Rhonda Santis is an Ivy League lawyer with a Gestapo mentality. The very last thing he wants is Civics being honestly taught. He doesn't want anyone expressing any opinion that contradicts his hard right view of the world. Christian nationalists keep dancing around the idea the founders didn't want church-state separation, but they totally ignore Section III, Article VI of the Constitution that bans religious tests for holding public office in this country. That sure sounds like church-state separation to me. Article VI predates the Bill of Rights and that speaks volumes about how they felt about the issue. The people who want to force religion into the public schools only want THEIR religion taught, and no other.
The government is ordering its teachers to LIE to their students, plain and simple. I want to know whether or not the teachers are just going to roll over or whether they are willing to get in DeSantis' face and tell him NO.
This is where I would hope that the teachers' union would provide some degree of cover. Ten years ago, I wouldn't bet on that cover being all that great, but unions have grown in strength during Biden's tenure as president.
I am okay - temporarily - with teachers taking money to meet this state continuing education thing and then circular filing the materials.
Ideally the course would go away because it's teaching wrong things. Or at least, ideally it would become privatized and not subsidized so that the state is not wasting any money on it. But until the current executive and legislature changes to be less fundie, probably the best thing we can do is treat this as a state-mandated time share sales pitch: (teachers) sit through it, take the money, then get on with their lives.
…you mean just like the whole country with orange psychopath ? …NAZIS taking over our country without any resistance, democrats are useless and didn’t do shit to stop trump’s coup which is still in progress for these four years and ready to be finalized regardless of the results of the elections, while democrats are running business as usual, hoping for a “blue wave”, its called arrested development or doing the same thing and expecting a different result, good luck with that
…if country allows a dictator to become a dictator after he said he will be a dictator, then a country deserves a dictator
This hurricane season (predicted to be busy, with 4-7 major storms at Cat 3 and above and 17-25 named storms total) is coming. And homeowners in Florida who get dropped by their insurance company are choosing to move out of state, or go without insurance altogether because it's simply unaffordable.
And what has DeSantis done about this crisis? TAX BREAKS if you buy new windows and doors, but WAIT, THERE'S MORE!! Florida will send an inspector to your house to guide you on hardening against high winds and flooding, at no cost to you! Unfortunately, there was NO MONEY allocated by the legislature to PAY for that program, so I guess you're on your own!
Counting on all that Federal money generated by California to rebuild all those houses 4 or 5 times. No worries about diminishing population. There is always someone who wants to live on the beach.
Yeah, til the first hurricane hits and your beachfront home becomes a houseboat that doesn't float.
I lived 45 miles from the beach in SE NC, and went through the worst post hurricane flooding the country had ever experienced. I wasn't anywhere near the water, but we had 30 inches of rain in about 48 hours.
IIRC it was SC or NC that forced state regulators to use a specific equation for (under)estimates of water rise, because the scientific estimate the regulators had initially chosen to use would've devalued the beachfront properties too much.
My guess is the developers and real estate investors will take their profits and be long gone by the time the state has to deal with angry homeowners wondering why the state didn't provide them realistic risk and insurance estimates for their properties.
The NC coast is fronted by barrier islands that are basically big sand piles that get moved around a lot when there are storms and hurricanes.
One year a beach town called Topsail lost over 100 feet of sand and about 7 houses that had been built right on the beach (after a hurricane). Owners wanted to build them back and the town told them the land is gone, so they were no longer property owners.
That's why I won't live near the beach anymore (and I grew up spending every summer at the beach, so it makes me very sad).
Given the recorded history of religion from the first ritual human sacrifice to the Inquisitions and witch hunts to the latest child suicide bombing, when was that EVER true?
So ... the state of Florida is pitching. The question becomes, how many Florida teachers are actually CATCHING and how many are throwing it right back at Florida and calling the state on its bullshit? As pointed out in the article, the older, more experienced teachers clearly saw what was being attempted, while the newer ones may not have. This is where I think Florida's teachers' unions could play a significant part in countering the Sunshine State's propaganda blitz. Whatever portion of Florida's government is trying to promulgate this noise needs to be confronted with the false history it wishes to promote. I would hope that any teacher worth his or her salt would call this effort a pure tragedy, never mind an attempt at indoctrination in a false narrative, targeting vulnerable kids.
