's about it. Don't expect me to live my life by it. I don't look to the "Great Gatsby" for moral direction either.
Jerry Falwell, hmmm, lemme think... ;)
/. should not waste it's time, or add to the publicity.
Isn't this the man that lost his virtue to his own mother, and in an outhouse??
What is HE doing watching children's programming? Shouldn't he be out predicting the wrath of God that shall befall all sinners at the turn of the millenium? Or begging for money, so that God would not "bring him home"?? Or maybe molesting a secretary, to help her start up a phonesex/psychic career??
Really folks, we've already seen it all, from Jessica Rabbit's underwear to the castles in the Little Mermaid. When will mainstream society realize that THEIR brand of 'religion' boarders on fascism, and is a bigger source of FUD than the whole computer industry put together? Nice try, but this won't distract people from the Clinton 'thing'.
And really,
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
Or does the aging, bloated Falwell bear a more-than-subtle resemblance to Tinky Winky in the two photos in the CNN story?
MOO;IANAL.
There used to be a picture linked here.
I'll put my fiscal values toe to toe with any Republican, any day. I believe in Corporate Welfare even less than I do individual. My (Republican) governor is a tax-and-spend conservative. What's yours?
Just for fun, let's substitute the name of another minority where you said "gay" etc:
But if ( mind this if ) there was a kids show depicting a Jewish character I would be so very against it, up to the point of commiting terrorist acts.
I mean, I completely agree with the point that Jewish people are not supposed to be mistreated or discriminated for being Jewish. But [being] Jewish is NOT IN ANY WAY A STANDARD FOR A WAY OF LIFE
I wouldn't go as far as calling it a perversion although I wouldn't disagree with anyone calling it that, exception and making it a role model is dangerous for the society cause it prevents normal procreation. This country has enough Jewish propaganda as it is, but if we start subverting children of preschool age this is gonna be something for which all of Americans who do not yet deserve to burn in hell will win a free ticket to the ninth circle. That's all IMHO.
Feel free to substitute "black" or "asian" or whatever where I put "Jewish".
See my point yet? That sort of thinking just REALLY pisses me off.
=moJ
- - - - - -
Member in Good Standing,
=moJ
- - - - - -
Member in Good Standing,
I'm questioning him right now.
No god worth believing condemns anyone for just being who they are.
I'm so tired of this shit. Why can't you just leave people alone to lead their own lives?
PS: What do you call someone who does believe there is a god, but believes him to be one evil, calculating, malicious son-of-a-bitch?
=moJ
- - - - - -
Member in Good Standing,
unless you're talking about how this homophobic society oppresses, persecutes, harasses, and sometimes kills gay people.
i could see how that's destructive & has a destructive force on people's lives.
=moJ
- - - - - -
Member in Good Standing,
Well... here we go again.
Belief in God "by definition" is irrational? By your definition? Why are billions of people "irrational" then? Much of modern scientific thought comes from people who believed in God (Newton, Einstein). I'd say Einstein was a geek. But... he's irrational too, isn't he? By definition, of course.
You've read books, essays, and various tracts by Aquinas, Augustine, Martin Luther King, Thomas Merton, C.S. Lewis, Simone Weil, and determined that these people were irrational nutcases blindly attached to an "invisible, magic, and all-powerful superbeing?" By definition, right? J.C. Penney, John Rockefeller? They were irrational believers too?
Dogma literally means the teachings of the Catholic church. A very large percentage of Christian believers are not Catholic and therefore not "dogmatic." And many are not formally adherents to any religion. Belief in and committment to God isn't a codified system of rituals and detached faith that comes from a prayer book. It's a lifestyle that involves God daily in what you do.
Perfectly reasonable, rational people believe in God, including geeks, even if, by definition, you think they can't be. Believing in and trusting God *is* difficult for even the most devout believer. Not believing in God is much easier than believing. Dismissing believers as "kooks" and irrational sets you up on a platform of imagined superiority where you can look down on those whackos who actually believe the Bible is Holy Scripture. Perhaps you'll never permit yourself an iota of supposed irrationality and enforce the defiantly right belief that God does not exist, that the churches and believers and Bible-thumpers should all just shut up and leave you alone.
Here's the thing though -- people do believe and those who do believe will likely invade your comfort zone many times in your life. They'll disrupt your blissful intolerance, your hatred of the supernatural and irrational, your indignance that nobody sane can possibly believe in God, your stewardship of egoism. You *do* believe in something after all, even if it is lack of belief, and you're going to have to stand up and proclaim that to those nutcases.
