Little by little, year by year, organized religion is losing its grip on the social fabric of this country. The day will come when religion is no longer relevant enough to matter. I doubt I'll live to see it, but I've seen the changes that have occurred during my seventy-five years, and I'm confident it will happen.
I have precisely NO intention of taking my eye off of the religious beast until its teeth have been extracted and it's claws excised. I'm in this to WIN this.
"Faith in one form or another is good," Armagost said. "I think it's something that we all need at the start of each day."
Sorry, congressman, but WRONG. There are literally millions of Americans who get up in the morning with NO faith, let alone faith in an undemonstrated deity, who live and love and conduct their lives just fine, thankuverymuch. Indeed, if you could be bothered to read this piece, you would discover that many of your colleagues in the Colorado government number among those who do without either a religion or a god.
I'd suggest that you to give this data some due consideration, but I also realize that's a larger than average ask.
Data may not vote, but people associated with that data DO. At some point or other, Armagost is going to run onto that little datum when he doesn't expect it ... whereupon he might just find himself in need of refreshing his resume.
Yes yes. I believe that the volume and internet of the screeching emanating from the religionists comes from their unconscious realization they are going extinct. C'est-à-dire, it's a death scream...
Don’t forget she barely won her blood red district this second go around, seriously it was a few hundred votes that kept her in her seat. Next time she will likely lose. That district should have been a walk in the park for a republican, and yet it was a nail biter.
I wish that those two would pull an ersatz Thelma and Louise and drive off of a cliff after losing control of the car because they were too busy screaming at each other and pulling one another's hair.
I can't joke about safe words, myself. I had a very amazing BDSM relationship with a Domme for 3-1/2 years, something over 20 years ago. Granted that we eventually got to the point where safe words were RARELY used, but when they WERE used, they were always respected.
Safe, Sane, and Consensual. I won't play any other way.
"Faith in one form or another is good," Armagost said.
I'm gonna stop you there.
Faith that motivates a person towards positive actions towards his fellow man is good. Faith that condemns injustice is good. Faith that encourages love, peace, and mercy is good.
Faith that motivates a person to (or fails to condemn a person who engages in) bigotry, hate, division, self-righteousness, selfishness, and injustice is bad. Faith that does nothing to oppose those things is bad. Faith that says, "Oh, no, we don't like those things" and then votes for politicians who support those things for whatever reason is bad.
Faith is judged by its works.
A good person who does good things and has no faith is better than a bad person who does bad things and has faith.
Faith is belief without substance, without corroboration or verification. Put more bluntly, FAITH IS GULLIBILITY, something with which I want no interaction, if I can at all avoid it.
One's actions matter more to me than one's beliefs or lack of belief.
If one walks away from reading the bible with the message that they should help the poor, the sick, and those suffering injustice when they previously had no interest in such things, I'll take that as a win for the side of goodness and justice.
I would like to have faith that enough people in the US would open their eyes and their hearts, vote the batshit crazies out of office, dismantle the GQP, and get to work creating a fair and compassionate system of government that would address all the damage left by the RWNJs and seek to remediate it. A system that would put high priority on education, civil rights, and access to quality healthcare for everyone. A system that would have no place for religious belief of any kind in its ranks, but if you wanted to believe magic and fairies on your own time, fine.
But is any of this going to happen? No. Faith the size of a mustard seed has been rumored to have mountain-moving ability, but no amount of faith in the world can bring about any of the above. And the repugs have gamed the system to the point where even voting is unlikely to be effective. Protests and activism against repug policies are being outlawed or shut down through intimidation and use of fear tactics. Repugs can shoot people on public property and get away with it (looking at you and a whole shitload of others like you, Kyle Rittenhouse, you sociopathic little bastard). Elections are rapidly losing any meaning when diverse voices are gerrymandered into inconsequentiality, undesirables are purged from voter rolls for spurious reasons; working poor, disabled, and elderly voters face more and more hurdles just getting to the polls; and elections that don't go the way repugs want are challenged to the hilt.
If someone had told me 20 years ago that all this would happen IN AMERICA, I would have laughed in their face. I had no clue back then how fragile our democracy really is, or how long and how diligently repugs had been working to undermine it.
Faith? Yes, I had faith in the American process of democracy back then. And I was a damned fool for having it.
Have faith in yourself. Have faith that you can make a difference for the people you interact with who need help. Have faith that evil can be defeated now even if it must be fought again later. That's really all any of us can do.
