Yes you would have been sued. You fail to understand that it is not about the government directly forcing people to recite a Christian prayer, it is about the government showing it is exclusively Christian by having one and only one prayer. The government is the people, and the people are not all Christians. Unless you believe that to be an American citizen one must be a Christian. Being a MAGA Republican i would suspect that you would like that.
Ms. Giordano doesn't know the Freedom From Religion Foundation very well ... and I think she might have been amazed at what (and HOW!) she might have learned, if she had decided to push a bad position.
As I said elsewhere, that's a lesson that needs to be taught and learned multiple times.
At what point during the Children's Crusades (participants no doubt told something like, "God will never give you more than you can handle...") did the thousands of young victims/sacrificial lambs give up praying to Gawd to save them?
I wonder how sanguine Julie Giordano would have been if, instead of this: "And you know, there’s only one way. There’s only one way and that’s… through Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior…", Winn had instead said this: "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammad is his prophet." How many people believe Giordano wouldn't have been the FIRST person suing to end that prayer? See how easy it is to spot the compulsive proselytizing when it's not christianity being pushed?
This is a point that the regulars here make repeatedly and which Christians never think about because they would like to believe that they're the only game in town.
And again, they need to get their noses rubbed in that until they can't escape the smell.
“There’s only one way, and that’s through Jesus Christ.”
This Bible-humping fool evidently has no knowledge what-so-ever of the horrors Bible believing Christians have inflicted on other Bible believing Christians who didn't quite believe the way they did. True-believers always operate with the expectation of privilege and assume forcing their religion on people is okay if they do it. They are the same people who would go out of their tiny little minds if someone from a faith other than theirs did the same thing.
But did you ever checked if it's enough to float those ships carrying planes? What if there's not enough blood? The ship will sink, that's what! And there goes taxpayers' money! Down the drain! If I remember correctly, you're an anarchist!
The book I'm reading now has a section about translating a Hebrew word. It could be understood as dirt, soil, or earth. Earth could be understood to mean the entire planet. So when the Noah flood covered the “earth”, did that really mean the local floodplain made of “soil”?
Countless millions have done remarkably well without ever hearing about that Jesus critter. Whether through other mythical critters or without any, it seems Jesus is neither necessary nor sufficient - nor relevant - to millions.
I would have loved to answer Winn's unfounded statement with: "Okay, Councilman: just WHERE and WHEN has Jesus actually SOLVED a serious governmental problem? I hear a lot of yap from people like you, but damned little by way of actual cause-and-effect. Your assertions are without foundation or any form of objective proof, and if you cannot substantiate your claims, I would suggest that you direct your attention to the serious matters before this body and save your Jesus-talk for Sunday morning."
Over a thirty-one year period between 1914 and 1945, over sixty million Europeans lost their lives in wars fought primarily between Christian nations. It's a big part of why western Europe is approaching the tipping point of being classified as post-Christian.
[Why is this happening? Why the craziness? Right? I hear it up here. And I’m telling you, it’s because people were falling away from the word, from Christ.]
Yeah... that's why when everyone in America was Christian by default and social pressures, there was no violence... nope... none at all... no beating slaves... no raping slaves... no murders of slaves... no civil wars.... no domestic terrorism against minorities... no lynchings... no murders of unionists or Chinese immigrants... no racial riots and pogroms against Black people, Black towns, Latinos, Latino neighborhoods, Chinese... no genocides of Native Americans... no rape and ethnic cleansing of Native Americans... no mass violence against Civil rights protestors... no violence, theft, and unjust imprisonment of Japanese Americans... no violence and theft against Hawaiians... no ginned up bullshit wars against Mexico or Spain... no attempted genocides in the Philippines.
Nope. America was just one great big happy united nation under Jesus.
Yup. "Christian love" in action - what that council theo-bro calls "loving on everyone"! (He even has the start of the "theo-bro beard".) The extensive and diabolical history of "faith in action" is also why the WCNs are whitewashing and revising actual history through pseudo-historians like Barton et al. Cannot allow the truth to get in the way of the regime-approved, feel good story that excuses any need to address social problems today because "suffering is a blessing", "poverty is God's judgment on the unfaithful sinners", "god's chosen - white people - are entitled to every resource on this earth that has been entrusted to believers for domination", as well as a host of other purportedly justificatory, self-aggrandizing, reward-deferring truisms.
Add to that rogue's gallery of social disasters - the rampant misogyny, child abuse, grift, and hypocrisy that is embedded in so many "corporate" churches - and it is no wonder that our national fabric is in tatters, its seams being ripped apart by divisive claims of privilege, supported by claimed certainty about the veracity of fundamentally unknowable assertions (figments of faith), and an eagerness to "cleanse" society of those many persons their christian calculus deems unworthy of freedom, opportunity, and even life itself.
The struggle against this monstrosity will continue. It will be long, expensive, dangerous, and subject to cycles of advances and setbacks - life is complex, not simple, even if the simple-minded insist it is (like the theo-bro council member in Wicomico County, MD). There will continue to be pain, but there are and will be dawns among the darkness that help encourage the strugglers. Effective hope is not pretending all will be well, trusting that the same mythological entity praised by the architects of our societal destruction will suddenly materialize, turn, and cast them into Gehenna, but a mature, sober, and personal commitment to continue the struggle in a multitude of ways, both coordinated and individually undertaken, directed toward recapturing and reestablishing the true principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (for ALL) upon which our country was expressly founded, letting the chips fall where they may.
"We’ve got some people in this audience and in this council that are trying to figure out what is going on in the world. Why is this happening? Why the craziness?"
The craziness is because millions of people like you voted for a moronic demented felonious sexual abusing lying cheating psychopathic sociopathic Putin licking traitor rage baby.
IF these hypocrites were actually intent on drawing followers they woukdnt put on shows of religiousity in public, but after praying "secretly in their closets" would preach by conduct: "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, help the sick etc". Maybe address homelessness in the community, or create soup kitchens etc.
People like Winn seem to think that, if they make enough noise, SOMEONE will listen to them. And they're right at least some of the time, and because they are, they think that they get to be right ALL OF THE TIME.
Indeed. Make a lot of noise when you pray in public and people will hear you. And that’s all the reward you’re going to get. Don’t Christians even read their little book of stories?
Actually, someone DID listen to him. And that's the reason why the council got that letter, telling them to stop including religious content as part of their official meetings.
Maybe it'd have been better to write it in crayon: Gonnae no dae tha'
I’ve lived in Maryland for more than 30 years so let me add a little color to Hemant’s excellent piece. MD is a very blue state. (Its colonial history is notable because unlike most other colonies, MD did not discriminate against Catholics. MD had “the free state” as its slogan because of its tolerance for Catholics.) But MD does have some very red areas. They are thinly populated. Wicomico county is red and not very populous. There are 23 counties in MD, plus Baltimore city which is not a county and not part of a county. Counties are the level of government where most of the action is in MD. (For example, school districts are coincident with counties.) The bulk of the MD population is in a handful of counties and Baltimore city and then we have a larger number of counties that are Republican strongholds with their relatively small populations. My county is mid-sized and purple or maybe even light blue.
Now watch as the Christians use intimidation, or violence to get what they want! Christians always resort to harassment, threat of violence, or even violence (sometime the Christians go right to violence) to force others to give in to the Christian demands!
Okay, I need to ask. No, not you or the regulars here, 'cuz we all know it's bullshit. But I want to hear a believer tell me a coherent definition of the word, "righteous."
And I want to see if they can define it WITHOUT insulting my intelligence!
It's not just a kink. It's how I made my living for 30 years and some consulting after that. Was an interesting time for sure, and I learned a lot about a lot of things.
As for drinks, I got Guinness and Great Lakes Christmas Ale in the fridge, plus chips and dip and Doritos in various flavors. When you comin' over? 😁
I've always thought the worst part of that comment was that some of them honestly think they're helping, it doesn't even dawn on them just how obnoxious they sound. They've been so deeply trained to believe that prayer helps it's their go-to solution ahead of most anything that might actually fix whatever the problem is. I have a pet theory that this is part of why some churches are so bad at charity: they assume it's not really needed, because they think that if whoever needs help just prayed 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟, the problem would be solved.
