Alan Bragg Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 http:// of a guy who has posted a LOT of videos in his spare time. Not only does he appear to preach your 'typical' xtian humitily of "I am nobody, just a man sent on the word of god", but he has a typical rant whereby he cannot differentiate between somebody who doesn't believe in an invisible deity and somebody who fornicates with animals and murders at will... I thought people were meant, usually, to get more intelligent the older they got. This guy bucks the trend in an allarming manner. Also, as a side note, if Christians make up 85% of the US demographic, why do they feel so persecuted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 Also, as a side note, if Christians make up 85% of the US demographic, why do they feel so persecuted? Because if they didn't they wouldn't be Christians. Jesus said all who follow him would be persecuted. Once they admit that the persecution has stopped, they admit that they are not Christians. Also, if they write off all the Christians except their particular denomination or congregation, it's a lot easier to prove that Christians are the few in number who are being saved, and that they really are being persecuted. Most of the time the persecution comes from fellow Christians who are not acknowledged as Christians. Of course, they all close ranks and blame the atheists the minute we come within earshot. There's nothing more offensive to them than a person suggesting that perhaps life without god is possible. So it appears to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurisaz Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 It's not just you Ruby... definitely not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Bragg Posted April 18, 2008 Author Share Posted April 18, 2008 Also, as a side note, if Christians make up 85% of the US demographic, why do they feel so persecuted? Because if they didn't they wouldn't be Christians. Jesus said all who follow him would be persecuted. Once they admit that the persecution has stopped, they admit that they are not Christians. Also, if they write off all the Christians except their particular denomination or congregation, it's a lot easier to prove that Christians are the few in number who are being saved, and that they really are being persecuted. Most of the time the persecution comes from fellow Christians who are not acknowledged as Christians. Of course, they all close ranks and blame the atheists the minute we come within earshot. There's nothing more offensive to them than a person suggesting that perhaps life without god is possible. So it appears to me. It was a rhetorical question, but you very nicely answered it all the same . Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MathGeek Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 I shall not answer it rhetorically. Mathematically, there are many branches of Christianity and the more "persecuted" Christians fall into the bracket of Evangelical Christianity. Evangelicals or fundies or eva-fundies or whatnot make up 30% of the overall Christian population according to a statistic I heard on one of the propaganda news channels. So, fundy Christians make up about 25.5% of the US population, which is a giant minority but still a minority in the population. Now, it seems to me (I have no exact numbers) that the more "extreme" Evangelicals (the ones that suck Rushdoony's flaccid penis and pray to God every night for a return to Calvin's theocracy) make up a much more minute minority within Christian Evangelism. The ones you or I might see on the street corner in some town or city might belong to a church of less than 100 to 500 members. By and large with this Christian extremism, it isn't surprising for them to feel persecuted since they are the minute minority. I think even the non-believing heathens outnumbers these extremists. If I am wrong in my assertion about actual numbers, I think my assertion about them being the minority within Christianity is still true. I don't see Catholics and Lutherans and Methodists acting like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MathGeek Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 I've seen this video before...that is guy a freak. This guy is an example of why I think he and others like him are part of so-called "persecuted" minority. His views are so insane, so fucking laughable that any other fundie with any lick of sense would distance themselves from him. His views are definitely are NOT within the realm of normal. I think the right-minded heathens outnumber his ilk by far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 If I am wrong in my assertion about actual numbers, I think my assertion about them being the minority within Christianity is still true. I don't see Catholics and Lutherans and Methodists acting like this. I have seen Lutherans acting like that. And my church was Missouri Synod. Then again, they were rather fundy, even for Lutherans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MathGeek Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 If I am wrong in my assertion about actual numbers, I think my assertion about them being the minority within Christianity is still true. I don't see Catholics and Lutherans and Methodists acting like this. I have seen Lutherans acting like that. And my church was Missouri Synod. Then again, they were rather fundy, even for Lutherans. I went to a Lutheran Church for a while, ELCA branch. They were more like a moderate-minded Catholic Church and they acted quietly. Of course, my experiences doesn't debunk the experiences of others. Does fundy-mindedness run as rampant as I think it does or it is really minor in the larger scheme and I am talking on a day-to-day, one-to-one interactive basis? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Marty Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 I was raised in the ELCA too, any my memories are similar to yours MathGeek, when in public functions or the church service. But I also went to school at the same ELCA church from kindergarten thru 8th grade and hours of Sunday school after church on Sunday's. I can say that once the kids were hauled off into private teaching, the "Pat Robertson's" came out of the woodwork and taught the classes. I would complain to my mother regularly after school about certain teachers (some were much worse than others) and she would defend them every time. That is, untill years after I left the school and announced my Atheism. Then of course all those teachers were "fanatics" and I shouldn't base my faith on what they say! I think the "normalicy" of the ELCA is displayed only to the adults and the outside world. The kids get the "real" Evangelical Lutheranism shoved down their throats VERY forcefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MathGeek Posted May 2, 2008 Share Posted May 2, 2008 I was raised in the ELCA too, any my memories are similar to yours MathGeek, when in public functions or the church service. But I also went to school at the same ELCA church from kindergarten thru 8th grade and hours of Sunday school after church on Sunday's. I can say that once the kids were hauled off into private teaching, the "Pat Robertson's" came out of the woodwork and taught the classes. I would complain to my mother regularly after school about certain teachers (some were much worse than others) and she would defend them every time. That is, untill years after I left the school and announced my Atheism. Then of course all those teachers were "fanatics" and I shouldn't base my faith on what they say! I think the "normalicy" of the ELCA is displayed only to the adults and the outside world. The kids get the "real" Evangelical Lutheranism shoved down their throats VERY forcefully. No, I entered into the church during my college years only to fall away about a year or so afterward. I did teach Sunday School for a year and I never brought out the Pat Robertson preaching and indoctrination. For me, it wasn't so much a traumatic experience as it was a learning experience. I learned that being involved in every aspect of your friend's life and not pursuing your own dreams is a bad path to travel down. I learned something of church politics, like to make sure that YOU should call the minister when you promise to read that Sunday and then have the minister stare at you before the services and reads in your place even though the situation was a miscommunication on their end. But, I have never been exposed into to fundagelical indoctrination during my time in that church. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xequar Posted May 2, 2008 Share Posted May 2, 2008 If I am wrong in my assertion about actual numbers, I think my assertion about them being the minority within Christianity is still true. I don't see Catholics and Lutherans and Methodists acting like this. I have seen Lutherans acting like that. And my church was Missouri Synod. Then again, they were rather fundy, even for Lutherans. The Missouri Synod is the fundiest group of Lutherans I can think of, and even if their public statements make them seem less crazy than say, the Southern Baptists, having grown up in an LCMS church and having a cousin that was in the LCMS seminary in St. Louis for a year before coming out of the closet, I am quite sure that they are more crazy than they appear to the naked eye. The stories my cousin told me about seminary sent shivers down my spine and make me wonder how he's STILL an Xian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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