He’s an atheist. How can you say “rough things” about something you think is not real?
Who says that about Maher? He skewers the Democrats and liberal quite frequently on his show. His show is famous for having at least as many conservatives and Republicans on as he has liberals and Democrats. And he makes lots of Democrats uneasy with his views about Islam, as a religion. So, which Democratic politicians are you talking about who are anti-God, and why?
I’m still waiting for you to answer the simple question that I and others ahem asked you: Are you expressing your own views or those of your “friends”?
You know what? If God exists as Christians believe (a hypothesis I have seen no evidence for), he’s a big boy and can stand a little criticism from Bill Maher. If he can’t…well, your god isn’t much of a god, is he?
The first link simply shows you confuse removing a reference to God from the platform with being anti-God. Religion neutral is not the same as being anti-religion.
NOT. THE. SAME.
The second link is a clip from Bill Maher. He isn’t representitive of Democrats. In fact, I doubt he would be happy being considered a Democrat.
OK.
An extreme right wing newspaper publishes an article based on the claims of an advocacy group for the Religious Right with no other source of information and you just accepted that?
The problem has not been that the military has been interfering with the practice of religion. The problem has been that for too long, commanding officers in the military tolerated the inappropriate religious behavior of some Fundamentalist Christians and now that there has been a slight push-back from people who did not want to be subjected to that sort of behavior, the Fundamentalists are crying that they are no longer allowed to abuse their positions of authority.
While your article claims that the chaplains were disciplined for expressing their religious views during sessions of personal counselling, the reality is that they were pushing the beliefs of their particular Fundamentalist denominations in public presentations. The second case was brought because of a personnel conflict with an assistant and the Navy has dismissed the charges and returned him to duty in good standing.
Cite one incident in which a combat soldier was denied help because he was Christian.
What can an ordinary Muslim do differently from any other person? Why imagine that some sort of protest from a Muslim (of which there are plenty of examples) has any effect on potential terrorists? It’s a world in which you choose your own teachers to follow and communities to join.
Your friends sound like nasty privileged bigots with no clue about reality. You should find friends who aren’t clueless reactionary douchebags. Seriously, why are you friends with these people? They sound like the worst kind of jackass.
Wait, what? When did Bernie Sanders mock and disparage god? If you’re going to make claims like this, you need to back them up with citations.
And I’m worried about gay or Atheist soldiers being marginalized and abused by Christians. You know what the difference between my fear and yours is? Mineisreal.
Cite? :dubious:
What in here is “anti-god”? The democratic party removed god from their platform, opting instead to have no mention of it. This is not anti-god. Being secular and neutral on the issue is not the same as hating or mocking god.
Bill Maher claims to be an independent. He in no way speaks for the democratic party and has no significant influence therein. He’s also kind of an idiot.
According to who? I mean, if you wanted to talk about Democrats who were atheists, you could have brought up an actual democrat politician, Barney Frank, but even he isn’t “anti-god” in the way you seem to imply.
It’s my understanding the OP is lamenting the U.S. is becoming more “anti-God”, or at least the Democratic Party is leaning that way. It’s fair game to ask him to prove this is a problem, including demonstrating that God exists in the first place.
Removing the word “God-given” from the party platform is NOT “anti-God.” It’s being sensitive to the millions of American citizens who don’t believe that God exists and has absolutely no impact on the party platform. It’s just a word, in that context.
OTOH, trying to repeal a law that provides healthcare to millions of impoverished people because it causes the wealthy to pay a little more IS “anti-God.” Denying equal protection and civil rights to people because of their gender, sexual orientation or sexual identity IS “anti-God.” Denying women access to legal reproductive care is “anti-God.” Promising to lock people up without due process or legal representation and to torture them until they talk is “anti-God.” Promising to bomb other countries until the desert is glass is “anti-God.” Falsely representing atheists, Muslims or any other group as evil, lazy, unethical or any other stereotype is “anti-God.”
You know what is pro-God? A society that cares for widows and orphans - people who have no one taking care of them. A society that embraces and protects those on the margins - the poor, the minorities, the foreigners among us. One that treats all people, even those we disagree with, with dignity and respect. My bible tells me that those are pro-God positions, whether God’s name is invoked with them or not.
So to me it’s really quite clear which party is anti-God, and it’s not the one you’re accusing.
No, the actual existence of god is 100% irrelevant. Nobody is talking about keeping an actual god out of the US as if that would be possible if god did exist. What is being talked about is using the belief in god in policy and society or marginalizing the same.
Lets assume god doesn’t exist, and that’s something I agree with. If the debate was about keeping an actual god out of, say, public schools, then secularists wouldn’t have any problem with religious indoctrination. “They’re not actually affecting anything because god isn’t actually real” is clearly false.
Here’s a question for you and your friends. A member of my church is a proud veteran. She’s also a lesbian. Is it right that if she had gone to her chaplain for counseling on some issue, the chaplain should be able to berate her for being a lesbian, even though she’s also a Christian? Does that mean the chaplain would have the right to judge that she’s not a Christian or the wrong type of Christian?
Also, please ask your friends to think carefully before they answer because this woman is extraordinarily fit and could probably take out two or three people if provoked.
And according to your Washington Times article, 26 chaplains are Jewish. Doesn’t that make them by definition antithetical to Christian beliefs?
Only one of these sets of opinions can be true, since you could not possibly be “worried about Christian churches” (or at least not worried about any external threat) if you knew anything about US politics. Paying lip service to Christianity is a sine qua non of American campaigning.
By the way, when did you find time to change your party affiliation yesterday?
Christian churches (indeed all churches), Christianity and Christians have often been unfairly favored by our government. Some would like to remove that favored status and treat everyone equally under the law.
Those who stand to lose that favored status consider such actions “attacks.”
