Is Religion Child Abuse?

Greg0284 »

Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:44 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

Anyone who wonders whether religion can take on an aspect of child abuse should see the film "Jesus Camp."

Honest Calvinism Talks Urged among Southern Baptists

Greg0284 »

Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:42 pm Agree: 2   Disagree: 1

To embrace John Calvin's ideas would certainly comport with a few Southern Baptists' increasing fascination with Theocracy. But before we go too far in this direction, let's pause to remember why he was sometimes called the Butcher of Geneva during the time his Consistory ruled that city.

Georgia Gets Rain Day after Gov. Leads Prayers to God

Greg0284 »

Wed Nov 21, 2007 6:39 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 0

Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

Racy Photos from Britney's New Album Upset Catholics

Greg0284 »

Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:15 pm Agree: 3   Disagree: 8

If no priest had ever molested a child, Ms. Spears' album artwork would be nothing more than puzzling and irrelevant. Instead, the fact that such molestations have occurred (and been proven in court) makes the church a bit defensive. Unfortunately, the defensive reaction by people like Donohue just reminds people that priests have indeed molested children.

GOP Evangelicals Consider Third-Party Vote

Greg0284 »

Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:08 pm Agree: 2   Disagree: 0

Hey, if the religious right wants to Nader the Republican party, I say go for it!

Harry Potter and the Secrets of Dumbledore

Greg0284 »

Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:54 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 1

Why do many religions (Christianity, Judaish, Islam) spend so much time and effort trying to control sexual expression? Are there not more important problems to solve?

'Highway of Holiness' Counters Impure Culture

Greg0284 »

Sat Oct 27, 2007 7:17 pm Agree: 3   Disagree: 1

Loredo to Duluth up I-35? Sounds like they'll be preaching to the choir through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa, with perhaps a little polite opposition in Minnesota.

I would to see them try the same thing the length of I-5. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle.

Keep Your Condoms Off My Kids

Greg0284 »

Fri Oct 26, 2007 2:48 pm Agree: 6   Disagree: 1

Mr. Connor, by writing that he "would wring the neck of any so-called health care professional," appears to advocate violence against school employees. I am surprised the editors of Christian Post would publish such a statement.

The Man Who Founded America

Greg0284 »

Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:11 am Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

I understand the Presbyterians' affection for John Calvin and his disciple, John Knox.

But before we celebrate Calvin as a role model, let's pause to remember that during the period of time he ruled Geneva as a theocracy, he dealt with opposition through public torture and burnings at the stake.

Atheist China Vows to Encourage Religion

Greg0284 »

Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:25 pm Agree: 3   Disagree: 0

Mao Zedong said: "Religion is poison." The People's Republic of China has no problem with our children eating lead paint, and they have no problem with foreign visitors practicing their religions in places set aside for the purpose that are off-limits to Chinese citizens.

Heritage of Faith Supports Democratic Ideals

Greg0284 »

Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:48 pm Agree: 12   Disagree: 1

Thomas Jefferson would be horrified to hear his words taken so grossly out of context to support the author's argument for a Christian nation. Jefferson believed in God, but no church today would consider him to be a Christian. He was a Deist. Jefferson (1) wrote his own "Jefferson Bible," which deleted all references to Christ's divinity, miracles and resurrection; (2) successfully persuaded the 1787 Constitutional Convention that the final draft of the United States Constitution should not refer to God (it does not); and (3) coined the famous term "wall of separation" in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association to describe his view of the proper relationship between religion and the state. For these reasons, among others, many Christian ministers vigorously opposed Jefferson's election to the presidency. Finally, the considerable freedom that non-Christians do enjoy in this country are due in large part to Jefferson's successful effort to add the Establishment Clause to the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Jefferson was a great man and a great President, His important contributions to the Nation should be treated with historical accuracy and respect, and not used out of context to create revisionist history.

The Body as Plant Food

Greg0284 »

Wed Oct 17, 2007 8:36 pm Agree: 3   Disagree: 0

Does Mr. Colson believe that Christian bodies do not decompose or that God cannot resurrect a physical body that is no longer intact? While some "drift backwards toward paganism without even being aware of it," the author unintentionally pushes Christianity back toward medieval superstition.

Offensive 'Last Supper' Fetish Ad Incites Uproar

Greg0284 »

Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:45 am Agree: 3   Disagree: 3

Zennodaddy, it is true that some Christians have embraced the American values of tolerance and diversity. That is a very good thing. But it is not correct to say, as you do, that "If it were not for Christianity, you would not have freedom to begin with." We owe democracy not to Christianity, but to the ancient Greeks. Moreover, the first society to mandate religious tolerance was not a Christian society, but that of the Buddhist emperor Ashoka in northern India circa 272-232 BC. It is true that most of the early European settlers of this country were Christian. But they were fleeing persecution by other Christians in Europe, and some of them were very slow to adopt the values of tolerance and diversity. Christians in this country massacred pagans for some time, first in the famous witchburnings of Massachusetts and then in the wars against the Native Americans. Finally, the religious freedoms that non-Christians do enjoy in this country are owed not to any of the Christian founding fathers but to Thomas Jefferson, a deist who denied Christ's divinity and wrote the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Again, many Christians in this country do embrace the American values of tolerance and diversity, but many do not.

Offensive 'Last Supper' Fetish Ad Incites Uproar

Greg0284 »

Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:05 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 3

TUPRBABE, to respond to your question about whether homosexuals need to be defended, it seems obvious that they do. When was the last time bands of homosexuals roamed the street killing Christians? It's never happened. On the other hand, organized groups of Christians have killed homosexuals several times in recorded history, including the two occasions I mentioned, one Catholic and one Protestant. It seems that the persecution of homosexuals often serves as the harbinger of authoritarian regimes, not because homosexuals threaten anyone, but because homosexuals are nearly universally hated and/or feared; thus, a group that desires power in society can often gain adherents by attacking them. For example, Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Mao, and Stalin all made the brutal persecution of homosexuals an early part of their social programs. I note that some of the Christian Reconstructions in our own country have called for the death penalty for homosexuals. So to hear a member of the overwhelming dominant majority religion in the United States (i.e., Christianity) declare that his or her religion has been attacked by a small group of harmless weirdos in San Franciso cannot be taken seriously.

Offensive 'Last Supper' Fetish Ad Incites Uproar

Greg0284 »

Sat Sep 29, 2007 11:04 am Agree: 3   Disagree: 6

It is easier to "defend the faith" than to defend the sick and poor. One can always find an angry mob willing to defend the faith against real and imagined attacks, but to defend the sick and poor requires a quiet, personal holiness that expects difficulty and does not seek praise or recognition. The angry reaction that the poster provokes is the reaction of the mob. Mob Christianity led to the Inquisition in Catholic Europe, and torture and burnings at the stake in Calvin's Geneva. Does the true faith need defense, or will God take care of that? Meanwhile, there are sick people who need healing and poor people who need food.

IRS Vindicates Focus on the Family, Dobson

Greg0284 »

Wed Sep 12, 2007 10:39 pm Agree: 3   Disagree: 1

Before one attributes too much significance to Focus on the Family's "vindication," let's not forget that the IRS is an executive branch agency that reports ultimately to a President who attributes his electoral successes in large part to evangelical support.

The Consecration of Bishop Robinson: A New Day of Infamy

Greg0284 »

Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:54 pm Agree: 3   Disagree: 2

is it not curious that Dr. Mohler, who belongs to a church that rejects apostolic succession, inveighs with such passion against another church's choice of bishop?