And once again, the question becomes: do Florida teachers have the guts to do that? Followup ... PLEASE!!!
I have no idea either. I sometimes think about running for a school board position, but I'm pretty sure I'd be slaughtered because I don't have kids. Not that I don't have a vested interest in how kids are educated. These are the future doctors and nurses who will take care of me If I reach old, old age.
I did grow up in Texas and still don't know, no kids or even nieces or nephews either so it hasn't had that much resonance in my thinking and I don't remember hearing much about them. I can say there has been a repeated fight over textbooks that was for a long time dominated by christian fundamentalists types. Check out AronRa's videos for some info on that, it's been back and forth for a long time as to who's been coming out more on top. I kinda started turning a deaf ear to it all because it's all too sickening.
I grew up in Texas from the age of 10, left at 26 and returned 10 years ago at 55. I went to high school in a small city that "used" to be a KKK hot bed. 100% White population. There's one, and only one strength in Southeast Texas, religion! As disheartening as this is 50 years later, it's unfortunately a fact. I tell everyone it's really simple to understand their reasoning. They couldn't survive without their ability to either justify with their book or be forgiven by their book's author.
No, unfortunately it's everywhere. For a organization that declares Love as their "motto" their actions over centuries show differently. I'm in an area that seems to be louder than many other places. . I suspect that may have something to do with White's being a minority where I live now. The pick-up trucks are certainly getting larger though. LMAO
It's not their motto, though. It was the J-dude's message but none of the fundamentalists ever practice it, theirs is the religion of smug, hateful superiority.
As someone who was indoctrinated in Christian Nationalism, I want to make an additional point neither Judd's article nor this one covered. To enhance this message.
Christian Nationalists are determined to say things like "the state is not God," because they operate with the worldview that their interpretation of the Bible should be the basis for our laws. That the Bible is God's perfect law; humans cannot improve upon it.
Armed with this view of government, they will follow their perceived directive in Romans 13:4 to force citizens to abide by their interpretation of God's law, with the government organized as "God's avenger on wrongdoers."
While they may advance the notion that "the state is not God" now, if they attain complete power, society will answer to the government (in the form of theocratic laws 'in God's name' - a stand-in for God on earth), and Christo-fascist politicians, police officers, members of the military, and government workers will anoint themselves "God's avengers on wrongdoers."
This may sound hysterical or hyperbolic. But I lived in that world for a long time. I know how they think and how they apply their indoctrination to everything. I don't want to link drop in Hemant's space, but my newsletter "Reader Question: How Do 'Pro-Life' Christian Nationalists View the Death Penalty?" delves into this further. God's avengers on earth = their Christo-fascist end-game.
"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon, than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my part, I truly detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel."
-- Thomas Paine, from "The Age of Reason"
Paine, who never owned slaves and hated the institution for its cruelty. Funny how Christers who talk about what the Founding Fathers "intended" never mention Paine or what he has to say about their religion,
Remember students, to be free, you have to believe exactly what I tell you to believe. You must act exactly how I tell you to act. And you must be exactly what I tell you to be. Only then, when you are a perfect copy of my ideology, will you be free.
"Teachers were told the same principle is embedded in the Declaration of Independence."
These propagandists keep trying to make the DoI something it is not, a legal document. It does not establish rules or laws for the country. It was a statement that the colonies no longer wanted to be ruled by the king. It is important to our history, but it has nothing to do with how our country is governed.
And if Christianity was so goddammed important to the founders, then why isn't it mentioned in any of the documents? It's not in the DoI, the constitution, or any of the other listed documents. There is no reference to the Christian god, only your creator, divine providence whatever.
Besides, rights are not god given no matter how much they bleat on about it. Rights are man made, and are only applicable when mankind allows them, as women well know (hello Dobbs).
On top of all that, there is no morality in the bible, god, or christianity. What they consider morality is simply obedience, and while we can value a certain level of obedience, it is not synonymous with morality. In fact, it is oftentimes at odds with the right thing to do. Just look at the bible, god orders people to kill all the time throughout the entirety of the bible, old testament and new, despite supposedly listing it as a big ten no-no. The worst things for christians, and god hisself, is to insult him, not things that harm other people, but stuff that makes him mad. This is not morality, there's no ethics in placating a dictator to save your own skin. Too bad so many people cannot see this.