I’ve been hanging out at Christian Post for the past few months and, yes, being a troll. Sometimes I ironically comment “Thoughts and prayers” and get upvoted. Sometimes I wonder why anything other than Thoughts and Prayers are needed (e.g., on a story about the sexual abuse of children) and get taken to task.
Well, it was and it wasn't how he talked, but that's beside the point. I have felt for a very long time that proselytism is, almost by definition, disrespectful of ANY audience (perhaps other than True Believers). It presumes without evidence that I AM RIGHT AND YOU ARE WRONG, and you need to think the same way I do and I'll pray for you, et cetera. Frankly, that's inappropriate in ANY venue, but especially so in what should be a secular, governmental setting. What is sad is that it wasn't a council member but an attendee that called Winn out on his blather, and the final result was the removal of prayer from the meetings.
Christians think they not only have the right to run governmental things, they also have the right to inject their god and their supposed savior into EVERYTHING. THEY DO NOT, and the kind of disabuse of that notion that happened here needs to be duplicated in a LOT of other local, state, and federal meetings.
“I know not everyone here is a Christian, and that’s okay. I’ll pray for you. And you know, there’s only one way. There’s only one way and that’s… through Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior…”
Is it okay? Is it really? Because if it were really okay, you wouldn’t be praying for them and telling them that they need to find Jesus. Why do you have to lie? Just be honest, own your bigotry. I mean, if it’s okay for you to hate others out in the open, they should be able to hate you back out in the open.
I’m embarrassed that this happened in my state. Maryland is pretty bright blue but I guess we still have some knuckle dragging counties in our midst. Smh
I’m in Frederick County. We are purple but our sheriff - now running for a sixth term — is right out of central casting for knuckle-dragging. I’ll see if I can link to a photo.
Jenkins is awful. A MAGAt. He went on a trip to the Rio Grande to “investigate” illegal immigration. He eagerly signed up for 287(g). A local shooting range (“Machine Gun Nest”) wanted to buy machine guns to rent out. The range and the sheriff allegedly colluded to suggest that the sheriff’s office wanted to inspect the machine guns for some ill-defined law enforcement purpose. The range got the guns; the sheriff never inspected. This happened 6-7 times. There were federal charges that were ultimately dismissed on some technicality.
Unfortunately, sheriffs are elected and this troglodyte has deep support amongst the Repubs and the Ds can never seem to find a decent candidate. Jenkins keeps winning by just a few percentage points.
A decade ago we had a county board that was majority MAGAt. But they overplayed their hand. Now we have a Dem county executive, a Dem majority county council, and a majority on the school board that is unofficially Dem (since school board races are officially nonpartisan.) The Repubs who win the local primaries are the worst of the worst so the independents vote Dem in the general election.
Really interesting how Giordano kept saying they wouldn't be sued because people had a "choice" whether to participate. The legal issue runs deeper tho—when government opens with one specific prayer, it signals institutional endorsement regardless of optionality. I've sat through mandatory assemblies where "voluntary" prayers felt anything but voluntary, especially as a minorityrepresentative. Fourth Circuit precedent made this outcome inevitable once FFRF got involved.
Yeah, a "choice." Just like kids in school have a "choice" when their teacher decides to bring in something that's not according to Hoyle (or the curriculum OR would be okay by the FFRF!).
It's them goll-darn TREES! That's why I can't see the forest! 🤦♂️
Yup. About 15 years ago my county government got taken over by reprobates who instituted prayer (one of the reprobates was later arrested in a prostitution sting). I attended a meeting to provide public comment on an unrelated matter. They asked everyone to stand for the invocation. I sat. And fiddled with my phone. Only one in the room to not stand. My comments later were not well-received by the electeds. Did my sitting count against me? Probably not as they would have disagreed with me anyway.
“𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑’𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑒𝑑. 𝑊𝑒’𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑’𝑠 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑒 𝑖𝑓 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑’𝑠 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒.”
Ms Giordano:
Yes you would have been sued. You fail to understand that it is not about the government directly forcing people to recite a Christian prayer, it is about the government showing it is exclusively Christian by having one and only one prayer. The government is the people, and the people are not all Christians. Unless you believe that to be an American citizen one must be a Christian. Being a MAGA Republican i would suspect that you would like that.
Ms. Giordano doesn't know the Freedom From Religion Foundation very well ... and I think she might have been amazed at what (and HOW!) she might have learned, if she had decided to push a bad position.
