Darrell Scott testimony

[MAC]

so some one emailed me this
a forward of a forward of a forward :mad:

DON'T DO THAT PPL
Forwards grow in size due to bufferingand they are incredibly succeptible to viruses
if you read it, its out there on the web, send the goddamn link

now to the story (http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bldarrellscott.htm)

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This is primary sheep mentality
They think the all powerful gov't removed prayer form schools.
Well they didn't.
Your kid can pray any damned where he or she chooses and the feds and the atheists can go get fucked.
What your kids should have the decency to do is NOT make aspectacle of themselves in front of the whole school everyday and not have the jesus nazi teachers who baby-sit out kids everyday for a union protected pitance of the false front education-tax$ FORCE them to pray.
Fuck you coaches and teachers and principals who think you know what every child should believe.
Fuck you blinded christians who can only live by thinking anyone who believes different than you is wrong and inherently damned.
Fuck you anti-christians who get no pleasure except by attacking the core teachings of other men's beliefs.

The seperation of church and state and th eright to free worship is not about forcing it down your fellow citizens throat or about stamping it out and proving them wrong.

This is the smoker debate all over again:

If the massive majority of smokers would have used some common courtesy in their habit they wouldn't be OUTLAWED in every restaurant/public building/etc in every state.

If the aggressive minority of loud mouthed opinionated and often hateful CHRISTIANS would use a little common courtesy or consider that fact that different men can live good lives and not be a tithe tossing member of their elitest closed minded patronizing church practices the majority of ppl on this very forum wouldn't hate them so much.

And all you atheists who think religion being taken out of schools is good because there's no god anyway are idiots.

Religion is taken out of school so the parents (including you) can teach their children what they want to teach them. Its not th eteachers job to have to tell your kids abut god an dhow to act. Your kids are supposed to go to school and be able to get along. If they can't get along, the teacher can't do her job and they should revert back to YOUR care till they can get along or find somewhere that they can get an education.

They are seeing these results of children being loved, disciplined, and taught when they talk about days gone by when god was in schools. Common community faith has been an indicator of a peaceful society in the past.

Removing anything from schools is the opposite of education.
And letting the fed remove prayer from schools is NOT the cause of violence.

Note:
In my experience, when you start to pray, its too late.

[Torque]

Well said, Mac.

A little brusque at the beginning, but well said.

I am in no way a religious person, and do not want my kids taught any particular religion when I send them of to the big kids school. But, right now, we send my eldest to a mothers morning out type pre-school, run by a church. I dont think learning to say grace before each meal, and singing "If you're happy and you know it shout Amen" is going to kill them.

Last Christmas, I told him the story of Jesus being born in a barn, and the people who came to see him. I may not believe in it, but I'd never say so, unless the kids asked, and were old enough to form their own opinion. I think stuff like that may well fall into a common body of knowledge that many children raised in our area would know. There is no reason for me to deny them that knowledge to please my personal beliefs.

What we have decided on for our family, is that we will gladly tell the kids anything we know about any religion, and help them research things we do not know. Freedom of religion begins at home.

I can't say I'd be ecstatic about having youngsters that prayed west 5 times a day, or raised hell about dancing and drinking, but as long as they follow the basic rules of life, and can remeber that nothing is more important than treating other people with the respect they deserve, I'll get over whatever religion, if any, they choose.

Pardon me if I'm scattered, I'm working ;)

[MuffyTheVampyreLayer]

sounds like a rage against the machine song to me :D

[Billyman]

Mac. Wow. Well done.

[Cruise Director]

If God does something in your everyday life to make you a better person, then more power to you. I will even respect your life to worship any God you want. I'll respect your right to worship your God in any building or temple you wish to build. I'll respect your communities and abide by the standards you have set in them based on your religeous beliefs. I'll respect your right to prayer and sit by quietly and uninterrupting while youi do so. I will give you the respect for your religion that you deserve.

Why can you not respect my "non-belief" of your religion?

[Koliedrus]

Isn't this one of the topics that historically has no end?

Ok, Ill bite.

I work with a man who sings in a church choir. The Sunday services are televised. He's soft-spoken yet direct. He was also a key participant in a video I did before Desert Storm. He's a Marine.

Before he was shipped out, I asked him about the upcoming Christmas and how he'd share it with his young sons. What toys would Santa bring?

"Santa Clown? We've covered that."

That took me off guard until I realized that he had chosen to depart from the myth and be straight up with his kids. I respect that.