I can understand why people are against religion and God. They'll point to the Crusades, the repression of women and minorities in and out of the church, the Inquisition, the hypocritical televangelists, the repression of literature, movies, and the arts, fatwas on Rushdie, terrorists who kill people "for God". It's much easier to point to the exceptions rather than acknowledge that most believers are reasonable, intelligent, loving, caring people. Few of us look at the crime, drugs, violence, and hatred that exists in our world and automatically assume that every human being is that way. Most believers don't want to stuff God down your throat. They'd rather you come to God. They'd rather your heart accept God rather than dismiss where you're coming from -- your disbelief, your skepticism, your certainty that it's all just irrational nonsense anyway. Believe it or not, perfectly rational people permit that acceptance in their heart. They perceive something that is beyond themselves, their egos, their selfishness.
Even if it appears "irrational."
Tinky Winky, the biggest of the tubbies, the purple one, is effeminate. He likes to wear a skirt, he usually carries a handbag. He likes to dance. This makes him possibly a crossdresser, but certainly not gay.
The other "male" tubby, Dipsy, runs away from the skirt, and prefers to wear a big silly cow-print hat.
When will these religious conservatives begin to understand that there is a difference between gender expression and sexual preference?!?
...Nothing interesting here. Just move along...
If you are into following the letter of the Bible, Leviticus says something to the effect that "a man shalt not lay with another man as he does with a woman, it is an abomination". Of course Leviticus outlaws selling food at a profit, charging interest on loans, shaving your sideburns, etc. etc. etc.
Paul rails against homosexuals in a couple of letters in the New Testament. I personally regard Paul as a bigot and a madman, and try to study the gospels and John's work instead.
Is there is any biblical condemnation of men who disregard the strict gender dress codes of the day? I haven't found it. Am I breaking God's Law by wearing a cloth briefcase over my shoulder instead of a leather briefcase with only a handle? How high can my heels be before I end up with Eternal Damnation?
...Nothing interesting here. Just move along...
... and I'd rather he grow up gay than grow up listening to idiots like Jerry Falwell.
Actually, I heard that they established that Bert was already gay and he died from AIDS.
Of course, this is only what I heard, but I still thought it was funny.
These ppl need to get a life. A 1 yr-old isn't going to know the thing is gay, let alone know what gay means, so what's the difference.
Apparently Falwell is under the impression that these kids are "going to catch gay" from watching the show. (everyone remember that from the movie In and Out?)
Let the kids have the show.
-Jae
-Jae
Well, while I'll agree that Libertarianism does make SOME sense, I'm fairly geeky, and definitely NOT a liberal.
.02
/dev/nul and save me the time,
I know that the parent article makes good flame bait, but I'm pretty disgusted with the whole thing.
1. Just because someone identifies themselves as a Christian doesn't mean that all other Christians agree with them.
2. Whether Falwell is a kook or not, our culture is completely sex-saturated. It doesn't take a conspiracy theorist to see that. Those messages DO go into much of the so-called entertainment programming, including children's programming.
3. Christianity is not a check-your-brain-at-the-door religion, it's a thinking man's religion that involves a personal relationship with the God who spoke, and the universe leapt into existance. You ought to look at it critically before dismissing evangelicals as wackos.
Just my
Send flames to
serious inquiries: tom_cooper@bigfoot.com
But Herr Heisenberg, how does the electron know when I'm looking?
You claim that a friend has a 2-year-old who doesn't talk, and rather babbles like the characters on Teletubbies. Assuming that this child does not have congenital brain dysfunction, you should recommend that your friend get the child to a neurologist right away.
2-year-olds should be way past the babbling stage. At 24 months, a child should be speaking with sentences, albeit simple and occasionally strangely ungrammatical ones.
Now, once the neurologist has seen the child, I'd then recommend that the child be taken to Steven Pinker or another language-acquisition expert at MIT or Stanford. If a child, surrounded by speaking people, loses the ability (or never acquires the ability) to speak simply from watching a half-hour of television every day, then every single theory about how language is acquired is dead wrong. Linguists would love to examine the child---he or she is clearly the key to shattering forty years of research.
"gay propaganda," eh? Well, you know, every homosexual act is merely brought about by peer pressure. And once we all submit to the gay culture, we just won't be able to reproduce anymore. God knows gay people never have children, even by adoption or artificial insimination.
Do you have a personal relationship with God, has he told you that Christianity is wrong?
Yes, the Christian God came to me, and said 'All the people that believe in me are wrong.' That makes sense, buddy.
The Teletubbies, which were actually originally named the TeleEvilAlienChristianCloneBastards, were sent by the gay pride movement to take over the world and ensure a gayer lifestyle for all of us. Fallwell has happened to get in the way of the great Pink Manifesto, and now he must die. Our crack team of SniperBots(AKA Furbies) will be starting their decent to Fallwell's montana anti-gay compound at 2359hours, at which point they will infultrate the compound, despose of Fallwell, and replace him with the one of our evil gay clones, which BTW will be making their TV debute next fall. The Tinky Fallwell will then join our other clones, including Tinky Heston, Tinky Gore, and even Tinky Gates.
I'd love to get drawn for Teletubby. Imagine the feeling of being the first person on your block to bag a Teletubby. That's gotta be good eating on a Teletubby...
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
I reallly care about being conservative, and I don't care about either republicans or that second party whatever their name is demo...something I pretty sure it is not demoversion. Now I think that this pseudo-christian guy is a fairly smart and extremely evil person playing a moron for the general public to forward some cause of his. And surely those telethingies are just plain cute stupid TV characters for kids. I mean, I hate barney but I don't see him as evil. But if ( mind this if ) there was a kids show depicting a gay character I would be so very against it, up to the point of commiting terrorist acts. I mean, I completely agree with the point that gay people are not supposed to be mistreated or discriminated for being gay. But gayness is NOT IN ANY WAY A STANDARD FOR A WAY OF LIFE I wouldn't go as far as calling it a perversion although I wouldn't disagree with anyone calling it that, exception and making it a role model is dangerous for the society cause it prevents normal procreation.This country has enough gay propaganda as it is, but if we start subverting children of preschool age this is gonna be something for which all of Americans who do not yet deserve to burn in hell will win a free ticket to the ninth circle. That's all IMHO surely
Everybody Lies. But it doesn't matter since nobody listens.
Yeah, right. Hell, all I can get out of the show is some freaky-ass psychic communication thing going on. Hell, if I could communicate with someone through some wierd device on my head, and show trippy stuff on my stomach, I would be the life of the party.
Gotta lay off the acid...
Didn't they also threaten to boycott
Sesame Streem (sp?) unless it was made
clear that Ernie and Bert are not "living
in sin"?
I used to live in Lynchburg VA. My apartment wasn't that far from Falwell and Liberty U. And you want to see a bunch of fucked up individuals, you go there. Not a bit of free thought or expression.
It's a shame cause alot of the people who go to Liberty are very nice and decent. Alot of them only go there cause it's the only place there parents will let them. But Jerry and a small minority of the screwed up students make that town a living hell. You can'g go anywhere without being scared of someone drilling you about you're religious orientation; and damning you if you don't follow theirs. Hell they even interefere with public schooling. 2 years ago, a bunch of LU students and that guy that runs Operation Rescue went to the local high school, E.C. Glass, at the beginning of the day when all the school buses were arriving. They started mingling with the students trying to convert them. When the teachers started asking them to leave, the LU students told them that they were all going to hell for not spreading the word of God. The teachers had a hard time keeping them out, cause they looked just like reg students; couldn't tell who was LU and who was high school. They finally crossed the line when they told all the handicap kids that God had made them that way because they'd done something wrong. A bunch of cops had to called out to pull them off school grounds and prevent them from returning. My wife and I left that town because of them.
BTW; I've lived alot of places, and I've know a lot of gay men and women, and Lynchburg had the LARGEST proportion of gay people then anywhere else that I've know. Two of my best friends were gay. I was amazed at how many people were 'secret' gays there. Hey Jerry, you think the world's such a bad and dirty place. Look how nasty and perverted your town is!
J Phillips
Jeremy
"Opinions are like assholes; everyone's got one..."
... is he gay. This is really stupid.
--
You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.
Imagine if Hustler did a photo layout with Falwell and the teletubbies engaged in hardcore prison sex! Ouch.
-Signed Me
-- Infatuated with the fact that they can, software developers usually don't stop to think if they should.
Er, the pink triangle is used as a symbol for homosexuals in a strange twist on the requirement in Nazi Germany that homosexuals wear them at all times (Jews were required to wear stars). I guess it was supposed to make it easier to tell whom to beat up.
Purple is not the gay pride color to the best of my knowledge, but lavender has been associated with homosexuals for a long time... this probably dates back to the Foppish atire popular in England a few hundred years ago.
Now lets see... the original superman wore a triangle on his chest with the letter S in it... ballet tights, a cape, and his underwear on the outside... his costume was red and blue, which mixed together make purple... and he was always hanging out with that Jimmy Olsen kid! Sounds like a plot to trick children into acceptance of gay lifestyles to me! Quick, get on the hotline to Falwell -- we've found another one!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney