Theists constantly claim credit for all that’s good with the world, while turning a blind eye to the countless horrors perpetrated by religious people in the name of their religion. Personally, I would never support any politician who put his or her religion forward as something that qualifies them for public office.
Where I live some people put the fish on their business or a bible quote on their marquee. I’m grateful for that because then I know who not to do business with.
I'm kind of stuck where I live. All the businesses promote their god inside the business. The only thing I can hope for is they don't start trying to ban me from shopping (despite the law).
The local general store owner knows I'm an atheist. If she banned me, the next nearest grocery store is sixteen miles away. The owner of that store also knows I'm an atheist. If they also banned me, the next nearest grocery store is sixty miles away.
Ah, that is remote. I’ve lived in rural areas but nothing similar to what you described. Thank you for sharing.
But here’s a joke. The Des Moines Register had a contest in the 1970s to come up with a funny slogan for license plates. The winner was “Iowa — Gateway to Nebraska”
My father, who was one of the most honorable men I ever knew, told me when I was young, to beware of people who loudly announce their religion to you, when dealing in a business context, because it tells you they are con people. It has no place in business dealings.
I also avoid the words Veteran, unless I know them personally (that is a big con thing by republicans here in FL) patriot, and anything even remotely suggesting maga.
From my point of view, which is hardly news, so many people have done so much to discredit religion as a force for good, there isn’t much left for it to be except a force for bad.
Our current nightmare is a perfect example of it. The last I heard, evangelical Christian support for Trump is still around 70 to 80%. These are the people who are constantly insisting that morals are very important, and that all the people they dislike have very poor morals indeed. Yet they support one of the most immoral and incompetent, not to mention outright crooked, people who have ever disgracex the office.
That tells me that morals are not so important to them
Do you suppose that's part of the reason why "... no religious test shall ever be required" and "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" were written into the Constitution?
That was included in the Constitution because the founders knew their European history and wanted no part of the religious strife that had plagued the old world for centuries. You probably already knew that. lol
Not only that, the founders also saw what religious (read: Christian) rule looked like when were were just a collection of colonies a century before our founding.
Considering the WIDE margin by which Neil won, I would wonder if those who backed his opponent gathered together after the election, shaking their heads and wondering what went wrong with their campaign.
On the gripping hand, this just shows that prayers have integer spin and follow Bose-Einstein statistics while shit has half-integer spin and is subjected to the Pauli exclusion priciple.
They’ll assume they didn’t go hard enough on the mudslinging. They’ll double down and go more fundamental fire and brimstone. Because that’s how they’ll get more butts in pews so it must work for votes too.
The whole negative campaigning thing I think has reached a saturation point, on top of its impotence when people like Polzin take the extra effort to make personal contact with the voters.
I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing was a shell. Some rich white dude who picked a name for their PAC in order to imply their political opponents are wife beaters.
What a concept! Making PERSONAL CONTACT with voters? Telling the TRUTH, while the opposition deals in smear tactics? Wowie-zowie, maybe strategy like this could catch on!
In all seriousness, big-time congrats, Neil. You done good! 👍👍👍
Lying liars for Jesus lying in order to oust someone doing a good job? That tracks. They don't care about the elected official being competent. They just want to make sure it's one of their people. It's all about power and control. Mr Polzin did it the right way: show people directly that you are a decent human being who has been doing the job well. When confronted with a lie on paper, the truth actively shaking your hand will go a long way towards helping you see through the lie.
Unfortunately, we don't have the numbers to go door to door nationwide, so we do what we can.
Most local positions cost nothing but a time investment to run. Local politics tend to affect you most, and for those interested, are the stepping stone to higher offices.
Perhaps not, but I would suggest that said 1/2 probably needs to hear exactly that. Can't blame you for not wanting to be the one saying it, though, I suspect around where I live, I might get tarred and feathered if I wasn't burned at the stake.
If I had received that mailer in my mailbox, I’d have first died laughing, then I would have shredded it to make sure it was truly gone. So fucking creepy.
Congratulations to Neil and everyone who voted for him.
One-on-one conversations are most frequently what determine people's opinions. I don't have data to point to, but in my personal experience, most people don't go out of their way to remain ignorant; being ignorant is the default and what they learn is based on what they encounter. If a person never has a conversation with a friendly, intelligent, helpful person providing truthful information, they remain ignorant. If a person only has conversations with uneducated, negatively biased, or willfully malignant actors, they don't know they've been misinformed unless they get better information. They may doubt bad information based on the attitude with which it is conveyed, but when the person providing the falsehoods seems friendly and helpful, they may not.
True. But people often lose that kind of trust when they find out they've been lied to. So it's still useful to have those one-on-one conversations, even when it feels hopeless. Every now and again, you run into someone who will appreciate that we can bring receipts. I know, I know, there's a lot of gullible and stupid out there, and there's probably at least 30% of the country we'll never reach... but speaking truth and backing it up with evidence is still worthwhile.
Theists constantly claim credit for all that’s good with the world, while turning a blind eye to the countless horrors perpetrated by religious people in the name of their religion. Personally, I would never support any politician who put his or her religion forward as something that qualifies them for public office.
