What's new
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

Status
Not open for further replies.
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

Patriot Act and the rest of the Bill of Rights have conflicts and few said BOO! when, in the furor of post 9/11, it was adopted. Strange things happen when people are afraid (see camps, internment 1942).

All true. Including the "War on Drugs" effect on the search and seizure protections of the 4th.
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

And so it begins. If it is thought about in the Mother Country, how soon here?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...security-vetting-under-Home-Office-plans.html


Never...and you can snip this post for posterity.


Hmm....didn't John Oliver suggest something in the same ballpark, although not nearly quite so extreme, and wasn't he completely serious about it? the government should license religion, I believe he said? or something along those lines?

https://youtu.be/7y1xJAVZxXg



Disclosure: I did not watch the video nor hear what he said, I merely read about it and saw him quoted.


the real target of Oliver’s ire isn’t the churches themselves, but the IRS for letting them remain tax-exempt. He even puts up on-screen the IRS Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations, which reads in part, “The IRS makes no attempt to evaluate the content of whatever doctrine a particular organization claims is religious provided the particular beliefs . . . are truly and sincerely held . . . and the practices . . . are not illegal.”
....
John Oliver wants more — he wants the IRS to act against “ridiculous” churches.
....
the idea of taxing non-gay-marriage-performing churches is floating in a few circles right now.
 
Last edited:
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

Saw a commercial on St. Jude Medical and thought I'd take a look.

In 2010 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital was named the number one children's cancer hospital in the U.S by U.S. News & World Report. All medically eligible patients who are accepted for treatment at St. Jude are treated without regard to the family's ability to pay. St. Jude is one of a few pediatric research organizations in the United States where families never pay for treatments that are not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay.

History: St. Jude was founded by entertainer Danny Thomas in 1962, with help from Lemuel Diggs and close friend, Miami, Florida, automobile dealer Anthony Abraham, on the premise that "no child should die in the dawn of life". This idea resulted from a promise that Thomas, a Maronite Catholic, had made to a saint years before the hospital was founded. Thomas was a comedian who was struggling to get a break in his career and living paycheck to paycheck. When his first child was about to be born, he attended Mass in Detroit and put his last $7 in the offering bin. He prayed to St. Jude Thaddeus for a means to provide for his family, and about a week later, he obtained a gig that paid 10 times what he had put in the offering bin. After that time, Thomas believed in the power of prayer. He promised St. Jude Thaddeus that if he made him successful, he would one day build him a shrine. Years later, Thomas became an extremely successful comedian and built St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as a shrine to St. Jude Thaddeus to honor his promise.

Pretty cool.
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

Church Insider, but I disagree with the indulgences answer. The correct answer may be true in theory, but my answer was correct in practice.

It's a terminology quiz, not a history quiz. :)
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

Watched Sanders at Liberty University. A couple of thoughts:

He spoke about the differences in their viewpoint and morality.

Bernie received enthusiastic applause on most issues including women's rights, gay marriage, and even him voting against the Iraq war. Frankly his speech was aimed at challenging the audience expecting a tough reception...but the audience actually seemed like it was already there.

He focused on the golden rule and the income gap...again, the audience was already there. He used the terms 'rigged economy' and even then, he got enthusiastic cheers. I kinda wish he talked more about peace.

In the end, Sanders got a standing ovation.

From all I can tell, too many misunderstand millennial (and probably gen x) Christians assuming they're right wing pundits...when compassion tops their lists. Watch and judge for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5ZB8Lg1tcA
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

Watched Sanders at Liberty University. A couple of thoughts:

He spoke about the differences in their viewpoint and morality.

Bernie received enthusiastic applause on most issues including women's rights, gay marriage, and even him voting against the Iraq war. Frankly his speech was aimed at challenging the audience expecting a tough reception...but the audience actually seemed like it was already there.

He focused on the golden rule and the income gap...again, the audience was already there. He used the terms 'rigged economy' and even then, he got enthusiastic cheers. I kinda wish he talked more about peace.

In the end, Sanders got a standing ovation.

From all I can tell, too many misunderstand millennial (and probably gen x) Christians assuming they're right wing pundits...when compassion tops their lists. Watch and judge for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5ZB8Lg1tcA

This was exactly my impression as well. Maybe we've found one plank in the atheist-believer alliance. :)
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

Bob may disagree...but my opinion is that its the 40/50+ is where there's confusion. Unlike today's younger generations, the older generations grew up in fire and brimstone and getting scolded by nuns. And as a result, older Christians are still hung up on church dogma...and older non Christians have archaic views of what the drivers are for most Christians.

Today, unconventional churches have boomed (like 'the River' that will worship any place but a church). The key to these unconventional churches is that they are non denominational. And that translates in going back to the source again to make sure they've got it right. And they are mirroring Jesus rather than the church. It just mean The net result is that Christianity under 40 today is increasingly compassionate, progressive and holds more common ground with Bernie Sanders than does middle America.
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

Bob may disagree...but my opinion is that its the 40/50+ is where there's confusion. Unlike today's younger generations, the older generations grew up in fire and brimstone and getting scolded by nuns. And as a result, older Christians are still hung up on church dogma...and older non Christians have archaic views of what the drivers are for most Christians.

Today, unconventional churches have boomed (like 'the River' that will worship any place but a church). The key to these unconventional churches is that they are non denominational. And that translates in going back to the source again to make sure they've got it right. And they are mirroring Jesus rather than the church. It just mean The net result is that Christianity under 40 today is increasingly compassionate, progressive and holds more common ground with Bernie Sanders than does middle America.

That's an interesting perspective. Originalism comes back again and again in the history of all religions -- it seems as if every generation has an inkling that the well spring has been polluted by the churchmen who have set up shop around it and what's really needed is to break back into the open air and drink the pure stream at The Source. Hopefully that can be a centripetal process, but what usually happens is a thousand groups all fly off in their own direction, and their lack of coordination means their energies do not connect up with real social change. The two times they did hold together -- Abolition and the Progressive Era -- changed America for the better.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top