You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, don't mess with Mister In-Between
A women kneels down on the floor in the front, inviting all of the children to sit with her. When the children had assembled, she opened a newspaper. "Do you want to read the news?" she said. "Let's see what's happening. Do you want to her about all of the soldiers who were killed in the war?" The kids, confused, weren't sure whether to say yes or no. "How about this one -- a singer gets drunk, and crashes her car into a tree! Do you want to hear about that?" More confusion from the kids. It goes on for a little while, and finally ends with this gem, "Or how about this one -- a man rapes and kills his four-year-old daughter. How many of you are four?" She finally gets to her point, "This is all bad news, isn't it? That's why the bible is called The Good News."And that was it. It sure is a good thing I wasn't there. I would have intervened long before the woman whipped out her punchline. That woman should be ashamed of herself.
The Argument from Evolution, by Kyle J. Gerkin in his article ‘A Counterclockwise Paley’,
What Is Fascism?
“Fascism” is one of those terms that many people use when they want a word to describe a political ideology that they don’t like. To call someone a “fascist” has become an attack on someone’s character and morality. Consequently I have heard people on the left, middle and right of politics call each other “fascists” on regular occasions. But what does it actually mean and how would someone be able to identify a fascist? Is fascism the sort of political ideology to be aspired to, or is it always something to be confronted and despised?
People seem to be able to understand easily that a communist is someone who believes that the state should control aspects of society including the economy. They seem to understand that a capitalist is someone who believes that means of production are mostly privately owned and operated for profit and that the various ideologies of socialism are somewhere in between. (For more complete descriptions of communism, capitalism and socialism click on the links.) But what do people mean when they call someone a fascist? The word seems to be used more often than not as a way to say – “I don’t like you and what you stand for.”
One thing that many people will agree about fascism is that it is anti-democratic. That it opposes liberalism. A couple of quotes express this view.
” The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism – ownership of government by an individual, by a group or any controlling private power. “ – President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Mussolini defined fascism as being a right-wing collectivistic ideology in opposition to socialism, liberalism, democracy and individualism. He wrote in The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism: -
“Anti-individualistic, the fascist conception of life stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only insofar as his interests coincide with those of the State, which stands for the conscience and the universal will of man as a historic entity…. The fascist conception of the State is all embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value…. Fascism is therefore opposed to that form of democracy which equates a nation to the majority, lowering it to the level of the largest number…. We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century tending to the ‘right’, a Fascist century. If the nineteenth century was the century of the individual (liberalism implies individualism) we are free to believe that this is the ‘collective’ century, and therefore the century of the State.”
I prefer the simple version stated by Robert A. Heinlein: -
“Political tags – such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth – are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.” – Robert A. Heinlein
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Click on image to enlarge – “I Can Make You A Man” – Charles AtlasThe Worldnutdaily has a column up with the following headline:
Leave it to the ladies
Exclusive: Pat Boone honours women leaders who’ve stepped up due to male ‘wimpiness’
(Pat Boone. Talking about male wimpiness. Pat Frickin Boone, who could only seem macho if he stood next to Andy Williams. Someone really needs to come up with some sort of irony transplant surgery.)
And what does someone mean by “male whimpiness?” I suggest that the term isn’t meant to apply to when guys get sick and want to be mothered incessantly. Is “male whimpiness” the desire not to kill furry little animals with a sub-machine gun? I dunno. What IS “male whimpiness?”
In the 1940s, the word “weakling” or “wimp” was used before the word “nerd” was used widely.
wimp : –noun 1. a weak, ineffectual, timid person. 2. a person lacking in courage or confidence
What is it with gender stereotyping? Some cultures seem to gravitate between the idea that a male isn’t a “real man” unless his balls are dragging in the dust, (and his knuckles probably as well), and a female isn’t a “real woman” unless she can pull out of her vagina a freshly baked tray of chocolate chip cookies the instant guests arrive. Regardless of how one expresses it, the concept of gender and gender roles is a polarizing factor in many cultures. Why did this polarization occur? A hint to this question might be found in one of the other comments posted on the article.
“It comes from the idea, popular in fundamentalist circles, that in God’s ideal world only men are to be in positions of leadership. The only excuse for a woman to lead is when the man has wimped out of his responsibility and the woman is forced to reluctantly take over. The perfect biblical illustration is the story of Deborah and Jael which I posted about a few weeks ago. There’s a link to a whacked out fundamentalist website that goes into detail about this very issue.”
I think that this comment may have hit the nail on the head. Religions seem to push the gender stereotype more than any other dynamic. Judaism, Christianity and Islam, from my understanding, are probably the biggest players when it comes to gender stereotyping. What do you think?
Of course Frankenfurter from “The Rocky Horror Show” was also a fan of Charles Atlas. I am not sure it was what Charles Atlas had in mind.
