Lou FCD
Posts: 5455
Joined: Jan. 2006
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| Quote (skeptic @ Nov. 30 2007,02:02) | | I can agree with most of your sentiment and not knowing anything about NG nor really wanting to debate Falwell I'll just say that what you hear Falwell say and interpret from that and what someone else hears may be two different things. All things considered I think we both see where the other is coming from. BTW, you don't have to know someone to criticize them (i.e. Hitler or Stalin) but before you decide on a death sentence, figuratively, it would do well to have a very complete and objective knowledge of that individual, jut my opinion. |
A couple of things that I'd like to interject here:
Firstly, on the extreme end of things, I'm going to go further than Louis or Ian on Falwell. Here's about all anyone needs to know about Falwell, from his own mouth:
| Quote | “Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions”
“AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals; it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals”
“The idea that religion and politics don’t mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country”
“If you’re not a born-again Christian, you’re a failure as a human being”
“Textbooks are Soviet propaganda”
“There is no separation of church and state. Modern US Supreme Courts have raped the Constitution and raped the Christian faith and raped the churches by misinterpreting what the Founders had in mind in the First Amendment to the Constitution.”
“The Bible is the inerrant … word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible,without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etc.”
“The Jews are returning to their land of unbelief. They are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior.”
“I do not believe the homosexual community deserves minority status. One’s misbehavior does not qualify him or her for minority status. Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc., are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status.”
“Grown men should not be having sex with prostitutes unless they are married to them.”
“And, I know that I’ll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way — all of them who have tried to secularize America — I point the finger in their face and say, ‘You helped this happen.’” |
I'm not sure how "interpretation" is going to help your case here, Skeptic.
Falwell was a disgusting, evil excuse of a human being, whose raison d'être was spreading hate and ignorance, and the world is a better place for his loss. My only regret is that he didn't publicly choke on his own vomit before he ever had a chance to open his mouth.
Am I happy that he's dead? I did a jig when I heard the news, so I suppose that could probably be construed as a "yes".
Would I have advocated that someone (to include but not limited to a governmental agency) remove that vile life from this planet? No.
But as Ian has pointed out, his was an extreme case when all is said and done. His very public, very loud, very influential voice was the direct and deliberate cause of much suffering and even the deaths of innocent human beings, so I will neither for one second mourn his passing, nor will I extend one iota of sympathy to anyone over his loss, including to his family that strives to continue his legacy of pain and death.
The point of all that is that hearkening back to your comment "people who would be objectively considered to be sane that completely disagree with you", in this instance I think questioning the sanity of anyone who would support Falwell is rather appropriate.
Now, just to be clear so you do not in any wise misunderstand and so that you are not tempted to misquote me, the immense depth of my utter contempt for Jerry Falwell does not extend to all religious people, or to all Christians, or to all fundies.
While I personally think religion in general is inherently silly, Christianity and the other Abrahamic religions in particular are very silly, and fundamentalism specifically is just plain dumb and extremely dangerous, I'm pretty OK with people believing whatever silly things they want - with the caveat that they not be allowed to impose their silliness on the rest of us.
I'd like to see less silliness in the world, but I'd like to see that accomplished with words, not bullets. I sincerely hope all of that is clear to you, and that you see that some of your previous comments about what others on this board believe about religion and religious people are simply not accurate. To the best of my knowledge, not one single person who posts here has ever expressed, implied, or would even consider supporting the idea of killing fundies as you have previously, and erroneously, inferred.
The second thing I'm going to interject here is that you've asserted that Louis makes unsupported claims and he has called you on that assertion.
Please support your claim or retract it so the thread can move on. One example will do.
The third thing I'm going to interject is that if you've read every word of this comment, you really need to get a life. Go smell some roses.
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“Why do creationists have such a hard time with commas?
Linky“. ~ Steve Story, Legend
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