Grumpy

Not being as svelte as I'd like to be, I'm not one to judge. I also don't know if the congregants are members at a country club or not. Obesity is nearly as common as idiocy, but there is not a one-to-one correlation between them.

crab juice

Thank you Grumpy. Shit, growing up fat was one of the things that put me on the path to atheism!

scombrid

Man that hell house was straight from a chick tract. <shudders> <giggles> <shudders again at the thought that people take that crap seriously>. Actually, you can buy guides for setting up those hell houses from certain fundy groups.

As for the cretinist nut. He said he was proud that his daughter marked "I don't believe in evolution" on a test and got marked correct. If I were a parent with a child in that class I'd be infuriated that a child got to cop out like that. You don't have to believe in something to answer questions about it. Why couldn't the girl have answered "According to evolutionary theory... yadadaddada....? How do you think I got through theology classes in Catholic school as a Baptist that was in the process of rejecting religion. Would I have gotten away with "I don't believe in transubstatiation". Hell no. Nobody asked that I believe in it, I just needed to know what the hell is was.

Grumpy

That was about the only part of the ABC story I saw when it aired. They had an electronically-modified "God" voice tell the dearly departed that they were doomed to Hell. "Give me another chance!" they begged. "You had your chance," said God.

So I guess what they say about God isn't true -- having all his children love him is not his highest goal. Otherwise he could surely arrange for, say, reincarnation.

4th Generation Atheist

Maybe in the church case it has to do with the amount of greasy food that's commonly available at church functions. If you don't allow yourself any other indulgences, I can see how that stuff would be extra tempting....and if you attend several such functions a week, healthy meals might be fewer and farther between than otherwise. Probably a matter not of idiocy, but of convenience.

Too bad the battle of the bulge isn't that easy for atheists either.

MOJO-JOJO

<img src="confused.gif" border="0">

HumanisTim

I wonder how upset these churches would get. If you went to one of their hell houses. Then we're cracking up laughing as you left. Or walk out saying to a friend. "BOY HELL SURE DOES LOOK FUN".

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Wyz_sub10

Yeah, or something along the lines of. "that was wicked cool!! Let's go buy some Harry Potter books!"

Shake

I was stationed at Charleston AFB for 7 years, and I too, love the city. However, I'd never send my kid to schools there (a big part of why I moved back up North). Yeah, SC is very backwards in many ways (just abolished a law banning mixed race marriages a few years ago), but the College of Charleston has on its staff a very intelligent, and locally famous atheist in one Dr. Herb Silverman. He conducts speeches and I believe runs a humanist group there. His fame came from an incident where he sought to become a notary public. The attention came because the position required that he state belief in God. He fought and won. I'm sure you could look the case up ... I may have botched the details a bit.
He once wrote a very well thought out and eloquent, yet concise letter to the editor of the paper against posting of the Ten Commandments. Well, about a week or so after his letter ran, they had to devote their whole editorial page to reactions to his letter, about 95% negative, of course. None of the negative replies had any good intelligent arguments against him.

Oh and yes, atheists are indeed alive and well in the US military. So much for no atheists in foxholes.

Oh, one example of religious intolerance in the South: a co-worker from base was out on his lunch picking up some things from Wal-Mart. He got talking to an older woman and her son, just small talk, when she asked if he was an Xian. He politely says no, he's a Taoist, and he explains the very basics of Taoism. She says something to the effect of, "Oh, that's too bad. You seemed like such a nice boy." <img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" />

Grumpy

Meaning no disrespect to anyone wearing a uniform, but there is a difference between serving in the military and surviving in a foxhole. (Unless the aphorism includes foxholes outside a combat zone.) To be a fair test of the adage, one's atheism can only be tested in an actual crisis, not in a potential crisis. Even so, I'm fairly sure that, yes, there are unbelievers who have been shot & shelled and never whispered a word of prayer.

You know what his problem was: he yinned when he should've yanged.