He's not a believer

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I don't like him, he's not a believer.

This was said by a non-profit minister in the USA during a Sunday sermon (2010) about the American poet, Robert Frost, in front of a group of about 400 churchgoers in a church service.

Your view?

Is that love? Or hate?

Is that American?

Do non-profit churches which denounce American poets like Robert Frost deserve non-profit, tax-exempt status?

1. I never liked Robert Frost's stuff. Very little poetry speaks to me.

2. Why is a sin to dislike either a poet or his poetry?

3. How would you define "not for profit?"

4. I personally think it is rather shallow to like or dislike a person for his beliefs.

5. I personally think it is rather shallow to like or dislike a person for his art - or to like or dislike the art because of the person.

6. But people have done both to me.

So - the question is this - is the church actually making a profit? If so, even if you like the message change the status.

If it is NOT - then if you don't like the message, don't go.

I happen to know - non-profit status does not come to an institution because it is a church.

I do snicker at things like that, much like I heard that a Floridian minister was warning people against practicing Yoga - that it seems like its all fun and innocent, but, it comes from a radically different Eastern system of believe.....hence......its a doorway for Satan!!

Then again, I know, I know....I'm not allowed to laugh at these things because, to not be an atheist means that I must hold myself responsible for anything that a theist has ever believed. I suppose I'll whip myself later for this one.

Maybe you need to join me - definable as an orthodox catholic universal heretic.

I do not feel obligated to follow every precept thrown out by a card carrying Christian nor to validate the delusions or every atheist wannabe.

I once killed a church, in part by pointing out to the pastor that he had the wrong end of the stick.

You know the Screwtape letters? A nice one where the young demon is being advised to get his subject to take a GOOD look at the others in the church.

I'm maybe a bit more fragmented - I've got some Catholic views, probably more Gnostic and Buddhist views; pretty much that I see the drama of life as 100% fixed, no freedom of motion in space time for spirit nor material (even the concept of free will just means predetermined 'us' desires are less impeded externally - which still isn't free, just less immediate authority), hence I look at our being here as being 'filtered', humanity is pretty much a box of filters as such, set in an environment that catalyzes reaction because any memory of things prior or proof of things after is deprived of us here, this in turn creates certain dynamics and forms of wisdom that literally would not be available had we been born in full memory or certainty of the pleroma or whatever the case may be.

That of course may never stop evolving, someone might tell me something about one of my fundamental assumptions that reveals an error, I want as much of that type of info as possible and chasing understanding is just an odd hobby that I've had as far back as I can remember. The problem with that, and I think you agree, to organize it stifles all kinds of questions - there may be some out there that are fine with that for security, most aspies and even a good portion of NT's aren't built to find that sort of condition bearable.

Your view? Really stupid to not like someone based on what religion they follow, but I really don't care if some preacher guy doesn't like Robert Frost.

Is that American? I really don't care if something is "American" or not.

That being said, I like Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.

techstepgenr8tion [sorry if I misspell you, I did not check first] -

Ah, yes, aha.

The unexamined life is not worth living and not all the data are inside the box,. Thought I recognized the mind.

At one point - extrapolating from inadequate data and from the claims of similarity of mind coming from people who comprehend neither A nor B, I thought that the spectrum might be a logical extension of ennea-5 and -4. Not so, as freshly stocked data banks show.

The Aspie mind and NT mind may operate on different wavelengths, but the AM and FM differences [for now, leave us call the mind makeup I operate and I believe you too FM, purely arbitrary] remain important. Look at Sand and my brother, whose minds really work very similarly and have few points of contact with mine.

Sift and Winnow, Frater.

What if he burned books by Robert Frost?

Or, threatened to burn a pile of copies of the Koran?

The pastor who threatened to do the latter was rightly condemned for it. Some thought he would be guilty of comiting a hate crime if he went though with it, but I know of no one who suggested his church should lose its tax exempt status.

He could burn his own good book and advocate canibalism if he wanted to. Its up to the parishoners and his own denomination's organization to deal with it. Not the Federal government.

I wouldnt want a minister like that to head my church (not that i much of churchgoer), but the feds dont base tax exempt status on my taste in preachers, nor should they.

I've been caught doing worse.

SO far, puns are still legal in most states despite some people [eg my father] and their tender feelings.