As I said elsewhere, that's a lesson that needs to be taught and learned multiple times.
One can't but wonder...
At what point during the Children's Crusades (participants no doubt told something like, "God will never give you more than you can handle...") did the thousands of young victims/sacrificial lambs give up praying to Gawd to save them?
"Being a MAGA Republican i would suspect that you would like that."
You're joking, right? Or is that just a dangling modifier?
"American citizen" of the United States one 35 American countries. Thanks
👎
I wonder how sanguine Julie Giordano would have been if, instead of this: "And you know, there’s only one way. There’s only one way and that’s… through Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior…", Winn had instead said this: "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammad is his prophet." How many people believe Giordano wouldn't have been the FIRST person suing to end that prayer? See how easy it is to spot the compulsive proselytizing when it's not christianity being pushed?
This is a point that the regulars here make repeatedly and which Christians never think about because they would like to believe that they're the only game in town.
And again, they need to get their noses rubbed in that until they can't escape the smell.
Maybe that's why they piss on the Constitution, to cover the smell of equality.
It would have been hilarious. There could have been cameras filming her head exploding!
https://share.google/c4cL5DQgKpSDy6nDh
https://youtu.be/ImAxNz2ANB4?t=86
“There’s only one way, and that’s through Jesus Christ.”
This Bible-humping fool evidently has no knowledge what-so-ever of the horrors Bible believing Christians have inflicted on other Bible believing Christians who didn't quite believe the way they did. True-believers always operate with the expectation of privilege and assume forcing their religion on people is okay if they do it. They are the same people who would go out of their tiny little minds if someone from a faith other than theirs did the same thing.
Millions of Christians have been killed by other Christians because they said this word in that verse means x instead of y.
Attempting to determine who was, or was not, a TRUE Christian has spilled enough blood to float the Navy.
But did you ever checked if it's enough to float those ships carrying planes? What if there's not enough blood? The ship will sink, that's what! And there goes taxpayers' money! Down the drain! If I remember correctly, you're an anarchist!
And to keep all those new trump-class battleships afloat, the navy will need lots and lots more blood.
The book I'm reading now has a section about translating a Hebrew word. It could be understood as dirt, soil, or earth. Earth could be understood to mean the entire planet. So when the Noah flood covered the “earth”, did that really mean the local floodplain made of “soil”?
And they were all wrong, obviously! It meant "Purple People-Eating Monster"; as any true believer knows!
Countless millions have done remarkably well without ever hearing about that Jesus critter. Whether through other mythical critters or without any, it seems Jesus is neither necessary nor sufficient - nor relevant - to millions.
Well, all those people are either dead or dying, see? And Christians(the good kind of Christians) are forever alive! So there!
Credible Citations Needed.
😁
Those in Davey Jones employ live forever too. Or 100 years under the mast.
We need look no further than the christian nationalists and dominionists currently working for ICE.
I would have loved to answer Winn's unfounded statement with: "Okay, Councilman: just WHERE and WHEN has Jesus actually SOLVED a serious governmental problem? I hear a lot of yap from people like you, but damned little by way of actual cause-and-effect. Your assertions are without foundation or any form of objective proof, and if you cannot substantiate your claims, I would suggest that you direct your attention to the serious matters before this body and save your Jesus-talk for Sunday morning."
Worth a try, at least.
His response would be some nonsense about changed lives without any specific examples and never addressing the actual question.
Again, assertions without supporting evidence. They need to get body-slammed with that until they realize that ... DAMN, that's not comfortable! 😁
They think their assertions are evidence, and our evidence is only assertion. That's the brain rot caused by reliance on faith for epistemology.
The proof is in the pudding. Blood pudding, even.
You'll get internal bleeding all over your body, eventually.
Oh, like external-internal bleeding? 😁
Over a thirty-one year period between 1914 and 1945, over sixty million Europeans lost their lives in wars fought primarily between Christian nations. It's a big part of why western Europe is approaching the tipping point of being classified as post-Christian.
As I understand it, Western Europe is shedding Christianity faster than the US is. Encouraging, to put it at its mildest.
