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@TeWaio said in Religious type discussion:
@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Religious type discussion:
@TeWaio said in Religious type discussion:
@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Religious type discussion:
Well traditional in the sense that that is what has been practiced for hundreds, possibly thousands of years. People don't have to be religious to oppose change and I don't believe same sex marriage has ever been the norm or widely accepted in our recorded history (but I'll stand corrected if that is not the case).
Ultimately you don't necessarily need to be religious or a raving homophobe to be skeptical about gay marriage.
Again, I stand corrected, but my understanding is that civil unions between gay couples are basically recognised as marriages under law, it's just that the term marriage cannot be used. So the issue isn't gay couples not being able to enter into legally recognised unions but the word they can use to describe those unions.
But if one is not objecting on religious or homophobic grounds, then why would one care about the particular describing word used?
Words in our language change meaning all the time. I can't see any logical basis in people caring deeply about the precise meaning of the word "marriage" above all other words in our language. Unless they are religious or homophobic enough to use it as a way to ensure two other people can't express their love for each other in the same way as other married people. Which is a dick move IMO.
As I said - tradition. I'm talking about the "that's the way things have always been" type of people. The ones who actually take the "death do us part" thing seriously. Some traditions are sacred to people. As silly as it is, they're just objecting to the use of a word, not arguing for homosexuality to be illegal or that gay unions can't be recognised by law.
Gollum:
Marriage (whether arranged or not) has still traditionally been between a man and a woman . I don't agree with their views, but claiming traditionalists are only hiding bigotry or self-interest is a trifle unfair.The problem with the bolded bit is that it doesn't really exist, or only exists in a narrow beholder-defined timeframe. Nothing has "always been the way it is" - neither the meanings of words like marriage, nor the idea of marriage itself. Nearly everything anthropological changes over time.
Saying "that's the way things have always been" is really saying "that's the way things were for me growing up when I developed my own specific world view (and maybe for one generation prior to that) and I'm going to use that as a stick to beat people because they have a different world view than me"
But it's always been that way for them and was the case for many many years prior to that. I'm not saying their view is logical, but I can understand it and it is not necessarily the product of religious fervour or bigotry.
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@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Religious type discussion:
But it's always been that way for them and was the case for many many years prior to that. I'm not saying their view is logical, but I can understand it and it is not necessarily the product of religious fervour or bigotry.
Thsats pretty much the definition of bigotry tho' isn't it? The idea the way its been for them is the only valid way & anyone different should be stopped.
Thats no different from "In my day blacks knew their place" "you could hit kids, I was hit & it did me no harm", "you could call islander coconuts". Etc.
Anyone saying "I am not OK with this because its not what I am used to", can't really complain about being called bigoted - well, at least not when the thing they are against relates to people.
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@gollum said in Religious type discussion:
@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Religious type discussion:
But it's always been that way for them and was the case for many many years prior to that. I'm not saying their view is logical, but I can understand it and it is not necessarily the product of religious fervour or bigotry.
Thsats pretty much the definition of bigotry tho' isn't it? The idea the way its been for them is the only valid way & anyone different should be stopped.
Thats no different from "In my day blacks knew their place" "you could hit kids, I was hit & it did me no harm", "you could call islander coconuts". Etc.
Anyone saying "I am not OK with this because its not what I am used to", can't really complain about being called bigoted - well, at least not when the thing they are against relates to people.
Use of a word traditionally used to describe a union between a man and a woman versus advocating slavery, child abuse and racial slurs.
No it isn't the same thing.
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I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow, it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I'm a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally, I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time. - Isaac Asimov
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My pet fucking HATE at the moment is when people say that criticising a religion or adherents to a religion is racist.... and the media never pull them up on it.
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@Baron-Silas-Greenback said in Religious type discussion:
My pet fucking HATE at the moment is when people say that criticising a religion or adherents to a religion is racist.... and the media never pull them up on it.
Only the one pet hate?
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Interestingly my (already very shaky) faith has pretty much disappeared since my wife got seriously ill a couple of years back. Under those circumstances you would perhaps think that prayer and all that would help, but I've gone completely the other way. It's not like I'm strongly against it, I just recognise it as being a complete waste of time.
By all means people can tell me they're praying and thinking about her and I appreciate that and know they mean well, but ultimately she'll be saved by science and medicine, not some all seeing all knowing entity.
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I grew up Catholic, I even wanted to be pope as a kid, my hero was John Paul II. And although I do respect some religious entities ie current pope and his somewhat radical move in becoming more modern I'd have to say now I am a complete Atheist..with a surprising lack of tolerance for god botherers that push there faith on me if I'm at the pub.
My click over point was when a good friend my age, who was an atheist, a couple years back got diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer (after months of mis-diagnosis). He was totally at piece with his Atheism and even did an interview for Channel 4 in the UK prior to his death. (available on youtube if anyone wants to watch it just pm me). Anyway his last few months had a pretty lasting impact on me and had me change my priorities in life somewhat, but I'll tell you what it takes every ounce of restraint not to ram a fork into someones eye when they tell me his passing was god's plan to help me change my life.
