Um, thanks, but I feel I am missing something. You ordered both books based only on my recommendation? If you want journalistic proof of the situations in the other countries I have named, I will have do some more research. The books mentioned only proved the situation with the holocaust.
What, I can’t have the books now?! You are a fickle one, Scott-plaid.
I should have reminded you that my original statement had some context. I was speaking to and about an individual, in modern day N. America, who has stated that religion was being forced upon him.
I don’t think so. I think a popularized idea of ethics is being forced on him. If you believe me that there is a difference, then the responsibility rests with the people flogging the POV, not their religion. If you could magically take their religion away, they are still going to be intolerant wankers.
I do think people have been murdered based solely on religious beliefs, but strangely you haven’t hit upon an example I’d agree with yet. No need to do research on my account.
Smile when you say that.
(no, it is not an order, it’s a movie quote, I just can’t remember which one. sheesh 
)
I get the point. I also note the irony that, tired of being broadbrushed by some atheists, you would reciprocate by broadbrushing evangelicals.
Band name! (If everyone in this thread weren’t so busy yelling at each other, you would have seen that.)
Poly, I’ll accept not being an atheist by their definition. But, the God they believe in is rigid, hateful, and doesn’t seem to do love for all, so I think that if we have to buy their definitions of things, that makes you an atheist.
Welcome to the club. The black helicopter will be dropping off your secret decoder ring and anti-rapture helmet.
Leander posts my reaction to his post, but he forgot to include that. I quoted it in my post above, and I’ll do it again.
He could have used “gays” or “homosexuals” but he chose that term to use as a deliberately inflammatory tactic that he could pull off within the rules of the board.
And anyone who thinks “the faithful” and “fags” are rhetorical equivalents is even more intellectually stunted than I thought.
So did I call you a “fag” or not? Do you “stand by” that quote or are you weaseling again?
And anyone who didn’t get what I was saying is even more intellectually stunted than I thought. 
But then, I give you more credit that that – I think you knew exactly what I was saying; this is just yet another incident of the gobear lie, spin, distort tactic.
Getting tiresome, my friend, and I think most folks are a bit too clever to fall for it.
I clearly have Dungeons and Dragons on the brain. I read half a page of this thread of this thread before I realized that CE stood for “Christian Evangelicals” and not “Chaotic Evil”. Frankly I always had Falwell pegged as a Lawful Evil Cleric of not particularly high level.
Carry on.
I am going against my better judgement in all kinds of ways in getting back into this nonsense, but this is just too much for me to take:
Look: when you’ve got me telling you you’re overplaying the homo card, that’s a sign there’s a serious problem going on.
Leander’s point was clear, and this fag in particular knew exactly what he was saying. There’s nothing intellectually stunted about it. It’s the same analogy I’ve made before, and when I used it, you tried to weasel out of it by saying basically “you choose to be Christian” instead of accusing me of homophobia. (Oh wait – you did that, too, didn’t you?)
No, I didn’t choose my sexual orientation. Yes, I did choose my religious belief. It doesn’t fucking matter. What’s intellectually stunted is to make generalizations about all members of a group based on the actions of some of its members. Even if I did choose to be attracted to men, you would have to be an asshole to say that homosexuality is nothing more than “selfish hedonism” and justify it by saying that there are a lot of promiscuous, selfish, whiny homosexuals. And even if I didn’t choose to be Christian, you would have to be an asshole to say that Christianity is nothing more than hate and persecution and political power, and justify it by saying that there are a lot of hateful people claiming to be Christian.
And he used the word “fag” for the same reason I did above: it is a deliberately inflammatory word, to show how inflammatory your comments sound to others. It’s that simple, and it would’ve remained that simple had you not latched on it as your chance to turn yourself into a martyr and undermine all of Leander’s comments on the grounds that he’s a homophobe.
And speaking of martyrs, let me see if I can recall that other thread. You made a flippant remark about the Crucifixion and a blasphemous comment about my Savior getting an erection. Did I go all apeshit and call you on that? No. Because I’m a reasonably mature adult, and I recognized it exactly for what it was – a feeble attempt at humor. I instead focused on the content of what you were trying to say, which is the minimum we expect from everyone on the message board. Not to scream and cry and back people into a corner for using the wrong word, but to respond to what the words are trying to say.
While I’m at it: if a Christian dares go into the BBQ Pit, a forum for profanity-laced arguments, and says the “f-word,” he’s immediately accused of being on the attack or of not showing Christian love. Bullshit. It’s the language of the times, and it’s the language of this forum. Everyone who comes in here knows that it’s not the place for tact or politeness, as that often gets in the way of the truth. If I say something hypocritical or petty but word it nicely, that less “Christian” than using foul language to speak the truth. Anyone who’s genuinely offended by that needs to just grow up, and anyone who’s just using it as an excuse to not have to respond to the meat of the argument, needs to concede defeat.
Thank you for ameliorating some nagging guilt. That appeal to religion is a powerful tactic, even though I didn’t think it was true in most cases…
Well, of course if your guilt’s been assuaged I hope it’s of your own doing and not from anything I posted. I suspect you’d have a hard time finding any authority who’d say that I’m a model of Proper Christian Behavior.
And I’ll go ahead here and apologize to gobear. I still stand behind whatever substantive points I’ve made, but I could’ve worded everything a lot more civilly. Even in the Pit.
I think I’ve got an acute case of SDMB Fatigue brewing, and a lengthy hiatus is in order. Lest I totally flip out, or even worse, turn into one of those LJ fuckwits. Healthiest choice all around.
When it comes time to list the least civil folks in the BBQ Pit, Sol You aren’t gonna be in the top ten.
Have fun, out there in the world. Careful living among those Englishers!
Tris
If one had to be a good model of Christian behaviour to know what it is, we’d all be fucked.
Too bad–your posts in this trainwreck (trainwrecks? It’s like someone dropped a bomb in a switching yard) have been among the more insightful.