• Pages
    • Categories
    Looking glass
    Navigate/Search

    Archive for November, 2009

    New Moon

    Friday, November 20th, 2009

    Ok, I know next to nothing about the books or the movies except that they have sparkly vampires (which seems completely stupid to me), but I was listening to a discussion about it on the radio on the way in to work this morning.

    It turns out that the “good” vampires don’t kill humans, they just suck the blood of forest creatures.

    I can’t help but wondering if vampiric deer and rabbits are really an improvement over human vampires…

    Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

    Facebook Status Updates

    Thursday, November 19th, 2009

    This is from a Facebook discussion I just finished. The names have been changed to keep the focus on the actual discussion, as well as some editing by removing timestamps and other formatting not relevant to the discussion.

    Original Poster

    I believe in Jesus Christ and proud to say it!! Let’s see how many people on fb aren’t afraid to show their love for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ our Savior! Repost this as your status. Let’s get God back in this country like He should be!!! If you agree post this in your status update. Just copy and paste!

    Pitabred
    I don’t believe in Jesus, and I’m proud to say it. God is all over this country and people support it, as you have show… God has no place in the Government, though. Unless you don’t like the First Amendment that also allows you to post things like this.
    Original Poster
    Pitabred: As François-Marie Arouet would say: I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.
    The God in Government piece, you would need to take that up with our founding fathers to dispute. Good luck, your gonna need it for that debate.
    Poster #1
    Regardless of the interpretation of law and the ill concieved concept of sereration of Church and State, God will always be in Government as long as there are Christian Men and Woman who work for our great nation. I work for the government, But I serve the King of kings. Thank God for that.
    Pitabred
    Places with separation of church and state: USA, Australia, Germany, France, UK, Japan
    Places without: Medieval England, Iran, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan,
    Ill-conceived indeed.
    If the founding fathers hadn’t wanted religion separate from the state, they wouldn’t have put “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” as the very first words of the very First Amendment. There is no luck needed in that debate.
    Poster #1
    Check your history brother. Why did we come to this great piece of dirt to begin with? Our Country is founded as “One nation under God.” We are a nation who placed God at the center of our foundation, as the cornerstone of our Government. This is a historical fact that can not be ignored, regardless of your personal “feelings” on the subject. I do not support forcing people to believe a certain way, but you can not ignore the importance of God in our nation’s history.
    Pitabred
    One nation under God was added to the pledge in 1954. There is no mention of the word “God” in either the Constitution or any of the amendments. Go ahead, check.
    I need to check my history? Are you really that ignorant? I mean, a 5 minute web search would have turned up these links:

    Our country was formed because we had taxation without representation, and that pissed off the founding fathers. The Protestants came over before the US was a country because they were tired of the Church of England, but they had nothing to do with the revolution. They were happy being colonies. Your revisionist propaganda should be offensive to any real American.

    Poster #1
    I know where the quote came from, and when it was added, it is the concept that counts. The militant cry for seperation from God makes me very sad for you. God still loves you and has not forgotten you, even if you want to ignor him. I am sorry for getting under your skin with this, I can tell you are seeing this as a personal attack, it’s not, just friendly debate. You still should really “check your history.” You are seeing only what supports your position, not the entire picture.

    We have staked the whole of all our political
    institutions upon the capacity of mankind for
    self-government, upon the capacity of each and
    all of us to govern ourselves, to control
    ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to
    the Ten Commandments of God.’
    – James Madison
    Every session of Congress begins with a prayer
    by a paid preacher, whose salary has been paid
    by the taxpayer since 1777.

    Fifty-two of the 55 founders of the
    Constitution were members of the established
    orthodox churches in the colonies.

    There are Bible verses etched in stone all over the Federal Buildings and Monuments in Washington , D.C.

    As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the Two huge oak doors have the Ten Commandments
    Engraved on each lower portion of each door. As you sit inside the courtroom, you can see
    The wall, right above where the Supreme Court
    judges sit, a display of the Ten Commandments!

    As you walk up the steps to the
    building which houses the U.S Supreme Court
    you can see near the top of the building a row
    of the world’s law givers and each one is
    facing one in the middle who is facing forward
    with a full frontal view … it is Moses and he
    is holding the Ten Commandments!

    The founding Fathers never wanted Freedom From God- they were fearful of a state run church a la Church of England. Here are some additional facts for you to check, you tell me where our nation came from. God bless you in your search for truth.
    Pitabred
    And your continued devotion to an imaginary being makes me sad, that you waste your time praying instead of doing something. See how we can all be pompous and self-righteous?

    And I’ll see your Madison quote with one from someone more famous and more influential in the forming of the nation:

    “Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear.”
    -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787

    And you claim that I don’t see the entire picture. The concept is that people are trying to force their religion on everyone in the country, rather than “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”. Religion has no place in government because it makes every single person who doesn’t follow the established religion into a second-class citizen. That you don’t recognize that scares me, and it scared the framers of the Constitution so much that they made it the first amendment. Feel free to believe whatever you want. Just keep it out of legislation.

    Poster #1
    Sure, I am not for a state run by the Church, just the recognition of the fact that this country does not exist in it’s current form seperate from God. You can try to keep God out, but people will always have their individual faith, and individuals are who make up our nation. Thank you for the discussion, well worth the while.
    Pitabred
    Yes, there are people with individual faiths that make up this nation, and the best thing to do is keep every single one out of the government. After all, the number one religion behind Christianity (which is excessively broad in the first place because it includes Mormons, Catholics, Baptists and others who very often disagree in most things) in America is no religion at all:
    http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html#religions

    Posted in Atheism, Politics | 1 Comment »

    Good without God

    Monday, November 16th, 2009

    How can I be good without God? It really tries my patience sometimes…

    I was just out at lunch with some coworkers and the conversation steered over toward religion after meandering through politics. And then it happened… “The world would be in a very different place if not for the morals of religion”

    I couldn’t help myself. “Yeah… the dark ages were awesome!” And then it proceeded into explaining that that wasn’t religion, but what Christianity has now is real religion and proper morals. But not the parts of the Bible where you don’t like what it says. And so on. It’s just baffling to me. I don’t think I could live with the cognitive dissonance that comes with saying “I believe in the Bible” and ignoring massive parts of it at the exact same time.

    On top of that, thinking that the Bible is the only source of morality. As a friend I was discussing this with said, “I don’t live under the assumption that a quick mental prayer can wipe away my deeds.” I am responsible to myself and others. I cannot just absolve myself of any bad choices by thinking to myself, or even going to a priest to confess my “sins”. I live with them, I try to fix them, and I try to do better in the future. Where is the motivation for that when you believe in an infinitely forgiving God?

    Posted in Atheism, Culture | 1 Comment »

    Anti-vaccination idiocy cosequences

    Saturday, November 14th, 2009

    Parents in America are stupid. Listening to idiots like Jenny McCarthy instead of their doctors and scientists. Well guess what? It’s coming back to bite their kids on the ass. It’s really sad that the kids have to suffer for the idiocy of their parents.

    Posted in Culture, Health, Politics | No Comments »