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Posted
No bug, i'm sorry...witchcraft is not real...anywhere on the planet...

 

2+2=4 just about anywhere...you really wanna argue facts vs. bullshit? :rolleyes:

 

I'm sorry, but you are wrong. witchcraft is real, it is practiced by many people throughout the world as a religion. have you heard of wicca? Just because you and i don't believe in it, we think its a load, doesnt make it any less real. it is a religion that is practiced all over the world. i do not personally believe in spells and potions and such, but witchcraft is a real thing. just because you dont believe or accept something does not make it any less real.

one of the major beliefs of wiccan is the worship of nature, and worship the spirits of all natural things.

heres onesite i found

these people certainly believe in it

more

 

now these are scary people, with some odd beliefs. but it is a real thing.

 

Posted (edited)
I am in the fray. It's called spray. Who here is not pontificating?

You are not in a better position to pontificate just because you were in Africa once. You obviously had the tourist bus experience.

Your ignorance is based on the assumption that you can replace a societie's norms with some scientific structure. Fine. How are you really going to pull this off?

Meanwhile, these people who beleive in witchcraft (out in the bush. I agree with you on Palin) have no other alternatives. Or are you going to list them for us?

 

"replace societies norms with some scientific structure?" Does this mean I'm bent on replacing all emotion with logic, like on Vulcan? Or do I seek to create a Brave New World; society as chemically controlled insect colony? Let me know so I can get started executing my Evil Plan. That is, if you know what you were trying to say.

 

BTW, I was in the African bush the whole time. Sorry to dissappoint. Not that such a detail is relevant to my point, which you characteristically weren't able to grasp, that its probably not a great idea for witchcraft and other superstitions to play a significant role in American politics. Prrreeeettty simple, really.

 

As for Godskid's comment that witches are scary, I would counter that, in my universe, they're far, far less scary than Evangelicals. And their religion has exactly the same validity. It's all the Boogie Man in my book.

Edited by tvashtarkatena
Posted
and that is fine with me. you can believe or not believe whatever you choose. that is one of the great things about this country.

 

...And the only way we're going to keep it that way is to prevent people with extreme religious beliefs from legislating based on those beliefs. Like wondering maybe like what it might take to possibly like only hypothetically of course BAN SOME BOOKS.

Posted

Regarding voting:

 

It's a civic duty. A lot of folks over the centuries fought and died for basic rights like this. If for no other reason than in appreciation of their sacrifice, everyone who can should vote. The health of our democracy depends on a politically active public; it's our only real protection against totalitarianism. Anyone interested in the health of the demcracy should contribute to that health by, at the very least, voting.

 

It's also a moral obligation. Like it or not, those we elect will decide the major moral issues of the day. None of us agree with our candidate's viewpoints 100%, nor can we predict with certainty how they will decide issue by issue, but none the less one is always obligated, when granted to the power to do so, to act to affect moral outcomes rather than sit idly by. I would think God would judge a person more harshly for ignoring such a responsiblity and doing nothing rather than acting to mitigate a harm or, in the best of circumstance, perform good works by casting a vote. If a building is burning with two trapped people inside, and you can only save one, you are still morally obligated to save that one, regardless of how horrible is it to leave the other behind. Sometimes you just gotta take it personally in the shorts and suffer some emotional turmoil for the greater good.

 

Finally, reality requires you to vote for the lesser of two evils every day. Nearly all moral decisions involve known or unintented negative consequences. 'Pure' choices between right and wrong are few and far between. To wait for them is to be a fortress of inaction, and as I recall the Good Lord did not preach inaction. We are flawed creatures living in a flawed universe, but we're still responsible to make it a little less flawed whenever we're presented with the opportunity, and voting is certainly one such opportunity. Jesus Christ certainly put his followers at risk of persecution, even death; certainly a violation of his principles of loving one another, yet he apparently felt that the greater good of his movement was worth this negative outcome.

 

 

Posted

You have a very good argument there. I never did say I do not vote. I do believe I said I would not vote on a certian issue. I will vote for people, who in turn will decide those issues, but I see no moral or civic reason for me to show up to specifically vote on an issue such as gay marriage.

Using your same argument, it also applies to respecting each others beliefs and what they do or do not vote for. We have had people die for our freedoms. People fight everyday to protect our freedoms to choose. Therefore someone such as yourself, no matter how much you disagree with me, should at the very least respect my right to vote and believe how I choose. Not put me down because I believe differently than you, or because I may not follow your same political beliefs. Using all the same things you outlined above, if you truly believe in what you said, you would feel free to let me know you disagree, but not degrade me for choosing to vote differently.

Most of this thread seems to be focused on how I will vote. Lets say I did decide to vote for mccain and palin, and then voted to make gay marriage illegal. shouldn't i be able to do that without having to worry about being persecuted because you do not agree with it?

Posted

Jesus Christ also commanded his followers to love all men. To treat everyone as we want to be treated. Jesus did not command, nor suggest that his followers force people to follow him, but to tell them the "good news" and give them the opportunity to choose for themselves whether or not to believe.

Posted (edited)
You have a very good argument there. I never did say I do not vote. I do believe I said I would not vote on a certian issue. I will vote for people, who in turn will decide those issues, but I see no moral or civic reason for me to show up to specifically vote on an issue such as gay marriage.

Using your same argument, it also applies to respecting each others beliefs and what they do or do not vote for. We have had people die for our freedoms. People fight everyday to protect our freedoms to choose. Therefore someone such as yourself, no matter how much you disagree with me, should at the very least respect my right to vote and believe how I choose. Not put me down because I believe differently than you, or because I may not follow your same political beliefs. Using all the same things you outlined above, if you truly believe in what you said, you would feel free to let me know you disagree, but not degrade me for choosing to vote differently.

Most of this thread seems to be focused on how I will vote. Lets say I did decide to vote for mccain and palin, and then voted to make gay marriage illegal. shouldn't i be able to do that without having to worry about being persecuted because you do not agree with it?

 

No one even so much as farts on this board without a counter argument. You don't get a special hall pass.

 

No one really cares that much how you'll vote. I doubt what is discussed here changes many votes; most people here are already secure in their basic political philosophies. What does happen here on occasion is the exchange of a new way of looking at an issue.

 

Jesus Christ did preach love, but his was not a passive love, it was an active one. One cannot just feel love, one must prove it with action. It seems to me that voting to create a better world is the kind of action the Holy Hippy would have approved of. Most of the time you vote for people, not issues, and trust that they'll fight for what you believe. That's just the way it is.

 

If you're against something like gay marriage, you will get shit here. Many of the posters here hold personal freedom dear, so they regard this as a basic human rights and equality under the law issue. In addition, many people on this board, as non-PC as our language often is, frown upon discrimination. Not allowing a certain segment of consenting adults to marry is certainly that.

 

Then again, if you're for gay marriage, you'll probably also get shit. Less shit, and from a different peanut gallery, but you'll still get it.

 

If you don't like how much shit you get here for your beliefs, well, participation is, after all, voluntary.

Edited by tvashtarkatena
Posted
Is it better to abstain or vote in ignorance?

 

Along with the duty of voting comes the duty of being informed.

 

That's not to say I don't occasionally abstain voting for judges about whom I know nothing, but it's not that hard to vote for just about everything and everybody else somewhat intelligently.

Posted
i do not personally believe in spells and potions and such, ...

 

Then, you believe prayer to be ineffectual.

 

pretty much...God says don't call his name in vain...you get yourself into a pickle, get yourself out...kinda like rescue, eh?

 

There's only one time that God matters....

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