255 Comments
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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Wonderful. Yet another preacher talking out of his ass on something about which he clearly knows NOTHING. Worse, he's doing it to high school kids, many of which likely recognize his lack of expertise or understanding. The reductionist attitude of blaming problems on a single element is such a part of too many sermons that I wonder that it hasn't become a meme.

Humans are COMPLEX, Mansfield! And your students deserve better than this.

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Matri's avatar

So, just another day ending in Y.

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Straw's avatar

None of my days ends with a y. They all end with a g or with a tantrum.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Stop with the "sin" shit, already. It's no more real than belligerent malevolent sky pixies.

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John Smith's avatar

Sin is self inflicted nonsense!

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Jamee Andelin's avatar

Yes! Silly. Inherited. Nonsense.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Grown adults who believe in supernatural figments of the imagination are the last people on Earth to address mental health issues.

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Stephen Brady's avatar

By the time a teacher gets promoted to Assistant Principal, they should have had instruction in Child Psychology and in a High School, Adolescent Psychology... This idiot with his pat, simplistic solutions has no business whatsoever being in that position.

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Kathlyn's avatar

This reminds me so much of a conversation I had with my English teacher at school. He asked me to stay back, addressed my lack of homework, and then asked “do you have a problem or are you just lazy?” Oddly, it was said in a genuine way, so I felt safe telling him that I was having trouble working outside class and he found a way to help. (I’m pretty sure now that it was undiagnosed ADHD). I had been accused of laziness so often, that to have it *asked* and not *assumed* made the world of difference.

Hearing what this man has said to all these young people, of a similar age to what I was then really brought that back, and I can feel for them. It’s horrible to have your struggles dismissed like that, let alone told that you are “sinning”(with all that implies) for something you probably cannot help!

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Tinker's avatar

𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭-𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘣𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩.

Good for you. Not everyone is you. Most people don't find happiness at work. Most people work to get money so they can enjoy their life outside of work. I will say that when someone says they have two full time jobs and they are happy with that, I have to wonder what is wrong with their home life.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

I call bullshit on this one.

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Tinker's avatar

I also should have pointed out that I have yet to meet someone who is successful at two full-time jobs.

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Kay-El's avatar

Just ask Marco Rubio who has five. 🙄

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D Kitterman's avatar

Americans are nothing more than wage slaves.

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wreck's avatar

Dude's a regular Widdle Marco, who sucks at all of his jerbs.

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Julie Babis's avatar

FFS. That is really all I can articulate on that twaddle. Who wants to go to heaven anyway if it’s full if self-righteous pricks

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

This is how we know atheists will go to heaven. After all, what greater hell can there be for 𝑢𝑠 than to spend eternity with 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚?

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Julie Babis's avatar

I like your logic. I’m more a believer in the circle of life, death and rebirth. Hopefully karma has something suitably unpleasant in store for the poor apologies of human beings next time round

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

I would like to take credit, but I stole that from my brother, a militant atheist.

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Linda's avatar

🤣

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prbev's avatar

Heaven for the climate. Hell for the company.--Mark Twain

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Midnyte Storme's avatar

That’s the thing though, even though they think they’re going to heaven, I don’t believe they are.

Because I believe they will be judged on their hearts and not their performative actions. (Going to church and pretending to repent while not actually intending to change.)

And if hell is real, I’m going to be door bitch, greeting them all and telling them they are exactly where they earned a place to be.

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

Telling kids that they didn’t work hard enough when they have problems is just diabolical. Are there some lazy kids? Sure, but you cannot just write off bad grades as lazy. There were times when I was lazy, but that was only because I didn’t have to work to comprehend the lessons. When a student struggles with their schoolwork, it will likely not be because they aren’t working, not until they’ve been beaten down by this rhetoric. They have been trying so hard, fighting the crushing pressure of failing and failing and failing all while some adult in their life is telling them they’re lazy, try harder, work harder, do more, rather than providing empathy and tools to succeed. So, when a student is struggling this way with adults telling them they’re just lazy, they give up and actually become lazy.

Depression isn’t about laziness, though that’s what it might look like from the outside sometimes. It does take work to get through it, but some asshole who is just wandering around prescribing mowing lawns and making your bed (don’t think I missed the similarities between this and Jordan Peterson’s “genius” advice.) to get out of depression isn’t it. It really takes a specific type of work, that sometimes doesn’t look like work, to fix it. And there needs to be a great deal of support work by others and yes, even medication.

Save the “getting into heaven” shit for their parents and chosen religious leaders, the school principals aren’t the ones. Especially when they’re just touting weepy Jordan Peterson’s crappy book.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

His statement is indeed diabolical. It's also reductionist and demonstrates a near-total lack of understanding of the multiple reasons why a student might underachieve. It seems to me that Mansfield has decided that his one favorite square peg is going to fit in that round hole if it kills the hole.

What that man is doing in education is a mystery to me.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

I want to know how a school vice-principal manage a second full time job, and a family.

"Now, that sounds a little arrogant"

Isn't pride a sin too in your collection or pseudoepigrapha ?

Just because I have to "Hey, preacher ! Leave them kids alone !"

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

All in all, he's just another brick in The Wall ... and that's NOT a good thing, Mansfield!

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Linda's avatar

Pink Floyd is always playing in my head somehow. It’s amazing.

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Straw's avatar

Me too. Their music is on my phone's memory chip.

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Jane in NC's avatar

If this school really wanted to address mental health issues that teenagers face, they should have had a responsible, knowledgeable mental health professional make a video and then have someone available to actually help kids. This religious bullshit will do nothing but make kids who were already struggling feel worse about themselves, their prospects, and their futures. Aside from the blatant and illegal religious messaging being blasted to a captive audience, this guy knows nothing about mental health issues and his message is damaging.

Thanks again to the FFRF for jumping in and making sure this school takes down that harmful BS and apologizes for it. Manfield should be put on leave until he gets counseling on the law AND on how to talk to teens about mental health. The damage religion does creeps into even the smallest things.....

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dammit barry's avatar

Much easier to blame the kids. It is their fault they are depressed, angry and on the verge of suicide.

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Jane in NC's avatar

Sad, isn't it? That an adult with administrative authority in this school doesn't understand how to deal with the real mental health issues facing his students. Really, sad and disgusting stuff here.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Mansfield is the poster idiot for the Simple-Answers-to-Complex-Problems charity. The disservice he is doing to his students is just staggering.

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Jane in NC's avatar

Therein lies the problem, eh? Thinking that complex problems have simple solutions.

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Stephen Brady's avatar

It is the hallmark of conservatism.

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John Smith's avatar

I would also have the police check his web browser, I bet the police would find plenty of interesting stuff!🤨

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Jane in NC's avatar

True dat! And not a single person here would be surprised.

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Kay-El's avatar

It’s tough enough being a teen without have some egotistical 2 jobs asshole rubbing your face in it if you’re having trouble in school.

Mansfield is a loser and not what he appears to be. I hope he loses his job

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dammit barry's avatar

I is depressed on account of I is lazy. Of course, persecution & constant damnation by duh holey fucks would not matter cuz it is godly hatred.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

You just need Jesus. Jesus us the answer to everything.

(Boy, brainlessness sure is easy. Couldn't have made that declaration without it)

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

I am not sure charcuterie several times a day is good for your health.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Agreed. Need some roughage in there! 😁

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Maltnothops's avatar

Q: Whose fault is it that I had so little sex as a teenager?

A: Jesus

Damn, you’re right!

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Runfastandwin's avatar

This kind of bs is why I quit high school the day I turned 15 when it became legal for me. Not one day after.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I graduated after 4 years of learning how much bullshit there is in the world. A stint in the military after high school only furthered that knowledge.

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Runfastandwin's avatar

Funny thing, I started planning my escape in the second grade when I was wrongfully accused and punished for a crime I did not commit.