'Cause there's a god down there, might be your god, I don't know.....
https://youtu.be/d0En8iD2uVI?si=BJNcA50uS1NH4ez6
It continues to this day sans the blood letting.
[Why is this happening? Why the craziness? Right? I hear it up here. And I’m telling you, it’s because people were falling away from the word, from Christ.]
Yeah... that's why when everyone in America was Christian by default and social pressures, there was no violence... nope... none at all... no beating slaves... no raping slaves... no murders of slaves... no civil wars.... no domestic terrorism against minorities... no lynchings... no murders of unionists or Chinese immigrants... no racial riots and pogroms against Black people, Black towns, Latinos, Latino neighborhoods, Chinese... no genocides of Native Americans... no rape and ethnic cleansing of Native Americans... no mass violence against Civil rights protestors... no violence, theft, and unjust imprisonment of Japanese Americans... no violence and theft against Hawaiians... no ginned up bullshit wars against Mexico or Spain... no attempted genocides in the Philippines.
Nope. America was just one great big happy united nation under Jesus.
Yup. "Christian love" in action - what that council theo-bro calls "loving on everyone"! (He even has the start of the "theo-bro beard".) The extensive and diabolical history of "faith in action" is also why the WCNs are whitewashing and revising actual history through pseudo-historians like Barton et al. Cannot allow the truth to get in the way of the regime-approved, feel good story that excuses any need to address social problems today because "suffering is a blessing", "poverty is God's judgment on the unfaithful sinners", "god's chosen - white people - are entitled to every resource on this earth that has been entrusted to believers for domination", as well as a host of other purportedly justificatory, self-aggrandizing, reward-deferring truisms.
Add to that rogue's gallery of social disasters - the rampant misogyny, child abuse, grift, and hypocrisy that is embedded in so many "corporate" churches - and it is no wonder that our national fabric is in tatters, its seams being ripped apart by divisive claims of privilege, supported by claimed certainty about the veracity of fundamentally unknowable assertions (figments of faith), and an eagerness to "cleanse" society of those many persons their christian calculus deems unworthy of freedom, opportunity, and even life itself.
The struggle against this monstrosity will continue. It will be long, expensive, dangerous, and subject to cycles of advances and setbacks - life is complex, not simple, even if the simple-minded insist it is (like the theo-bro council member in Wicomico County, MD). There will continue to be pain, but there are and will be dawns among the darkness that help encourage the strugglers. Effective hope is not pretending all will be well, trusting that the same mythological entity praised by the architects of our societal destruction will suddenly materialize, turn, and cast them into Gehenna, but a mature, sober, and personal commitment to continue the struggle in a multitude of ways, both coordinated and individually undertaken, directed toward recapturing and reestablishing the true principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (for ALL) upon which our country was expressly founded, letting the chips fall where they may.
Resist. React. Repeat.
Everyone in North and South America including the United states.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwyYNcQvR0I
Thanks
👎
"We’ve got some people in this audience and in this council that are trying to figure out what is going on in the world. Why is this happening? Why the craziness?"
The craziness is because millions of people like you voted for a moronic demented felonious sexual abusing lying cheating psychopathic sociopathic Putin licking traitor rage baby.
“… moronic demented felonious sexual abusing lying cheating psychopathic sociopathic Putin licking traitor rage baby.”
That’s a really good summary.
And that are Trumpyboy’s good qualities!
IF these hypocrites were actually intent on drawing followers they woukdnt put on shows of religiousity in public, but after praying "secretly in their closets" would preach by conduct: "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, help the sick etc". Maybe address homelessness in the community, or create soup kitchens etc.
People like Winn seem to think that, if they make enough noise, SOMEONE will listen to them. And they're right at least some of the time, and because they are, they think that they get to be right ALL OF THE TIME.
And they don't.
Indeed. Make a lot of noise when you pray in public and people will hear you. And that’s all the reward you’re going to get. Don’t Christians even read their little book of stories?
Trick question, obviously 🙄
I think they just go looking for something to justify their bigotry or bias, then lean on that to the exclusion of all else.
Which is a pretty freaking scary thought.
And they can cry persecution when they’re called out on it.
Of course they do. That's SOP. 😝
Actually, someone DID listen to him. And that's the reason why the council got that letter, telling them to stop including religious content as part of their official meetings.
