The religious right dreams of a world where everyone needs their permission for pretty much everything. They're a group that will never have all the power they seem to think their religion entitles them to. They will, of course, always present themselves as the persecuted victims of the godless left.
"I drink my little wine -- which is about the only wine I drink -- and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness, and I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed.”
NO KIDDING! The ACLU is clearly indulging in understatement here. A religious organization, dictating usage of PUBLIC PROPERTY to the citizens of Ocean Grove?!? If that doesn't come under the heading of Utterly Intolerable, I can't think of what might. What is needed here and now is a local complainant, whereupon the Freedom From Religion Foundation and perhaps American Atheists as well can hammer these mindless Methodists properly.
Because this is overreach like I've rarely seen it.
Although I usually don't mind trashing my former employer, these zealots have no affiliation to the
current Methodist Church. The town was founded by Methodist extremists after the Civil War as a summer resort. (like Pacific Grove, California, which was dry until 1969). Any ties to the Methodist Church were cut years ago.
The former United Methodist Church has split, and the trash has taken itself out. This campground group is part of the trash.
I wouldn't bet on it. Anything like Superstorm Sandy would probably wreck the whole thing. No, what I would like to see is a court hand down a decision that tells OGCMA that THEY have to completely dismantle the add-on to the pier 𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗜𝗥 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗘, and that they are not to interfere with public properties there or anywhere else now and in the future.
It's easier than that... just take a massive bunch of drone photos of the cross from the ocean end of the pier, post them, tag them, and let the algorithms do the rest of the work. Next thing you know, the first thing that comes up in the results when anybody searches for photos of the place is a picture of an upside-down cross.
If it’s a public beach, it needs to be open to the public during the times it’s supposed to be open to the public. It doesn’t matter which organizations operate it, it needs to be available for all. Their pretend secular reasons are nonsense. The beach is beautiful and that’s why folks want to visit it and enjoy the water.
Hmm, does it count as a graven image if it's constructed with carpentry? Or is that doubly idolatrous since the whole "Jesus was a carpenter, even though he seemed to just wander around picking up dudes" thing?
Isaiah 44:17 has this covered! Let me squeeze you some cherry juice!
" From the rest [of the tree] he makes a god, an idol. He bows down to it and worships ... ." This is followed by general scoffing about cutting down a tree and using half of it for fuel, and making a wooden idol out of the other half.
That is, without a doubt, the blandest, most joyless boardwalk I have ever seen in my life. I see a bunch of people on the beach, in that second picture, but none at all on the pier. Not hard to see why- no shade, no concessions, no color... no 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. I mean, come on, people... there's at least room enough on that travesty of beachside architecture for a couple hot dog and funnel cake stands, an Icee machine or two... 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, anything at all! It doesn't even have fishing pole stands!
You over-churched dweebs got control of a 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 and you made it 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. You built the lamest, most skeletal boardwalk ever, and made that boring too. It's a fucking beach! How hard was this?! All you have to do is throw the gates open and collect parking fees!
Wait, you want shade, concessions, color... and 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦?! Those are temptations from the pit of hell, you evil woman! Jesus wants us to be bored shitless. That's why the christians invented churches and sermons in the first place. (And that's not to mention the Catholics' "solemn high Mass," a tedious marathon ordeal that can make Gone with the Wind seem succinct and to the point.)
And the sheer howling lunacy to think that early-morning beachgoers will go to your church, and sit there being sermonized for a couple hours, rather than just getting back in the car and driving a few miles north or south to park their butts on a different patch of sand... It's 𝘑𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘺. 2/3 of the border is a beach, and nobody in the state lives more than two hours away from it (with traffic). Everyone has at least one backup beach in mind by the time they're out the front door. It's like knowing your Turnpike exit number.
No wonder it looks so dead. By the time church is out, all the beachgoers have found their alternates and pitched their umbrellas 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 instead.
*𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵- Which may be the point, come to think of it. Once everyone else has shrugged their shoulders and moved along, the Christers fresh off their weekly Jesusing are now free to enjoy the vast expanse of their empty, boring beach without having to pick through for good places to put their blanket and cooler.
