usually, i enjoyed the public talk, if the speaker was good but i thought the theocratic ministry was boring!!!.
the service meeting was just a sales meeting.
the book studies were simply ridiculous.
The TMS could be bad, but it also had the most opportunity for hilarity.
The watchtower study was always dull, you'd possibly already had a dreadful public talk, was on a Sunday morning, there was the pressure to answer, having to listen to read answers or sanctimonious answers and the hall was probably too warm - a vile combination. I always avoided sunday door knocking beacuse I was so hacked off by 1pm.
a very good friend of mine is in charge of plant maintenance at a local factory.
there are 300 people working in this factory and two of them are muslims.
the muslims have requested that they require special toilets just for themselves.
If you don't like the word 'they' then you don't understand that Islam is an all consuming 'faith / cult' in the same way that the JWs are all consuming and expecting to take over the world.
absolute tosh. And it's this level of ignorance that makes debate on here worthless.
I'm well aware of the abuses perpetrated in Islamic countries across the globe and have been involved in campaigns against injustices and abuses in a number of them. It's because of these abuses that I cannot get stirred up about people breaking toilet seats. I've visited 3 Islamic countries and the application of Islam by the state varied widely just as it varied widely in the people I met which is why I cannot accept blanket statements such as the above. If you are apalled by human rights abuses I hope you do more than moan about them on here and that you lobby your MP and write letters for Amnesty International at the very least.
None of my posts on this thread have defended Islam, none of my posts have agreed that special lavatories should be provided for anyone.
Xenophobia is not racism (and I'm not sure why you mentioned genetics Gill) , it's a fear of the other, the foreigner and when I read this thread, that's what comes across froma lot of posters - the Islamic boogie man that threatens "our" Christian or secular civilization. (that's interesting in itself, is the drift from Christian nation to secular bad? Discuss!)
There's no point in me commenting further because I guess I'm a wet liberal pansy.
a very good friend of mine is in charge of plant maintenance at a local factory.
there are 300 people working in this factory and two of them are muslims.
the muslims have requested that they require special toilets just for themselves.
Sorry Ian, looks like I'd picked up the broad brush everyone else is using lol.
I find the tone of a number of comments on this thread to be repellant.
a very good friend of mine is in charge of plant maintenance at a local factory.
there are 300 people working in this factory and two of them are muslims.
the muslims have requested that they require special toilets just for themselves.
We (them and us!) will all pay. I agree that your local university shouldn't have to provide 'toilets a la turk' (thanks fokyc) but I find the response on this thread to be repellent.
I eat in the local mosque restaurant at least once a week and they accept my atheist(lite) homosexual presence without prejudice. The shop I live above is owned by a Muslim who is always generous to me and my partner. She does not represent all adherents Islam, nor do those who are breaking the precious toilets.
This thread reads like the Daily Mail. 'Nuff said.
Have a nice day, and watch out for the reds under the bed too!
a very good friend of mine is in charge of plant maintenance at a local factory.
there are 300 people working in this factory and two of them are muslims.
the muslims have requested that they require special toilets just for themselves.
I cannot believe the rhetoric on this thread. "backward", "them", "us" - you sound like a bunch of xenophobes.
Squat toilets are not a sign of a backward culture and they can be found all over the "backward" southern European culures and as they require no skin contact are percieved as more hygenic.
And to suggest that "we" have not made demands on other cultures is ludicrous - "we" willfully impose our victorian notions of right/wrong, good/bad wherever we go. But that's ok because "our" way is the right way.
would someone seriously consider arranging for an apostafest up in scotland next year?
i know i'm asking this early but i feel it would be good to put the feelers out now.. obviously, it would have to be a location easy to get to - so that means stornoway is out!
sorry, ross & xena.
Get the train, it's so much nicer trundling up out of the English plain through the Scottish Borders and arriving beneath the castle.
seems a 54 year old british school teacher who is teaching grammer school classes in the sudan has committed a despicable act by blastpheming and showing no respect for the prophet!
can you believe it; she actually allowed the children in her class to name a teddy bear being used in a class project muhammad!!
the sudanise government, carrying out its god given duty is putting her on trial.
As Gillian Gibbons has now been released I just thought I'd bring this bttt
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7124447.stm
Looks like some 'moderate' (whatever that means) Muslims have been instrumental in her release. Can I look forward to reading a few more sweeping generalistaions about Islam.
so here's a question: why do some people (and i include myself as a former member of the group) seem so preoccupied with "end-times" issues?.
as a starter, i submit that it's because we are inclined to fight against the inevitability of our own demonstrably limited human existence...and therefore we develop around ourselves "escape mechanisms" to alleviate the pain of termination.. we use numerical calculations, religious speculations, mysterious cosmic forces, evolutionary patterns, etc.
etc.. your thoughts?.
In light of the question you might enjoy John Gray's book, Black Mass.
seems a 54 year old british school teacher who is teaching grammer school classes in the sudan has committed a despicable act by blastpheming and showing no respect for the prophet!
can you believe it; she actually allowed the children in her class to name a teddy bear being used in a class project muhammad!!
the sudanise government, carrying out its god given duty is putting her on trial.
I notice that the BBC News now describe it as "crowds", hardly the masses that would reflect national sentiment. Having said that, even if it were thousands would they reflect the the nation's sensibilities? The marches of the Countryside Alliance here were large but didn't reflect the attitudes of anyone I knew, but then again, I'm not a toff.
KK, I doubt you or I will live to see the day that the UK is dominated by Islam but it sounds like you agree with Morrissey's recent comments....
seems a 54 year old british school teacher who is teaching grammer school classes in the sudan has committed a despicable act by blastpheming and showing no respect for the prophet!
can you believe it; she actually allowed the children in her class to name a teddy bear being used in a class project muhammad!!
the sudanise government, carrying out its god given duty is putting her on trial.
If she hadn't received a punishment, and if thousands of Muslims hadn't taken to the streets AFTER FRIDAY PRAYERS with knives and sticks calling for the teacher to be shot I probably wouldn't have said any of the following-
The BBC reported a couple of hundred people converging on the presidential palace with sticks and one person with a ceremonial sword - and that they looked like rent-a-mob.
While I deplore the Sudanese judiciary and governement I don't expect the UK governmnet to intervene with the judiciary of another country. If you live in another country you play by their rules. As a gay man, this makes some countries off limits to me. It's their loss!