Maybe it'd have been better to write it in crayon: Gonnae no dae tha'
I’ve lived in Maryland for more than 30 years so let me add a little color to Hemant’s excellent piece. MD is a very blue state. (Its colonial history is notable because unlike most other colonies, MD did not discriminate against Catholics. MD had “the free state” as its slogan because of its tolerance for Catholics.) But MD does have some very red areas. They are thinly populated. Wicomico county is red and not very populous. There are 23 counties in MD, plus Baltimore city which is not a county and not part of a county. Counties are the level of government where most of the action is in MD. (For example, school districts are coincident with counties.) The bulk of the MD population is in a handful of counties and Baltimore city and then we have a larger number of counties that are Republican strongholds with their relatively small populations. My county is mid-sized and purple or maybe even light blue.
Now watch as the Christians use intimidation, or violence to get what they want! Christians always resort to harassment, threat of violence, or even violence (sometime the Christians go right to violence) to force others to give in to the Christian demands!
It was RIGHTEOUS violence! It doesn't count!
Okay, I need to ask. No, not you or the regulars here, 'cuz we all know it's bullshit. But I want to hear a believer tell me a coherent definition of the word, "righteous."
And I want to see if they can define it WITHOUT insulting my intelligence!
Eep, you drive a HARD bargain!
[shrug] I'm just a guy with a question and looking for a satisfactory answer ... and yeah, I know that adjective is what causes the problem.
"Satisfactory," that is.
You have a kink about shooting trouble, I see. Do you have popcorn? SALTED AND BUTTERED only, and what do you have for drinks?
It's not just a kink. It's how I made my living for 30 years and some consulting after that. Was an interesting time for sure, and I learned a lot about a lot of things.
As for drinks, I got Guinness and Great Lakes Christmas Ale in the fridge, plus chips and dip and Doritos in various flavors. When you comin' over? 😁
Why bother? Their own book says: "There is not one righteous, no, not one."(Romans 3).
Well, har-de-har-har!
"I'll pray for you"? Do they not realise how patronising they are being? I don't believe I just said that – of course they don't.
They tell us that, I tell them: "You'll pray for me? OK, I'll think for you."
That's my standard response, too.
Bet they don't much like it. Good. 😈
Especially considering that they don't do much thinking about what they believe.
Nor do they think at all on anything!
That's a good one!
Being patronizing is an integral part of their playbook ... but you knew that.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d0d8ac6a7d4ae8b60511dda2488f407a72424561f7691710bae2b6bdc84a56c7.jpg
I've always thought the worst part of that comment was that some of them honestly think they're helping, it doesn't even dawn on them just how obnoxious they sound. They've been so deeply trained to believe that prayer helps it's their go-to solution ahead of most anything that might actually fix whatever the problem is. I have a pet theory that this is part of why some churches are so bad at charity: they assume it's not really needed, because they think that if whoever needs help just prayed 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟, the problem would be solved.
>.<
I’ve been hanging out at Christian Post for the past few months and, yes, being a troll. Sometimes I ironically comment “Thoughts and prayers” and get upvoted. Sometimes I wonder why anything other than Thoughts and Prayers are needed (e.g., on a story about the sexual abuse of children) and get taken to task.
I love a nice feel-good story and cuppa coffee to start my day. 🙂
𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒’𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑒𝑑.
Well, it was and it wasn't how he talked, but that's beside the point. I have felt for a very long time that proselytism is, almost by definition, disrespectful of ANY audience (perhaps other than True Believers). It presumes without evidence that I AM RIGHT AND YOU ARE WRONG, and you need to think the same way I do and I'll pray for you, et cetera. Frankly, that's inappropriate in ANY venue, but especially so in what should be a secular, governmental setting. What is sad is that it wasn't a council member but an attendee that called Winn out on his blather, and the final result was the removal of prayer from the meetings.
Christians think they not only have the right to run governmental things, they also have the right to inject their god and their supposed savior into EVERYTHING. THEY DO NOT, and the kind of disabuse of that notion that happened here needs to be duplicated in a LOT of other local, state, and federal meetings.
