The War on Religion in the US

Just to give you the viewpoint of an atheist. Generally speaking atheists don't care. We realize that it's 13% atheists 87% theists in the U.S. and if those believers want to give me a day off of work so they can pray to their god then I say go right ahead. Usually the B.S. 'attacks on religion' you hear are from either the far left who are trying to make the U.S. more European secularist or from just general malcontents who would be christian if the world was 87% atheist (like the idiot trying to keep the prayer out of the innaguration).

On the other hand, atheists tend to be legitimately against the social-hijacking that religious groups tend to do like the Prohibition against alchohol at the beginning of the 20th century or the current FCC tyrany of the minority.
 
Conservative Christian groups in the US have found a new sinner to rage against: SpongBob Squarepants, a childrens character.

Focus on the Family and and the American Family Association, insist that the character is spearheading an insidious campaign to spread homosexuality among children.

"Does anybody here know Spongebob?" Dr James Dobson, Focus on the Family's founder, asked guests this week at a dinner in Washington for Republican congressmen.

Dr Dobson accused SpongeBob's creators of enlisting him in a "prohomosexual video".

It is not the first time that children's TV favourites have come under the critical spotlight of the US Christian right. Tinky Winky, the purse-toting purple Teletubbie, was in the 1999 declared a homosexual role model by Jerry Falwell.

Excerpts from an article by Tom Leonard, Telegraph, Reuters.

& 03USMC

Jerry Falwell's group is making billions in South America.

The US Christian right has got the Republicans by the "you know whats".
 
All I have to say about the Spongebob thing is, Christians do themselves more harm with things like that than any anti-religious organization can.
 
Whispering Death said:
All I have to say about the Spongebob thing is, Christians do themselves more harm with things like that than any anti-religious organization can.

Cheers Whispering Death!!!! :cheers:
 
religion

Why do people need to abbuse religion. Its like an excuse these days. People make trouble from what they want.

It goes on all around the world. its every where so why does high ranking people have to abbuse what is already goin gon?
 
Stongbow, adjust your attitude. When you are discussing something as important as someone's religion, you must use a good deal more tact than I have seen you do in your previous posts. If you attack any member for their religion on these forums, you will be banned. Argue your position, but do so with respect.
 
Here's an interesting little thing that you may want to consider. And this was from personal experience.
I have seen strict, religious Christian Southerners make a better impression in Indonesia than the open minded "it's all good" type. Although the reigion differs, they see a man of principle, faith and strength.
The next isn't personal experience but we do know about it from Black Hawk Down (the book).
When Mike Durant (who I actually met by the way), was in captivity and asked for a Bible the Somalis showed more respect to him. He wrote a diary in that copy of the Bible with a pencil... the Somalis thought he was studying in the Bible and they felt even more respect for Durant.
What it means is as long as we respect our boundaries, people of faith can get along. Religion BAD! Religion BAD! is a very simple way of seeing things.
Do you actually know what is the major thing that extremist Muslims hate about the West? The degredation of morals. They don't want that to flow over into their sphere of influence.
Even if we continue to have differences, what we would still have is mutual respect.
 
you'd think

Lack of morals!! I see teenagers who are muslims and young adults sitting in pubs getting drunk, dating cathoilc girls, now I'd say thats 2 maybe going onto 3 breaking rules!!

Any ways muslim/islams respect the chatholic religion as they say our god is the brother of theirs.
 
Strongbow said:
Conservative Christian groups in the US have found a new sinner to rage against: SpongBob Squarepants, a childrens character.

Focus on the Family and and the American Family Association, insist that the character is spearheading an insidious campaign to spread homosexuality among children.

"Does anybody here know Spongebob?" Dr James Dobson, Focus on the Family's founder, asked guests this week at a dinner in Washington for Republican congressmen.

Dr Dobson accused SpongeBob's creators of enlisting him in a "prohomosexual video".

It is not the first time that children's TV favourites have come under the critical spotlight of the US Christian right. Tinky Winky, the purse-toting purple Teletubbie, was in the 1999 declared a homosexual role model by Jerry Falwell.

Excerpts from an article by Tom Leonard, Telegraph, Reuters.

& 03USMC

Jerry Falwell's group is making billions in South America.

The US Christian right has got the Republicans by the "you know whats".

I watch Spongebob with my three year old so I really could care less what a bunch of fundamentalists say about a cartoon character. I've never had much use for Falwell nor his organization. But just for the Record and so you know what religion to assail when addressing me I'm Roman Catholic. Which goes to explaining why I don't care for Falwell.

I also have a hard time believing the claim that Billions are being made in South America. I've been there several times and cannot envision where all that money is coming from.
 
03USMC said:
Strongbow said:
Conservative Christian groups in the US have found a new sinner to rage against: SpongBob Squarepants, a childrens character.

Focus on the Family and and the American Family Association, insist that the character is spearheading an insidious campaign to spread homosexuality among children.

"Does anybody here know Spongebob?" Dr James Dobson, Focus on the Family's founder, asked guests this week at a dinner in Washington for Republican congressmen.

Dr Dobson accused SpongeBob's creators of enlisting him in a "prohomosexual video".

It is not the first time that children's TV favourites have come under the critical spotlight of the US Christian right. Tinky Winky, the purse-toting purple Teletubbie, was in the 1999 declared a homosexual role model by Jerry Falwell.

Excerpts from an article by Tom Leonard, Telegraph, Reuters.

& 03USMC

Jerry Falwell's group is making billions in South America.

The US Christian right has got the Republicans by the "you know whats".

I watch Spongebob with my three year old so I really could care less what a bunch of fundamentalists say about a cartoon character. I've never had much use for Falwell nor his organization. But just for the Record and so you know what religion to assail when addressing me I'm Roman Catholic. Which goes to explaining why I don't care for Falwell.

I also have a hard time believing the claim that Billions are being made in South America. I've been there several times and cannot envision where all that money is coming from.

I agree with USMC but it's funny how christians in USA only seem this. But it depends what branch of catholicism your getting at. As i se it there are so many different versions of catholicism only in usa that its hard to believe whats said about what sometimes
 
I am a fundamentalist (Baptist), and I do not care much for Falwell either. Just because someone claims to represent a group does not mean that they in fact do. I have a lot of respect for Dr. Dobson, but he is not infallible (nor does he claim to be).



And Anya, just another reminder, your personal opinion does not become fact simply because you post it here (in re your "only U.S. Christians" comment).
 
Charge_7 said:
It's just the current thing. "Look at me, I'm liberal!" when in fact they are anything but. Pleading for tolerance while being intolerant is mutually exclusive. After awhile when it's lost it's novelty this kind of thing will die down. The core of America hasn't lost their beliefs. Those that think otherwise are living in a fool's paradise.

I totaly agree here.

The core of America is different than what Hollywood or those elitist liberal clusters think, they're lost their own elitist tunnel vision.


the_13th_redneck said:
Religion BAD! Religion BAD! is a very simple way of seeing things.

I agree here too, there is alot that religious organizations do that help alot of people , like feeding the homeless, ect. I'm sure that religion has some bad points, to say its simply bad thats taking it too far, and wrong.

Actualy the biggest muderers of human lives in the 20th century is communist atheism which is based on the fact that there is no God. Withouth somekind of divine morals to stop someone what does it matter if he murders 20 million people, according to that, in the end it really doesn't anyways.

If religion has a long way to go to solve mans problems, think about how much further secular atheism has to do that since this stuff just happened in this century. If fact the top 2 mass murderers in modern history both did not believe that God existed.
 
get it right

redneck where did i state a fact? did i actually say fact? no i did not.

I was stating that there are so many branch off's to catholicism aka lutheron/mormon.........these were american founded unless i am wrong.
 
Re: get it right

Anya1982 said:
I was stating that there are so many branch off's to catholicism aka lutheron/mormon.........these were american founded unless i am wrong.

Neither of those religions are a "branch" of Catholicism.

Mormonism was born of Joseph Smith, formerly a Protestant, during the 19th Century in the US. It is not classified as Protestantism or Catholicism by their standards.

Lutheranism could be called a "branch off" of Catholicism, given Martin Luther "defected" from the Catholic church ... however, it is classified as a Protestant denomination. The Protestant Reformation began during the early 16th Century in Germany (Saxony), so the United States/Americans had nothing at all to do with it.
 
There are only two branches of Catholicism to my knowledge - Roman and Greek Orthodox. Lutheran and Episcopalian churches are close to Catholicism but are classified as Protestant. There are of course areas or shades of Catholicism, if you want to call them that, such as Jesuit or Benedictine. They don't vary enough though from Roman Catholicism enough to be branches in their own right as they very much adhere to the Pope. I'm sure RndrSafe could explain that area much better than I can. Also I believe the Russian Orthodox Catholic church varies somewhat from the original Greek Orthodox. Can't claim to be any kind of expert. Dad was a Lutheran but I was raised in my mom's church - Presbyterian.
 
Doody said:
if you would explain your position, I will comment.

I rarely comment on statements that could be offensive and are not explained rationally.



I only meant that where "faith" is concerned, logic has little sway. By it's nature faith supersedes all else. Hmmm, that still doesn't sound right. What I mean is, if you believe in something, have faith in it, no amount of arguing or counter pointing or fact finding will change that. This is faith in anything, not just religion. Confused now? I am ... :?
 
Belief in any religious doctrine is based on faith. Without faith, then how could there be a belief in a higher being that you can't see or hear. You can't see air or the wind but you have faith in the fact that it has to be there.
 
hmmm let me think

catholicism in christianity....................

it originally started off with the jews then lead down to catholics this is where it broke off to other christianity's. eg. prot's, methodist,JW's,greek/russian auth.

The list goes on forever and ever.

Sorry if i have repeated my self.

I had this argument before and i was wrong. Well i explained myself wrong.

Either way all these religions could be wrong if da vinci code is proved right! Now thats when the poop hits the fan
 
You're mostly right Anya. However Greek Orthodox Cathocisim didn't break off from Roman Catholocism. They both started out together. Greek Orthodox was like the name says, centered around Greece and the Byzantine Empire and went off on its own from the larger Roman Empire and it was the Western Roman Empire which was what collapsed 1000 years before Byzantium in the 1500s. The Bishop of Rome was held to be the supreme religious authority in the Western Roman world whereas the Emperor was held to be so in the Eastern Roman world - thus the devision.

As for the Da Vinci code, well, I'll need more proof.
 
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