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Originally posted by TrueBrit
I am a Christian, and I completely agree with Rowan Williams on this. Persecution has no soft end. There is either terrible persecution, Christians stoned in the streets, butchered by packs of slavering atheists, homosexuals, and persons of other faiths, or there is not.
Originally posted by AngryCymraeg
reply to post by Cinrad
Medical workers are not there to pick and choose who they want to treat based on their own beliefs. They're there to do their job - which is treating people.
Originally posted by Cinrad
Originally posted by FFS4000
It's to make up for all the laws that used to be in place forcing people to church on a sunday, even if they had no interest in being there
Man I hate talking to people who go to church because they have to or think they have to to please God or to please the memory of a long dead authority figure from their past, those people are dried up old bones, a discredit to Christ. I would be more than happy to get rid of all organized church and let the true Christians shine and the religious ones sink.
Originally posted by BellaSabre
So acquiesce to bullying and intimidation? I don't think that's the way we're wired.
At least not me...... those of you who agree with Williams.... go right ahead and enjoy. Sissies. You know the best way to deal with a bully is to stand up to them.
So which is the smart party, here? Is it the atheists, who live short, selfish, stunted little lives – often childless – before they approach hopeless death in despair, and their worthless corpses are chucked in a trench (or, if they are wrong, they go to Hell)? Or is it the believers, who live longer, happier, healthier, more generous lives, and who have more kids, and who go to their quietus with ritual dignity, expecting to be greeted by a smiling and benevolent God?
Originally posted by BellaSabre
Thank you for your good post, and I agree with much you said, truly I do. But it's a "pick your battles" situation, and some areas are too important to simply let pass. Look at history, and what has become of groups of people who passively accepted the dogma and indoctrination of others.
As Americans, we have been ingrained with "stand up for what you believe" since we were born, beginning at home with our parents, and continuing through teachers at school. For most of us, it is as much as who we are, as our eye color. There are people who would have us not be this way. Who would have us shut-up, and accept whatever they toss our way.
I'm certainly not talking about picking up a gun, here, nor am I talking about lashing out at every little disagreement or slur. Fighting persecution is not for the thin-skinned.edit on 8/17/2013 by BellaSabre because: (no reason given)
so urce
Originally posted by AngryCymraeg
reply to post by Cinrad
Medical workers are not there to pick and choose who they want to treat based on their own beliefs. They're there to do their job - which is treating people.
It is the coherence of the Christian Right's cultural institutions and ideological message that makes millions of people want to participate. This is a political movement built on the foundation of some very tightly held religious views. We need to understand the religious sentiments of our fellow citizens.
For evangelical Christians, one of the most politically relevant tenets is the idea that they are being persecuted by secular society. Sacrifice and martyrdom are essential themes of the Christian faith. Translated into right-wing politics, the theme enables people to claim that queers and other minorities are somehow attacking the dominant culture when they demand equality.
We have the most powerful political movement in the country continually claiming to be persecuted by "the left," which the right defines as the Clinton Administration and centrist lobbies like People for the American Way. It is illogical, but the religious persecution theme keeps activists mobilized and enables them to feel comfortable about trying to deprive other people of their civil rights.
Originally posted by WatchRider
reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul
He's a charlatan, cultural marxist and another example of the failure of 20th / 21st century christianity.
Stuff off Williams you traitor!
Originally posted by Stormdancer777
reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul
Posted for you Aloysius
blogs.telegraph.co.uk...
Originally posted by Aloysius the Gaul
Originally posted by Stormdancer777
reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul
Posted for you Aloysius
blogs.telegraph.co.uk...
thanks - did you mean to post something relevant to the OP - perhaps about the x-ian persecution complex - as well??
Originally posted by Badgered1
Originally posted by TruthLover557
Honestly, I don't want my money that I am forced to give the government to be put toward funding abortions.
I honestly don't want the money I am forced to give the government used to keep churches tax exempt.
$92 Billion a year. Just because they "believe" something might be out there, and spend all their time telling people that there's a good chance they are right.
The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.
$92 Billion a year could fund universal health care.
I'm sure Jesus would approve of that.
The only people who don't approve are those who "don't like that particular bit of the bible."
edit on 16-8-2013 by Badgered1 because: (no reason given)edit on 16-8-2013 by Badgered1 because: Syntaxedit on 16-8-2013 by Badgered1 because: (no reason given)
Fine by me. I don't go to church anyway. Also think it would be delightful to see the Church of Scientology, among other groups, lose its tax-exemption status. Yes, $92 billion a year could fund universal healthcare for a day or so, but people will keep dying and the government will keep asking us for more money on the promise that we can keep that from happening. Personally, I would prefer the $92 billion go back to the people who earned the $92 billion. I don't like most of what the government decides to fund with my money.
I'm sure you would know what Jesus would approve of today. Now, tell me, if I don't approve of the government's healthcare or this idea of universal healthcare, what "particular bit of the Bible" do I not like? Fill me in.
The other day I saw this tweet by Persecution.org. They tweeted this story as if it happened yesterday. The arrests were in 2011. These men were not sitting in prison or even jail, they were charged with a misdemeanor and that was the end of it. They probably wanted to be persecuted, they perhaps wanted to have a greater story to tell, but the Judge did well in not obliging them with any more attention than they already sucked dry. *note the comments to that tweet, already 70 had RT’d it and others buying the lie that this is a persecution story! Sheesh, people, get a critical thinking cap.