How is freedom of religion being upheld when you are demanding everyone in a room (not a church room) follow your religious traditions? No one said you cannot pray, or even you cannot pray at work, but when you start a meeting with everyone else, expecting everyone to pray with you is not freedom of religion. The fact that so many of these legislators choose anonymity points to the fact that there is not freedom of religion in the statehouse. What are the consequences for not participating in the prayers? How will the prayer pushers respond to their peers who do not wish to pray? It has never been simply ignored, so it isn’t about religious freedom, it’s about religious supremacy in a mild form. It does lead to more concerning acts when it’s ignored, hence the FFRF.
Right!? You can’t have freedom of choice if you are not allowed to say no. Like with abortion, they say women choose when they choose to have sex, but also demand women acquiesce to men no matter what. If we cannot refuse to pray there’s no freedom involved.
Sadly, as Mary was a Jewess, indoctrinated to be subservient to her husband and indeed, to all men, I wonder if Mary would have even thought to say no. There's the real tragedy.
It's not just that they can't say no, it's that women are responsible for all sexual encounters as well. In effect, women don't get to go to heaven, because apparently they aren't people and don't have souls.
Or something along those lines. Honestly, I quit listening once I figured out it was a no-win system if you don't have the right reproductive organs; that's a stupid criteria to judge an individual's character (or lack thereof) on.
Given his supporters threatened to kill the Vice-President, I think attempted witness intimidation is a real probability. I hope the 11th Circuit concurs.
I have such mood whiplash for Colorado now. On the one hand, loads of Nones in positions of power- and in numbers 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 proportional to the wider population!
"One of them is a Republican… though he still believes in a “higher power,” sees faith as generally good, and harbors disdain for church/state separation:"
Then he will know for sure that he truly is the anomaly in the Republican Party.
“He continued: “If there's somebody in my political party that believes that I don't fit into their ideology because of my religion, then they themselves are the anomaly of our party of freedom of religion. That's a Republican way of life, to appreciate freedom of religion, not to impose religion on others.””
I don't really care about his knowledge claims (agnostic/gnostic). I care about the beliefs that he holds and acts on (higher power, faith is good, against G/S seperation.
I'm not convinced he actually holds them, but he does act on them and that certainly makes him no ally to those who see a secular government where religion is a private thing and people can fight about football instead.
I can believe self-hate could drive someone to do that, but I don't believe he would get over the self-hatred that quick. If he came out after a few years of prison, I might've bought it.
Sorry Mr. Armagost, but written history doesn't bear out your assertion. Faith of one form or another has brutalized humankind.
You say you are an agnostic, yet you believe in a higher power. Have you ever seen evidence to convince you of the existence of that higher power? If so, please share that information with the rest of us.
I always ask agnostics the same question I asked above. I tell them that if they have not seen any evidence to make them believe there is such a being, then just call themselves atheists. It's always about evidence, never about mere belief.
I disagree. Their belief is important. It may be wishful thinking, but it will partially affect their behavior. They will play Pascal's wager. (They will assume it's the god of their childhood religion)
I, myself, am right on the border. I have a theology, I'm just not sure I believe it.
I will make the point that my theology is *definitely* not Christianity. It was influenced by Diane Duane's "Wounded Sky" and movies like "Made in Heaven" and "What Dreams May Come"
For me (and this is just my opinion), using a term like agnostic theist or any other similar weasel word/term is mere hand-waving hocus-pocus. It avoids taking a stance, one way or the other.
This is not a slap against you. This is just my take on belief vs evidence.
But taking a stance means knowing your own mind, and some of us are divided. Lack of evidence is a good indicator, but it does not guarantee lack of existence.
Humankind has had forever to establish the existence of their deities since religious belief became a thing. They have all failed spectacularly, each and every one.
Since no one in all of recorded history has yet produced a particle of evidence for the existence of superbeings, atheism remains the default position. And it looks as though it's going to remain the default position.
Books like "Holy Horrors" & "Holy Hatreds" by James A Haught. "Beyond the Crusades" by Paulkovich, Kertzer's trilogy, "Pos against the Jews" "The Pope and Mussolini" and The Pope at War" do a very good job of showing religion is a hate mongering mechanism for control of others.
There are innumerable books in this same vein. These are just some of the titles I have read in the last several months.