I got a minivan this weekend (no, not that one). I got a new car last year and only had it a few months when someone hit me in a parking lot. After months of fighting insurance and waiting for parts, I finally took it in to get it fixed and got a rental. Well, my in-law's came out last weekend, so my wife suggested I upgrade to a minivan for a few days. After they left, I downgraded back to one like I had before, only to find one of the tires was bad and I need to go swap this one out. I'll now have driven 4 different cars over the span of less than a week.
Anyway, I thought the minivan was fairly comfortable and had plenty of room, but I just didn't care for how it drove. I also didn't care for all the collision sensors, because I can't get into my garage without very loud warnings about all the stuff near me. Yes I know. I'm the one who put it all there!
I always liked my minivan, especially when the kids were small. It was so easy to get them in, and safer than other vehicle options, and there was plenty of room for other things. I didn't have all the bells and whistles, it was IIRC a 2006.
I turn off most of the driver assist nonsense if I can on my more modern Jeep. If I could permanently disable the automatic engine shutoff, I would do it in a heartbeat. I swear it caused more harm to the engine than it saves in whatever it's supposed to save. I don't need the engine to cutoff when I stop for a stop sign or wait for traffic before turning onto a highway. There's a button to turn it off, but every time you start the car, it goes back on. I sometimes feel like I'm about to launch a Space Shuttle before I can pull out of my driveway, with all the buttons I have to push.
I love the backup camera, and the little lights in the side mirrors if someone is in my blindspot, but traction control and the lane tracking (whatever it's called) is more hassle than it's worth.
The backup camera is useful and a big THANK YOU for being someone who actually pays attention to the lights warning you that someone is in your blindspot. I've driven around too many people who have those and ignore them. If I can see the damn thing from my car, then I know they can.
Those collision sensors drive me batty when I try to parallel park. Whoever set the proximity definitions never had to parallel park in NYC. If I left that much room in front of and behind my car, someone would key it from end to end because I parked like an asshole.
All the alerts are annoying and distracting. But the the car actually moving the steering wheel was what really messed with my mind. Still don't like it, but I'm now at least used to it.
The moving the steering wheel is nice on roads with 6 lanes and bendier than a sidewinder snake. If you take your eyes off the road for a split second (to check your rearview, for example) lane is turning and you're drifting out of it into another car. Of course, I'm one of those looking forward to robocars (not that I think we'll have them in my lifetime) For one thing, maybe the robots can actually merge.
I got it 3 years ago, and I like it. On both my former Lincoln and my new Chevy. But I know different people have different opinions. Though it does feel weird when the wheel moves under your hand.
Pastor Shane just skipped over that bit about sell all you have and give it to the poor. Even if he'd gotten a million dollars at birth (why would Joseph be a carpenter then?) he'd have given it to the poor. Pastor Shane should have sold his Cadillac to CarMax and bought a simple Chevy and given the remainder to the poor. (I'm assuming like 90% of Americans he lives somewhere where a car is closer to a necessity rather than a luxury)
Hmmm, I wonder why the words 'lying' and 'lies' approach the frequency of 'the' here? You got to lie to preach. These aholes have no character, no integrity, no honesty. As usual, the their primary weapon is lying, their entire message is a lie, they are liars.
There comes a point when, if lies must be told and belief in those lies enforced, that it becomes clear that there has been a complete failure somewhere. This, then, is that point in time for Christianity; they have lied so often they no longer know what truth is and have therefore undermined any value the religion may have once had. Would that this failure entailed the death of Christianity as a religious faith rather than the persistent refusal to make changes so often exhibited by its adherents.
I am not ashamed to admit I'm currently terrified of what Christian Nationalism is doing to the United States. I fear there will be some very dark days in the future for younger generations, and this sort of indoctrination will likely make it worse. Deliberately miseducating young people will have long term consequences that will make things measurably worse for everyone, and no amount of Jesus is going to fix it. Getting religion out of education (and medicine, for that matter) may well be the most important political issue the US is facing right now, and I'm deeply concerned that it appears that the worst ideas are getting the most support. Good luck to all of us, it sure looks like we're going to need it.
I just can't stand this kind of nonsense. America is ill-informed enough as it is without throwing gasoline on the fire. If the Constitution says the government cannot establish a religion, no one else can do so either. The impetus for this came from smaller denominations worried about the dominance of the major one, the Presbyterians. If the Christian Nationalists have their way,, which denominations should prevail? Right now, Evangelical Protestants account for 25%, mainline Protestants 15%, Catholics 20%, then there's historical Black churches, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and a smattering of others. They all think they are the true religions, ignoring Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and a slew of others, let alone Nones, Atheists and Agnostics. The Christian Nationalists, probably mostly Evangelicals, would ignore all of the "others," and if they were successful, would create chaos and in the end probably bloodshed as they all start to fight against them and among themselves. Better to stick to the Constitution and stop inventing history.
No imaginary Christian god "gave" humanity their rights. There is no evidence of this in either the Old Testament OR the New Testament. Blind obedience with disastrous consequences for apostasy are the rule by both the capricious psychotic dictator in the clouds as well as his brat who has YET to return (despite his telling people that he would return within their lifetimes).
I've said it multiple times: the bible is NOT about rights. It is about the obligations humans have to Yahweh, presuming we want to kiss his ass eternally in heaven, as opposed to burning forever in hell.
If there's a good choice in there, I don't see it.
The notion that this nasty little tribal god sired a son is so ridiculous it beggars the imagination to think that people believe it. We scoff at Zeus appearing to Leda in the form of a swan, but we are willing to buy god the "Holy Ghost" as a dove appearing to Mary.
"And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
-- Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to John Adams dated April 11th 1823
Here's what Jefferson said about that in the same letter to Adams
"The truth is that the greatest enemies to the doctrines of Jesus are those calling themselves the expositors of them, who have perverted them for the structure of a system of fancy absolutely incomprehensible, and without any foundation in his genuine words."
Rhonda Santis is an Ivy League lawyer with a Gestapo mentality. The very last thing he wants is Civics being honestly taught. He doesn't want anyone expressing any opinion that contradicts his hard right view of the world. Christian nationalists keep dancing around the idea the founders didn't want church-state separation, but they totally ignore Section III, Article VI of the Constitution that bans religious tests for holding public office in this country. That sure sounds like church-state separation to me. Article VI predates the Bill of Rights and that speaks volumes about how they felt about the issue. The people who want to force religion into the public schools only want THEIR religion taught, and no other.
The government is ordering its teachers to LIE to their students, plain and simple. I want to know whether or not the teachers are just going to roll over or whether they are willing to get in DeSantis' face and tell him NO.
So far, no. They need their paychecks too much. And it seems to me, all over the country, teachers who make waves, are soon former teachers.
This is where I would hope that the teachers' union would provide some degree of cover. Ten years ago, I wouldn't bet on that cover being all that great, but unions have grown in strength during Biden's tenure as president.
Whether that's enough ... there's the question.
That's why the right has been pushing the lie that teacher's unions are the problem (it's always projection).
I am okay - temporarily - with teachers taking money to meet this state continuing education thing and then circular filing the materials.
Ideally the course would go away because it's teaching wrong things. Or at least, ideally it would become privatized and not subsidized so that the state is not wasting any money on it. But until the current executive and legislature changes to be less fundie, probably the best thing we can do is treat this as a state-mandated time share sales pitch: (teachers) sit through it, take the money, then get on with their lives.
Take the Money and Run! To your nearest blue state
You know just exactly what the facts is!
FL don’t need no stinking facts
…you mean just like the whole country with orange psychopath ? …NAZIS taking over our country without any resistance, democrats are useless and didn’t do shit to stop trump’s coup which is still in progress for these four years and ready to be finalized regardless of the results of the elections, while democrats are running business as usual, hoping for a “blue wave”, its called arrested development or doing the same thing and expecting a different result, good luck with that
…if country allows a dictator to become a dictator after he said he will be a dictator, then a country deserves a dictator
This hurricane season (predicted to be busy, with 4-7 major storms at Cat 3 and above and 17-25 named storms total) is coming. And homeowners in Florida who get dropped by their insurance company are choosing to move out of state, or go without insurance altogether because it's simply unaffordable.
And what has DeSantis done about this crisis? TAX BREAKS if you buy new windows and doors, but WAIT, THERE'S MORE!! Florida will send an inspector to your house to guide you on hardening against high winds and flooding, at no cost to you! Unfortunately, there was NO MONEY allocated by the legislature to PAY for that program, so I guess you're on your own!
