Atheists "Hijack" Nativity in Santa Monica

#251
#251
PKT_VOL said:
I think fervent belief in Christianity is no less absurd that the belief in Santa Clause. At least the children have fun with it while young, then eventually wise up and grow out of it.
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You just illustrated my point.


I am not 100% on this, but I don't believe Christians would be banished to hell by God (Jewish, OT God) because of their belief in a false savior. I could be wrong. The same can not be said about the nonbelievers of Jesus.
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I know my point isn't that difficult to understand, because others on here got it. How about we go with "any symbol of any other religion in any place that I might go"?
 
#255
#255
DinkinFlicka said:
Sorry, I'm trying to digress from sports here. Its fandom is based off competition. That's the only reason why.
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Fair enough.

I guess I don't understand why a nativity scene is in any way a passive aggressive insult to any non-Christian. I see the line between celebration and passive aggression as being pretty darn clear.
 
#256
#256
DinkinFlicka said:
Interesting. What do you do to celebrate your faith?
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This is enough for me, the rest I leave to you guys to argue over
Matthew 22:35-40

King James Version (KJV)

35Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38This is the first and great commandment.

39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
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#257
#257
bamawriter said:
Fair enough.

I guess I don't understand why a nativity scene is in any way a passive aggressive insult to any non-Christian. I see the line between celebration and passive aggression as being pretty darn clear.
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There's absolutely nothing wrong with the nativity scene. However, that church did a whole lot of pissing and moaning over such a minor incident. Fact is, they did nothing to prevent vandalism. Because of that, I don't think they're any better than the *******s who did the deed. It's just two sides painting each other as fanatics.
 
#263
#263
DinkinFlicka said:
That's too foggy for me. It doesn't address projection.
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If by projection you mean promoting my faith to others, then the answer for me is not verbally unless asked, I prefer to live my faith actively and let others decide what they will about me.
 
#264
#264
YorkVol said:
If by projection you mean promoting my faith to others, then the answer for me is not verbally unless asked, I prefer to live my faith actively and let others decide what they will about me.
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I can level with that. How do you feel about Missionaries? Do you think it's just not your place?
 
#267
#267
DinkinFlicka said:
There's absolutely nothing wrong with the nativity scene. However, that church did a whole lot of pissing and moaning over such a minor incident. Fact is, they did nothing to prevent vandalism. Because of that, I don't think they're any better than the *******s who did the deed. It's just two sides painting each other as fanatics.
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I agree with this. Again, we've gotten lazy and assumed that because many of our fore fathers held Christian values that gives us more rights than others. I don't believe that to be the case and cannot stand it when someone comes to the issue too late to get their way and then falls back on tradition. Had the groups who wanted the nativity scene put in the park been on the ball and gotten in their applications the way the other groups did, then they would have their displays.

In the recent past, local town councils were sued to have these types of displays removed from public spaces. As a result, most municipalities have enacted ordinances to make the process fair to all comers. I think that is fine and if the local Christian churches can't get off their duff, then too bad. They certainly have no business damaging someone else's property, no matter what it says.
 
#268
#268
DinkinFlicka said:
There's absolutely nothing wrong with the nativity scene. However, that church did a whole lot of pissing and moaning over such a minor incident. Fact is, they did nothing to prevent vandalism. Because of that, I don't think they're any better than the *******s who did the deed. It's just two sides painting each other as fanatics.
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I'm totally opposed to the vandalism. As for the church, in the end they gave the group who put up the display exactly the response they were looking for. However, I didn't see them encouraging vandalism, so I'm not going to put that on them. As long as they weren't promoting it, I don't see why they should be held accountable for not stoppping it.
 
#269
#269
DinkinFlicka said:
I can level with that. How do you feel about Missionaries? Do you think it's just not your place?
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Nope, for the most part I love 'em. My folks were missionaries sent from the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee to Haiti in the early 90s. They rebuilt a school for severely handicapped children and turned it into the best medical clinic and prosthetic shop in the country. After the earthquake last year, Dad put $10,000 dollars in a money belt, caught a flight in to DomRep and hitched a ride to Port Au Prince just to make sure the kids would be able to get food and shelter. He's 73.
 
#270
#270
bamawriter said:
I'm totally opposed to the vandalism. As for the church, in the end they gave the group who put up the display exactly the response they were looking for. However, I didn't see them encouraging vandalism, so I'm not going to put that on them. As long as they weren't promoting it, I don't see why they should be held accountable for not stoppping it.
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They left an easy target and, despite that, demonized a group of people afterward.
 
#271
#271
bamawriter said:
You just illustrated my point.
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I took your comment to mean that Christianity and Santa Clause were not equivalent. My apologizes if you meant different.

bamawriter said:
I know my point isn't that difficult to understand, because others on here got it. How about we go with "any symbol of any other religion in any place that I might go"?
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I was pointing out that you gave bad examples. Some religions are more aggressive at damning non-believers than others. Most non-Christians, in the form of atheists and agnostics, actually have no problem with nativity scenes.
 
#273
#273
PKT_VOL said:
I took your comment to mean that Christianity and Santa Clause were not equivalent. My apologizes if you meant different.
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You got my point right. You then equated them, which is fairly demeaning.


I was pointing out that you gave bad examples. Some religions are more aggressive at damning non-believers than others. Most non-Christians, in the form of atheists and agnostics, actually have no problem with nativity scenes.
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My example wasn't meant to deal with any specific religion. Sorry that you didn't understand that.
 
#274
#274
bamawriter said:
You got my point right. You then equated them, which is fairly demeaning.
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Not demeaning. Again, you need thicker skin. Both require a leap of faith across the fast flowing river of logic.

bamawriter said:
My example wasn't meant to deal with any specific religion. Sorry that you didn't understand that.
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I understand that. However, my counterpoint was that Christianity is pretty exclusive and despairing towards non-believers. Other (some) religions not so much. Just pointing out that the despairing part towards non-believers is more of a reason to be offended than other religions which do not have such beliefs.
 
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