And everybody there will be dressed in appropriately modest swimwear (you just KNOW there's some sort of dress code, either spoken or unspoken). No disgusting display of flesh to torture their little snowflake constitutions.
🎶Another pleasant boring Sunday,
Here in Christer Symbol Land....🎶
(Not terribly original, I know, but that's the song that popped into my head as I read your comment.) 🙃
That might detract from the gray color scheme so the cross is visible rather than it just looking like a pier. If they hadn't made it obvious, I wouldn't have thought any thing about three rest/fishing extensions instead of two.
Gee willikers, this kind of behavior is SO attractive! I'm sure that far more of the local residents are flocking to join the local Methodist church! What a great way to popularize Christianity in general.
"The original [pier] was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy over a decade ago, so they jumped at the opportunity to inject some Christian Nationalism into the pier’s replacement."
There's another kind of "climate change" that is continuously undermining the foundations of religion's hegemony. It's the slow fading of belief in supernaturalism in general. Much of religion's reactionary and unpopular efforts to shore up that erosion are just speeding up their collapse.
This attempt to bully the whole town will not end well for the OGCMA.
Why – if everyone is in church on Sunday morning – does the natural beauty of the beach need to be preserved? One would presume that no one was actually looking at it.
Can't make up their minds? They want to convert everyone but also want to exclude people. It is clear and getting clearer, to many folks, that these Christians are gearing up and doing whatever they can to make this country a Christian theocracy. They want us all to live our lives under their Christian dogma. I will not, for one, capitulate to their demands. The government is the only way to stop them, and they damn well should be working a 'freedom of religion' amendment that clarifies the separation of religious organizations and state; and clear on the 'no religion shall dominate' of our First Amendment. More and more Americans are leaving their religious organization and for good reasons.
More than anything, they want everyone to conform to THEM. That way, there's no cognitive dissonance and everybody is (supposedly) "happy." If someone is DIFFERENT [ohmygoodness!], they get shunned or threatened with hell or, if the believer is really uptight, threatened with or subjected to physical violence.
The TL;DR version is that they just don't play well with others.
Believer doesn't have to be that uptight. Look at Iran, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, etc. When fundamentalists control the government subjecting the different to violence is easy.
Well, it seems clear from this that all us awful worldly atheists should follow the examples of True Christians and stop concentrating on the material so much.
If there's a more inspiring example of people of faith turning their backs on the trivialities of the sinful world to focus on the divine, I certainly can't think of it.
. . .
(Content notice: this post was manufactured in a facility housing large quantities of sarcasm, and may contain more than trace amounts. If allergic to sarcasm, do not handle.)
As this is Labor Day, there's no library for me to switch over to, so I think I'll take advantage and use the time to take care of some things I've been putting off. Hope to be back this afternoon around 3PM my time.
This would all be completely moot if the religiots just did what they so clearly WANT to do and bought the beach outright from the community, so they could run it any damn way they pleased, including excluding.
If I recall correctly, the prior controversy occurred - in part - because the group promised, in a public meeting, to provide nondiscriminatory access. That was a condition of allowing the meeting association a permit which could have been denied. They did not honor their commitment then and they are not honoring their commitment now.
Moreover, I am not impressed that they built an expensive pier. Presumably, the community did not require the pier. Someone needs to determine who owns what and if there are any required easements. In the Hamptons, for example, the beach is the property of New York State. In Miami Beach (including South Beach) the beaches are the property of the city.
FFRF should sue the self-righteous boobs. Personally, I would take a bolt cutter to the lock and allow everyone access. Let them call the police.
No duh! NSFW!!! A man is fingering a woman who keeps demanding more, One finger, two, three fingers isn't enough to satisfy her. So he reaches around and finds a flashlight, and starts using that on her, then he hears a huge sucking sound. Next thing he knows, he is in a wet dark cave. He starts feeling around looking for the flashlight. After a long while he runs into another man, who he asks to help him find the flashlight. so they can find their way out. The other man says, "Forget that, help me find my car keys and we can drive out."
You're welcome. It was and still is one of my favourite programs. I think I've watched everyone at least twice – usually while exercising on my elliptical, but if you can cope with the language – there are a few funny accents there – it's really interesting.
The religious right dreams of a world where everyone needs their permission for pretty much everything. They're a group that will never have all the power they seem to think their religion entitles them to. They will, of course, always present themselves as the persecuted victims of the godless left.
"The religious right dreams of a world where everyone needs their permission for pretty much everything."
...and where the assumptive answer is "no".
Well, you know, better to ask forgiveness….
"I drink my little wine -- which is about the only wine I drink -- and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness, and I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed.”
𝐴𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑠𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑂𝐺𝐶𝑀𝐴, 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝐶𝐿𝑈 𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝐽𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑏𝑎𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑠 “𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑠.”
NO KIDDING! The ACLU is clearly indulging in understatement here. A religious organization, dictating usage of PUBLIC PROPERTY to the citizens of Ocean Grove?!? If that doesn't come under the heading of Utterly Intolerable, I can't think of what might. What is needed here and now is a local complainant, whereupon the Freedom From Religion Foundation and perhaps American Atheists as well can hammer these mindless Methodists properly.
Because this is overreach like I've rarely seen it.
Although I usually don't mind trashing my former employer, these zealots have no affiliation to the
current Methodist Church. The town was founded by Methodist extremists after the Civil War as a summer resort. (like Pacific Grove, California, which was dry until 1969). Any ties to the Methodist Church were cut years ago.
The former United Methodist Church has split, and the trash has taken itself out. This campground group is part of the trash.
Thanks for explaining that. I thought this seemed uncharacteristic of Methodists.
Maybe if we're lucky the next hurricane will smash that 'cross-shaped' jerk-off aide to pieces leaving everything else (and without harming anyone)
I wouldn't bet on it. Anything like Superstorm Sandy would probably wreck the whole thing. No, what I would like to see is a court hand down a decision that tells OGCMA that THEY have to completely dismantle the add-on to the pier 𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗜𝗥 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗘, and that they are not to interfere with public properties there or anywhere else now and in the future.
I'd set the penalties HIGH on that one as well.
It'd be cool if a bunch of sunbathers arranged their bods in the shape of a giant Christ on a cross and there was drone footage of it.
I'd rather someone put a giant pentagram pointing at the beach at the center of the cross piece, and let drone footage of that go viral.
It's easier than that... just take a massive bunch of drone photos of the cross from the ocean end of the pier, post them, tag them, and let the algorithms do the rest of the work. Next thing you know, the first thing that comes up in the results when anybody searches for photos of the place is a picture of an upside-down cross.
Checkmate, Christian piss-markers.
God's will....
If it’s a public beach, it needs to be open to the public during the times it’s supposed to be open to the public. It doesn’t matter which organizations operate it, it needs to be available for all. Their pretend secular reasons are nonsense. The beach is beautiful and that’s why folks want to visit it and enjoy the water.
Hmm, does it count as a graven image if it's constructed with carpentry? Or is that doubly idolatrous since the whole "Jesus was a carpenter, even though he seemed to just wander around picking up dudes" thing?
The 64,000,000 dollar question is what was he doing with those dudes?
Playing this ? https://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/kama-sutra-twister/
Isaiah 44:17 has this covered! Let me squeeze you some cherry juice!
" From the rest [of the tree] he makes a god, an idol. He bows down to it and worships ... ." This is followed by general scoffing about cutting down a tree and using half of it for fuel, and making a wooden idol out of the other half.
That is, without a doubt, the blandest, most joyless boardwalk I have ever seen in my life. I see a bunch of people on the beach, in that second picture, but none at all on the pier. Not hard to see why- no shade, no concessions, no color... no 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. I mean, come on, people... there's at least room enough on that travesty of beachside architecture for a couple hot dog and funnel cake stands, an Icee machine or two... 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, anything at all! It doesn't even have fishing pole stands!
You over-churched dweebs got control of a 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 and you made it 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. You built the lamest, most skeletal boardwalk ever, and made that boring too. It's a fucking beach! How hard was this?! All you have to do is throw the gates open and collect parking fees!
Wait, you want shade, concessions, color... and 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦?! Those are temptations from the pit of hell, you evil woman! Jesus wants us to be bored shitless. That's why the christians invented churches and sermons in the first place. (And that's not to mention the Catholics' "solemn high Mass," a tedious marathon ordeal that can make Gone with the Wind seem succinct and to the point.)
Christians have the habit of taking secular things and screwing them up.
And the sheer howling lunacy to think that early-morning beachgoers will go to your church, and sit there being sermonized for a couple hours, rather than just getting back in the car and driving a few miles north or south to park their butts on a different patch of sand... It's 𝘑𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘺. 2/3 of the border is a beach, and nobody in the state lives more than two hours away from it (with traffic). Everyone has at least one backup beach in mind by the time they're out the front door. It's like knowing your Turnpike exit number.
No wonder it looks so dead. By the time church is out, all the beachgoers have found their alternates and pitched their umbrellas 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 instead.
*𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵- Which may be the point, come to think of it. Once everyone else has shrugged their shoulders and moved along, the Christers fresh off their weekly Jesusing are now free to enjoy the vast expanse of their empty, boring beach without having to pick through for good places to put their blanket and cooler.
And everybody there will be dressed in appropriately modest swimwear (you just KNOW there's some sort of dress code, either spoken or unspoken). No disgusting display of flesh to torture their little snowflake constitutions.
🎶Another pleasant boring Sunday,
Here in Christer Symbol Land....🎶
(Not terribly original, I know, but that's the song that popped into my head as I read your comment.) 🙃
That might detract from the gray color scheme so the cross is visible rather than it just looking like a pier. If they hadn't made it obvious, I wouldn't have thought any thing about three rest/fishing extensions instead of two.
Gee willikers, this kind of behavior is SO attractive! I'm sure that far more of the local residents are flocking to join the local Methodist church! What a great way to popularize Christianity in general.
"The original [pier] was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy over a decade ago, so they jumped at the opportunity to inject some Christian Nationalism into the pier’s replacement."
There's another kind of "climate change" that is continuously undermining the foundations of religion's hegemony. It's the slow fading of belief in supernaturalism in general. Much of religion's reactionary and unpopular efforts to shore up that erosion are just speeding up their collapse.
This attempt to bully the whole town will not end well for the OGCMA.
"What harm can religious belief do?"
Just pick up a history book
From david farton ?
I said a history book. :)
Ben quoi ? There is stories in them 😁
In a Farton book? Yes, there are stories in them. Truth? Not so much.
Why – if everyone is in church on Sunday morning – does the natural beauty of the beach need to be preserved? One would presume that no one was actually looking at it.
If the church goers aren't having fun then nobody else can either.
Can't make up their minds? They want to convert everyone but also want to exclude people. It is clear and getting clearer, to many folks, that these Christians are gearing up and doing whatever they can to make this country a Christian theocracy. They want us all to live our lives under their Christian dogma. I will not, for one, capitulate to their demands. The government is the only way to stop them, and they damn well should be working a 'freedom of religion' amendment that clarifies the separation of religious organizations and state; and clear on the 'no religion shall dominate' of our First Amendment. More and more Americans are leaving their religious organization and for good reasons.
More than anything, they want everyone to conform to THEM. That way, there's no cognitive dissonance and everybody is (supposedly) "happy." If someone is DIFFERENT [ohmygoodness!], they get shunned or threatened with hell or, if the believer is really uptight, threatened with or subjected to physical violence.
The TL;DR version is that they just don't play well with others.
Believer doesn't have to be that uptight. Look at Iran, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, etc. When fundamentalists control the government subjecting the different to violence is easy.
I can see it now. Pure Flix (recently rebranded as Pinnacle Peak Pictures) will release a movie on this called God's Not Dead: Surf's Up.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the beach.
Dun, dun......dun, dun......
