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Sex, Death And The Meaning Of Life (pg. 26)
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| de+ |
I would love to hold hands with my Christian brothers and sisters against the Christianist forces that aim to get their religious perspectives into our children's textbooks, our military, our pharmacies, and the bodies of women; but I can't know who they are if they don't speak up. There are more Christianists than atheists in America, but more secularists than Christianists. If you're a secularist, I've got no beef with you, but don't make me guess. Once you announce I'm happy to side with you against 'those' Christians who are making the rest of you look bad.
We're going to disagree on faith being a virtue, though. |
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| EddieZilker |
| quote: | Originally posted by Znack
Ridicule is, in some cases, the best response possible. |
At this point, no response is the best response possible.
I am so ing sick of these godforsaken (pun intended) threads. |
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| de+ |
| quote: | Originally posted by Looney4Clooney
Would you still bother if they just kept it in the bedroom ? |
If theists only wanted their beliefs in THEIR bedrooms that would be fine. But they want their beliefs in EVERYONE ELSE'S bedrooms, schools, government offices and science labs. Those are some of the places we don't want nutty ideas taking over. (It was called "The Dark Ages" the last time we allowed that.) |
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| Halcyon+On+On |
| quote: | Originally posted by de+
If theists only wanted their beliefs in THEIR bedrooms that would be fine. But they want their beliefs in EVERYONE ELSE'S bedrooms, schools, government offices and science labs. Those are some of the places we don't want nutty ideas taking over. (It was called "The Dark Ages" the last time we allowed that.) |
Like Lira has already said though, isn't some religious people's attempt at mandating the rights and privileges of their fellow citizens, and in turn forcing religious values down everyone's throats, more a result of them being bad citizens in the first place rather than the result of them merely being religious? As contention over racial and sexual equality have taught us, the basic rights of the minority should never be voted upon by the majority.
Separation of church and state does not mention the decimation of either. |
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| EddieZilker |
| quote: | Originally posted by de+
I would love to hold hands with my Christian brothers and sisters against the Christianist forces that aim to get their religious perspectives into our children's textbooks, our military, our pharmacies, and the bodies of women; but I can't know who they are if they don't speak up. There are more Christianists than atheists in America, but more secularists than Christianists. If you're a secularist, I've got no beef with you, but don't make me guess. Once you announce I'm happy to side with you against 'those' Christians who are making the rest of you look bad.
We're going to disagree on faith being a virtue, though. |
If you could rule the world, I've no doubt it would be just as bad as the reality you have imagined for a future without your well-intentioned wishes coming true.
Honestly, your ambitions remind me of a context for a science-fiction story I've been toying around with. Not only has religion been done away with but the government is organized around a set of precepts for society that demand psychological sterility. It's as free a society as anyone can imagine, so long as ones thinking is completely devoid of any mental quirks that could possibly relate to symptoms of mental illness. It is a demand for "psychological purity" that is believed to prevent thieves from becoming thieves and megalomaniacs from attaining positions of power. The only problem is that it makes people crazy. |
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| de+ |
| quote: | Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On
Like Lira has already said though, isn't some religious people's attempt at mandating the rights and privileges of their fellow citizens, and in turn forcing religious values down everyone's throats, more a result of them being bad citizens in the first place rather than the result of them merely being religious? |
I think it's the fault of two things - the fact that they think that they're right, so everyone should live the way they do, plus the fact that their religion tells them that it's their job to make sure that everyone lives the way they do.
| quote: | | As contention over racial and sexual equality have taught us, the basic rights of the minority should never be voted upon by the majority. |
And as reality has shown us, many Christians agree - they think that their sect's ideas should be the law, with no vote at all.
| quote: | | Separation of church and state does not mention the decimation of either. |
Many Christians believe that "separation of Church and State" means that the government can't interfere in anything the Church determines is "church business". (And "freedom of religion" means the freedom to be any kind of Christian you want to be - as long as it's "Real Christianity".) |
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| de+ |
| quote: | Originally posted by EddieZilker
Honestly, your ambitions remind me of a context for a science-fiction story I've been toying around with. Not only has religion been done away with but the government is organized around a set of precepts for society that demand psychological sterility. It's as free a society as anyone can imagine, so long as ones thinking is completely devoid of any mental quirks that could possibly relate to symptoms of mental illness. It is a demand for "psychological purity" that is believed to prevent thieves from becoming thieves and megalomaniacs from attaining positions of power. The only problem is that it makes people crazy. |
Sanity creates insanity? Now there's a concept that could lead to a few series. |
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| EddieZilker |
| quote: | Originally posted by de+
Sanity creates insanity? Now there's a concept that could lead to a few series. |
The point is that imposing sanity isn't very sane and won't achieve desirable results; the road to hell being paved with good intentions, and all that. |
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| de+ |
| Sounds a lot like the Christian trope of "secularism leads to oppression/immorality" that's been long since debunked. |
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| EddieZilker |
| quote: | Originally posted by de+
Sounds a lot like the Christian trope of "secularism leads to oppression/immorality" that's been long since debunked. |
What sounds like that? |
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| de+ |
| Asserting that "imposing" atheism on people creates a dystopian world. |
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| EddieZilker |
| quote: | Originally posted by de+
Asserting that "imposing" atheism on people creates a dystopian world. |
I'm arguing that totalistic thought-reform creates a dystopian world. My argument has nothing what-so-ever to do with religion. I'm just focused on the flaws of your rhetoric. Your recent answers consist of thought-terminating clichés. |
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