Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?
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In my experience, fundamentalists rely on the old testament sections that talk about abominations and new testaments that talk about hell. Average Christians have never read the bible and believe it is a "good book" full of love. My niece started to read the bible and had to stop because she found it too upsetting. She's a Catholic.
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I grew up mainstream, fairly progressive Protestant (UCC). We certainly did read the Bible, in Sunday School and summer Bible School, as did my friends who were Presbyterian, Methodist, and other "normal" denominations. From what I understand from my Catholic husband, they didn't read it growing up, but had it selectively fed to them by the priests and nuns. I didn't know any fundamentalist types until I met a few when I was older, and knew better than to ask them questions about religion!
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Alice, Now try reading it cover to cover as an adult. That's why my niece couldn't do it. Most Catholics only get selected readings of the Epistles and Gospels and those only as a part of Mass. Reading the bible is not encouraged.
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ananda8: My mother was raised Catholic and sent to convent school where the nuns beat her for being left-handed. She was living in Quebec and wore a woolen uniform in summer. So hot. There was a stream in the convent grounds and she got caught skinny-dipping, was dragged before the Mother Superior, berated and made to kneel and pray for hours. Needless to say rather than having all that indoctrination and fear stick she left the church as an adult. My father has a smattering of Scots Presbyterian. (Aye, it's a fine a day today but we'll pay for it tomorrow) He hated it. He wanted fun in this life, not the after life. That being said, he thought that in 1950 Canada we should be exposed to the Judeo-Christian backbone that essentially created our society. So we got dragged to church. We went to a structurally beautiful Anglican church. I was impressed and in awe of all the stained glass, the huge pipe organ, the carved pews. Dad embarrassed me by singing too loudly. (I look back and he had a magnificent voice and before WWII sang with a Big Band) I liked it when the minister came in followed by the choir in all those lace collars and purple and gold surplices. It as a good show. I liked the choir and then the sermon would start and I would count the number of "Books of Common Prayer" still in the racks at back of the pew in front. The torture would start. Then I was sent downstairs to Sunday School that was also torture except for the painting we got to do. I was the youngest and when I hit age 10 Dad asked if I wanted to go. I said no. He asked why and I said, not so succinctly but basically "I only like the opening number" and that was that. He was relieved and we ceased going. My older sisters continue to go not for prayers and homilies but to sing.
None of my three sisters' kids were raised in anything resembling standard religious teachings. See you all in purgatory or limbo!!
Out of curiousity, in my 20's, I decided to read the Old Testament.. There sure is a lot of incest and murder and horrible things in there.
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I took a history of religion class in college. When presented in a long line of religions Judaism and Christianity didn't seem special at all. Didn't make any more sense than Raven brought the Sun. I later attended a Tibetan Buddhist temple for several years. I decided what I like is chanting in a language I don't understand.
I think all the men on my husband's side of the family were/are atheists. DH and DS both are. We had to go to a Christmas service while visiting DS because he told the newspaper it was a family tradition. The entire family said we certainly were not aware of it. I think he voluntarily went to a Christmas Service with a girlfriend in the large Episcopal (high church Angelican) Cathedral.
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Buddhism is a terrific philosophy but is can be a horrible religion just like they all can be. Jefferson cut up a bible and removed all the nonsense so all that was left was the story of a philosopher. https://thejeffersonbible.com/
Note that Jefferson does not include the Epistles.
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ananda8
Oh, I read the whole thing as an adult, out of curiosity. Some parts make for decent literature, and several parts are interesting from an anthropological point of view. I even read some chapters in multiple translations for comparison. The literary quality tanks in the more recent versions. King James makes it all sound better than it actually is, due to the language. I grew up with Revised Standard, which kept a little of the literary quality but was easier for children to understand. Now it's just a sad mess, which I guess is appropriate!
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AliceB: You've seen the "red letter" version of the King James? Everything Jesus supposedly said was in red. The picture at the front of the family copy made him look like my Norse/Celtic ancestors...long wavy RED hair. Ha ha. Yes, the King James version makes all the drivel sound magnificent.
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Big deal to open churches during pandemic ..Maybe Orange attended Church of the Petulant Child at his golf course.
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Magiclight, that got stolen so fast you may have seen a blur!
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Ditto, magiclight. Posting that one on my Facebook feed.
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Melania Trump calls for 'As a nation, let's focus on peace, prayers & healing' No mention of justice, of stopping her husband's language of hate, revenge, retaliation, tweets about taking up guns and shooting. Peace, prayer and healing are not softer words as reported in the Washington Post, but words spoken out of ignorance of the violence perpetuated against people of color. Melania also said that "Our country allows for peaceful protests, but there is no reason for violence", yet George Floyd was violently killed by police. So, praying is the only solution that woman can offer.
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After one of the recent police shootings, a spokesman said her crime was "sleeping while black". White American needs to work on themselves and police their police. I would be absolutely terrified if I were the mother of a black teenage male. And rightfully so.
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A woman like Amy Cooper wasn't making her first call to the cops about a black man. She was way too smooth in her threat and in her call to the police. She has probably threatened others before and may have ruined the life of some by having them arrested. It was justice that she was fired from her Wall Street job and I hope she is charged with filing a false police report. Cops aren't the only racists who ruin lives. A certain class of white women have been doing it for generations.
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Has anyone seen the on air arrest of CNN reporter, producer and camera person in Minneapolis? The reporter was totally awesome, keeping his cool. The camera was still running after the police took it away. The reporter told them they were live on CNN before they did anything.
The officer has been fired and arrested. They said he has had 18 previous complaints. I want to know how he made it past 5 complaints before being fired.
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Washington Post on racial inequality with long history in Minneapolis: "The roots of these disparities run deep: In the first half of the 20th century, for instance, real estate transactions in many Minneapolis neighborhoods were bound by provisions that limited ownership to white families. "The said premises shall not at any time be sold, conveyed, leased, or sublet, or occupied by any person or persons who are not full bloods of the so-called Caucasian or White race"
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I think that is true of a lot of places in that time period. This is what was called Jim Crow and it was everywhere. I remember going to a store in the early 1940's with my grandmother. I wanted to use the drinking fountain and my GM said that's the colored fountain. I thought it was a silly remark because anybody could tell it was green. This was in Wichita, KS. I know the town I grew up in had some sort of deed restrictions to keep non-Caucasians out. In a way it was fortunate for me because it meant my parents never had an occasion to pass on their bigoted views. That was in OK.
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I'm older than many of you. I was raised in CA and had never seen overt racism. When I was 13, my parents took us to NYC and Wash DC, and then on a Greyhound bus to Williamsburg, VA. At one of the bus stops I went to get a drink at a fountain and some old lady snatched me back and said - don't you know that's the "colored" fountain? Well of course I didn't. Quite an education. Certainly not right then or now.
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We always lived in mixed neighborhoods in Houston. It really helped in Seattle when I counseled African Americans in my job. They knew I understood and believed them. Several men told me it was harder working here where they were the only or almost only the only black person on the job. They said it was hard to tell if the boss really didn't like them personally or was just a racist.
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ananda8, you are dead-on right about Amy Cooper. Privileged young *itch who was used to working things her way and I was so happy to see her get her comeuppance.
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The best part of hiring the most qualified person for the job is you end up with multiples of every group of people in your area. I was able to do this and minorities could actually relax and take job criticism for what it was. Because we were expanding significantly, it wasn't all that difficult for me to change the predominately white male shop I took over into something that was 50% female at all levels and had a racial makeup that reflected our community 40% minority.
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Please listen to the whole speech and send it to everyone you know regardless of politics. This is what a President sounds like. CNN covers every word of Trump but won't cover Bidden to the same extent. With the pandemic, grass roots is now the internet. Spread the word.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/02/biden-bla...
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Amanda...thanks I listened to it and hope all the demonstrators register to vote and then vote.
None of the Christian republicans I heard had any problem with our racist president wanting a church/bible photo op even if bullets and tear gas were needed to attack peaceful protesters. If there were such a thing as a recruiting campaign for atheists, that image could be very valuable. There is no low to which orangehead will not stoop to feed his narcissism and his white, christian base.
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Oh my, is Blackwater patrolling DC? Erik Prince runs Blackwater (aka academi) and is the brother of Betsy DeVos, Sec. of Ed who wanted to divert covid relief money to private charter schools. Betsy wants to create God's kingdom and Erik is a Catholic. The president used the bible and church as a photo prop after peaceful demonstrators were dispersed with gases and flash bangs. What kind of pscyo religious nuts are that group. I'm going to wait until one of the major news outlets reports more to fill in this story.
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It’s more likely the federal prison riot squad. Barr sent them to DC and Miami.
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Franklin Graham can't pull up his big boy pants with the supreme court decision re: gay and transgender persons in the workplace. Looks like they are going to have to do some serious work to continue to discriminate on the basis of sex.
"Many faith-based organizations, like schools or nonprofits, do not allow L.G.B.T. people to work there, citing religious beliefs that sex should only be between a man and a woman who are married.
"No question it is going to make it harder to defend our religious freedom, as far as an organization being able to hire people of like mind," said Franklin Graham, who leads Samaritan's Purse, a large evangelical relief group.
"I find this to be a very sad day," he said. "I don't know how this is going to protect us."
Looks like he just can't find it in his Christian heart to celebrate that this decision is going to protect gay and transgender persons.
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I despise Franklin Graham. He's a homophobic/bigoted wolf in sheep's clothing.
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