Daily Atheist Devotional #198 (Hate Crime Edition)

 So funny!  And so true.  When I was 18 (and knew nothing of gay/straight people) I met a gay man in college.  I asked him when he decided to be gay.  He answered, "about the same time you decided to be straight."  That was when I knew that being gay or straight is NOT a choice!

*****ie is onviously not going to answer this, either.

I have a lot of gay friends, and we're talked about this many times. In this, as in everything, everyone's different---one guy tells me he had no interest in men or women until he was about 13. Another guy tells me that as soon as he could tell the different between men and women, he was all about men. Yet others started out dating girls, but soon figured out that just wasn't where their interest was.

Once upon a time there was a Star Trek TNG episode based on a similar idea. Riker encountered a society of all gay people and met a woman who was attracted to him. He was horrified when she was imprisoned and "reprogrammed." It was campy in typical Gene Rodenberry's style, but boy did it illustrate a point.

How did I miss THAT one??? I really must revisit TNG. How do you like "Enterprise"? I'm primarily a TOS girl myself.

I believe it was season one; I seem to recall Riker not yet having a beard. I've only seen a couple episodes of "Enterprise," most recently the one where the story was told in flashback of Vulcans getting stranded on Earth during the Sputnik era. What's "TOS"?

Ah, pre-beard.  As Q says oh-so-sadly, "You weren't like that before the beard."

The Original Series.

I liked that Sputnik one. Some of it I like, some of it simply doesn't square with what we're told later, and I'm the sort who doesn't like that. Star Trek is sacred to me.(*grin*)

You know, you really ARE insane. I'm not nearly as nice, nor as good an example of a believer as Nicci. I just think you're flipping fruit loops without a spatula.

I think that Terri's rebuttal to this atheist devotional was very well worded and well-placed. It's too easy to lump everything into "The Christians Did It" or whatever, and sometimes difficult to separate a group spreading hate, supposedly in the name of Christ, from who and what Christ himself represented.

The only thing you could focus on is what Terri had to say about you. You deny her words, which were in your corner, more or less, and make yourself, and your religion look foolish.

It is impossible to believe in the true message of Jesus Christ, and at the same time through acting like him, with love, help a person on to hell. Seriously. It is. If you say it isn't, then you deny Jesus Christ and all that He stood for.

You don't come here, *****ie, to share devotionals with anyone. You come here to (a) gloat over your own supposed salvation, and (b) try to demonstrate your holiness by STEALING the work of others and using it as if it is your own. This is an abysmal attempt to be an example of a believer, when you break one of the ten commandments in the process of trying to tell people how religious they ought to be.

A little open-mindedness might get you far closer to God than what you have demonstrated you possess. But I do not hold out much hope.

I do agree, it is important to love others, even if they are engaged in something you consider sin. But you don't seem to understand what it means to truly love others, or how to hate the sin and separate that from the sinner.

I agree with NIcci though, you're more sad and pitiable than anything. The depth of your relationship with Jesus, as demonstrated by your behavior on this forum, is far shallower than that of the average atheist.

 Terry B! My little voice of love and compassion. I really, really like you.

I think the reason that we lump groups together is the very human need to categorize. Categorizing is part of why we have survived and evolved as humans. We needed to be able to decide which berries were safe to eat and which could kill us. We needed to know which tribes were friendly and which ones liked to eat their neighbors.

It is a trait that has stood us in good stead in the past, and is probably still helpful today. But today we use it to address the things we have difficulty understanding. No rational person can understand why a person would want to kill someone because of their sexual orientation and if we can attribute this behavior to something concrete it makes us feel more secure.

But as always you remind me that blanket categorization is wrong. Do I think it was a fundie nut job who torched this man's house. Yep, I sure do. Do I think the majority of fundies are wild eyed mad dogs? Yep to that too. Do I know that not all theists are fundie xians? Yep. Do I know that you are a xian and as sane as they come? Yep. Do I think your beliefs could ever lead you to kill because of something you read in your bible? Oh hellz no. Do I think ButtSprung *****ie would kill a person for being gay? Oh yes, in a heartbeat. 

I do think some categorizations are valid. I categorize some people as using the bible to excuse their insanity and hatred for others. I group nutters like S-----E as people who need to be watched because their words show that they are more than capable of committing atrocities and saying god directed them to do it.

So while blanket categorization may no longer be necessary to the evolution of humans I still think that some people need to be categorized as dangerous. And fundie xians are at the top of my list of dangerous, even deadly people.

Hi Fin, You know I love you too.    I agree with you up to the point of listing Christians at the top of the list.  I say ANY Religious fanatic is dangerous, and other religions can be just as bad if not worse than Christianity in modern times.  No matter what a Christian might disagree with it is NEVER condoned to take another life because they are in any way different.    I know this was not always the case and is a sore spot in Christian History that so many crimes and murders were committed in the name of God.    Those that bomb abortion clinics in the name of God are not Christian, they are crazed idiots using Christianity as an excuse.  Sadly most people that are anti Christian are folks that have been exposed to a fanatic at some point.  Most Christians are not crazed and do not believe it is OK to kill or injure in God's name.  But as in all things the media picks up more on the nut jobs while the average Christian lives their life quietly, hopefully trying to share the love of Jesus with others through example and love.  Not trying to demoralize others or put anyone else down for what they believe.  We all believe  in something, it does not have to be considered religious.  I believe in the goodness of human kind and see it here from so many that are named Atheist.  What matters is not what we profess to believe but how we live. I am positive *****ie will disagree with me on this one, but ....