If someone makes an effort to let me know that they are Christian, I won’t even do business with them.
It’s one thing to wear a cross. But if religion is part of how you present yourself to me, I already know I’m not interested.
When people lead with that, I shut down.
I never do business with self-professed Christian companies.
Where I live some people put the fish on their business or a bible quote on their marquee. I’m grateful for that because then I know who not to do business with.
I'm kind of stuck where I live. All the businesses promote their god inside the business. The only thing I can hope for is they don't start trying to ban me from shopping (despite the law).
The local general store owner knows I'm an atheist. If she banned me, the next nearest grocery store is sixteen miles away. The owner of that store also knows I'm an atheist. If they also banned me, the next nearest grocery store is sixty miles away.
Where, approximately, do you live?
I live in the Nebraska Panhandle.
Ah, that is remote. I’ve lived in rural areas but nothing similar to what you described. Thank you for sharing.
But here’s a joke. The Des Moines Register had a contest in the 1970s to come up with a funny slogan for license plates. The winner was “Iowa — Gateway to Nebraska”
I grew up in Valentine.
It is asking to get boned. Do not turn your back on them.
My father, who was one of the most honorable men I ever knew, told me when I was young, to beware of people who loudly announce their religion to you, when dealing in a business context, because it tells you they are con people. It has no place in business dealings.
I also avoid the words Veteran, unless I know them personally (that is a big con thing by republicans here in FL) patriot, and anything even remotely suggesting maga.
From my point of view, which is hardly news, so many people have done so much to discredit religion as a force for good, there isn’t much left for it to be except a force for bad.
Our current nightmare is a perfect example of it. The last I heard, evangelical Christian support for Trump is still around 70 to 80%. These are the people who are constantly insisting that morals are very important, and that all the people they dislike have very poor morals indeed. Yet they support one of the most immoral and incompetent, not to mention outright crooked, people who have ever disgracex the office.
That tells me that morals are not so important to them
Do you suppose that's part of the reason why "... no religious test shall ever be required" and "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" were written into the Constitution?
Nah, couldn't be! 😉
That was included in the Constitution because the founders knew their European history and wanted no part of the religious strife that had plagued the old world for centuries. You probably already knew that. lol
Not only that, the founders also saw what religious (read: Christian) rule looked like when were were just a collection of colonies a century before our founding.
They said “No. Absolutely not.”
New England Puritians left their mark.
They have fucked us raised in New England, up terribly with their legacy.
I knew that? 🤔 😁 [sigh] Would that the idiot-children who wanted to dump on Polzin could be bothered to learn that!
Facts and reality are just inconvenient suggestions to them.
Beat me to the thought. Sorry for the repeat. When I sent my post, there were no comments.
No worries.
"TELL ME WHO YOUR FRIENDS ARE, AND I WILL TELL YOU WHO YOU ARE!"
I couldn't agree more with the lying Christian.
I don't want to hear about your imaginary friends, though. ; )
Much how they claim that they are the dominate group that the represent is also imaginary.
And they just don't get the irony.
So true.
This article shows that xtians don't quite have the power they think they do.
Congrats to Neil.
Considering the WIDE margin by which Neil won, I would wonder if those who backed his opponent gathered together after the election, shaking their heads and wondering what went wrong with their campaign.
Think they'll figure it out? I doubt it.
"But...but... we prayed REALLY hard! Was it God's Will that an atheist should triumph so spectacularly? We're very confused!"
Maybe we should tell them the one about "Pray in one hand and 💩 in the other, and see which one fills up first!"
Fill the one hand will fill up with prayer, and it’s just so very much prayer you can fit into a hand. And you can add more and more and more.
On the other hand, fill the other hand with shit. You could only fit a little bit in there.
You’re just not being logical.
On the gripping hand, this just shows that prayers have integer spin and follow Bose-Einstein statistics while shit has half-integer spin and is subjected to the Pauli exclusion priciple.
Upvote for “gripping hand”
Gad, are we talking about quantum shit now?
That's right, Ben, be a spoilsport! 😝 🤣
One of my grand dads said that once, in Norwegian.
I wonder just how many cultures worldwide came up with that one or a close analogy all on their own.
They’ll assume they didn’t go hard enough on the mudslinging. They’ll double down and go more fundamental fire and brimstone. Because that’s how they’ll get more butts in pews so it must work for votes too.
Spoiler, it doesn’t work for either scenario.
The whole negative campaigning thing I think has reached a saturation point, on top of its impotence when people like Polzin take the extra effort to make personal contact with the voters.
Makes a lie of the smears in a hurry!
They didn't Jesus hard enough.
Oh come on. It’ll take 10 seconds to realize that it was the devil working on them.
I said, "Figure it out," not, "Let's jump to the same old stupid conclusion!" 😁
The Women Against Abuse PAC might want to focus their attention on all the abuses committed by Christians. That should keep them busy.
They won't do that. To them, abuse is anything other than their authoritarian theocratic control. Indoctrination is one hell of a drug.