I just got my copy of "Sex & God" by Darrel Ray. I started it on kindle but the thing died. Religion was devised by emperors to control burgeoning populations when police forces were rare.
I have read Barker, Hitchens, Loftus, Dawkins and many others. The bible itself is an indictment of the abrahamic gods.
“ But taking a stance means knowing your own mind, and some of us are divided.”
I find that intriguing because I have long thought that, with rare exceptions, people do know what they think. They may change their view, perhaps even frequently, but at any given moment, they have an opinion. Do I have evidence for this? Nope.
But I take you at your word. And I shall have to think about revising my opinion.
Honestly, I can do without excessively hoppy beers for the rest of my life. Malt is my thing ... which is probably why I'm also a single-malt whisky fan!
Never tried Extra Stout, though. May have to give it a taste sometime!
Cigar City Brewing was founded by Joey Redner, son of Joe Redner, Tampa's notorious owner of the Mons Venus strip club and the father of the lap dance.
In 2011, he self-published a book, “Dreams from Our Founding Fathers: First Principles in the Age of Obama.” In it, he accused Obama and other Democratic leaders of "a lust to control the lives of their fellow citizens" and the former president of having a "palpable cockiness" and a "messianic posture."
His book was self-published because no publishing house worth its salt would touch that swill. Bet even Thomas Nelson Publishers (the guys who first published and then yanked Dave Barton's book on Thomas Jefferson) turned this creepazoid down.
Little by little, year by year, organized religion is losing its grip on the social fabric of this country. The day will come when religion is no longer relevant enough to matter. I doubt I'll live to see it, but I've seen the changes that have occurred during my seventy-five years, and I'm confident it will happen.
Je suis d'accord. But I would caution us all, a cornered, rabid animal is possibly dangerous... don't take your eyes off it.
I have precisely NO intention of taking my eye off of the religious beast until its teeth have been extracted and it's claws excised. I'm in this to WIN this.
They've already lost what little grip they have on reality.
"Faith in one form or another is good," Armagost said. "I think it's something that we all need at the start of each day."
Sorry, congressman, but WRONG. There are literally millions of Americans who get up in the morning with NO faith, let alone faith in an undemonstrated deity, who live and love and conduct their lives just fine, thankuverymuch. Indeed, if you could be bothered to read this piece, you would discover that many of your colleagues in the Colorado government number among those who do without either a religion or a god.
I'd suggest that you to give this data some due consideration, but I also realize that's a larger than average ask.
His comment also ignores the history of what people, acting in the name of their faith, have done to their fellow humans.
Sorry Troubs, data doesn't vote. I expect he's just making sure not to alienate the religious voting block.
Data may not vote, but people associated with that data DO. At some point or other, Armagost is going to run onto that little datum when he doesn't expect it ... whereupon he might just find himself in need of refreshing his resume.
It won't work. I expect him to lose his next primary.
While it appears that Colorado is heading the right direction, we do need to remember that it also sent us Lauren Boebert.
Yes yes. I believe that the volume and internet of the screeching emanating from the religionists comes from their unconscious realization they are going extinct. C'est-à-dire, it's a death scream...
The problem is they will deliberately cause as much damage as possible along the way, and try to drag down a lot of unfortunate victims with them.
Don’t forget she barely won her blood red district this second go around, seriously it was a few hundred votes that kept her in her seat. Next time she will likely lose. That district should have been a walk in the park for a republican, and yet it was a nail biter.
So, progress but still some work to do.
One district sent Boebert to Congress, and she won reelection by about 500 votes. She could never win state-wide office.
You're probably right....I hope. But I've learned to never write off the batshit crays-crays until the last nail is in their coffin, so to speak.
I prefer to call her Grandma Boebert.
Granny Git Yer Gun? :)
Granny Clampett was much more careful with her rifle than I believe Boebert has ever been.
Granny practiced trigger safety. One of these days, Boebert is going to find herself in this situation...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx09bJGFDjM
Actually, I don't think her last name was Clampett. I believe she was Jed's mother-in-law.
Yup. Her name was Daisy May Moses.
granny tourista.
https://www.gocomics.com/mikeluckovich/2023/06/23
I wish that those two would pull an ersatz Thelma and Louise and drive off of a cliff after losing control of the car because they were too busy screaming at each other and pulling one another's hair.
Exactly ... except that they're BOTH crazy!
He begged for the job.
For weeks.
So true. I bet mtg doesn't allow safe words.