Counting on all that Federal money generated by California to rebuild all those houses 4 or 5 times. No worries about diminishing population. There is always someone who wants to live on the beach.
Yeah, til the first hurricane hits and your beachfront home becomes a houseboat that doesn't float.
I lived 45 miles from the beach in SE NC, and went through the worst post hurricane flooding the country had ever experienced. I wasn't anywhere near the water, but we had 30 inches of rain in about 48 hours.
IIRC it was SC or NC that forced state regulators to use a specific equation for (under)estimates of water rise, because the scientific estimate the regulators had initially chosen to use would've devalued the beachfront properties too much.
My guess is the developers and real estate investors will take their profits and be long gone by the time the state has to deal with angry homeowners wondering why the state didn't provide them realistic risk and insurance estimates for their properties.
The NC coast is fronted by barrier islands that are basically big sand piles that get moved around a lot when there are storms and hurricanes.
One year a beach town called Topsail lost over 100 feet of sand and about 7 houses that had been built right on the beach (after a hurricane). Owners wanted to build them back and the town told them the land is gone, so they were no longer property owners.
That's why I won't live near the beach anymore (and I grew up spending every summer at the beach, so it makes me very sad).
Not the country, guys, the COUNTY. Sorry about that.
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐖𝐚𝐲𝐧𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐈𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/author-randy-wayne-white-survived-hurricane-ian-to-write-about-it/ar-BB1nbFWK?ocid=BingNewsSerp
https://thinc.blog/2024/05/23/the-quiet-place-with-extreme-season-predicted-atlantic-is-eerily-still/
The "Don't Say Gay" bill is working!
That's either very ominous or very good. ;D
"Religion was the inculcator of virtue."
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Given the recorded history of religion from the first ritual human sacrifice to the Inquisitions and witch hunts to the latest child suicide bombing, when was that EVER true?
There was that one time. For about five minutes around noon on February 30th.
Citation needed!
(｡•̀ᴗ-)
So this happened in Sweden in 1712.
Not to mention the massive amounts of child-molesting, they must endorse, because they protect the perps.
So ... the state of Florida is pitching. The question becomes, how many Florida teachers are actually CATCHING and how many are throwing it right back at Florida and calling the state on its bullshit? As pointed out in the article, the older, more experienced teachers clearly saw what was being attempted, while the newer ones may not have. This is where I think Florida's teachers' unions could play a significant part in countering the Sunshine State's propaganda blitz. Whatever portion of Florida's government is trying to promulgate this noise needs to be confronted with the false history it wishes to promote. I would hope that any teacher worth his or her salt would call this effort a pure tragedy, never mind an attempt at indoctrination in a false narrative, targeting vulnerable kids.
And once again, the question becomes: do Florida teachers have the guts to do that? Followup ... PLEASE!!!
I hope you're right. The Texas state Republican convention came out in full support of theocracy.
And analogously, I wonder how strong the Texas State Teachers' Union is and what their attitudes are.
I have no idea. I live in Texas but didn't grow up here. My Texas grand kids went to private school.
I'm sorry.
I have no idea either. I sometimes think about running for a school board position, but I'm pretty sure I'd be slaughtered because I don't have kids. Not that I don't have a vested interest in how kids are educated. These are the future doctors and nurses who will take care of me If I reach old, old age.
I did grow up in Texas and still don't know, no kids or even nieces or nephews either so it hasn't had that much resonance in my thinking and I don't remember hearing much about them. I can say there has been a repeated fight over textbooks that was for a long time dominated by christian fundamentalists types. Check out AronRa's videos for some info on that, it's been back and forth for a long time as to who's been coming out more on top. I kinda started turning a deaf ear to it all because it's all too sickening.
I grew up in Texas from the age of 10, left at 26 and returned 10 years ago at 55. I went to high school in a small city that "used" to be a KKK hot bed. 100% White population. There's one, and only one strength in Southeast Texas, religion! As disheartening as this is 50 years later, it's unfortunately a fact. I tell everyone it's really simple to understand their reasoning. They couldn't survive without their ability to either justify with their book or be forgiven by their book's author.
That is genuinely terrifying ... especially considering that it's likely NOT the only area with that behavior.