The "God" that so many adults flock to worship is (in my mind) akin to the Santa of childhood. I can't deny the unexplained happenstances that pepper my life but the simplicity associated with a Supreme Being is ultimately a matter of blind faith and ritual for the majority. No matter the charisma of a religion's apostle, Fact is closer to Truth than emotional girations and strict rules of conduct imposed on a congregation of "believers".

We've reached a stage in our EVOLUTION where we can understand a great deal of what is going on around and inside us. From DNA to dark matter, our brains are only just beginning to grasp Reality.

I can't offer my children proof of a higher intelligence at work. I can supply a plethora of evidence and allow them to draw their own conclusions. Granted, I'll most likely nudge them in a particular direction but their beliefs will ultimately be their own.

When I attempt to comprehend the complexity of the Cosmos, I am, in a sense, offering up praise for Creation and all that is. No rule or law written by man can keep me from thinking and drawing my own conclusions. There's simply too much evidence of something much grander than the bullshit we dredge up under our thin little atmoshphere. One needs only to look in order to see.

That said, my kids will choose how they wish to see reality. My wife and I will give them a running start but where they go from there is up to them.

I'll take my scolding now.

[Billyman]

Cruise-“Why can you not respect my "non-belief" of your religion?”

This is where generalization comes into play. Some of us (atheist) do not feel any where near as strongly about our disbeliefs as many believers do theirs.

I’ll use myself as an example: I have no desire to teach, preach or recruit people into my way of thinking. I have no desire when asked about being an atheist to get you “see” where I’m coming from. I have no desire to convert anyone. I only tell you what I believe or not and that’s it. I have no desire to argue with anyone about his or her spiritual beliefs. Why do I not have any desire to do these things? Respect.

However, most of your hard core believers, these people that hang on every word their minister, preacher, priest or what have you dishes out, doesn’t have the same respect. They are bound and determined to make you just like them and we are commonly called “stupid” or “blind” when we don’t see things their way. They feel so strongly about what they do, what they believe in, you are an idiot if you are not too--a sheep.

I do not go from door to door handing people non-believer pamphlets. I do not stand on the street corner yelling “NO! HE ISN’T COMING..NO!, THERE IS NO GOD”. I do not stop and tell strangers the greatness of believing in my family, my friends and ME. I do not feel compelled to tell others about finding happiness within myself, my own thoughts, the things I can see……

I once had a preacher sit at MY dining room table in MY house and he used these words toward the end of the conversation when he took notice that I was set in my ways; “Even retarded children has the ability to understand gods love, retarded children Billy! Even they can understand”. That was a direct insult and compared my intelligence to that of a child with Down syndrome just because I didn’t go along with his beliefs. He had held respect from me until that point. I slowly stood up, leaned over to him across the small table and said very calmly; “you…get the fuck…..out of my goddamn house………now, don’t you ever, ever step foot so much as in my yard again and if you do, I’m going to beat the ever loving shit out of you and all your goddamn christian friends that you’ve brought with you. He said “but..” I stopped him, and told him to get….out…..now. He saw I was serious and left.

Want respect? Earn it. I showed this man nothing but until his frustration set in. At that point, I owed him none.

The thing is, each and every believer and non-believer is not the same. I’ve met several believers that, after finding out that I was an atheist, just said; “ah, ok” and that was it and everything was kosher. ß---Pun. I can also direct you to websites and organizations that are “anti-god” and these aren’t satanist, just atheist who are extremist and do “anti-god” marches and other bullshit. To me, they are no better than these “hard core” believers. They detest me.

When referring to a believer or non-believer in a conversation, statement, or rant, we shouldn’t label the whole group, we shouldn’t single out. Not all the believers think alike and nor do we. Please don’t generalize.

[Mudflap]

Originally posted by Cruise Director


Why can you not respect my "non-belief" of your religion?

Simply put, God told them to apostlotize to all non-believers. They don't respect your non-belief cuz God told them not to.

[sauron]

http://www.thehypertribe.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7106

- d.

[Koliedrus]

I immediately become defensive when my intelligence is taken for granted as well, Billy. Primarily because I like to be right. Being wrong sucks but I can deal with it now. I'm getting used to it. Sometimes, though, I am teh Win!

You don't need to believe in a Supreme Being to know right from wrong. Those things just come naturally.

Believe in yourself first. Becoming "all that you can be" is a fantasy but portions of your dreams are possible. You helped me realize one of mine.

Find faith in a friend before you attempt to extend it further.


Sorry, I don't have any literature to pass out. It's just a "thing" I'm unable to explain. Call it a "hunch".

For the record, I don't go to churches. I think they're full of shit.

(Edit: I have much more trouble with my faith in humanity than that of something larger than the trivial problems on this mote)