Page 1 of 1

Help

Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 12:53 pm
by Claymore
Can anyone help me with responding to what this guy said? Him and I have been having a little debate and I felt l felt lost on where to start and how to address what he said( mostly because it's just a rant). I just don't know where to begin. :?

"There are three major descriptors that contemporary Christians use to characterize their religion. The first is fundamentalist, which characterizes the unchanging, eternal nature of God's truth as handed down by various religious institutions and interpretations of scripture. Second is "born again", describing how Christians achieve a Pentacost like awakening, where they are literally filled with the Holy Spirit and incapable of denying the truth as enshrined by whatever sect they are members in. The third is Evangelical, in which the Christian is highly motivated to share his spiritual beliefs with those around him/her, to the point that they are powerless to abstain from it. Fair enough. So be it. One of the basic tenets of our democratic society is freedom of religion.

How any of these conditions translate into the belief that Christians must imprint and impose their beliefs on society as a whole and then demand compliance, on pain of civil punishment and constraint, is truly bewildering.

Christians are free to live and believe anything they want. They can say anything they want. I personally think it's a bad idea but they are allowed to forcibly indoctrinate their children into whatever ideosyncratic beliefs their group holds, even though this has often proved to include sodomy, rape and other forms of coercive sexual and psychological abuse.

Why isn't this good enough for Christians? Why do they require that I practice misogyny and homophobia? Why do they get to dictate the terms and conditions of my marriage and family life? Why do they get to decide whether or not I can raise children, based on how much my life style and culture is similar to theirs? Why do they require that I accept their institution's special exemptions from taxation and observance of civil law. Why am I required to give blanket respect to their holy men, when they obviously are unsavory felonious thieves, often chain smoking, fishbelly pale, morbidly obese and coercive sexual predators upon the young and weak.

Christians young and old, can be as evangelical, fundamentalist and born again as they want, as long as it's not a template that I am required to fit into. I think that's fair. I don't mind Christians. I like them for neighbors, friends and co workers. I don't care how many kids they have or how they raise them. If they want to give up the little boys for the priests to sodomize, so be it. I don't care about their sexual or gender role arrangements. I don't care who, how or how long the marry for. I won't have sex with them unless they agree to the use of pre lubricated latex condoms impregnated with anti virals and spermacides, there are limits to how far even one as determined towards peaceful coexistence as I will bend but I think that's fair."

Re: Help

Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 8:16 pm
by Echoside
oh nvm someone else said that? use quotations lol :ewink: , that's basically the most painful read of my life.

Re: Help

Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 8:27 pm
by narnia4
I'm not sure what the point of this

I'm not sure how many people actually describe themselves as "fundamentalists", it seems to me that its a term used more by those who try to deride "the Christian right". It also seems to me that there are some "strawman definitions" here. While Christians may identify with the term, I'm not sure if they would identify with the definitions here. I'm a bit confused at the "incapable of denying the truth" part.

So Christians are teaching their children to sodomize and rape? That's just laughable. As far as indoctrination... whatever you believe is going to shine through. If you think all religions are equal, well that's a doctrine too.

I see more stereotypes later on, it kind of degenerates into simple name-calling.

As far as the actual point, I think he moves the goalposts a bit as far as what you're arguing. I know of very few who suggest that this fellow can't live his life how he pleases in the privacy of his own home. What most Christians take issue with is the redefinition of marriage.

Re: Help

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:19 am
by Claymore
woops sorry I forgot about about the "quotation marks" :doh:

Thanks for the help.