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/26/b5/f4/26b5f473e5ce9be41fa414bc703a793d--round-faces-dominatrix.jpg
Safe words are for sissies and democrats.
I can't joke about safe words, myself. I had a very amazing BDSM relationship with a Domme for 3-1/2 years, something over 20 years ago. Granted that we eventually got to the point where safe words were RARELY used, but when they WERE used, they were always respected.
Safe, Sane, and Consensual. I won't play any other way.
Oooops, sorry! Please accept my apologies. I was going for sarcasm/parroting the conservative mindset.
A "/s" would have helped, but I forgot it this time.
"Faith in one form or another is good," Armagost said.
I'm gonna stop you there.
Faith that motivates a person towards positive actions towards his fellow man is good. Faith that condemns injustice is good. Faith that encourages love, peace, and mercy is good.
Faith that motivates a person to (or fails to condemn a person who engages in) bigotry, hate, division, self-righteousness, selfishness, and injustice is bad. Faith that does nothing to oppose those things is bad. Faith that says, "Oh, no, we don't like those things" and then votes for politicians who support those things for whatever reason is bad.
Faith is judged by its works.
A good person who does good things and has no faith is better than a bad person who does bad things and has faith.
Faith is belief without substance, without corroboration or verification. Put more bluntly, FAITH IS GULLIBILITY, something with which I want no interaction, if I can at all avoid it.
One's actions matter more to me than one's beliefs or lack of belief.
If one walks away from reading the bible with the message that they should help the poor, the sick, and those suffering injustice when they previously had no interest in such things, I'll take that as a win for the side of goodness and justice.
In other words, don't conflate faith with confidence. The former requires something beyond one's control; the latter is mostly within one's control.
I would like to have faith that enough people in the US would open their eyes and their hearts, vote the batshit crazies out of office, dismantle the GQP, and get to work creating a fair and compassionate system of government that would address all the damage left by the RWNJs and seek to remediate it. A system that would put high priority on education, civil rights, and access to quality healthcare for everyone. A system that would have no place for religious belief of any kind in its ranks, but if you wanted to believe magic and fairies on your own time, fine.
But is any of this going to happen? No. Faith the size of a mustard seed has been rumored to have mountain-moving ability, but no amount of faith in the world can bring about any of the above. And the repugs have gamed the system to the point where even voting is unlikely to be effective. Protests and activism against repug policies are being outlawed or shut down through intimidation and use of fear tactics. Repugs can shoot people on public property and get away with it (looking at you and a whole shitload of others like you, Kyle Rittenhouse, you sociopathic little bastard). Elections are rapidly losing any meaning when diverse voices are gerrymandered into inconsequentiality, undesirables are purged from voter rolls for spurious reasons; working poor, disabled, and elderly voters face more and more hurdles just getting to the polls; and elections that don't go the way repugs want are challenged to the hilt.
If someone had told me 20 years ago that all this would happen IN AMERICA, I would have laughed in their face. I had no clue back then how fragile our democracy really is, or how long and how diligently repugs had been working to undermine it.
Faith? Yes, I had faith in the American process of democracy back then. And I was a damned fool for having it.
Have faith in yourself. Have faith that you can make a difference for the people you interact with who need help. Have faith that evil can be defeated now even if it must be fought again later. That's really all any of us can do.
Thanks for the words of encouragement. Sometimes it all seems so hopeless.
That was the scary thing about watching 'Shiny, Happy People' on Amazon. The organization that produced the Duggars has nearly succeeded.
All the pedophiles pastors/priests/preachers.
How is freedom of religion being upheld when you are demanding everyone in a room (not a church room) follow your religious traditions? No one said you cannot pray, or even you cannot pray at work, but when you start a meeting with everyone else, expecting everyone to pray with you is not freedom of religion. The fact that so many of these legislators choose anonymity points to the fact that there is not freedom of religion in the statehouse. What are the consequences for not participating in the prayers? How will the prayer pushers respond to their peers who do not wish to pray? It has never been simply ignored, so it isn’t about religious freedom, it’s about religious supremacy in a mild form. It does lead to more concerning acts when it’s ignored, hence the FFRF.
Freedom OF religion must include within its concept freedom FROM religion. Or, in other words:
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑒.
-- David Hume
Right!? You can’t have freedom of choice if you are not allowed to say no. Like with abortion, they say women choose when they choose to have sex, but also demand women acquiesce to men no matter what. If we cannot refuse to pray there’s no freedom involved.