No, unfortunately it's everywhere. For a organization that declares Love as their "motto" their actions over centuries show differently. I'm in an area that seems to be louder than many other places. . I suspect that may have something to do with White's being a minority where I live now. The pick-up trucks are certainly getting larger though. LMAO
It's not their motto, though. It was the J-dude's message but none of the fundamentalists ever practice it, theirs is the religion of smug, hateful superiority.
Preface every christain lie with 'the party says that...'
"the state is not God."
Neither is the Bible, nor the church.
As someone who was indoctrinated in Christian Nationalism, I want to make an additional point neither Judd's article nor this one covered. To enhance this message.
Christian Nationalists are determined to say things like "the state is not God," because they operate with the worldview that their interpretation of the Bible should be the basis for our laws. That the Bible is God's perfect law; humans cannot improve upon it.
Armed with this view of government, they will follow their perceived directive in Romans 13:4 to force citizens to abide by their interpretation of God's law, with the government organized as "God's avenger on wrongdoers."
While they may advance the notion that "the state is not God" now, if they attain complete power, society will answer to the government (in the form of theocratic laws 'in God's name' - a stand-in for God on earth), and Christo-fascist politicians, police officers, members of the military, and government workers will anoint themselves "God's avengers on wrongdoers."
This may sound hysterical or hyperbolic. But I lived in that world for a long time. I know how they think and how they apply their indoctrination to everything. I don't want to link drop in Hemant's space, but my newsletter "Reader Question: How Do 'Pro-Life' Christian Nationalists View the Death Penalty?" delves into this further. God's avengers on earth = their Christo-fascist end-game.
"This may sound hysterical or hyperbolic"
Not for anyone who knows some European history. We had religious wars from the 5th to the 20th century.
🎯
The right isn’t opposed to school indoctrination as long as it’s right wing indoctrination.
The right isn’t opposed to activist judges as long as it’s right wing activism.
The right isn’t opposed to suppression of speech as long as it’s not right wing speech being suppressed.
The right isn’t opposed to a Constitutional right to privacy and bodily autonomy as long as it’s limited to a right to refuse vaccines and fluoride.
The slides omit an important document, ratified by the senate in 1797:
Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; ...
There is also the matter of:
𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 [𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠] ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑑𝑠, 𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛...
-- John Adams
Sadly, there are now those who want to pretend JUST THAT. 🤦♂️
Even when God was said in the Bible to speak to someone, I don't recall conversations so much as orders. Conversations go both ways.
One might even suspect that the writers and their subsequent editors and re-writers had God saying exactly what they wanted.
They always want to pretend that the Treaty of Tripoli, ratified by the founding fathers, doesn't exist.
"To have morality (virtue), you need religion."
"Human decency does not derive from religion. It precedes it."
-- Christopher Hitchens, from "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything"
And human decency precedes from every person who looks at Exodus 21 and Leviticus 25 and throws up their hands on horror.
Slavery is not moral. It never has been. It never will be.
"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon, than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my part, I truly detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel."
-- Thomas Paine, from "The Age of Reason"
Paine, who never owned slaves and hated the institution for its cruelty. Funny how Christers who talk about what the Founding Fathers "intended" never mention Paine or what he has to say about their religion,
Every time Lord is mentioned in the buybull I add 'of Evil'.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/toothless-skull-raises-qu/#:~:text=The%20tooth%20sockets%20had%20been,yet%20found%2C%20the%20researchers%20say.
See?
And compassion in animals has been extensively documented. Animals don't read holy books and have zero idea what religions/gods are.
Remember students, to be free, you have to believe exactly what I tell you to believe. You must act exactly how I tell you to act. And you must be exactly what I tell you to be. Only then, when you are a perfect copy of my ideology, will you be free.
"Unless we each conform, unless we obey orders, unless we follow our leaders blindly, there is no possible way we can remain free."
"You tell 'em, Ferret Face."
"Frank Burns eats worms."
"Oh, Frank, my lips are hot! Kiss my hot lips!"
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6d23ba04298184acb96ee4be7a7f6ef7d177fb462257ed685d29e34e5647eb70.jpg
"Teachers were told the same principle is embedded in the Declaration of Independence."
These propagandists keep trying to make the DoI something it is not, a legal document. It does not establish rules or laws for the country. It was a statement that the colonies no longer wanted to be ruled by the king. It is important to our history, but it has nothing to do with how our country is governed.
