This PPR forum could be enjoyable, but it's oten not.

Post Reply New Topic

Don't you know us heathen are moral relativists?

I never said that your faith is senseless. Only that I'm pretty sure mine was.

I mean, it made a lot of sense at the time, anyway, but my personal struggle with the unknowable led me down a different path than yours.

I've had religious discussions here that remained civil, but somehow i don't think any of them involved Ragtime.

I resorted to snark only when it became clear that Ragtime was just complaining and posturing again.

Perhaps part of the problem here is that tolerance of heresy is not considered a virtue by many christians.

At least in a real life forum I could ask the offenders if this rag smells like chloroform...

Why not just let people who perceive the nebulous term "believers" to be backwards have their say and move on with the conversation? If people aren't adding anything useful to a discussion, why not just ignore them and keep going?

I try to walk a fine line here.

I firmly believe in the right of everyone to post their opinions, within the framework established by the owner of the site. Context is important, too. PPR is a very different forum than, say, The Haven. What I find acceptable in here, I might think of quite differently there.

For my part, that includes posting offensive material. A person is perfectly entitled to come in here and call homosexuals disordered, call Christians delusional and call Republican voters mental midgets. But the person who posts those things has no legitimate expectation that others will not respond as they see fit. So when I get angry in here, I try to limit my anger to to substance of the post with which I disagree. I have never (I hope) responded to a post I found offensive by saying, "you can't come in here and say that."

"I used to be religious and then I came to my senses," and, "I used to be homosexual and then I came to my senses," are equally offensive statements. And in my view, both of them are perfectly permissible.

I have no problem with Ragtime or you, shrox, but I just think that God is a jerk, to put it mildly. I am well-within my rights to say so, as you are within your rights to say that God is super. Don't take it personally. I find it offensive when people praise God, tbh, but I would die for someone's right to do so.

I admit to having a problem with Ragtime.

If I had to determine God's personality by the people who claim to have a close, personal relationship with Him, I'd come to the conclusion that God was not a person that I'd ever want to meet.

Does that include me?

Again, Taking it personally, Every body loves Quakers.

No, not at all. What it means is, "I don't like them, but you're OK..." What does that say then? If they come for them in the middle of the night, do the OK person get left alone? Not expecting that to happen or anything, just hypothetical.

That is what I would like to talk about; when a larger group is seen as "bad", but I am self-identified as part of that group, yet basically seen as something of an exception, what do people now except from me? I mean, I'll do what ever I see fit, just wondering if I am perceived as less rational than someone outside of that group.

do you really think that atheists are going to abduct people?

I don't have issues with religious people believing what they want to believe, even if in my opinion they are nuts.

If christians wish to reasonable that is fine.

If christians wish to be left alone in peace and quietly adhere to their faith without breaking any laws like the Amish do that is fine.

If christians wish to quietly and humbly help the poor by running successful companies and building a good deal of the housing in the city that I live that is fantastic thank you very much Mr Cadbury.

But unfortunately, the modern voice of christianity is fundamentalist evangelicals.


These people walk around with 'God hates fags' signs, when the poor are hurt by an earthquake they call it an act of god and blame the poor for it. They demand political power to illegally fund their propaganda being forced onto schoolchildren in science classrooms etc etc. These people, to put it bluntly are evil and insane lunatics.

If reasonable christians won't stand up to them than it falls on non-christians to do so.

See the above bolded.

It's possible - just possible - that Ford was referring to the "born again" sects, which place great emphasis on a personal relationship with God.

I don't want to know their God, if that's the kind of company he keeps.

I quite like PPR the way it is. It's one of the more civil PPR-style forums I've been on.

PPR should never change