Just stepped into the religion forum...holy moly...

[truebrit71]

..why do they feel so threatened by non-believers??...there is such a bitter level of bile...very "un-christian" I thought...

They always remind me of liars that are trapped in their own web of self-deceit shouting more and more loudly as the truth gets closer and closer....You know..."I did not have relations with that woman", and then parsing the snot out of the English language to try and justify the lies...

[yellerpup]

1. You summed it up nicely

"They always remind me of liars that are trapped in their own web of self-deceit shouting more and more loudly as the truth gets closer and closer..."

On some level, they must know.

[trotsky]

3. I'm absolutely convinced they do.

You will only ever get so far in a line of reasoning with any of them. They will refuse to go any farther. They know full well they have compartmentalized their faith and the price of protecting it is to not think too hard. I see many in R/T who couldn't be more obvious when they reach that point, descending into a parody of themselves rather than answer a simple question.

[yellerpup]

7. Yes, it is more comfortable in a cocoon.

The default answers are at the ready, and exactly as you say, the intellect disengages and faith takes over. I no longer attempt to discuss religion with a person of faith because I am unable to talk about my point of view without offending. I have a dear friend of almost 50 years who still gently, but passive-aggressively mentions the love of christ, etc. every time she signs off from a correspondence. She knows exactly how I feel and has told me that her son holds the same POV I do. I'm supposed to respect her beliefs, but she thinks she can say or do anything to save me from hell and can't understand how I (or anyone) can be upset over receiving greetings from Jesus through her. Now, when she signs off with "god bless," I cheerfully respond with "there is no god." Then, she gets offended. It's only fair. :evilgrin:

[cleanhippie]

9. I think you hit it in the head, right there.

I see many in R/T who couldn't be more obvious when they reach that point, descending into a parody of themselves rather than answer a simple question.


Thats it, exactly. And lately, a couple of the regulars have really been working on their acts.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. Or...

"NO!!! IMPOSSIBLE!!! MY EVIL-POWERED ARMOR IS IMPENETRABLE! DAMN YOU HERO! AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!"

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Apparently, atheism is part of Stalinist Communism

and we all carry the Original Sin of Marxism.

And the only thing that stopped American atheists from massacring the fine upstanding Christian Real Americans before WW2 was the good luck of atheists not being in control of the Army.

:banghead:

[onager]

5. Heh! Wonder what they think of Evans Carlson?

Personal friend of Mao Tse-Tung...oh, and founder of the Marine Raiders in WWII.

Carlson is the reason the Marines adopted the term "gung ho," or "working together" in Chinese.

He met Edgar Snow in China and read Snow's "Red Star Over China." This encounter led him to visit the Chinese communist troop headquarters in northern China, where he met Chinese Communist leaders such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. Traveling thousands of miles through the interior of China with the communist guerrillas, often on foot and horseback over the most hazardous terrain, he lived under the same primitive conditions. He was impressed by the tactics used by Chinese Communist guerrillas to fight Japanese troops...

In the military there is a sharp caste-system divide between officers and enlisted personnel...Carlson saw the Communist approach as superior. Leaders were expected to serve the unit and the fighters they led, not to be served. Responsibility, not privilege, would be the keyword for battalion leadership...

Even more controversial in concept, Carlson gave his men "ethical indoctrination," designed to "give (his men) conviction through persuasion," describing for each man what he was fighting for and why.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evans_Carlson

The Wiki leaves out a lot. After returning from China in 1938, Carlson ran afoul of the all-powerful "China Lobby," which included lots of Xian missionaries. He resigned his commission in the Marine Corps so he could speak freely about Japanese aggression in China...and also about the missionaries' favorite leader, Chiang Kai-Shek, who Carlson saw as just another plundering warlord.

In 1947, Carlson warned that we were "backing the wrong horse" in China, and that Chiang would lose the civil war because his Kuomintang Army did not have "a base in the people."

[TZ]

8. As it is we are obviously priming all our congressional reps

TO BAN ALL RELIGION AND KILL ALL BELIEVERS. I mean, clearly, we are waaay more dangerous than those that actually have, political power.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LeftishBrit]

10. What I have noticed...

is that some people seem not to make the distinction between the state being secular and religion-neutral, and the state *enforcing* atheism.

Also, it is striking how my thread about a Christian-Rightie (Nadine Dorries) attacking *the Archbishop of Canterbury* so instantly turned into a debate about whether 'extreme' atheists are as dangerous as religious extremists. The OP didn't refer to atheists at all.

[laconicsax]

11. The OP doesn't have to refer to atheists for a particular poster to hijack it.

After all, 20th century dictators are the greatest threat to the 21st century.

[mr blur]

12. Well, if you're looking for rational discussion,

you know you shouldn't go there!

[dmallind]

13. What parsing? "definition of is" perhaps?

Where Clinton's definition was unquestionably correct and the prosecutor's usage unquestionably stupid?