This is our land. A land of peace and of plenty. A land of harmony and hope. This is our land. The United States of America. These are our people. The workers, the strivers, the builders. These are our people. The builders of our world, struggling, fighting, bleeding, dying. On the streets of our cities and on the far-flung battlefields. Fighting against the mutilation of our hopes and dreams.
"It would be nice for you to answer a few questions, though: What group pays money to protect sex offenders? Not Christians, I assure you."
The Catholic Church has paid out billions of dollars in hush money to keep thousands of priests who molested thousands upon thousands of children from being prosecuted like a child molester should be. They have even used the first amendment to deny law enforcement access to incriminating information. Are you denying that the Vatican has given shelter to the men who committed these crimes, or that the crimes were committed in the first place? Are Catholics not Christians? If not, why? Why is your particular song played on the piano that is the bible any more valid than that of the Catholics? Or Branch Davidians? Or Ukrainian Orthodox? Or Southern Tongue-Speakin Snake-Jugglers?
"Telling africans not to use condoms? No, not that either. Many churches donate money to medical research facilities and mission trips to Africa, where the teachings of Christ discourage promiscuity - the number one cause of the spread of AIDS and HIV"
Again, of course I refer to the largest and most powerful group of Jesus followers on Earth, the Catholic church, who have been very vocal about how condoms are bad and evil and not approved of by Jesus, Mary and The Holy Ghost. The uneducated masses of HIV-riddled Africa hold the Pope in high enough esteem to be adverse to condoms yet not quite high enough esteem to buy the "just stop your evil promiscuity" sermon. Condoms are far and away the quickest, easiest and most realistic means of stemming the spread of AIDS and other STDs. Spending dime one on "abstinence programs" while people are dying left and right is a slap in the face to humanity.
"No one is asking the government to give to fundamentalists, most Christians I know give their own money to churches in addition to paying taxes, and spend money they sometimes don't have sending their kids to Christian schools."
Exactly; no one is asking the Bush admin to give public money to fundamentalist Christians via "Faith-Based Initiatives", but they do anyway. Big shocker there.
"Lastly, according to the interpretation of Revelation that I believe, the apocalypse will not involve the destruction of earth: the "falling stars" refer to nuclear war that will kill one third of the population, and many other things will happen leading up to the return of Christ. The Earth never gets destroyed."
I could throw a rock down south and find a life-long bible scholar who thinks otherwise. Why is your interpretation of the bible any more correct? What about Christian Identity white racists, who claim the bible says that white people are the true lost children of Isreal and blacks and jews are "of the devil"? Why are you right and all the other flavors of bible thumpers wrong?With every nutcase and his second cousin running around waving the bible as justification for thier megalomainia and thirst to control people, how can you expect any thinking person to take it seriously?
"What kind of witch are you, anyway? The religion most people will assume you are referring to involves the worship of Satan, evil spirits, and blood the sacrifice of living things. The only other wiccanism I know of is a cult invented in the 20th century: If you're one of them, I congratulate you. You are part of a religion younger than your parents"
Ah yes, of course; anyone not subscribing to your particular biblical spin is IN LEAGUE WITH LUCIFER! I'm not a witch as far as I'm concerned. I'm not Wiccan either. I don't subject myself to any organized religion. I'll sit and marvel at the sunset, but I won't cheapen that wonder by attributing it to the work of some anthropomorhpized super spook. I believe that all matter is supernaturally interconnected, but I'm not arrogant enough to claim to know how and why, nor shallow enough to expect answers to be found in an ambiguous rehash of commonplace fairy tales such as your bible.
'Oh, yeah, about those Crusades: many, many, centuries ago, my li'l crystal polisher. Better analogy would have been, "Hello... peaceful earth-based religion here. We don't crash airplanes into someone else's building in the name of our goddess..."
oooooh, i'm gonna get modded down so-o-o-o-o fast.....!'
how's this one:
""Hello... peaceful earth-based religion here; we don't spend billions of dollars to shelter thousands of child molesters from justice"
or
"Hello... peaceful earth-based religion here; we don't tell an entire continent riddled with HIV to not use condoms"
or
""Hello... peaceful earth-based religion here; we don't take taxpayers money and give it to fundamentalists"
or
"Hello... peaceful earth-based religion here; we don't gloat over the destruction of a city saying they had it coming for being wicked"
or
"Hello... peaceful earth-based religion here; we don't think the world is going to end any minute in a blazing mess of fire but that's ok cause Jesus is going to miracle me up to the sky before I can get crisped"
or
"Hello... peaceful earth-based religion here; at least we understand that Jesus was a liberal Jew who had much more in common with Abby Hoffman than G.W.Bush"
this is pretty fun actually!
I love the "modded down" part too. The "wow, playing the persecuted christian card is so politically incorrect" is awesome! Do it again!
I love the "poor persecuted Christians" angle! As if Christianity hasn't been raping and pillaging humanity for the better part of the past 2000 years. That's rich.
The "baby killers" bit is hilarious also, especially when found in a thread relating to science.
You GO Mr. Turbanless Taliban!
Slashdot Mirror
This is our land. A land of peace and of plenty. A land of harmony and hope. This is our land. The United States of America. These are our people. The workers, the strivers, the builders. These are our people. The builders of our world, struggling, fighting, bleeding, dying. On the streets of our cities and on the far-flung battlefields. Fighting against the mutilation of our hopes and dreams.
touche'
we shall agree to disagree.
cheers!
"It would be nice for you to answer a few questions, though: What group pays money to protect sex offenders? Not Christians, I assure you."
The Catholic Church has paid out billions of dollars in hush money to keep thousands of priests who molested thousands upon thousands of children from being prosecuted like a child molester should be. They have even used the first amendment to deny law enforcement access to incriminating information. Are you denying that the Vatican has given shelter to the men who committed these crimes, or that the crimes were committed in the first place? Are Catholics not Christians? If not, why? Why is your particular song played on the piano that is the bible any more valid than that of the Catholics? Or Branch Davidians? Or Ukrainian Orthodox? Or Southern Tongue-Speakin Snake-Jugglers?
"Telling africans not to use condoms? No, not that either. Many churches donate money to medical research facilities and mission trips to Africa, where the teachings of Christ discourage promiscuity - the number one cause of the spread of AIDS and HIV"
Again, of course I refer to the largest and most powerful group of Jesus followers on Earth, the Catholic church, who have been very vocal about how condoms are bad and evil and not approved of by Jesus, Mary and The Holy Ghost. The uneducated masses of HIV-riddled Africa hold the Pope in high enough esteem to be adverse to condoms yet not quite high enough esteem to buy the "just stop your evil promiscuity" sermon. Condoms are far and away the quickest, easiest and most realistic means of stemming the spread of AIDS and other STDs. Spending dime one on "abstinence programs" while people are dying left and right is a slap in the face to humanity.
"No one is asking the government to give to fundamentalists, most Christians I know give their own money to churches in addition to paying taxes, and spend money they sometimes don't have sending their kids to Christian schools."
Exactly; no one is asking the Bush admin to give public money to fundamentalist Christians via "Faith-Based Initiatives", but they do anyway. Big shocker there.
"Lastly, according to the interpretation of Revelation that I believe, the apocalypse will not involve the destruction of earth: the "falling stars" refer to nuclear war that will kill one third of the population, and many other things will happen leading up to the return of Christ. The Earth never gets destroyed."
I could throw a rock down south and find a life-long bible scholar who thinks otherwise. Why is your interpretation of the bible any more correct? What about Christian Identity white racists, who claim the bible says that white people are the true lost children of Isreal and blacks and jews are "of the devil"? Why are you right and all the other flavors of bible thumpers wrong?With every nutcase and his second cousin running around waving the bible as justification for thier megalomainia and thirst to control people, how can you expect any thinking person to take it seriously?
"What kind of witch are you, anyway? The religion most people will assume you are referring to involves the worship of Satan, evil spirits, and blood the sacrifice of living things. The only other wiccanism I know of is a cult invented in the 20th century: If you're one of them, I congratulate you. You are part of a religion younger than your parents"
Ah yes, of course; anyone not subscribing to your particular biblical spin is IN LEAGUE WITH LUCIFER! I'm not a witch as far as I'm concerned. I'm not Wiccan either. I don't subject myself to any organized religion. I'll sit and marvel at the sunset, but I won't cheapen that wonder by attributing it to the work of some anthropomorhpized super spook. I believe that all matter is supernaturally interconnected, but I'm not arrogant enough to claim to know how and why, nor shallow enough to expect answers to be found in an ambiguous rehash of commonplace fairy tales such as your bible.
"Many who hate Christ point to the cr
'Oh, yeah, about those Crusades: many, many, centuries ago, my li'l crystal polisher. Better analogy would have been, "Hello... peaceful earth-based religion here. We don't crash airplanes into someone else's building in the name of our goddess..." oooooh, i'm gonna get modded down so-o-o-o-o fast.....!' how's this one: ""Hello... peaceful earth-based religion here; we don't spend billions of dollars to shelter thousands of child molesters from justice" or "Hello... peaceful earth-based religion here; we don't tell an entire continent riddled with HIV to not use condoms" or ""Hello... peaceful earth-based religion here; we don't take taxpayers money and give it to fundamentalists" or "Hello... peaceful earth-based religion here; we don't gloat over the destruction of a city saying they had it coming for being wicked" or "Hello... peaceful earth-based religion here; we don't think the world is going to end any minute in a blazing mess of fire but that's ok cause Jesus is going to miracle me up to the sky before I can get crisped" or "Hello... peaceful earth-based religion here; at least we understand that Jesus was a liberal Jew who had much more in common with Abby Hoffman than G.W.Bush" this is pretty fun actually! I love the "modded down" part too. The "wow, playing the persecuted christian card is so politically incorrect" is awesome! Do it again!
I love the "poor persecuted Christians" angle! As if Christianity hasn't been raping and pillaging humanity for the better part of the past 2000 years. That's rich. The "baby killers" bit is hilarious also, especially when found in a thread relating to science. You GO Mr. Turbanless Taliban!