I’ve never been ok with it. That’s not the point.
People, the biggest part believe these things.
Whether it fits my beliefs or not doesn’t matter.
I’m saying it’s not going away anytime soon. It takes years and years to just test these long held beliefs. Much less remove them forever.
Then you get one goofy yahoo and it comes crashing back down.
I give you women’s reproductive rights. It took years, then Roe vs Wade. Then more years of somewhat, argued about, but some ability for a woman to have a choice. Now… zap…it’s gone again.
The Founding Fathers built this country on white supremacy, which included major compromises to ensure that slavery did not get interrupted in the South. Not until 1965 did a Civil Rights Act with teeth make an attempt to try to remove white supremacy from the laws of the land.
All people are asking is that the laws and their enforcement be fair and neutral, instead of slanted toward one particular group.
But it’s going to be hard to change white supremacy after this amount of time. So why bother? It’s everywhere. Just live with it.
I sympathize with your position, but you really haven’t given any good reasons to object to Satanism existing, at all.
So, are we all suppose to throw our hands up because things are looking bad? You said you have kids, right? I mean, in my opinion, things wont get better regarding women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and even the costs of insulin, until we’re able to shed off some out-of-date ways of thinking in our government, and embrace and encourage rational thinking. No one here is directly challenging your faith. You still seem defensive.
Up until I ran into the subtype of Satanists who are political activists fighting to make the world better, I also had Beck’s attitude towards Satanists. The ones I’d run into were just trolls, enjoying the fact that they scared Christians. I do think that is childish nonsense at best.
But I’ve now run into those activists who are fighting back against those who are abusing the freedom of religion loophole to get around anti-bigotry laws. I like that they’re using the same freedom of religion against them.
And I also now have run into those who put up statues not to troll exactly, but to make a point about freedom of religion–where the goal is to show the intolerance of other religions by those Christians who claim their freedom of religion is under attack.
That is the one thing I chink the OP has a point on: there are multiple different types of Satanists, and the pure trolls do harm the reputation of the activists. However, I don’t think it’s the activists who need to change their name—they need a name that protests the dominant religion in this country.
It’s the simple trolls who should change their name. But they likely won’t, because they’re trolls.
I don’t profess any faith. None. I’ve said it multiple times. Not part of any group. Christian or otherwise. None.
I’m not being defensive.
I’m just saying it’s not gonna be easy to change things.
I think we need to prioritize what’s more important. Grousing about a lit up cross on a light pole or fighting against abysmal healthcare?
You tell me. What do I need to care about more?
We get our ducks in a row. Then we talk about not offending someones feelings about crosses and logos and whether certain statues can stay or not.
Our ducks are not in a row. The cart is before the horse. People can take offense at the least objective things. People kill each other over them.
When, in truth we have bigger things to worry about.
The separation between church and state. It’s really, really important, and you’ve been really, really dismissive of people who are worried about it.
Note, you can care about the separation of church and state and affordable health care at the same time. I’d venture to say you may be unique in this thread in not having this capacity, because I doubt there’s anyone in this thread who isn’t also concerned about the US’s health care crisis.
Yes? Maybe I should have said “the one way I agree with the OP’s premise”? It’s not a slight. I previously said I disagreed with the idea they have a “branding problem.” Now I see a way in which maybe they do. Beck is not the only person I’ve seen respond like this to them.
I don’t think they have a branding problem because of the real Satan worshipers. I don’t think the fact the name bothers Christians is a flaw, as far as they are concerned. A brand doing what you want is not a branding issue. But the fact that they share a name with pure trolls can be one.
However, the obvious fix—changing their main name—isn’t available to them. I think they’re already doing what they can by taking on the name “The Satanic Temple” to distinguish themselves.
Okay, I can see where I may have been dismissive about church and state separation.
I didn’t intend that.
I was dismissing anyone who thinks cross imagery was going away…or any Christmas decor.
Which is full of Christian iconography. It’s not leaving here. It’s just not.
I don’t mean as a governmentally mandated nativity scene on the courthouse lawn. I think that’s not the place for one. I think it could actually be stopped in most places. But are the people screaming about whether it’s wrong or not doing less or more important work to change things or just screaming to hear themselves?
The Christian Maganuts are making fools of themselves buying Trump Bibles and saying Merry Christmas with a snarl to get a rise outta someone in public. It’s sickening.
This is the problem. Not me. I’m just chatting on a message board.
Oh, hush. I wasn’t talking about you guys.
If you don’t like it you don’t like it.
I like to see Christmas decor. It cheers me up. Most of it is volunteer work to decorate.
I was commissioned to paint murals in the little town I live near. To decorate the town. I didn’t necessarily agree with all the imagery. And I certainly didn’t get paid. I was lucky if they bought paint.
Sometimes decorations are just decorations.
I also worked on homecoming floats and the parade. And I despise football.