And if Christianity was so goddammed important to the founders, then why isn't it mentioned in any of the documents? It's not in the DoI, the constitution, or any of the other listed documents. There is no reference to the Christian god, only your creator, divine providence whatever.
Besides, rights are not god given no matter how much they bleat on about it. Rights are man made, and are only applicable when mankind allows them, as women well know (hello Dobbs).
On top of all that, there is no morality in the bible, god, or christianity. What they consider morality is simply obedience, and while we can value a certain level of obedience, it is not synonymous with morality. In fact, it is oftentimes at odds with the right thing to do. Just look at the bible, god orders people to kill all the time throughout the entirety of the bible, old testament and new, despite supposedly listing it as a big ten no-no. The worst things for christians, and god hisself, is to insult him, not things that harm other people, but stuff that makes him mad. This is not morality, there's no ethics in placating a dictator to save your own skin. Too bad so many people cannot see this.
OT but I thought you would appreciate it.
I got a minivan this weekend (no, not that one). I got a new car last year and only had it a few months when someone hit me in a parking lot. After months of fighting insurance and waiting for parts, I finally took it in to get it fixed and got a rental. Well, my in-law's came out last weekend, so my wife suggested I upgrade to a minivan for a few days. After they left, I downgraded back to one like I had before, only to find one of the tires was bad and I need to go swap this one out. I'll now have driven 4 different cars over the span of less than a week.
Anyway, I thought the minivan was fairly comfortable and had plenty of room, but I just didn't care for how it drove. I also didn't care for all the collision sensors, because I can't get into my garage without very loud warnings about all the stuff near me. Yes I know. I'm the one who put it all there!
I always liked my minivan, especially when the kids were small. It was so easy to get them in, and safer than other vehicle options, and there was plenty of room for other things. I didn't have all the bells and whistles, it was IIRC a 2006.
I turn off most of the driver assist nonsense if I can on my more modern Jeep. If I could permanently disable the automatic engine shutoff, I would do it in a heartbeat. I swear it caused more harm to the engine than it saves in whatever it's supposed to save. I don't need the engine to cutoff when I stop for a stop sign or wait for traffic before turning onto a highway. There's a button to turn it off, but every time you start the car, it goes back on. I sometimes feel like I'm about to launch a Space Shuttle before I can pull out of my driveway, with all the buttons I have to push.
I love the backup camera, and the little lights in the side mirrors if someone is in my blindspot, but traction control and the lane tracking (whatever it's called) is more hassle than it's worth.
The backup camera is useful and a big THANK YOU for being someone who actually pays attention to the lights warning you that someone is in your blindspot. I've driven around too many people who have those and ignore them. If I can see the damn thing from my car, then I know they can.
Those collision sensors drive me batty when I try to parallel park. Whoever set the proximity definitions never had to parallel park in NYC. If I left that much room in front of and behind my car, someone would key it from end to end because I parked like an asshole.
Well, there's your problem. You're trying to operate a motor vehicle in NYC.
I'll do you one better. I used to drive a truck around NYC.
Try to be a taxi driver near Paris who has to use the Périphérique several times a day.
I hate ring roads.
Yeah new cars these days are all nanny cars.
All the alerts are annoying and distracting. But the the car actually moving the steering wheel was what really messed with my mind. Still don't like it, but I'm now at least used to it.
The moving the steering wheel is nice on roads with 6 lanes and bendier than a sidewinder snake. If you take your eyes off the road for a split second (to check your rearview, for example) lane is turning and you're drifting out of it into another car. Of course, I'm one of those looking forward to robocars (not that I think we'll have them in my lifetime) For one thing, maybe the robots can actually merge.
When we first got the Outback, driving on the highway felt (to both of us) very much like going just barely under a loss-of-traction speed on ice.
It was the lane assist. When we turned that off, the car became vastly more stable.
I'm no luddite (my bike has a CVT, fercrissake), but not all improvements are improvements. At least not early on.
I got it 3 years ago, and I like it. On both my former Lincoln and my new Chevy. But I know different people have different opinions. Though it does feel weird when the wheel moves under your hand.
I've tried to use cruise control when driving from NY to South Carolina and I can't relax so I end up taking it off after 15 minutes max.
Val, Stole your last paragraph. Excellent!