Do you need a bigger boat ?
Sounds like something Paramount should be talking to their lawyers about.
There's a Pinnacle Peak in my state. Bob Ferguson, our DA, should be knocking on their door.
Christians just can't stop stealing things.
I say move the pier out about 20 yards and cut off all physical access from the beach. Anyone who wants to get there can walk to it.
Either walking on top or parting the sea.
You can walk on water if you're inside one of those hamster globes.
Hamster balls are for hamsters.
https://www.housebeautiful.com/shopping/home-accessories/a28522841/zorb-human-hamster-ball/
Of course, mastering the trick takes practice. Lots of it.
I've seen 'em. I stand by my statement.
I've seen people walking in them on land. Much easier than trying to walk on water.
🤢
Nothing enhances the "sublime natural beauty" of the beach more than a giant torture device.
Well, they couldn't just let people have 𝘧𝘶𝘯 without reminding them that they have to feel 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘺 about it- that would be downright un-Christian!
Well, it seems clear from this that all us awful worldly atheists should follow the examples of True Christians and stop concentrating on the material so much.
If there's a more inspiring example of people of faith turning their backs on the trivialities of the sinful world to focus on the divine, I certainly can't think of it.
. . .
(Content notice: this post was manufactured in a facility housing large quantities of sarcasm, and may contain more than trace amounts. If allergic to sarcasm, do not handle.)
OT
As this is Labor Day, there's no library for me to switch over to, so I think I'll take advantage and use the time to take care of some things I've been putting off. Hope to be back this afternoon around 3PM my time.
This would all be completely moot if the religiots just did what they so clearly WANT to do and bought the beach outright from the community, so they could run it any damn way they pleased, including excluding.
Christians SPENDING money, as in putting it in the hands of other people?! Boy, have you got that backwards.
They spend plenty of money!
On hookers, meth, lawyers...
Don't forget the rentboys.
I'll never forget the rentboys!
Dominatrixes.
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/26/b5/f4/26b5f473e5ce9be41fa414bc703a793d--round-faces-dominatrix.jpg
Dominatrices – I know English isn't your 1st language but come on everyone should know this. 😁
🤨
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominatrix
If I recall correctly, the prior controversy occurred - in part - because the group promised, in a public meeting, to provide nondiscriminatory access. That was a condition of allowing the meeting association a permit which could have been denied. They did not honor their commitment then and they are not honoring their commitment now.
Moreover, I am not impressed that they built an expensive pier. Presumably, the community did not require the pier. Someone needs to determine who owns what and if there are any required easements. In the Hamptons, for example, the beach is the property of New York State. In Miami Beach (including South Beach) the beaches are the property of the city.
FFRF should sue the self-righteous boobs. Personally, I would take a bolt cutter to the lock and allow everyone access. Let them call the police.
They need the pier so they an stroll out to meet Jesus when he walks across the Atlantic to them.
They should take a long walk.
Off a short pier.
Someone needs to look if they had a permit to build that pier.
OT : https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/09/archaeologists-uncover-3000-year-old-ancient-weavings-in-alaska/148437
🤔 Damn, I was wondering where I left that thing!
That's why bigger inside isn't always a good thing.
No duh! NSFW!!! A man is fingering a woman who keeps demanding more, One finger, two, three fingers isn't enough to satisfy her. So he reaches around and finds a flashlight, and starts using that on her, then he hears a huge sucking sound. Next thing he knows, he is in a wet dark cave. He starts feeling around looking for the flashlight. After a long while he runs into another man, who he asks to help him find the flashlight. so they can find their way out. The other man says, "Forget that, help me find my car keys and we can drive out."
I didn't say I wanted to know your favorite porn movie 😁
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsmF3p4jVV0
Have I ever mentioned this program before? I'm so old I wouldn't know.
Not that I remember. Thank you for sharing.
You're welcome. It was and still is one of my favourite programs. I think I've watched everyone at least twice – usually while exercising on my elliptical, but if you can cope with the language – there are a few funny accents there – it's really interesting.
Captions.