[quote] Faith means shit. It's all about the works, asshole. So shove the public praying and pick up a goddamn shovel and do something. And no, awarding no-bid contracts to buddies like Haliburton does not count as "doing something." [/quote]
God helps those who help themselves, they say. As a Leno guest said, "You're waiting for a sign from God? Well, sometimes, the sign from God is a weatherman telling you that there's a cat 5 hurricane headed to your house..."
This whole religion in the schools thing is silly. People want *atheists* teaching their kids about God? Isn't that what Church is for? What the hell, ever? Next thing you know, they'll be claiming that men in dresses who've never known the touch of a woman will be the best sources of guidance on love, sex and marriage... Oh wait...
[quote] Some of the worst social aspects in colonial New England was as a result of a theocracy running the show that believed in predestination and that the downtrodden were downtrodden because they somehow deserved to be. [/quote]
That's not even a Christian thing. It's a control thing. Buddhism and Hinduism are strongly about, 'accept your lot, your life may suck, but it's because you were a bad man in a previous life, so suck it up, accept your crappy life and don't you dare try to fight it or complain about it, or you won't get a better life next time...' The Bhagavad Ghita is particularly unsettling in this aspect (not that the Bible hasn't been interpreted to justify horrific things as well, such as the Inquisitorial practice of killing Jews the second they crack under torture and accept Christ to ensure that they don't backslide into damnation).
Once upon a time, a wise man said not to covet material riches on earth, but to amass spiritual riches in heaven through good works. When a sect of French Christians began to loudly proclaim these good words, and speak out against the Church's habit of hording wealth, seizing lands and building armies, from their luxurious quarters in Rome, the Pope of the day, Innocent, declared them heretics and sent a mercenary army to expunge them. When the leader of the mercenary army wrote back saying that he could not tell the heretics from the French peasantry of the region, Innocent wrote back, "Kill them all. God shall know his own." The words of Christ, and the lives of His followers, didn't matter to the Church as much as the preservation of their right to hoard material wealth and dabble in secular politics...
I'm a big fan of *personal* faith. I'm an equally strong foe of organized religion, of men in $2000 dollar suits on my television telling me that they know better than the Bible what God means for me to do with my life, and that I need to send them money to help God's work. Newsflash. You aren't getting my money, 'cause *my* God isn't poor.
So, short version, faith = good, priests telling me what God 'really meant' = the sin of pride in the *worst* way. Jesus spoke out against the construction of temples, against a priestly caste. And yet, here they are, enormous gothic cathedrals, towering over people who don't have enough food to feed their families. Gold-encrusted miters and ornamental staves and crosses, while millions of Christians live in poverty.
[quote] Have I mentioned that I want another presidential election? Like right now? I miss having adults in the White House. [/quote]
I do miss the days when the biggest scandal was that the President enjoyed a blowjob.
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God helps those who help themselves, they say. As a Leno guest said, "You're waiting for a sign from God? Well, sometimes, the sign from God is a weatherman telling you that there's a cat 5 hurricane headed to your house..."
This whole religion in the schools thing is silly. People want *atheists* teaching their kids about God? Isn't that what Church is for? What the hell, ever? Next thing you know, they'll be claiming that men in dresses who've never known the touch of a woman will be the best sources of guidance on love, sex and marriage... Oh wait...
[quote] Some of the worst social aspects in colonial New England was as a result of a theocracy running the show that believed in predestination and that the downtrodden were downtrodden because they somehow deserved to be. [/quote]
That's not even a Christian thing. It's a control thing. Buddhism and Hinduism are strongly about, 'accept your lot, your life may suck, but it's because you were a bad man in a previous life, so suck it up, accept your crappy life and don't you dare try to fight it or complain about it, or you won't get a better life next time...' The Bhagavad Ghita is particularly unsettling in this aspect (not that the Bible hasn't been interpreted to justify horrific things as well, such as the Inquisitorial practice of killing Jews the second they crack under torture and accept Christ to ensure that they don't backslide into damnation).
Once upon a time, a wise man said not to covet material riches on earth, but to amass spiritual riches in heaven through good works. When a sect of French Christians began to loudly proclaim these good words, and speak out against the Church's habit of hording wealth, seizing lands and building armies, from their luxurious quarters in Rome, the Pope of the day, Innocent, declared them heretics and sent a mercenary army to expunge them. When the leader of the mercenary army wrote back saying that he could not tell the heretics from the French peasantry of the region, Innocent wrote back, "Kill them all. God shall know his own." The words of Christ, and the lives of His followers, didn't matter to the Church as much as the preservation of their right to hoard material wealth and dabble in secular politics...
I'm a big fan of *personal* faith. I'm an equally strong foe of organized religion, of men in $2000 dollar suits on my television telling me that they know better than the Bible what God means for me to do with my life, and that I need to send them money to help God's work. Newsflash. You aren't getting my money, 'cause *my* God isn't poor.
So, short version, faith = good, priests telling me what God 'really meant' = the sin of pride in the *worst* way. Jesus spoke out against the construction of temples, against a priestly caste. And yet, here they are, enormous gothic cathedrals, towering over people who don't have enough food to feed their families. Gold-encrusted miters and ornamental staves and crosses, while millions of Christians live in poverty.
[quote] Have I mentioned that I want another presidential election? Like right now? I miss having adults in the White House. [/quote]
I do miss the days when the biggest scandal was that the President enjoyed a blowjob.