Dude, you just got mentioned in Keith Olbermann’s podcast today about pastor Shane. He’s the Worst Person in the World.
Confirmed. Nice nod from Keith!
Which one? I can't find it. Shane who? Or is that the last name?
The show for today 5/29. Just said Pastor Shane. Sorry.
Thanks. :)
https://youtu.be/bbGNQVKfImU?t=2007
Many thanks. ^^^
Pastor Shane just skipped over that bit about sell all you have and give it to the poor. Even if he'd gotten a million dollars at birth (why would Joseph be a carpenter then?) he'd have given it to the poor. Pastor Shane should have sold his Cadillac to CarMax and bought a simple Chevy and given the remainder to the poor. (I'm assuming like 90% of Americans he lives somewhere where a car is closer to a necessity rather than a luxury)
Hmmm, I wonder why the words 'lying' and 'lies' approach the frequency of 'the' here? You got to lie to preach. These aholes have no character, no integrity, no honesty. As usual, the their primary weapon is lying, their entire message is a lie, they are liars.
Edited for incompetence.
It’s disheartening to hear this is still going on. Are there any lawsuits challenging this?
There comes a point when, if lies must be told and belief in those lies enforced, that it becomes clear that there has been a complete failure somewhere. This, then, is that point in time for Christianity; they have lied so often they no longer know what truth is and have therefore undermined any value the religion may have once had. Would that this failure entailed the death of Christianity as a religious faith rather than the persistent refusal to make changes so often exhibited by its adherents.
I am not ashamed to admit I'm currently terrified of what Christian Nationalism is doing to the United States. I fear there will be some very dark days in the future for younger generations, and this sort of indoctrination will likely make it worse. Deliberately miseducating young people will have long term consequences that will make things measurably worse for everyone, and no amount of Jesus is going to fix it. Getting religion out of education (and medicine, for that matter) may well be the most important political issue the US is facing right now, and I'm deeply concerned that it appears that the worst ideas are getting the most support. Good luck to all of us, it sure looks like we're going to need it.
As the Joker says, they are incapable of making the distinction between truth and lies:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a92db69200289fbe7b530b51c9706af57aa8fd60f6c3f68e81e1f2a011b7e3b9.jpg
We also need to get religion out of politics.
Ever so much this^^^ And it should be a priority!
I just can't stand this kind of nonsense. America is ill-informed enough as it is without throwing gasoline on the fire. If the Constitution says the government cannot establish a religion, no one else can do so either. The impetus for this came from smaller denominations worried about the dominance of the major one, the Presbyterians. If the Christian Nationalists have their way,, which denominations should prevail? Right now, Evangelical Protestants account for 25%, mainline Protestants 15%, Catholics 20%, then there's historical Black churches, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and a smattering of others. They all think they are the true religions, ignoring Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and a slew of others, let alone Nones, Atheists and Agnostics. The Christian Nationalists, probably mostly Evangelicals, would ignore all of the "others," and if they were successful, would create chaos and in the end probably bloodshed as they all start to fight against them and among themselves. Better to stick to the Constitution and stop inventing history.
Some people seem to make a lot of money inventing history. Sadly. It's the wingnut welfare circuit.
No imaginary Christian god "gave" humanity their rights. There is no evidence of this in either the Old Testament OR the New Testament. Blind obedience with disastrous consequences for apostasy are the rule by both the capricious psychotic dictator in the clouds as well as his brat who has YET to return (despite his telling people that he would return within their lifetimes).
I've said it multiple times: the bible is NOT about rights. It is about the obligations humans have to Yahweh, presuming we want to kiss his ass eternally in heaven, as opposed to burning forever in hell.
If there's a good choice in there, I don't see it.
The notion that this nasty little tribal god sired a son is so ridiculous it beggars the imagination to think that people believe it. We scoff at Zeus appearing to Leda in the form of a swan, but we are willing to buy god the "Holy Ghost" as a dove appearing to Mary.
"And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
-- Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to John Adams dated April 11th 1823
Yes. We should jettison the traditional Bible in favor the Jefferson Bible, which only contains the words of Jesus and none of the silly stories.
Here's what Jefferson said about that in the same letter to Adams
"The truth is that the greatest enemies to the doctrines of Jesus are those calling themselves the expositors of them, who have perverted them for the structure of a system of fancy absolutely incomprehensible, and without any foundation in his genuine words."