theinformationparadox.com — Barack Obama is now president-elect for the United States. Though maybe a step in the right direction, away from the 'Moral Majority' and the views of 'Focus On The Family', the freethinkers in the U.S. have a long, difficult challenge ahead. Especially for the constitutional secularists and those who wish to protect civil liberties.
Nov 5, 2008 View in Crawl 4
markusxNov 6, 2008
"I don't respect your religion." sorry, that's minus 1 digg for that. It should read: "I respect your religion, but I don't believe in it and I don't practice it."
belatedheroNov 6, 2008
Not only is that your submission, it also links to your own website. But I'm sure it's just a complete coincidence...
natitudeNov 6, 2008
Oh this is rehashing my anger from yesterday when I had a useless debate with some religious folk trying to get across how prop 8 was discriminatory and hateful. Of course, not one of them ever 'got it'. I am all for one's right to practice religion, and I will argue that right to the death, I honestly will.. but when it comes to matters of politics and laws that effect 300 million people, your religion needs to stay the hell out. I don't believe in violence as a way to make a point, but I have never wanted to punch so many people in the head and hope it knocks some sense into them until yesterday.
angeladtaoNov 6, 2008
I wish more Christians were as open-minded as you. I agree with you 100%. It seems that so many Christians today have forgotten that we were told to "judge not that you be not judged" and that Jesus spent most of His time 'palling' around with the dregs of society trying to help them and not telling them how aweful they were. He fed the masses and healed the sick. He even hung out with the lepers who were definitely the outcasts of the day. We seem to have missed the point somewhere along the way. It's too much about you, you, and you, and not enough about me and my soul's well being. Am I doing what God wants me to do today? Have I prayed to God and asked Him if there is a job that I can do for Him today? It probably won't involve bombing an abortion clinic, but it might involve taking that elderly neighbor out to a movie with my family. That's how I express my faith. I do what comes my way each day that feels right. I try to accept people as they are and figure that God will do the judging if necessary. Sometimes it gets me involved in the strangest things, but I have never regretted one thing I ever did that I asked God to send me. You never know how you impact someone's life. How hard is that?
angeladtaoNov 6, 2008
Too many Christians get tied up with the thinking that America was created as a Christian nation. If they did some research into the beliefs of the Founding Fathers, they might be amazed to see that there was a variety of beliefs among them. For example, Thomas Jefferson, one of the pillars of our country, struggled with the Christian faith most of his life. He even went so far as to take the four Gospels, cut out parts that he had problems with such as the virgin birth, and make a version that was acceptable to himself. I have read articles where he called himself a Dieist, but this article says his views were similar to those of the Unitarians. <a class="user" href="http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articlesent">http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articlesent</a> Eisenhour. These things are not important in and of themselves, but a case can be made that /thomasjefferson.html . There is more interesting reading about our other Founding Fathers, but he is just one example. Aslo, few people these days realise that the phrase "under God" wasn't added to The Pledge of Allegeanceunil 1954 by President Eisenhaur. While these things may not be important in and of themselves, I think they make a case for showing that the separation of church and state is a problewm of our day and age and is of our own making. It is not one of undoing the past.
angeladtaoNov 6, 2008
My computer is acting up, and I could not edit or re-read, much less spell check, my comment above. The link that I was trying to give for Thomas Jefferson is below with another one to the actual Bible compiled by Jefferson himself.<a class="user" href="http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/thomasjefferson.html">http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/thomasjeff ...</a><a class="user" href="http://www.angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/">http://www.angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/</a>I also meant to say that taking God out of the government is not something that modern day Christians should be concerned about as removing something that has been there since the beginning of our country. Our country was actually created as a secular one. We should return to that status for the good of our country. If we keep our religious beliefs private as they were intended, then we can perhaps reach out to others and find common ground to begin to repair the damage to our ravaged country.<a class="user" href="http://nobeliefs.com/jefferson.htm">http://nobeliefs.com/jefferson.htm</a>
jimchapNov 7, 2008
One of the amazing things that the Founding Fathers accomplished was the creation of a secular state that was neither theocracy nor monarchy. They wanted to keep religion out of government so that people would have the freedom to practice whatever religious beliefs they held.Fundamentalists are unreachable because their power to reason has been removed and centrally located in a "Pastor" (the guy with the money). They have rewritten the history of this republic so that it becomes, in their view, a "Christian Nation".In fact, Washington was a lapsed Episcopalian. Adams had a 'private' relationship with his god. Jefferson and Franklin were Deists who believed that someone or thing created the whole shebang then moved on to other things.Fundamentalists of any sort tend to be unable or fearful to explore any new idea.They are not intellectually curious because someone else has done the thinking for them.......thousands of years ago.
joand315Nov 15, 2008
Words to live by.