“I know not everyone here is a Christian, and that’s okay. I’ll pray for you. And you know, there’s only one way. There’s only one way and that’s… through Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior…”
Is it okay? Is it really? Because if it were really okay, you wouldn’t be praying for them and telling them that they need to find Jesus. Why do you have to lie? Just be honest, own your bigotry. I mean, if it’s okay for you to hate others out in the open, they should be able to hate you back out in the open.
I’m embarrassed that this happened in my state. Maryland is pretty bright blue but I guess we still have some knuckle dragging counties in our midst. Smh
I’m in Frederick County. We are purple but our sheriff - now running for a sixth term — is right out of central casting for knuckle-dragging. I’ll see if I can link to a photo.
https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/jenkins-will-become-first-sheriff-to-serve-fifth-term-in-frederick-county/article_c4d7e832-3b90-557b-96e9-ca384a317419.html
♫♪ He's the All-American, bullet-headed, Saxon mother's son (all the children sing!) ♪♫
But what did he kill?
Jenkins is awful. A MAGAt. He went on a trip to the Rio Grande to “investigate” illegal immigration. He eagerly signed up for 287(g). A local shooting range (“Machine Gun Nest”) wanted to buy machine guns to rent out. The range and the sheriff allegedly colluded to suggest that the sheriff’s office wanted to inspect the machine guns for some ill-defined law enforcement purpose. The range got the guns; the sheriff never inspected. This happened 6-7 times. There were federal charges that were ultimately dismissed on some technicality.
Unfortunately, sheriffs are elected and this troglodyte has deep support amongst the Repubs and the Ds can never seem to find a decent candidate. Jenkins keeps winning by just a few percentage points.
I’ve heard that Frederick is pretty conservative. Good to hear that it’s purple.
Dude looks like someone out of Bkazing Saddles.
A decade ago we had a county board that was majority MAGAt. But they overplayed their hand. Now we have a Dem county executive, a Dem majority county council, and a majority on the school board that is unofficially Dem (since school board races are officially nonpartisan.) The Repubs who win the local primaries are the worst of the worst so the independents vote Dem in the general election.
That’s good!! Glad to hear this.
Really interesting how Giordano kept saying they wouldn't be sued because people had a "choice" whether to participate. The legal issue runs deeper tho—when government opens with one specific prayer, it signals institutional endorsement regardless of optionality. I've sat through mandatory assemblies where "voluntary" prayers felt anything but voluntary, especially as a minorityrepresentative. Fourth Circuit precedent made this outcome inevitable once FFRF got involved.
Yeah, a "choice." Just like kids in school have a "choice" when their teacher decides to bring in something that's not according to Hoyle (or the curriculum OR would be okay by the FFRF!).
It's them goll-darn TREES! That's why I can't see the forest! 🤦♂️
Yup. About 15 years ago my county government got taken over by reprobates who instituted prayer (one of the reprobates was later arrested in a prostitution sting). I attended a meeting to provide public comment on an unrelated matter. They asked everyone to stand for the invocation. I sat. And fiddled with my phone. Only one in the room to not stand. My comments later were not well-received by the electeds. Did my sitting count against me? Probably not as they would have disagreed with me anyway.
Soooo close and still missed it by a mile!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d1d67a073c3eddb1ffd834138f26bf74539d0d08aaf5a16ccc2f75767893b76f.jpg
Proving once again; religion makes people goddamm fucking brain dead!
Religion AND being a Republican from Kentucky.
Is he dumb or disingenuous?
*Insert meme of of cute little girl saying, "Why not both?"*
imgur.com/gallery/c7NJRa2
schutzstaffel.us
Baby steps, I guess.
More like 12 parsecs.
MAGAts are literally stupid. Massively. Bigly.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/abf740d9fdb2147017d8a2af1de76f85d36c780ade9e6a8b2fc495cfca3862e1.jpg
What are they so freaking afraid of?
Most of them are afraid of getting busted for raping kids.
There's that.
Stuff that no normal person should or would care about.
"They're giving He-Man pronouns"
And they're NOT giving you the knowledge to know that you're supposed to put a period at the end of a sentence.
For gawds sake, will somebody think about Skelether?‽‽‽
Are they calling him He-he?
I posted the Masters of the Universe trailer elsewhere on the thread. The pronouns are He/Him.
Any chance they were being sarcastic?
Only if they are equally sarcastic about Creationism.