No worries. I hadn’t even considered a religious connotation; I guess that’s how out of the faith loop I am.
Well, that depends on what effect she is trying to produce. You are assuming that she is praying him to see the light and repent and not spend eternity in hellfire and so on. She might be, but she might just be praying he doesn’t get hit by a bus.
Go re-read, no place have I said I was against her praying for him, silly yes but unless she is being pushy and rude about it I don’t care.
I did not have enough information to say so or not, although I can relate how it is a little silly and unwanted.
My comments were in response to “why don’t you just come to church, my may learn something” posts.
Umm Rick Perry, Santorum, Gingrich, The Tea Party and Prop 8 disagree with you.
I don’t want to give any more ammunition to people for their wrong beliefs. That’s why I feel I have to speak up as an atheist. Sure, personally, they are doing no more harm to me than a voodoo priest can do with a doll, but the difference is Christianity actually affects atheists and other religious through their influence and political power. If I just keep my mouth shut when someone prays for me, I would be doing a disservice to me and others like me by enabling that behavior through silence. Christians need to hear more people speak up and tell them their beliefs are wrong and unwelcome, or else they’ll be even more emboldened to push their beliefs on people
I’m not certain what country you live in, but in the US we have numerous “blue laws” on teh books that have their roots in Christian theology. Proscriptions against pornography, buying booze on Sunday, sex with teh wrong partners or in teh wrong positions or with the wrong kind of economic transaction, etc. We also have well coordinated and sadly effective efforts to destroy the fundaentals of scientific education in ou rpublic schools and text books because they do not support a fundamentalist reading of Genesis.
It is neither silly nor (unfortunately) imaginary. The history of this country is filled with examples of dominant religious sects imposing their heterodoxy upon their neighbors. I’m not sure when you think those efforts stopped, but I urge you to pay more attention to the political dialogue in this country.
I have no problem with sestting foot inside a church. I will even, rarely, decide to take part in a religious ritual because I have social or personal reasons that make it worthwhile for me to do so. What I will not do is allow others to make that choice for me, or to presume that my presence & participation in their ritual is anything other than a specific choice that I must make. The assumption that must take part in someone’s ceremny because it is important to them is not one that I feel obligated to honor.
You don’t see any irony here?
Responding to an instigator is not the same, so no.
Why did you quote me, then?
What exactly are any one of these proposing that would put us on the road to the theocracy that frightens you?
You claimed Blake had a reason to be offended by the KKK but not by Christians because they are harmless in doing imaginary things.
The point is that vicarious redemption is as ugly as racism for many people.
Touche
So what? You can say that about any law of any country at any time?
And each of these has been significantly weakened in recent history. If these crazy fundamentalists are so powerful, they sure don’t show it very well. But let’s say your view is accurate. When and where has anyone been stopped from engaging in any of the above activities? With the exception of buying booze on Sunday, of course, and even then, it’s not difficult to circumvent. Maybe Utah is the only place where it might be difficult, but even Utah has relaxed its proscriptions. So, this is just another made up fantasy to further your anti religion agenda.
So much blather that I don’t know where to begin. Cite for me one example of one group wishing to replace any part of a science curriculum with Creationism ?
Its both. It’s lacking supportive evidence.
And yet here we are.
This is classic. Since one disagrees with you, that one must somehow be lacking in education or basic political sensibilities.
And his proposal is what?
So he’s patronizing his base. So what? Is this any different than any other politician?
“Does faith matter? Absolutely,” Gingrich said. “How can you have judgment if you have no faith? How can I trust you with power if you don’t pray?” He continued, “the notion that you are endowed by your creator sets a certain boundary of what we mean by America.” Gingrich said that Americans should value religion first, above morality and knowledge.
“a secular atheist country potentially one dominated by radical Islamists”
"I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian, but you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school. As president, I’ll end Obama’s war on religion. And I’ll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage. Faith made America strong. It can make her strong again.” —Rick Perry
“I am a firm believer in intelligent design as a matter of faith and intellect, and I believe it should be presented in schools alongside the theories of evolution.” —Rick Perry
“One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country… Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that’s okay, contraception is okay. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.” - Santoum
Do I need to keep going?
Oh, I see, so they claim it’s what they want to do, and it is the type of laws they try to pass but they really don’t mean it?
Yes you do. Because I asked for a policy proposal, not electioneering bumper stickers. Face it. You have none. You’re just scared of people of faith. So you might have a president who has a different faith than you. So what?
And name aproposed law that you would find offensive on religious/anti religious grounds.