"The right to say yes without the right to say no is no right at all."
-- Anonymous
Like poor Mary in the gospel of Luke, can't say no if you weren't asked.
Sadly, as Mary was a Jewess, indoctrinated to be subservient to her husband and indeed, to all men, I wonder if Mary would have even thought to say no. There's the real tragedy.
Freedom of choice must include choosing: "NONE OF THE ABOVE."
It's not just that they can't say no, it's that women are responsible for all sexual encounters as well. In effect, women don't get to go to heaven, because apparently they aren't people and don't have souls.
Or something along those lines. Honestly, I quit listening once I figured out it was a no-win system if you don't have the right reproductive organs; that's a stupid criteria to judge an individual's character (or lack thereof) on.
BREAKING: Cannon has issued her first blatantly pro-Trump ruling against the DOJ. And weirdly, she ruled against a DOJ motion Trump didn't even oppose. https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2023/06/judge-cannon-rejects-doj-request-to-shield-identity-of-dozens-of-government-witnesses-in-trump-classified-docs-case/
Might as well declare witness intimidation season is now open.
I do believe it's time to demand Judge Cannon's recusal from the bench in this case. Just a thought, ya know...
I called it. Should have removed her from the start.
Given his supporters threatened to kill the Vice-President, I think attempted witness intimidation is a real probability. I hope the 11th Circuit concurs.
Jack Smith should be pounding on their door, demanding she be yanked from the case. I hope I hope I hope.
OT: Another day, another SCOTUS scandal. It has come out that Alito's wife made a very lucrative real estate deal with an oil company at the same time husband Sammy was ruling to restrict the EPA's authority over them. I'm sure it was all perfectly above-board and ethical, though. Yeah, right. https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2023/06/conservative-justices-spouse-leased-land-to-oil-and-gas-company-while-he-wrote-opinion-restricting-epas-work/
I have such mood whiplash for Colorado now. On the one hand, loads of Nones in positions of power- and in numbers 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 proportional to the wider population!
On the other hand, Loony Boobert.
My neck hurts.
I'd try a Shiatzu neck massager. Unfortunately there's no electric appliance that can make Boebert go away.
I thought Florida or somewhere still had the chair.
Ole Sparky was retired.
Looks like Yellow Mama wasn't, though. Visit Alabama?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Mama
We got rid of the death penalty, period.
As Ron White said, "Other states are getting rid of the death penalty, mine's putting in an express lane."
Sounds like Texas, all right.
And it doesn't sound like that much of an exaggeration.
"One of them is a Republican… though he still believes in a “higher power,” sees faith as generally good, and harbors disdain for church/state separation:"
0 for 3. Take him off the list, Hemant.
No true agnostic? Besides, in spite of the pandering, he'll be out on his butt next election.
Then he will know for sure that he truly is the anomaly in the Republican Party.
“He continued: “If there's somebody in my political party that believes that I don't fit into their ideology because of my religion, then they themselves are the anomaly of our party of freedom of religion. That's a Republican way of life, to appreciate freedom of religion, not to impose religion on others.””
I don't really care about his knowledge claims (agnostic/gnostic). I care about the beliefs that he holds and acts on (higher power, faith is good, against G/S seperation.
I'm not convinced he actually holds them, but he does act on them and that certainly makes him no ally to those who see a secular government where religion is a private thing and people can fight about football instead.
BREAKING: Club Q shoooter sente3ned to 2200 years in prison. For real.
https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2023/06/lock-this-animal-away-club-q-mass-shooter-sentenced-to-over-2200-years-in-prison-after-killing-five-at-lgbtq-nightclub/
He identifies as non-binary, but friends and family still use "he".
Methinks he's just throwing more shit into the air.
I can believe self-hate could drive someone to do that, but I don't believe he would get over the self-hatred that quick. If he came out after a few years of prison, I might've bought it.
Deserved perhaps, but ridiculous. A hundred years would have been fine.
He had already tried to do the same thing a few years earlier, even gathered all the equipment.
But since he stopped just short of actually shooting anyone, they dropped the charges, let him go, and let him keep all those guns.
Sounds like someone has a guilty conscience and is trying to quietly make up for it.
"Aldrich also received a four-year sentence for bias-motivated charges, which are akin to hate-crime charges in other states."
That's why. 😉
Eligible for parole after 2175 years??
Nope.
"...five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole."
No parole? There goes time off for good behavior.
OT: Now they're trying to FORCE girls to wear skirts. Fortunately that's a bit too extreme even for this SCOTUS. For now, at least. https://www.wonkette.com/charter-school-fails-to-convince-scotus-that-girls-are-fragile-vessels-who-must-wear-skirts
The SC didn't really address the situation. They skirted making a decision by not taking up the case.
At DM's time, where diplodocus where used to bring children to school, skirts and dresses were mandatory (a frock too).
Not to mention that they mandated the length of the skirts/dresses as well, particularly after the miniskirt and Mary Quant.
I'll be surprised if they don't institute a uniform rather than a dress code.
Would they have been stupid enough to say that "Girls are fragile vessels" to the 4 women of the current SCOTUS, had SCOTUS decided to hear this case?
Well, at least one of them would've agreed with them, because the Good Christian Menfolk (tm) told her to.
Unless you make them wear patent leather shoes, there’s no point to making them wear skirts.
/sarc. (Just in case.)
I vote for Mary Jane.
"Faith in one form or another is good."
Sorry Mr. Armagost, but written history doesn't bear out your assertion. Faith of one form or another has brutalized humankind.
You say you are an agnostic, yet you believe in a higher power. Have you ever seen evidence to convince you of the existence of that higher power? If so, please share that information with the rest of us.
Agnostic theist. Believes there's a god, but not convinced.
I always ask agnostics the same question I asked above. I tell them that if they have not seen any evidence to make them believe there is such a being, then just call themselves atheists. It's always about evidence, never about mere belief.
I disagree. Their belief is important. It may be wishful thinking, but it will partially affect their behavior. They will play Pascal's wager. (They will assume it's the god of their childhood religion)
I, myself, am right on the border. I have a theology, I'm just not sure I believe it.
I will make the point that my theology is *definitely* not Christianity. It was influenced by Diane Duane's "Wounded Sky" and movies like "Made in Heaven" and "What Dreams May Come"
Just now seeing this. It appeared only after I refreshed the page. :)
I only finished just after your response to my previous comment.
If there is a new post it shows up in red where it would be in the thread. I never need to refresh the page,
For me (and this is just my opinion), using a term like agnostic theist or any other similar weasel word/term is mere hand-waving hocus-pocus. It avoids taking a stance, one way or the other.
This is not a slap against you. This is just my take on belief vs evidence.
But taking a stance means knowing your own mind, and some of us are divided. Lack of evidence is a good indicator, but it does not guarantee lack of existence.
Humankind has had forever to establish the existence of their deities since religious belief became a thing. They have all failed spectacularly, each and every one.
Since no one in all of recorded history has yet produced a particle of evidence for the existence of superbeings, atheism remains the default position. And it looks as though it's going to remain the default position.
Books like "Holy Horrors" & "Holy Hatreds" by James A Haught. "Beyond the Crusades" by Paulkovich, Kertzer's trilogy, "Pos against the Jews" "The Pope and Mussolini" and The Pope at War" do a very good job of showing religion is a hate mongering mechanism for control of others.
There are innumerable books in this same vein. These are just some of the titles I have read in the last several months.
I just got my copy of "Sex & God" by Darrel Ray. I started it on kindle but the thing died. Religion was devised by emperors to control burgeoning populations when police forces were rare.
I have read Barker, Hitchens, Loftus, Dawkins and many others. The bible itself is an indictment of the abrahamic gods.
“ But taking a stance means knowing your own mind, and some of us are divided.”
I find that intriguing because I have long thought that, with rare exceptions, people do know what they think. They may change their view, perhaps even frequently, but at any given moment, they have an opinion. Do I have evidence for this? Nope.
But I take you at your word. And I shall have to think about revising my opinion.
'Agnostic' is someone who's afraid to be an atheist.
Don't know who said this, but: "Agnostics are atheists without balls."
― Stephen Colbert, 𝐼 𝐴𝘮 𝘈𝑚𝘦𝑟𝘪𝑐𝘢
Thanx.
Strange thing for a liberal but devout Catholic to say. :)
OT - They even have their own beer these days!
𝐌𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 '𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐧' 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐭 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐕𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/man-arrested-after-waving-florida-man-beer-at-passing-vehicles/ar-AA1d3Vlj?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=e046a0e3a71846acbfb3d05bb6eee376&ei=130
Thanks, but no. I'll stick with Guinness ... or Killian's Red works, too.