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Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

"In second grade, a student was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. This man promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them....maybe you can hire The A-Team."

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Holytape's avatar

Dear Assistant Principal Scott Mansfield,

Just because you cry when you masturbate, doesn't make it not a sin. So before you offer life advice to other, maybe fix your own life.

Sincerely,

Holytape

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larry parker's avatar

But that's his second job.

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Die Anyway's avatar

Father Bernardino told me that if I said "Jesus" and "Mary, Mother of God" twenty times each while ummm... spanking the monkey, then God would be ok with it. Sometimes it was difficult to get them all said in time.

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D Kitterman's avatar

All Religions depend upon gullible people who are looking for meaning but instead being served and indoctrinated by complete fantastical bullshit created by men. The other half of the world's population, women, are relegated to the status of breeders and property.

Religion prevents progress.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Religion can barely stand progress, if it tolerates it at all. Progress means growth of knowledge and understanding. Those two elements have a tendency to act against superstition, myth, and lies, three things which religion steeps itself in.

Meantime, Mansfield lays this stupidity on students, more than a couple of which saw through it all and spoke out. One wonders if he could learn from this little incident. One also doubts it mightily.

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dammit barry's avatar

Of course it's mississippi.

A Mississippi judge has dismissed charges against a white father and son accused of chasing and shooting at a Black FedEx driver, D'Monterrio Gibson, in 2023. The decision has sparked outrage, especially from Gibson, who expressed feeling “deeply devastated and disheartened.” The charges were dismissed due to serious procedural issues, including the mishandling of evidence by law enforcement. The case drew widespread attention to the challenges of securing justice for Black individuals who face racial violence. Despite the dismissal, the case highlights broader concerns about accountability in incidents of racial aggression, and the ongoing struggle for equal protection under the law.

https://scontent-ord5-3.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/596798945_1217250560273179_3460890647668901078_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_s640x640_tt6&_nc_cat=1&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=yOVYSfR4QkMQ7kNvwFU7Q3m&_nc_oc=Adl7QZftQpXkYGYVDJpCZfQ5X-6CIiyr561-beLhZWPdYPHusZ9af2lmvCcZQvV3XhI&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-3.xx&_nc_gid=eOvg-zE0nbPfLE9W2oH6Mg&oh=00_Aflqzf8RjAUpmepiNitQkSud8qsqV72PJ8c1R59NGFw8gA&oe=693F7A37

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Would love to know if there's any chance of a retrial. This whole business reeks of miscarriage of justice.

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

This story is from January. I can't help but think the cops intentionally fucked it up.

"In a decision Monday afternoon, Judge David Strong agreed with the defense, deciding that the investigator in this case, Vincent Fernando, intentionally withheld evidence, resulting in “egregious discovery violations by the State."

https://www.wlbt.com/2025/01/06/judge-dismisses-case-against-fatherson-duo-accused-shooting-fedex-driver/

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NOGODZ20's avatar
1dEdited

What kind of all-powerful god can't destroy the enemy it created? And why are there parts in the bible where that god treats its enemy as a friend whose opinion it values?

Seems like YHVH is the one who needs help with its mental health.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Among the descriptive words Richard Dawkins used in his famous sentence about Yahweh, the one word I don't recall is: "sadist." Granted that one cannot guess the motivation or mindset of a god, especially one that doesn't exist, but I think the term applies, nevertheless.

Edit: He DOES use the word: "sadomasochistic," but I don't see Yahweh as a masochist, not hardly. It IS pretty clear to me that he must enjoy jerking his creation around in more ways than anyone would care to count. The word fits.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

He sure does seem to revel in his mistakes. ;)

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NOGODZ20's avatar

FWIW, he does use the term "sadomasochistic."

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dammit barry's avatar

Sadist = god. Masochist = kkkrister. Now the victims want to make everyone miserable under their sadistic overlord.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Yeah, I caught that and edited. Ah, well! 😁

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Donrox's avatar

There is no sign of any divine sadist who created the universe. Unfortunately, there exist billions of masochists living their delusions

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