Only in GD. Everywhere else I’ve interacted with him, he has proven to be a well-informed, well-spoken member of the community. I’d like to share a few beers with him sometime.
No they haven’t and your cite does not support this claim.
No-one denies there are transcendental states of consciousness that can be reached by anyone by a variety of drugs and techniques. Still don’t give anyone the right to tell me what I can or cannot do with my body or whatever.
I didn’t see anyone comment on this, but I think there’s a very important distinction here. I absolutely agree that emotions are neither good nor bad. People often think of happiness as good or sadness as bad, but that’s just a judgment of the general pleasantness of the emotion. The actual value of an emotion is not tied to it’s pleasantness, as I’m sure we’ve all seen plenty of people do bad things because it makes them happy, or fight for a worthy cause because of something that made them sad; in many cases, it’s purely neutral.
However, hate is not an emotion. From Merriam-Webster: “intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury”. Personally, I find very worrisome that you’re conflating anger and hatred to be very disturbing as it seems clear to me that your hatred is derived from your anger.
Now, your anger I think is not only reasonable, but in some cases justified. As a Christian myself, I can understand anger toward a lot of the things that have been done in the name of religion like genocide, persecution, and intollerence. In fact, I share that anger. However, hate is never a justified action, it’s usually is counter-productive, and it distorts your perspective of the positive things about the object of your hatred.
So, sure, if you don’t like the things that have been done in the name of religion, do something positive about it. If all you do is hate, it puts you on the same level of other hates from historical racists to the God Hates Fags bunch. Instead, if you think it’s based on ignorance, make an effort to spread what you believe to be the truth. If you see haters, do what you can to expose them to the humanity of those they hate. And do the same for yourself.
You see, hatred has a way of dehumanizing the objects of your hatred. It’s hard to through hate at someone you know intimately, but it’s important to realize that people, even those who anger you, are still human and deserve to be treated with the same level of human decency that you would treat anyone else. I think if you look beyond the loud and hating minority of some religious zealots, you’ll find plenty of people who are very reasonable, compassionate, and non-hypocrites who actually practice what they preach.
So, seriously, cut back the the hatred, it’s bad for you. Don’t make your anger out to be something negative; use it to effect the world in a positive way.
Well, the people I’m talking about…the religious people who don’t say anything about religion and aren’t confrontational about it do extend that courtesy. I know a lot of people who are religious who I’ve never gotten into confrontations about religion with, don’t you?
This is a fallacy of attribution. On the SDMB, atheists with a chip on their shoulder pick out the worst they can find and use it to smear all religions. I can squeak as loud as I like - you will ignore it.
Der Trihs says specifically that all religious believers are evil and/or stupid. It makes no difference whether we are worshiping quietly by ourselves, working in the soup kitchens and homeless shelters, or sharing our faith in the most non-confrontational ways we can manage.
He’s still going to scream offense, and so are you. It’s RO. I hope it makes you feel better.
Regards,
Shodan
If they vote according to their delusional beliefs - if they in any way act to turning the products of their delusions into law - then they are affecting me. And that indoctrinating their children into their delusional belief system.
Sucks to live in a democracy, even a Constitutional one, don’t it?
Regards,
Shodan
Is this not one of your main beefs with religion?
When public policy is influenced or even set by people who are essentially foisting their own derangement on people, yes it does. Let’s hope there is a god Gene so we can begin screening it out.
I can barely travel a few blocks without running into a ‘house of superstition’. I have references to a magic man on my money, my elected representatives invoke one at the beginning of their sessions.
I would love to ignore religion but I have it constantly shoved in my face. The way things are, we need more like **Der Trihs ** until this primitive thinking is pushed into the fringes where it belongs.
Now you’re just being stupid, if you think that all people who believe in a religion vote the same way.
“A few beers”. That’s your answer to everything, isn’t it? 
Do you ever have any fun?
To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all life’s problems!
For any given value of “a few,” hell yeah!
I love this. A lot of this is why I’ve backed off my “live and let live” approach. The way some people live hurts people. These are the ones that chap my hide the most:
Why, because more Der Trihs would make that more possible?
Der Trihs’ arguments on religion only serve to make him, and his side, look stupid. More **Der Trihs **would mean the opposite of religion being “pushed into the fringes” - rather, it would make the opinion that those who have a beef with religion are unthinking absolutists with the smallest of regards for them. And they would be correct.
My girlfriend would tell you that Jesus never said a word about gays, and his word supersedes anything in Leviticus. The whole reason God sent Jesus was things were of hand and he was to straighten things out, and provide a way to be forgiven for all the nonsense that was taking place, so his word is the final say in things. She thinks gays should be allowed to do what they want. And she is most definitely a Christian.
As far as making women wear black robes in the scorching desert, that is another religion entirely, one she does not believe in. And one, I might add, that has plenty of other things wrong with it besides. I can refer you to verses in the Quo’ran such as “slay those who ascribe divinity to aught besides God wherever you may come upon them, and take them captive, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every conceivable place.” Islam is the only religion I know of that advocates attacking and killing everybody else in any way you can think of.
What if jesus actually DID say that gay people suck? Would she still be a christian?
You know, the blog post linked on the first page addresses this kind of useless remark too.
Just because DT chooses to talk about the things he’s angry about (or hates, in his words) here doesn’t mean he’s necessarily always like that.