I have thought about this as well....after traveling to some remote places over the years, I could not sign up for something that says that all these little kids in foreign lands that have never even heard of Christianity are supposedly "damned" or whatever, regardless of how they live their lives....really? To each their own, but I could not logically see how i could "believe" in something that would reject all these kids and others who never even had an opportunity to learn about the teachings of Christianity just the same as they would reject me for making an informed decision to put my faith in science, evolution, etc?
Just one of many reasons it is not for me.....I am supportive of religion for those that feel like it helps them navigate and make sense of the world....I am sure it has helped a lot of people in between all the wars and death it has created along the way. I do have a problem with people pushing their religion onto others and/or into government. My sis worked with UNICEF doing HIV/AIDS work in Africa and said the missionaries over there would essentially tell folks that AIDS was gods way of punishing, that they must accept Jesus to get better, etc....anything to get a convert.....left a terrible taste in her mouth to this day and that was many years ago.
To be fair, I am sure it wasn't all of them that took this approach and I recognize that doing so would be against the teachings of the religion, but for those that did, it was really preying on folks in tough circumstances. One of the challenges in Lesotho where she worked for 6 years (peace corps/unicef) was that people wouldn't talk openly about sex....so she would have meetings with the "elders" and/or "chief" of the village to help find the best way to educate on prevention, care for the sick, getting tested, not passing it on to kids, etc....this is where she would often hear of what the people were being told and/or believed based on the missionaries....and since they didn't feel comfortable talking about it, many simple believed what they were told.....scary and sad stuff.....other than almost dying my freshman year in college from an appendicitis complication, visiting her in Africa a couple times was one of the most eye opening experiences in my life......most of us will go to our graves having no idea how much we take for granted (both in terms of our opportunities and in terms of how lucky people are to just feel "normal".....being in constant pain and/or sick is a bitch, but you don't appreciate just feeling normal until it is gone!)
I'm for these types of gay marriages:
1) A lesbian or bi woman marries a straight man
2) A gay or bi man marries a straight women
For centuries these marriages have happened presumably for societal acceptance and to have children and a family.
As far a how the words 'gay marriage' are used today isn't it a contradiction in terms. It even sounds odd! I'm for Civil Unions so they
can have all rights afforded straight people.
1) A lesbian or bi woman marries a straight man
2) A gay or bi man marries a straight women
For centuries these marriages have happened presumably for societal acceptance and to have children and a family.
As far a how the words 'gay marriage' are used today isn't it a contradiction in terms. It even sounds odd! I'm for Civil Unions so they
can have all rights afforded straight people.
The way I look at marriage is that it's really just a contract. Consenting adults should be able to enter any kind of contractional agreement they want, as long as there's no force, or coercion, (force and coercion should include third parties that want no part in it, such as religious groups or private businesses) and free people ought to be able call that contract whatever they want.
I could never understand why, even some very intelligent people buy into the religious dogmas, when it comes to things like this. Religious dogma for the most part are deeply flawed, and usually inspired by individuals (not God) that want to control behavior they don't agree with.
I don't consider myself atheist, because I do believe that something happens after this, I'm just not sure what. I am pretty confident though that the after life isn't like a Nazi occupation where Jews, Gays, and other deemed undesirables that don't fall in line with meaningless dogma, are carted off to Hell.
I think Jesus was spot on when he said, "There is only one commandment, love others as you love yourself." (paraphrased?) The rest is just bullshit.
I could never understand why, even some very intelligent people buy into the religious dogmas, when it comes to things like this. Religious dogma for the most part are deeply flawed, and usually inspired by individuals (not God) that want to control behavior they don't agree with.
I don't consider myself atheist, because I do believe that something happens after this, I'm just not sure what. I am pretty confident though that the after life isn't like a Nazi occupation where Jews, Gays, and other deemed undesirables that don't fall in line with meaningless dogma, are carted off to Hell.
I think Jesus was spot on when he said, "There is only one commandment, love others as you love yourself." (paraphrased?) The rest is just bullshit.
To a non-critical thinker like you, something that is "thought out" is a post that you agree with.
You'll continue to have no respect in this thread, and in this forum until you can admit and own up to your blatant lies.
Now, you tried to shut me up early in this thread by claiming that it was so obvious that they have discovered a gay gene.
A large group of people have called you out for either lying, or being blatantly ignorant about the matter. You choose to just
stick your head in the sand, hoping that people will somehow forget that you are an idiot.
Why don't you man up, and try and gain a scintilla of respect by admitting you were either lying, or completely wrong?