I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing was a shell. Some rich white dude who picked a name for their PAC in order to imply their political opponents are wife beaters.
"Keep them busy?" Hell, they'd need a well-staffed subcommittee to document it all!
For years, if not decades.
Xtians will always lie to try and force their agenda on the rest of us.
And then they'll bitch when they get intelligent and informed blowback from us!
What a concept! Making PERSONAL CONTACT with voters? Telling the TRUTH, while the opposition deals in smear tactics? Wowie-zowie, maybe strategy like this could catch on!
In all seriousness, big-time congrats, Neil. You done good! 👍👍👍
Neil Polzin … ✔ ✔ ✔
How positively different the UNTIDY STATES OF AMERICA would be if the likes of Neil outnumbered the theists.
From Australia
… 🦘🦘🦘
𝐻𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 1:1 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒.
Lying liars for Jesus lying in order to oust someone doing a good job? That tracks. They don't care about the elected official being competent. They just want to make sure it's one of their people. It's all about power and control. Mr Polzin did it the right way: show people directly that you are a decent human being who has been doing the job well. When confronted with a lie on paper, the truth actively shaking your hand will go a long way towards helping you see through the lie.
Unfortunately, we don't have the numbers to go door to door nationwide, so we do what we can.
More of us need to run for office.
Most local positions cost nothing but a time investment to run. Local politics tend to affect you most, and for those interested, are the stepping stone to higher offices.
Not for me. I'm too honest/blunt. Calling more than 1/2 of the electorate delusional is probably not a good campaign strategy.
Perhaps not, but I would suggest that said 1/2 probably needs to hear exactly that. Can't blame you for not wanting to be the one saying it, though, I suspect around where I live, I might get tarred and feathered if I wasn't burned at the stake.
"Hearts On Fire Church"
Sounds painful.
Nothing a couple of Tums can't handle.
Oh, DRAT! I was about to do the old Tum, ta-Tum-Tum-TUMS! routine. 😁
https://youtu.be/r9RUN_hBhpI?t=22
Xtians give people heartburn.
Use less sauce.
Hugely Rigged!!! <storms out>
Fake news!!!
Alternative facts! 😝
Like so much of what they hold as holy.
Many people are saying.
Darling
Christians bearing false witness yet again.
Just checked. Today's day of the week does indeed end in a Y.
Spanish: jueves
French: jeudi
German: Donnerstag
Czech: čtvrtek
Romanian: joi
Albanian: e enjte
Not a Y to be found. 🙄🤪
Cheater! Cheater! 😉
As if there are languages other than Amurican.
And pronounced " 'Murican."
My bad! TY!
Ya forgot: Torsdag.
If I had received that mailer in my mailbox, I’d have first died laughing, then I would have shredded it to make sure it was truly gone. So fucking creepy.
Congratulations to Neil and everyone who voted for him.
I don't know. I might have had it framed, and hung it in the toilet.😁
https://i.etsystatic.com/iap/d6c755/5571538259/iap_300x300.5571538259_a99orlng.jpg?version=0
Thanks. I needed that.
Otherizing others seems to be all that these so called christians are about. But you can’t otherize people that other people know.
Tell people the truth, be yourself, be transparent.
MAGAtry, like reactionary Christianity, thrives on lies.
I tried being transparent but people just saw through me.
I am told that trans parents are just as good as cis-het parents. (Maybe better)
<looks around> Who said that?
Dad joke for the win!
👍
But it visibly upset you!
“Tell people the truth, be yourself, be transparent.”
In other words, be the antithesis of (maga-)christianity.
Christianity itself is based on lies.
One-on-one conversations are most frequently what determine people's opinions. I don't have data to point to, but in my personal experience, most people don't go out of their way to remain ignorant; being ignorant is the default and what they learn is based on what they encounter. If a person never has a conversation with a friendly, intelligent, helpful person providing truthful information, they remain ignorant. If a person only has conversations with uneducated, negatively biased, or willfully malignant actors, they don't know they've been misinformed unless they get better information. They may doubt bad information based on the attitude with which it is conveyed, but when the person providing the falsehoods seems friendly and helpful, they may not.
“ … or willfully malignant actors, they don't know they've been misinformed unless they get better information.”
Unfortunately, because of the wilfully malignant aspect, they won’t get better information from people they trust.
True. But people often lose that kind of trust when they find out they've been lied to. So it's still useful to have those one-on-one conversations, even when it feels hopeless. Every now and again, you run into someone who will appreciate that we can bring receipts. I know, I know, there's a lot of gullible and stupid out there, and there's probably at least 30% of the country we'll never reach... but speaking truth and backing it up with evidence is still worthwhile.
OT: It's raining hard. Hard enough that my recently cleaned gutters are overflowing. If animals start showing up 2x2, I'm going to freak.
Eta: Stopped raining. Only 4 hours not 40 days.
Watch out for that gay lion pair; they may be hungry.
The neighbor has little cats*. They would have to experience hyper-evolution to become lions.
*From what I've seen, none of them are gay. : )