Boggle. :eek:
I do not fear Jonathon Chance for being a Jew. I fear him for his hobby of corporate takeovers. I will hide under my desk for safety.
I do not fear Fenris for being a Jew. I fear him for his sarcasm and his legions of fans, who could easily be trained to attack at his command.
I did not fear Shayna before, but I do now. She has a newly flaunted talent for ass kicking, and lives not far from me.
I fear LaurAnge for being able to get someone banned without saying a rude word. She may have secret mental powers. I will wear my tinfoil hat just in case.
I fear Polycarp because the picture of that poor gerbil is carved into my frontal lobes.
I fear Lynn because I’m not a complete idiot.
There are more, but I’m too afraid to type.
::running far far away::
Wierddave:
Well, there is the Rede. . . .
The Rede isn’t really a “Creed” as most people understand it, though.
Of course, UUism is a non-creedal religion as well, although I understand that there are those who will argue that it’s not a religion at all.
And still no response from Fenris, the Poetic.
Gotcha. The Rede tells you how to live, but not specifically what to believe. Makes sense.
And I really, really like the word “non-creedal.”
Go into more detail about the Rede, if you would, please. I suspect it falls into the same category as the UU Principles: not a theological assertion but a statement of common behavioral norms each “member” tacitly agrees to as a consensus of how to live properly according to that faith’s view. Am I off in this?
BTW, does anybody know enough about Ethical Culture to say whether they are “a creedless religion” in the context being debated here?
No, you are exactly correct. The Rede is a list of ethical behaviour and practices by Wiccan standards. The shortened form most often seen is “An it harm none, do what ye will.” Witches in a hurry shorten it even further: “Harm none.”
I looked at several of portajon’s posts, all over the place, and it’s my opinion that s/he’s trolling on the SDMB, not just in this particular instance. In general, yes, members should try to help each other post in accordance to our standards. In this case, though, I’m of the opinion that portajon’s aim was to troll, not to share. I am still uncertain about Wildest Bill’s intentions. I’m leaning towards the notion that he’s purely trolling in a great many of these threads. However, since I don’t like him, I’m giving him the benefit of doubt. I’m still gathering opinions from others.
And when I have half a dozen posters (all of whom I respect) asking me to look hard at a particular person, I take that very seriously.
I’m curious; why do you suppose some people are so rigid regarding “standards” or “conditions” that would entitle one to claim membership in a group, such as “Jewish”? I don’t understand why some people in recent posts have responded so strongly in a negative way to people wishing to claim to be of Jewish heritage. Why should it disturb anyone if a person derives comfort, happiness, or security from claiming to be a member of such a group? Please, educate me, because I truly don’t understand.
Hairy: It’s really simple. Some people are bigots and are stunned that anyone would even admit to being a member of, let alone want to join, a group that the bigots despise.
Thus the banning.
Because there are frauds who pretend to be Jews (in the religous sense). You don’t have many Satanists running around saying “Hey, we’re Christians for Satan!” but there are whole groups of anti-Jews counterfiting and misrepresenting my religous beliefs as “Jews for Jesus” or the obnoxiously named “Fulfilled Jews”. (Messianic Jews are a problematic issue to me. They’re generally ex-“religous Jews” who’ve converted to Christianity, but still keep Jewish Law. From what I know of them, they’re not the same people as the “Jews for Jesus” people.)
Frankly, I wish there was a verbal shorthand for saying “religous Jew” from “ethnic Jew”, but there’s not. And while an “ethnic Jew” could convert to Christianity and still be an “ethnic Jew”, a “religous Jew” could not.
Confused yet? 
Fenris
Hey, uh, Bill? No one else seems to have commented on this, but you do realize that (in theory, at least) you and Poly also worship the same God? And therefore Fenris and you worship the same God? Right?
[sub]Poly, Fenris, I’m sorry. Please note the “in theory” above. ;)[/sub]
Anybody else get a really freaky Jewish rant from ol’ portaboy making vauge sabre-rattling noises about being banned?
Why I got one I’ll never know…
Esprix
I got one…polite enough though…
Esprix -
No, but can you post it?
I got one too. You thought it was polite? Please. I saw some definite racism in it. Since I don’t need that kind of junk cluttering my inbox, ol’ port’s now on my banned e-mail list too.
Well…I just kinda skimmed through it, maybe I will read through it after the John Laroquette show is over.
bdgr, just for you, I’ll quote the most telling part of the {ahem} e-mail in question:
The rest of it is worse. Heck, he even completely misses the point of the incident in the Steve Martin movie! I feel safe posting the bit above becaue I think it’s already well obvious that’s port’s take on the religion and the people.
I think I’ve discovered port’s job. Just the other day I got in the mail a credit card application. This thing was telling me how I can celebrate my Irish heritage and a few other interesting tidbits about Ireland. All this based on my surname.
Odd, that. My family hails from Scotland on Dad’s side and not that long ago either. I was quite peeved when I read the beginning of it.
WB’s & port’s attitudes are two sides of the same coin. Stereotyping will get one nowhere (or banned).