green

Maybe these other folks who are in the pulpit are not spiritually blind and you are, Cusano. Who are you to say that you are right and these other pulpit riders are not closer to God and to spiritual health than you? You don't sound that well versed and certainly you are not a humble fellow, are you?

But who is to say that the Bible is right? Where is the objective evidence?

Aw shucks, tweren't nothing, and it came from my heart.:rose:

This is an illogical statement. Who is to say who are spiritually blind and who are not?

This is a specious argument; what you are saying is that if we believe in the same things that you do then we are right, otherwise we are wrong. You decorate this false logic by talking about open hearts and minds but this is just Cusano-speak for the issue of agreement or non-agreement. If you personally like the result then you can say that that individual has an open heart and mind. This is skewing the logic in your favour and that is illogical and just plain wrong. Though none of the atheists on this site are required to tell you what they do or don't believe in (for indeed why should they?) I will say that atheists do not believe in a God or in Gods. I would imagine that atheists who live in the Christian countries have a particularly difficult time with the Judeo-Christian-Islamic belief system for that is the one to which we have been exposed the most. This is because we see no tangible evidence to support a belief in a Supreme Being and even less to believe in the version supported by the Bible. As for this business of drooling at the mouth, well, that is just your fantasy, girl. Again, do your homework, read the threads on this site. You will certainly see that there has not been a dirty fight like this until you showed up on the scene. We have all been comfortably debating about other issues. As far as I know there is not an Atheist Jihad in the works. We are gentle, kindly folks who keep our opinions to ourselves except when we run across an arrogant and smarmy no-nothing putz like you, Cusano.

This is an empty statement. Please give examples.

Cusano, though it is unlikely that I will ever become a believer there are believers who regularly post on this site whom I admire for they wear their beliefs with knowledge and with grace. Lisah25 is one of them. Carlene is both an active Christian and someone who has enormous intellectual knowledge of the Scriptures and of church history. TOM is a Christian and an activist. There are of course many, many other fine and thoughtful Christians who post on this site. These are people who lead by example. You, however, have not shown yourself to be one of them as of this time of writing. You come across as smug and as a theocratic bully. You would do well to read over the threads here and to learn to respect and appreciate all the voices on this site. I don't believe that Christ espoused intellectual arrogance and, well, rigidity....so stop acting like a putz.

Oof, you are a sanctimonious fellow, aren't you? Who are you to say that atheists have no knowledge of the Bible? Many atheists become atheists after a close examination of the scriptures.

Au contraire, in general atheists are fact oriented individuals and it is this that makes it impossible to take the existence of God, particularly the Judeo-Christian-Islamo variant of God, on faith. It is the multiple internal contradictions present in your often somber and bloodthirsty Holy Book as well as the complete lack of verifiable signs of God that lead the fact-driven atheist away from belief. "Feelings," as you so dismissively describe the basis of our disbelief can more properly said to be the very thing which props up your belief. As for why you are under attack, Cusano, well here is the answer as per Green. If you have taken the trouble to carefully read the debates which we have in the Lapband fora you will note that our input comes from across the spectrum of beliefs, be they right wing or left wing, pro or anti Bush, and of course the members who are Christian have a wide variety of beliefs as to what properly constitutes a good and decent Christian. While various Christian beliefs have been challenged within the context of a specific discussion I don't really believe that Christians have, as a group, come under fire for their beliefs. Moreover, none of the Christians on this group have attacked those of us who are not Christian for our beliefs or lack of 'em. When you talk of something hitting home that would be the sharp sense of annoyance with individuals like yourself, smarmy individuals who talk down to us and who do not respect our intellects and the choices that we have made.

I agree. I think that Cusano was being totally disengenuous. Asking an individual who announces in her information block that she is an atheist whether she has examined her beliefs is both offensive and dumb. Of course she has! Why else would she put herself out there publically, eh? The issue of her beliefs should be a non-issue unless you are trying to troll for souls, something which drives atheists right around the twist. Cusano, you got what you asked for, the attention of a flock of angry atheists!

I would not only vote for him, if I were an American that is, I would even do a Lewinsky.:kiss2: That cat is not only smart and has good politics - he is also hot!

Holy shitcakes, that grrl looks like she's 55! And all her chest bones are sticking out! Ew....

Cusano: isn't the point of this thread your desire to alert us to anti-Semitism in France? And yet here you are, dragging your opportunistic evangelical tongue across the floor trying to hoover up or harrass a possible soul or two. Naughty boy! In fact Cusano's article is correct; anti-semitism is alive and flourishing in France. I saw signs of it when I was living there in the early 1980s and was horrified. At that time there was anti-Semitic graphiti and many of the French people whom I met were comfortable saying horrible things about the Jews. Indeed, the French were comfortably racist. Since then the situation has, I gather, degenerated. There was a long article in one of the Canadian newspapers some six months ago that dealt with the issue of the increase in immigration to Canada of French Jews. The article focussed on individuals who have chosen to move to French Canada because they no longer feel secure in France. There was also one particularly horrible story of a young French Jew who had been kidnapped, tortured and killed by a group of Muslim Africans on French soil that hit international news. On a purely anecdotal level, my French friends have mentioned to me that Jews are having a rough time in France. They know that I am interested in such news because my father's side of the family is Jewish and most of them did perish in the Holocaust. As for me, I was baptised and all that but I am another one of them atheists, eh. Yipes!

