Dave, I want to start this off by saying that I have really enjoyed many of our discussions. You usually know how to pose a decent debate. But I do have a question for you: Why do you always seem to launch a personal attack on Christians or anything to do with Christianity at every opportunity? This is not my imagination. You have, on MANY occasions, taken threads that weren’t even about religion at all, and made statements obviously intended to bait Christians into defending their faith. The funny thing is I never see you doing this to any other religion. I never see you trying to tear apart Islam, Judaism, Hinduism or anyone else. I gather from your posts that you don’t believe what those religions teach either, but you never seem to launch into one of your planned attacks against them. To tell you the truth, it’s not just you, Dave. I’ve noticed a growing trend in this area. Nobody says anything bad about Muslims because we don’t want to offend anyone. But it’s open season on Christians. Why is that? What is it about Christianity that has struck such a nerve with you?

 

I think if th majority of people on SL were any of said religions then that would be dave's focus but why talk about muslims if there are no muslims to talk to? But that is just what I have gathered from our conversations.
I think this is why the SL gods invented pming by the way.

 

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I can't talk for dave but to further clarify my point... Being christian you (matt) also disagree with said religions but in our conversations you target evolution/big bang/logic (Wow... see that bait? dave is a bad influence )etc... because of who you are conversing with. Question answered?

 

A land run by Christians? Really? Who? The majority of our government certainly doesn't appear to be Christian. The majority of our courts are not benched by Christians. The media sure as heck isn't run by Christians. Most colleges and school boards are not run by christians. I don't think I see your point there. This country was founded upon christian ideals. Many of our founding fathers were christians and that influence is very clear in our history, but I wouldn't say that is the case now.
As far as trying to "push our beliefs on you", I don't feel that I've done that.

This is going to be very hard to discuss when it takes like 10 minutes to post a reply. Someone needs to put another stick of RAM in the server.

 

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religions are literally to blame for just about everything, especially the larger more powerful ones. if you look back at history, all governments made decisions based on what their theological beliefs were and usually beat it into who ever believe otherwise.

the united states, despite the separation of church and state, cleary has a christian agenda. the worst thing we can do is elect bible beaters who blindly follow their doctrines and interpretation instead of just listening to reality.

 

In the bible, Jesus says that his kingdom is no part of this world. If "christians" followed that, by not sticking their nose into places it does not belong, the world would be MUCH better.

 

Of all the times i have had to cook with improper equipment, I think my favorite and most memorable would be in college. I tried to cook grilled cheese in my room. I had no stove or pans so I had to get creative.

A sheet of aluminum foil, some butter spray, a history textbook and an iron got me to where I needed to go.

If you ever find yourself without a stove and hungry for grilled cheese, remember that it's possible.

 

what?

 

Matt, in your list of religions I noticed you didn't mention Buddhists. Is that because you think we are insignificant, not a large enough group, or you never hear anyone _____ about Buddhists starting wars or fights.

 

buddhism isn't religion, they are a philosophy that embraces all religions that center around peace love and harmony.

you know who dave left out that he really should have discussed shintoism, those tree shaving sandal wearing ancestor worshipping bastards are truly to blame for everything that is wrong in the world!

 

That is a religion I haven't heard about since 9th grade. I'm with you on this one man. Friggin Shintoists. Always gotta be acting a fool.

 

Um... hate to say it but Buddhism is a religion. It started as an off-shoot of Hinduism. Yes, it is very philosophical, but I would not say that it isn't a religion. Its like saying the Mormons or Methodists aren'[t religions.

Scientology, now thats not a religion.

 

Um... hate to say it but Buddhism is a religion. It started as an off-shoot of Hinduism. Yes, it is very philosophical, but I would not say that it isn't a religion. Its like saying the Mormons or Methodists aren'[t religions.

Scientology, now thats not a religion.

 

Buddhism is a dharmic, non-theistic religion and a philosophy.

i was taught mainly that it isn't a religion because siddhartha gautama never wanted to be worshipped and there are no gods associated with it. mainly, i don't view it as a religion because you can be a buddhist, but also a christian, hindu, muslim, hebrew, etc.

the reason why buddhism is more of a philosphy than a religion is because it allows you to follow any theological teachings, but preaches the important of the middle path, nothing in extreme. be reverent and moral, don't over endulge inthe pleasures of this life, but don't also become a ascetic hermit torturing their body through fasting and such.

while buddhism itself wasn't directly responsible for conflict, because it rapidly gained a following, threathening the power of the hindu brahman who influenced the indian royalty.

 

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I got a Q for all you guys, why is religion such a hot button issue. now i havent read all the debates, but religion seems to come up a lot, so just why is that?

 

It's because everyone is an expert on their religion (or non-religion) and they think that theirs is the best.

Religious views have always, and will always be hotly contested.

 

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