And guess who’s out! The criminals? The dishonest politicians? The child-raping priests? The closeted gay preachers and congressmen?NO! It’s US… Again… We’re the bad guys.And the preachers are eating it up.
Gov. Rick Perry in a closed meeting Thursday told African-American ministers in Houston that government has an important function in promoting strong moral values and saving children from a “culture of godlessness.”"It’s a ridiculous notion to say you cannot legislate morality,” Perry told the ministers.
Monika, KA
Thanks.
jcc
Sorry about your headaches. They sound awful. Maybe they’re a sign that you should give up religion.
Sure everyone has a cross to bear. The inequity of the crosses, to me, points to the fact that it’s just chance, not some godly plan.
I’ve made so much lemonade, I could open a chain store to sell it. And buddy, I got character coming out the wazoo. I’d like to think I coulda been as nice a person without the gauntlet, but hey, what’s done is done. I could have ended up a serial killer…
Ah, but there’s still time for that!
Who says there’s no hope?
_______
My apologies to all for trotting out my past on the board again. I should have walked away when the triggers started.
Karen, you brave girrrrrrl.
I could see that you were being groomed for conversion and you proved to be as intelligent as ever.
Ka,
Forgive my unforgivable laziness but I think that if anyone will know, or know where to find it, there is research that demonstrates a correlation between belief and epilepsy. It very well might be that the unknown causes of cluster headaches have some relationship to ones belief in the supernatural. I’ll do my half-assed to find it but as I said I’m a lazy sod.
karen:
You have no need to apologize. You’re an inspiration, at least in my book.
remy:
You’re talking about Temporal lobe epilepsy?
Ka,
Dunno. Just remember reading about it decades ago.
remy
Uh-oh. I have to have an EEG for that on Monday…
Rally round, Troops! Don’t let ‘em git me!
and thanks for the kind words, remy.
remy:
Here ya go:
http://www.meta-religion.com/Psychiatry/The_Paranormal/trascendent_experiences.htm
Thanks Ka, Gonna red now.
Excellent stuff! Thanks again K.
It was Persinger, up here in Ontariario whom I first read (not red). He was able to induce “mystical” experiences in his subjects. Always the subjects’ experiences conformed to his/her cultural norms, ie., christian, muslim etc. Unfortunately there is some indications that artists are susceptible to religious influence. Lets hope that I have the Strength of Karen.
remy
“Unfortunately there is some indications that artists are susceptible to religious influence. “
You are an artiste?
Did I know this? I didn’t remember!
What sort of art are you artful at?
Karen,
Shhh, shouldna let that slip out.
I’ve been painting and teaching privately for 30 odd years. Teach watercolour and life drawing; paint in oil and watercolour. Two years ago became a substitute teacher.
remy
(don’t know why it’s a secret, but don’t worry, I won’t tell! I think it’s splendid, though!)
Sshhhhhhh!
About some things said earlier…
“Based on what?s been written about me here, I?d have to argue that to be the object of atheists? ?love and compassion? is strictly conditional on whether or not one thinks as they do.”
Isn’t it ironic that a christian is complaining that a bunch of atheists are following conditional moral codes?
Hi Folks,
I just published a book “The Moral Atheist” available at http://www.barnesandnoble.com and http://www.amazon.com. I believe you might find the arguments therein help and hopefully a good read.
cya
sorry “help” should be “helpful”
Thanks Bill for that post on your book. Bringing the discussion back to the article, I don’t understand why people of religious nature think that because we don’t believe in Hell or Heaven we are inclined to be “people of the moment” and thus have more tendencies towards being immoral. A prime example is a conversation with someone new at a New Year’s party. He asked me about religion and I told him the truth. “So you are one of THOSE people,” was his exact response. In my mind, I was like, “WTF does that even mean???” Well, twenty minutes into our theological debate I had my answer. He felt that because I had no higher authority to answer to that I also had no compulsion to be a good person. Oh, how far he is from the truth! I personally turned away from religion because it was not compassion enough (among other reasons). When I asked what he would do if someone broke into his house, he said that he would shoot them dead. I seriously wanted to beat my head against the wall with the hypocrisy of it all. Why shoot someone when you can tazer them and call the police? Most people don’t die from tazers (unless they have a bum heart), but they do learn their lesson and it doesn’t really hurt them all that bad. I know – I had my fiancé tazer me so I knew what I was getting into when we got one. My point is that they preach that they are better people with God in their lives, but I disagree.
Gah! Sorry for the weird text inserts. Not sure what happened to my previous post but I was trying to explain that I was tazered on purpose. It was strange to feel but not all that painful. I think that it is a lot better than owning a gun for such purposes.