babelfish

It's just so darn fascinating, that's why.

And it's not like discussing some ancient Native American religion, or even trying to disprove some geographically removed contemporary religion like Buddhism or Hinduism. It's right here, in our own backyard! Our own families and friends believe these things! Can you see how that would make Christianity and the Bible worthy of our discussion and attempts to disprove?

bonduca

How else does one know what one believes? Faith?
More to the point, why not? Why does it bother you?

[ February 21, 2002: Message edited by: bonduca ]</p>

Direckshun

Interesting stuff.

Including moiii's choice of words... <img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" />

TollHouse

Because we don't want to live a lie. Isn't that a good enough reason?

Fair enough, but then why are you here? Why is witnessing so incredibly important to Christians?

We only challenge people who come here (an atheist board) to challenge us. It's not like we are out going door to door trying to win over converts.

DarkBronzePlant

moiii, I will answer your question with a hypothetical scenario. Let's say that the U.S. was predominatly Gumbyist, worshipping the god Gumby, as described in the religion Gumbyism. The vast majority of the U.S. professed adherence to the Gumbyist ideologies, and bumper stickers reading Gumby Bless America! abounded. Now let's say that everyone in the country was encouraged--sometimes subtly, sometimes not so subtly--to adhere to the 'rules' of Gumbyism. Or sure, you can go off and be a Christian or whatever on your own time, but remember, this country was founded on Gumbyist ideals. Now by adhering to Gumbyism, you shouldn't be doing your favorite hobby (I don't know what that is for you personally; you fill in the blank). So there are certain people out there constantly trying to pass laws to prevent you from doing that, even when you do it in the privacy of your own home. Some people might even try to kill you for doing it. Also, your family is all Gumbyist... they may not go to the Gumby temple on a regular basis, or think about Gumby very often, but by Gumby! there are red-blooded American Gumbyists all right! So to tell them that you do not believe in Gumby would shock the hell out of them... your mom might wonder where she went wrong, your dad might disown you, your aunt and uncle might badger you and try to get you to convert to Gumbyism. Meanwhile, the Attorney General is spending $8000 of taxpayers money to have a sheet made with a picture of Gumby to cover up the statue behind his podium...

Anyway, do you get the point? If Americans could just believe what they believed and let other do the same, then I would probably be asking the same question you asked. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Hence, infidels.org

missus_gumby

Gumbyism? Heck, it works for me.

Mageth

if one is comfortable in his beliefs

One may be comforatble in one's beliefs, but one should strive to never stop examining those beliefs. Often such examination involves (hopefully informed) discussions with those having other beliefs, or critical analysis of other beliefs, which may be shared with others (e.g. in the SecWeb library or on this forum).

What the hell is wrong with that?

Wyrdsmyth

I was not aware of that. May I have a quote and a source, or the date and format in which this was stated?

If he really said that, it saddens me deeply. I voted for that guy. If he really held/holds this view, that betrays an astounding narrow-mindedness. then that opens up a whole 'nother can of worms:

What was his position on Muslims, Jews and all other non-Christians? Do they not deserve to be U.S. citizens? What about Christians who are of a different denomination? Do they deserve citizenship?

No matter how much I disagree with Christians, I would never say they don't deserve to be U.S. citizens.

But what should I really expect from a Texan?

Godless Sodomite

Here's the quote from the interview:

Here's link to the full story: <a href="http://www.freethought-web.org/ctrl/news/file004.html" target="_blank">http://www.freethought-web.org/ctrl/news/file004.html</A>

If you do a search of the internet, you'll find that this story/interview has been reported in many places.

-Jerry

phlebas

Ah, but Bush the Elder was a Maine boy, wasn't he?

Republican politicians say that crap all the time. Newt had his share of those comments, too.

I hope those comments go the route of all such campaign promises.