Christians often like to refer to God as a loving and omniscient father. But if an earthly parent sees that his or her child is in a burning house that parent will try everything in order to save that child. On the other hand, this loving God does not step in to prevent dreadful things from happening to decent people. Did he stop 9/11 or Hitler? And yet he is touted as a loving father. There is something terribly contradictory about the basis of Christian belief. And then of course the God of the Old Testament was dreadfully ethnocentric. He certainly favoured the Jews and was quite casual about either causing or authorizing the slaughter of their enemies, even their innocent children, babies, and babies still in their mothers' wombs. This last activity would indicate that it is okay for God to act as an abortionist; one might therefore argue that abortion is, like slavery, murder, and rape, not so bad afterall for all these activities are condoned in the Old Covenant. On the other hand, you better avoid bacon, shellfish, and sex during or immediately after your period. A woman is unclean at this time of the month. Of course many of you are going to say that this is all stuff that happened in the Old Testament and as such none of it really counts since it was, afterall, pre-Jesus. Well, sorry to give you the bad news but Jesus himself showed no signs of being the first Care Bear ever. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets." Matthew 5:17 NAB "...the scripture cannot be broken." John 10:35 He was a good and pious Jew, you know. It is ironic that a lot of Christians hate Jews.

Well, a few days ago winter finally hit Toronto, Canada. We finally had our first snow of the season, only a couple of inches, and below freezing weather as well. I am wearing winter gear now: a sheepskin coat and boots! I have to confess that I am kinda thrilled even though the weather is causing my torn rotator cuff to hurt more than usual. Animal biologists have been concerned about our extended fall. Animals that should have been hibernating have been up and about and using up their winter reserves of fat. And animals who switch to winter whites in order to blend into the landscape have been easy targets for predators. Their concerns extend to the local population of green frogs, a critter who dines on mosquitoes. These frogs should be in the water under the winter ice. They have been seen hanging out in the mud flats and there is concern that they will not make back to the water in time in the event of a quick freeze. Winter is here now but I have saved a bunch of money on heating costs.

I liked Kerry's wife. I thought that she would have made an interesting first lady. She would have brought some style and wit into the White House.

Then it should be okay for atheists to have the freedom to choose since they don't believe in the Bible or God, any God, anyway.

Bummer! Drink lots of water and cranberry juice. They say it helps.....

Yah, it really is!!!!!!!!

Dr. Joffe thought I might look nice if I weighed 150 lbs.

Magic box steal Green's spirit.:eek:

Oh, you guys.... Well, Green has been spending her time doing her homework and the website is www.RateM.Ds.com or something pretty damn close, close enough to google, eh. Let it be said that Green had spent some pleasant hours on this site. First of all she visited the American state where her brother is a doctor in order to see how he fared. Turns out he isn't even listed...yet. Then she visited her home province, Ontario, in order to scope out her doctors (and dentists), both historical and present. This was tons of fun. Turns out that her GP has a high - smiley face - rating. Green loves her doc and so she added in her praises. Green's shrink wasn't listed. She mentioned that to him this ayem during her appointment. The guy was kind of disappointed and asked her to put him in there but Green feels a little conflicted about the request; she is not, you see, that fond of him. She has, so far without success, been trying to remember the GP from hell whom she saw 12 years ago. She would like to enter her name in order to warn folks away from her. It's too bad that she had gotten into the habit of thinking of her as Fraulein Doktor Mengele. Now she will never, ever remember her real name. Green thinks that this site is a good idea. It does empower the consumer, that is to say us.

It is because their analysis was based on zip code type of information that I believe that their statistics concerning the breakdown of enlistment by state and by rural/urban areas are probably solid and have value for those of us who are engaged in this on-going and fascinating discussion. I was interested to note that Alaska had a proportionally very high rate of enlistees, as did Idaho. Both of these states sit outside of the south, the area as listed as providing more than its fair share of enlistees. Stats are kinda fascinating and the anomalies leave even a bimbo blondie like myself curious. (Green's disclaimer: My degree was in literature; I am dumb when it comes to numbers.) @Jodie: again, thanks for rooting out this article for us and do not get discouraged by the feedback. This is how we learn. This is how all of us learn. I know that I have learned a great deal from participating in these discussions. You are 19 and I am 57 but neither of us wants to turn into old fossils who are frozen in our beliefs and attitudes. Youe voice is an interesting one. Feel free to keep on speaking your mind, eh.

Maybe the simple truth was that we did more chemicals in skule. :heh: For what it's worth Green feels that it is incumbant on herself to admit to you that the only two Canadian national newspapers to which she subscribes are centre-right and far right. She reads 'em because she finds them to be the most literate, interesting and challenging. The Canadian newspaper which might be considered to adhere most closely to her personal political style is kinda knee jerk politically correct and awash in sentimentality. Unexamined thought, passion used in lieu of reason, and spin do not only belong to the forces of the right, you know.

Yah, Green is the Master of public transit!:confused: