by flower 125 Replies latest jw friends
Daniel,
first, i am not from the south. i've never lived there or even been there except for vacations.
second, saying that using the word 'ya'll' makes someone a moron is moronic.
third, i am sorry that you dont have anything else to do other than make hurtful posts to people. perhaps there is something on tv or a book lying around that you havent read.
no, thank you.
flower
Flower, my dear, it wasn't meant to be hurtful. Saying something looks moronic is moronic? Then what does "ya'll" look like? Intelligent? Sheeesh don't be so damn touchy. If that's the kind of stuff that hurts you you are going to have a very sad life.
"Brother, you better get down on your knees and pay...a thousand more fools are being born every f***ing day" -Bad Religion
Ok i apologized in the other thread. but i dont know how telling someone that started a post with the word 'ya'll' that 'starting a post with the word 'ya'll' makes us look like morons' can NOT be hurtful. how else can it be taken?
it was supposed to be constructive criticism maybe? but i think if you had read even a little of my post you would have seen that i wasnt a southerner but simply felt like writing a slightly relaxed title to a serious post.
sorry for the misunderstanding
Flower, unlock your email. Or email me.
"Brother, you better get down on your knees and pay...a thousand more fools are being born every f***ing day" -Bad Religion
Ya'll is a distinctly American term. Living in a country where the only time you hear "ya'll" is on Oprah or other American shows, it immediately labels the user of that term as an American, black or white.
So the use of "ya'll" isn't moronic, but one that indicates that the poster who started this thread was definitely an American.
[email protected] is me.
First of all, I think that this thread is a damn fine example of a good thread; everyone is having their say, and no one is getting too bent out of shape, and people are just being excellent unto on another. Everyone pat yourselves on the back.
puffsrule;
Adonai; You posted a website a while back that you claimed seriously refuted evolution sometime ago. Now, I've been there, and I have to tell you, I don't think that site refutes anything. If it does anything, it more firmly establishes the stereotype of creationist websites as thoroughly unscientific places where unsound arguements are put forth.
If you want to know why I think this, I'm quite happy to go through various claims on that website and refute them one by one, but do not intend to put together lengthy and detailed posts unless you are interested in doing this, as I don't like the sound of my own keyboard that much!
If you want to do this, just give me a topic, and I'll tell you why that website is wrong and current evolutionary theory is right. If you don't want to do it, no problem, but I have to say if you've based your beliefs in creation on web sites like that, I disagree with your conclusions and can give you chapter and verse why.
Kaethra; The context of what I said was responding to flower fearing life in a godless Universe was meaningless. I hope my illustrations show that this is not true.
I am sorry if you take it as a claim that atheists are morally superior. I wasn't even talking about that, I was illustrating how the absence of god does not result in the absence of good.
The fact does remain that some religionists do do things or do not do things because of religious sruples. We have all been there; the JW attitude towards charitable giving? Belief systems where there is a requirement to give alms or to tithe?
Face it, it happens, but do not take the fact that it happens as a claim on my part to be morally superior, or a claim that the fundamental reason many religionists 'do good' is different from the fundamental reason why many atheists 'do good', or a claim that atheists never 'do good' for social betterment and esteem. I never said any of that.
I hope you are also as vigilent in confronting the attitudes of religonists who make claims as to moral superiority over atheists. If you are, you must be very busy indeed.
As regarding humour or comments regarding religion, again, I think you go a little far, and ignore a fundamental right.
Low-life racist scum, homophobes, mysogynists and their ilk have a freedom to say what they want to about their beliefs.
No one is going to feed Christians to lions or burn Wiccans because of a few Jesus jokes or atheistic irony towards religionists, or at least due to the humour I use - if someone was advocating violence or intolerance, that's a different thing.
As the risks towards non-whites, gays and women are far higher due to the speech that is legally acceptable about them, I think that efforts would best be directed towards those sorts of statements, as they can end up hurting far more than feelings.
I can also put you in the direction of websites where religionists poke fun at evolution by means of jokes and cartoons. Is that okay? Or ignorant comments about Muslims made by Christians?
The fact that not all politicians are corrupt does not mean you should not make jokes about corrupt politicians, does it?
The fact that all vegetarians are not animal rights activists who think using animals to help find cures for human diseases is fundamentally wrong does not mean you should not make jokes about the eating habits of animal rights activists, does it?
The fact that many Jehovah's Witnesses are sincere does not mean that you shouldn't make jokes about Jehovah's Witnesses, does it?
Of course, you are entitled to your opinion, and I am entitled to mine, and I guess the compromise is for you not to laugh when I tell jokes like that, and for me to listen when you complain about my jokes, as that why we both have freedom of speech.
ashi; very well put.
People living in glass paradigms shouldn't throw stones...
Since we atheists are pre-judged as offensive it becomes a free for all for us to live up to the name?
Actually it is the religious types that need the moral yardsticks and then take such yardstick and proceed to beat up all the non-believers. Or they act all offended because they are questioned on the logic behind their beliefs.
Now go ahead and say that beliefs don't require logic. That's fine - but then forgive me for finding that humorous or sad. If beliefs govern lives surely they should have some sound logical foundation?
Being able to NOT have beliefs and live according to a moral/ethical code is much easier as it allows the non-believer to take responsibility for their own actions. when something can be blamed on nonsense like "it's God's will" or when mourning a dead relative they say "God took him" - that's like taking a plea of insanity.
True people are free to believe what they like - freedom is the most important thing there is. Discovering mental freedom - one unencumbered by false belief (or unproven belief) is the greatest thing in the world, because like Ab pointed out it is energizing because we realize this is the only shot we have at life so we live each day like its our last. We don't sit around wasting our lives based on some future "Armageddon" or some concept of an afterlife. I want to taste life NOW and I want to gorge myself on what it has to offer!!!
Flower,
have you read Mere Christianity? It's a wonderful (if dry) book by C.S. Lewis. He expounds what he believes are the virtues and downfalls of Christianity. Indavertantly, C.S. Lewis has made me an athiest. Why? Because of the way he portrayed chrisitans in it; as closeminded, abject people.
Are all chrisitians this way? Of course not. Are many? Yes.
Religion itself is divisive; it stirs up the kind of religious egotism we humans could as soon live without.
In becoming an athiest, I asked myself, why do people become part of religion? People who've been in a religion for a long time would say 'because they love God.' In some isolated cases this may be true. But, IMO, more often than not, people join religion for selfish reasons; to entice a religious mate, to give their lives structure, to give themselves impetus to do better, so give them purpose when they believe they can have none without a God in their lives.
Some people become religious to change bad habits, or to control others. Some religions are totally based on the improvement of the body, or mind. This in itself is good, but in the end removes the love of what should be the most important thing in our lives...people.
Most religions stress the need to cut ties with people 'who tempt us' to do bad. I'll tell you what, though: I've never met one totally 'good' person, nor one entirely 'bad' person. Religion has made those types of boundries, though, which can explain all of the hurt that religion has caused-it all comes from labeling people....you know the labels ....unchristian......infidel.....debased......
Words like that immediatly put a barrier between us and other people. That's why a lot of religions who proselytise are hell-bent on 'reaching out', because communicating in a civil fashion with people they find morally inferior is difficult for them. Such are the traps of modern religion.
Let's not forget the prohpecies, wars, and many other atrocities that are attributed to religion. Is it necessarily religion's fault? No. But wicked men will always use something the general populace consider 'good' to control, or appease them. Hitler did it with the Catholic church. Any religion can be bought.
Sorry if this offends or makes you feel uneasy, Flower. Some roads aren't easy.
ashi
Crap! Crap! Crap! [>:(]
I have a dial-up modem Crap! Crap! I'm so peeeeved right now! Can anyone tell me if there is a way to keep from loosing the connection when someone picks up the phone in another room to make a call when i'm in the middle of responding to a thread??? This has been happening all week.
I was responding to this thread and was just about finished when someone picked up the phone in another room and BLEEP GLITCH connection lost. AAAAHHHHhhh!. I think I was actually saying something good. Damn Damn.
plmkrzy