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I have just returned from the studio of the Houston PBS station, where I was invited to be part of a panel on a local television program called "The Connection". The subject was about whether a good and meaningful life is possible without a belief in God. I was announced as the President of the Humanists of Houston. The other guests on the program included Nancy Fay, a retired teacher and a Freethinker who is a Director at the Houston Church of Freethought (and a friend), a Methodist Pastor named Thaddeus Easland of the Hope Church, and Rabbi Stuart Federow of Congregation Shaar Hashalom. The host (and the woman pictured here) was Doris Childress.
God’s Vendetta Against Kittens – “Everytime You Masturbate God Kills a Kitten”
For centuries, all forms of sexual pleasure unlikely to result in population increase have routinely been denounced as wrong. This goes a long way to explaining why some religious folks have had a hard-on for those who waste seed. Perhaps I should express that differently.. Some people of religious conviction believe that it is wrong to indulge in sexual activity which does not result in procreation. This concept probably stemmed from ancient times when male seed was associated with abundance in the same way that the seed of various crops was also associated with abundance.
Regardless of various “modern religious views”, masturbation has been quite a popular past time throughout history and prior to the Abrahamic Religions was part of many cultural religious practices.
“A clay figurine of the 4th millennium BCE, from a temple site called Hagar Qim on the island of Malta, depicts a woman masturbating. However, in the ancient world depictions of male masturbation are far more common. A figure of a masturbating male from a Neolithic cemetery in Greece is roughly contemporary with the Malta image and likewise suggests fertility rites. From the Sumerians, who invented the first written Western language, we find references to the Mesopotamian god Enki masturbating, his ejaculation filling the Tigris River with flowing water.”
“Male masturbation became an even more important image in ancient Egyptian cosmology. When performed by a god it could be considered a creative or magical act, but a mortal human masturbator might not receive such approval. According to one major creation myth the god Atum appeared on the Primordial Mound out of the void of Nu. As the first “thing” in the midst of nothingness, Atum relieved his loneliness by masturbating. His ejaculation resulted in the appearance of the first god and goddess, Shu and Tefnut, who became the parents of all other elements of the world. An alternate version indicates that the god Ptah, architect of the universe, maintains cosmic order through continual masturbation. The yearly flooding of the Nile, on which Egypt depended entirely, was also said to flow from the secretions of the Nile god Hapy. Min, the god of male potency, was always shown standing with an immense erection, often held in his own hand. The vegetative god Osiris, King of the Dead and Lord of Eternity, resurrected himself through an act of sacred masturbation, an association with seed-force and cyclic regeneration. Osiris conceived his son Horus, Lord of the Living and the Falcon of Light, in this way.”
If we skip to the “modern era” we have someone like Cereal magnate John Harvey Kellogg declaring “sex for anything but reproduction” to be “sexual excess.” He also recommended circumcision as a way to discourage male masturbation. (Obviously female circumcision is much more successful at discouraging female masturbation. Suffice it to say, I am more than glad that he didn’t recommend this as well.)
“The eminent neuropsychologist James W. Prescott has said: “Deprivation of physical affection in human relationships…constitutes the single greatest source of violence in human societies.” We might want to take a cue from our close relatives the Bonobos and consider the social benefits of increased sexual satisfaction.”
LINK: – MASTURBATION THROUGHOUT HISTORY
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Today Pentecostalism and related charismatic offshoots have spread across the globe and account for at least a quarter of the 2 billion Christians worldwide, according to the World Christian Database. A large part of this growth is happening in Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia. Although the movement was marginalized in the early 1900s, by the end of the century, it had made inroads in such mainstream denominations as Catholicism and Presbyterianism.Really?
Why the rapid growth?
"It's a very emotional form of worship that enables people in groups to experience ecstasy, emotional release and communal support," said Amanda Porterfield, the Robert A. Spivey Professor of Religion at Florida State University.
It also allows people to share suffering and grief, whether because of poverty and illness or social alienation, she said. And it creates community.
"To belong to a group that is the custodian of a supernatural experience," she said, "is powerful."
But she doesn't need to be convinced. Her spirit has already been released to God.So in the end they finally submitted. It seems as if this a legal way to torture someone until they finally cave to the churches will. Terrible!
You know in your heart that god is real. You know in your heart that you should follow god.As if saying everyone is "Born" knowing that god is real. I happen to disagree with this claim. If you can be born knowing a particular god is real, then why does "christianity" have a specific beginning in a specific area of the world? What about the native Indians... you know those people that lived in harmony with the land before we arrived and practically wiped them out... Also, if you can be born with the knowledge of the existence of a god...... Why are we not born able to speak? or Why are we not born knowing fire is hot? Why does it have to be learned through experience?
So your problem is with religion?It continues to get irritating. I don't mind people wanting to understand you and asking probing questions. My problem is when they try to answer themselves instead of listening to what I say. I don't see my lack of belief in a divine being a problem.
Is your problem with churches?
Oh your problem is with Preachers?
Oh you don't believe in hell, so you believe in reincarnation?
Well, I don't know what happen to you... but in my experience I found that people who don't believe in god had something happen to them or disappoint them during church.
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