If it was up to christianity, it would still be the Dark Ages, we'd all be illiterate and easier to control...
But you're right, I can't explain "blue" to a blind person either.
No, you just ignore the history of Reformation, exploration and scientific discovery that broke out of the Dark Ages and brought us to where we are today.
Religion is nothing. People are everything. People who happened to be Christians were behind many advances we've seen as a species. The same way that people who happened to be Pagan or Muslim have done.
Religion didn't get in their way. That's entirely your own strawman. Your own views of philosophy of course... are blessedly perfect and contain no fault. You're different than what you're attacking... how?
The dwarves of yore made mighty spells, While hammers fell like ringing bells In places deep, where dark things sleep, In hollow halls beneath the fells.
For ancient king and elvish lord There many a gloaming golden hoard They shaped and wrought, and light they caught To hide in gems on hilt of sword. - J.R.R. Tolkien
If it was up to christianity, it would still be the Dark Ages, we'd all be illiterate and easier to control...
But you're right, I can't explain "blue" to a blind person either.
I agree Bob
A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side. Aristotle Never discourage anyone...who continually makes progress, no matter how slow. Plato.. "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives" Jackie Robinson
Again, a one-sided biased rant. All you do is focus on the evil and ignore all other effects. Such bias immediately disqualifies you from anything near the realm of facts.
The dwarves of yore made mighty spells, While hammers fell like ringing bells In places deep, where dark things sleep, In hollow halls beneath the fells.
For ancient king and elvish lord There many a gloaming golden hoard They shaped and wrought, and light they caught To hide in gems on hilt of sword. - J.R.R. Tolkien
People can rewrite the bible all they want to feel warm and cushy-but the fact remains that the book is so poorly written that any behavior can use it as justification. The failure is NOT on the part of the reader but rather on the book itself-which is among the lowest philosophical doctrines on the planet.
On the path of humanity, it will be a great day when the bible is put aside for superior books on human ethics-like "Go, Dog, Go!" or "Aesop's Fables."
The bible IS to blame, not this guy's interpretation of it. People don't commit stupid acts, people with stupid ideas based on stupid books commit stupid acts. If any book should be burned, that is the book lol. No other book has had near the ill effects on humanity that the bible has had. Nearly every injustice I've seen has been endorsed by the bible. Now we can't go burning books... due to the hypocrisy, but I do hope folks continue to wake up and realize that book is outdated, below us as human beings and serves more harm than hope to humanity.
Well that's more than a little biased, unfair and over the top...
People can rewrite the bible all they want to feel warm and cushy-but the fact remains that the book is so poorly written that any behavior can use it as justification. The failure is NOT on the part of the reader but rather on the book itself-which is among the lowest philosophical doctrines on the planet.
On the path of humanity, it will be a great day when the bible is put aside for superior books on human ethics-like "Go, Dog, Go!" or "Aesop's Fables."
The bible IS to blame, not this guy's interpretation of it. People don't commit stupid acts, people with stupid ideas based on stupid books commit stupid acts. If any book should be burned, that is the book lol. No other book has had near the ill effects on humanity that the bible has had. Nearly every injustice I've seen has been endorsed by the bible. Now we can't go burning books... due to the hypocrisy, but I do hope folks continue to wake up and realize that book is outdated, below us as human beings and serves more harm than hope to humanity.
Well that's more than a little biased, unfair and over the top...
The dwarves of yore made mighty spells, While hammers fell like ringing bells In places deep, where dark things sleep, In hollow halls beneath the fells.
For ancient king and elvish lord There many a gloaming golden hoard They shaped and wrought, and light they caught To hide in gems on hilt of sword. - J.R.R. Tolkien
People can rewrite the bible all they want to feel warm and cushy-but the fact remains that the book is so poorly written that any behavior can use it as justification. The failure is NOT on the part of the reader but rather on the book itself-which is among the lowest philosophical doctrines on the planet.
On the path of humanity, it will be a great day when the bible is put aside for superior books on human ethics-like "Go, Dog, Go!" or "Aesop's Fables."
The bible IS to blame, not this guy's interpretation of it. People don't commit stupid acts, people with stupid ideas based on stupid books commit stupid acts. If any book should be burned, that is the book lol. No other book has had near the ill effects on humanity that the bible has had. Nearly every injustice I've seen has been endorsed by the bible. Now we can't go burning books... due to the hypocrisy, but I do hope folks continue to wake up and realize that book is outdated, below us as human beings and serves more harm than hope to humanity.
I agree with Voice Crying that it is wrong to paint all Christians with the same brush. Saying that all Christians are homophobes is as ridiculous as saying that all Muslims are terroists or all Jewish people are stingy and greedy.
However the pool worker who claimed that the Bible allowed him to force Gays to leave the premises had no understanding of American law. The United States Constitution as amended, not the Bible, is the supreme law of the land. This is a secular republic, not a theocracy. Discrimination is prohibited by the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment. IMO, the worker who forced the people to leave should be fired.
Tpaine, I agree with everything you said in your post (especially that the pool worker should be fired summarily), although I would add that the pool worker not only knows nothing about the 14th Amendment and American law, he doesn't know his Bible either.
The Bible has nothing to say about gender orientation, but there are several warnings against engaging in the temple prostitution practices engaged in by non-Jews. Biblical literalists have translated these passages as anti-LGBT because they lack the understanding and scholarship to appreciate the difference between love and lust. That's what happens when one engages in the dangerous practice of reading only what is written and not reading it in context.
"God is no captious sophister, eager to trip us up whenever we say amiss, but a courteous tutor, ready to amend what, in our weakness or our ignorance, we say ill, and to make the most of what we say aright." from 'A Learned Discourse on Justification', a sermon by Richard Hooker (1554-1600).
In your research on this subject, did you happen to notice anything about about the "rest of the people there being aware of these good people and their handicaps." If I had me children or grandchildren or great granchildren at a public pool and people did as you describe, I would have a problem with people being "affectionate in public with children around" also. You appear to be looking down at people that you aren't truly aware of nor the situation, and you probably could care less. Getting your Liberal-wing-nut point across is more important. The heck with whom you're speaking of.
To wit: "Was it also a "whites only" pool?"
Thanx,
Ur2
Your "problem" with mentally challenged people (gay OR str8) "being affectionate in publice with children around" is just that - YOUR problem (and appaerently, this "problem" is shared by "Christian-lite" folk who are 'Bible-believers'. It may not have been a "whites only" pool, but in America in the 21ast century, it can obviously be designated - at whim, and 'per the Bible' - a "str8s only" pool. All gays who enter must be neutered at the door - even those with the mentality of a child.
