Rousseau seems to be of the opinion that 1.Because he is a Christian, I may not criticise Christianity, and 2.Because I critcise Christianity, I am a bigot.
Am I a bigot?
Can Christianity be criticised?
If Rousseau attacks all slythes, is he attacking me? snort!
slythe, you are entitled to “criticize” Christianity. However, saying that my belief system is nothing more than “believing in fairy tales,” and assuming that I believe that “to be moral, one must be Christian,” is not “criticizing” Christianity, it is insulting me deliberately. You are not a bigot because you “criticize” Christianity. You are a bigot because you are prejudiced and intolerant of people of the Christian faith. You assumed a number of negative things about me, not the least of which was that I was hell-bent on creating a Christian state, and that I have no regard for people of other religions. (If any religion has compassion for all people, it is Christianity. Why don’t I hear about any atheist food drives this time of year, slythe?)
Monty, this thread is about slythe and his intolerances. It is not about the Commandments or the Eight-fold or a moment of silence or any such thing. The quotes I pulled demonstrated what I was trying to get across in the OP. Gee, I’m not sure you really read my statements here.
Nope, just religion. (Call that “sarcasm” if it thrills you)
Occam: What I meant was that slythe had a hard time wrapping his brain around the idea that I care about people who aren’t Christian. Ever since the beginning of the other thread, he seemed to be of the opinion that I had a secret agenda to create a Christian-run nation, and crush all other religions under my holy boot. I’ve been trying to get through to him that this is not true (it’s not working). I’m sorry if the way I phrased it was confusing.
The IQ of a group is equal to the IQ of the dumbest member divided by the number of people in the group.
Rousseau;
I am an atheist who is deeply involved in charity work in Nepal. I work with mostly Hindus and some Buddhists. As an atheist, a charity worker and a friend of many people of many faiths, I find this comment of yours extremely offensive:
“I should not take bribes and Minister Bal Bahadur KC should not do so either. But if clerks take a bribe of Rs 50-60 after a hard day’s work, it is not an issue.” ----Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Current Prime Minister of Nepal
Oh, what the hell. sigh
Christians are the source of all charity. Atheists are actually cruel, inhumane Satanists that only give to left-wing “charities” for the tax right-off. The Dark Ages, the Inquisition, and the Children’s Crusades were in actuality highly noble projects that would have worked if it weren’t for evil Satanic atheists working their evil plans in the background. The Bible is the only true source of morals and ethics, and the Ten Commandments should be posted on every schoolroom, just to show all those who believe in false gods which side their bread is buttered on. Darwin was a deluded leader of a “scientific” group bent on turning our children into Godless Commies.
Did I leave anything out? 
I’ve read through this thread, and I don’t see that slythe has a problem.
To Rousseau I would just say that Cecil, and Cecil only, may condescend.
Yes, slythe, you left out the Fnordists.
<FONT COLOR=“GREEN”>ExTank</FONT>
What fnords?
I don’t see any fnords!
Rousseau, suppose that I believed in a religion where I claimed that the universe was three onths old, that “The Brady Bunch” was the one and only divine text, and that one needed to eat sand to get to heaven. Fail to do those things, and you will freeze in Hell forever (in Minnesota, where I am, freezing is more of a fear than burning). If you said that my beliefs seemed silly to you, or that you found it intolernat that I felt that you would be among the frezers because you fail to belong to the faith, that IS NOT AN ATTACK ON ME! Slythe may hate Christianity, she/he may not. Slythe may be ill-informed on Christianity, she/he may not. But Slythe is not being bigotted. There are, for Christians and non-Christians alike, often very good reasons to objecting to at least large parts of Christianity. Even if Slythe (or I, or anyone) said that Christianity has essentially caused more evil than good and that it is a crock is not to attack you.
If, and only if, Slythe says that all who profess to follow Christianity are evil, then (and only then) would this be an attack on YOU.
To put it another way: I generally feel that the Republican party is evil. I view them as racist, sexist, short-sighted, and generally icky. That said, have wonderful family members and friends who not only are Republicans, but some of them have held office as Republicans! Their party I dislike, but I don’t attack them when I say that (just as they are not attacking me when they say that they don’t agree with neo-feudalism or any of my other rather radical views).
To hold other than this is really to look to be a victim and to have too thin a skin to uphold discussing matters within a social contract.
Bucky
Well, Rousseau, DO you believe that “to be moral, one must be Christian”?
Blah, this has turned into a Great Debate. If I wanted to watch a back-and-forth argument with mild aspersions that went nowhere, I’d go to that forum.
This is The Pit for pete’s sake! If you can’t stop arguing and start hollering obscenities at one another, then go away.