Usually Guinness for me too.
St. Pauly Girl or Heineken.
What can I say? I live in Minnesota. 😉
But I lied. I usuall drink London Porter, at least while in Norway. I knew I wrote the wrong name, but was unable to remember the correct one.
Extra Stout for me. A week or two ago, I bought Cigar City's Jai Alai IPA and wound up pouring it down the drain. 🤢
https://www.cigarcitybrewing.com/beer/jai-alai-ipa/
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/jun/26/ditch-the-sunscreen-cover-yourself-in-lager-get-the-best-tan-ever-yes-its-another-stupid-tiktok-craze
"IPA" --- I Prefer Alcohol
Honestly, I can do without excessively hoppy beers for the rest of my life. Malt is my thing ... which is probably why I'm also a single-malt whisky fan!
Never tried Extra Stout, though. May have to give it a taste sometime!
You’re my kind of guy!
It has more carbonation than the draught version, so it isn't creamy.
Leffe or Affligem 0% for me.
When they come out with christian ouzo I'll have a decision to make. Till then, nope.
8.5%? That's not small beer.
Florida Man Beer. It tastes like Bubba sweat.
Florida Man Beer- for before 𝘢𝘯𝘥 after all your worst decisions!
"I wanted some Alligator boots. Seemed like a good idea at the time." Of course, now he only needs one boot.
...so you're saying they're half off?
I hope you're talking about his boots and not his pants. *shudder*
🤣
"Florida Man Beer - for before and after all your worst decisions!"
Gives new meaning to "Hold mah beer."
Wow. I didn't even know there was such a thing as "Florida Man" beer. Another memo I failed to get/read.
https://www.cigarcitybrewing.com/beer/florida-man/
Cigar City Brewing was founded by Joey Redner, son of Joe Redner, Tampa's notorious owner of the Mons Venus strip club and the father of the lap dance.
OT - More proof that DeNazi is clueless, and that every accusation is a confession
𝟐𝟑 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐑𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 “𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧” – “𝐑𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟”
Hating Obama
In 2011, he self-published a book, “Dreams from Our Founding Fathers: First Principles in the Age of Obama.” In it, he accused Obama and other Democratic leaders of "a lust to control the lives of their fellow citizens" and the former president of having a "palpable cockiness" and a "messianic posture."
https://buzzloving.com/23-times-ron-desantis-was-a-terrible-human-ron-is-not-someone-who-can-just-walk-it-off/
"...𝘢 𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴," eh? We can hear the cooling fans in your projector, Ronnie. Might wanna oil the bearings.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/OHP-sch.JPG
Yep, DeNazi is the one who claims to be wearing the armor of gawd to combat human decency.
No god forged that armor. Maybe the primordial Tartarus, but certainly not a god or Titan.
You forget Azathoth, the blind idiot god.
Unfortunately, so far, the armor is working. Would that it was as tenuous as his grasp of reality.
I know, right? SMH
His book was self-published because no publishing house worth its salt would touch that swill. Bet even Thomas Nelson Publishers (the guys who first published and then yanked Dave Barton's book on Thomas Jefferson) turned this creepazoid down.
And in the current publishing climate, where even minor Trump officials get multi-million dollar advances, that's really saying something.
Again cons' accustions are projections
How to attack your political opponent, Conservative Edition:
Step 1) Write your own biography.
Step 2) Replace all mentions of your name with your opponent's.
Step 3) ???
Step 4) Profit!!
Step 3 is get elected. The plan works much more often than it should.
The projection there is what's palpable.
OT:
House Armed Services Committee passes amendment to make it illegal to communicate with MRFF
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/26/2177690/-OMFG-House-Armed-Services-Committee-passes-amendment-to-make-it-ILLEGAL-to-communicate-with-MRFF
From the "if we don't let you report it, that means there's not a problem!" file...
NatCs engaging in that cancel culture they falsely accuse others of.
I really wish I could be absolutely sure SCOTUS would strike this down as unconstitutional.
They have the precedent that holds that members of the armed forces do not have constitutional rights.
Well, that's not exactly correct.
Here's an example: https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1131/rights-of-military-personnel
SERIOUSLY?!? I can't wait for Mikey Weinstein to cut loose on that jackass! Total popcorn and beer time there!
You think Hemant will post this today, or will his usual due diligence mean he won't be ready until tomorrow?
Not sure.
"Godawful Bird app"
love that description.