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@Baron-Silas-Greenback said in Religious type discussion:
My pet fucking HATE at the moment is when people say that criticising a religion or adherents to a religion is racist.... and the media never pull them up on it.
What's ridiculous about that is that these are often people who otherwise rage against religion. Yet despite having a religion that is absolutely tailormade to be attacked due to it's completely open views about gays and women, they'll passionately defend it because a large number of adherents are exotic brown people. How ridiculous is that.
The same applies to this website. Insult and abuse the Christian religions and nobody cares. Suggest Muslims need to reform their religion and you get called a racist bigot.
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@Rembrandt Oh yes, ditto for the people who use the 'god's plan' line on couples who are struggling with infertility or miscarriages.
Seriously. FUCK OFF with your bullshit.
The prayer thing annoys me, because so often it is used for show - look I'm doing something about an issue when I'm actually not. If someone is ill, cooking helps. Cleaning helps. Childcare helps. Doing errands helps. Prayer, not so much.
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The other one that shits me is 'Karma'.
"Bloody hell Rembrandt, that's awful!, don't worry bud..Karma will get them!"
"Cheers but I'm not a weak minded idiot who thinks Karma is a thing and who can't take responsibility for my own life..and no it probably doesn't make me happier knowing that...I'm quite sure ignorance is bliss"
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trotting out the Karma thing works on my 8 year old....
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@Baron-Silas-Greenback said in Religious type discussion:
My pet fucking HATE at the moment is when people say that criticising a religion or adherents to a religion is racist.... and the media never pull them up on it.
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@Rembrandt said in Religious type discussion:
I grew up Catholic, I even wanted to be pope as a kid, my hero was John Paul II. And although I do respect some religious entities ie current pope and his somewhat radical move in becoming more modern I'd have to say now I am a complete Atheist..with a surprising lack of tolerance for god botherers that push there faith on me if I'm at the pub.
My click over point was when a good friend my age, who was an atheist, a couple years back got diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer (after months of mis-diagnosis). He was totally at piece with his Atheism and even did an interview for Channel 4 in the UK prior to his death. (available on youtube if anyone wants to watch it just pm me). Anyway his last few months had a pretty lasting impact on me and had me change my priorities in life somewhat, but I'll tell you what it takes every ounce of restraint not to ram a fork into someones eye when they tell me his passing was god's plan to help me change my life.
That "gods plan" bullshit riles me too. You see it in comments from religious folk on an article about e.g. a couple that have tragically lost their child to cancer or some other shit. "Oh it's gods plan, he's in a better place now". A- If that's gods plan, he's an evil fucking sociapath and B- the kid is in a better place without his parents?? Really?? Do these people fucking listen to themselves talk? That's a fucking horrible thing to say.
My grandfather was raised in a brethren community, which he left when he was a young man, meaning his entire familiy disowned him so I've actually got no idea who any of them are. So my dad was raised atheist, and on my mums side her parents were I guess agnostic though never actually labelled themselves. Meaning I (thank fuck) never endured childhood indoctrination into whatever religion my parents bought into.
My better half on the other hand was raised in Papua New Guinea for the first 9 years of her life, which is something like 91% Catholic, so she was very religious during her younger years. She would tell people that were mis-behaving off with phrases like "god is watching you!!". Around the time we met she already had a lot of doubts, and a bit of me saying "let's watch some funny standup" and putting on George Carlin was all it took for her to realise the whole thing was a load of bullshit.
Now most of you probably think I'm pretty aggresive with the way I call out religious bullshit, but I am not a patch on my wife. She fucking HATES the fact that she was brainwashed as a child and has absolutely no tolerance for any religious bullshit whatsoever. She can rant about it for fucking hours. Some idiots came round to our place when I was out one day trying to get donations for their local church... needless to say they won't be visiting us again...
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@taniwharugby if it works on an eight year old it might be too sophisticated for some on the Fern!
I am just bemused by this thread, how sensible some are and how incense incensed some others are. We should have stuck to Nigella writhing in central american chocolate, Jegga!
*Hmm that last sentence could be misconstrued..
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Yeah, this stuff shits me too. A few years back some bloke I knew a little through work who was a total God-botherer, was telling me how his wife had been late-diagnosed with stomach cancer just be fore Christmas and how it was very tough for the family as it was touch and go if she would make it. Some pretty tough surgery ensued and then chemo. Anyway she survived.
I sympathised with him and said something along the lines of "That's bloody awful, no-one should have to suffer that sort of thing".
His answer? "No we're glad it happened it has shown us the true strength of our faith". Prick. I wonder if his wife felt the same way.
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And for all those theists that promote their particular religion, I will leave this, something that several of you may have seen before about the College question of whether Hell is exothermic or endothermic.
Enjoy. In particular the part determining how many souls will go the Hell..
The following is supposedly an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.
Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.
One student, however, wrote the following:
First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.
As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.
With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.
This gives two possibilities:
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If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
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If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
So which is it?
If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I go out with you", and take into account the fact that I went out with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over.
The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore extinct . . . leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being, which explains why last night Teresa kept shouting "Oh, my God!"
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That is superb
Religious type discussion