South/MIdwest US
Posted on: September 5, 2008 - 5:03pm
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South/MIdwest US
People from Europe and Australia are often shocked by certain things in the US. An Australian man on another site was shocked that in certain Southern states selling sex toys is illegal. I responded (and do other times) that the South and Midwest of the US are likely the most fanatically religious places in the world outside of the Middle East. Anyone think otherwise or have a general comment?
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To me fanatacism is all relative, it's a matter of degrees, but I do agree the South and Mid-West are the most religious areas in the U.S. The islam of the Middle East is definitely fanatacal to the nth degree while christians in the U.S. are mind-numbingly arrogant and ignorant about their own religion. Tibetan monks I think are a little more militant than christians and sikhs and hindus are even more militant and violent than they are. However, let the jeebus freeks here take over and make this government a theocracy and I truly believe we will see something just as intolerant and inhumane as islamism.
christian leaders have many times made statements that gays and lesbians, being an abomination to Dog, should be executed and no less should be the punishment for atheists. I don't think they're all that fanatically religious, at least, the majority aren't. A few years from now, who knows. Individual christians have been as fanatical as radical muslims but as a whole they have a little bit to go. Fundies are doing their damnedest to take over the government, hopefully, they never will.
"Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state,' therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society." Thomas Jefferson
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Well, with all the hurricanes in the south and the tornados in the midwest, people HAVE to believe that God must have a plan...they just haven't figured out yet that his plan is for them to MOVE.
Nobody I know was brainwashed into being an atheist.
Why Believe?
In a Switzerland casino/hotel, where families are allowed:
No one cares. For the "country of freedom", we are quite the opposite in so many ways.
*Our world is far more complex than the rigid structure we want to assign to it, and we will probably never fully understand it.*
"Those believers who are sophisticated enough to understand the paradox have found exciting ways to bend logic into pretzel shapes in order to defend the indefensible." - Hamby
Have you tried one of those hot sweet "candy girl", peppermint? My gal didn't think much of those. Ahh, never mind. ( cool Montrose song, 'Rock Candy' )
Anyhoot, scary Palin is dangerously religiously wacked, a fav of the sick bible belt of course. Education is the solution but how?
Atheism Books.
Peppermint, plz tell me thats a dildo and NOT... i repeat... NOT a condom...
(Spiked... for her pleasure >.> )
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Hey; I live in a small west kentucky town of 26,000 people, and we have a flourishing art district and gay community. I don't ever feel threatened for being an atheist (though sometimes I do feel misunderstood). I don't know anyone that goes to church regularly, except old people.
My Brand New Blog - Jesu Ad Nauseum.
God of the Gaps: As knowledge approaches infinity, God approaches zero. It's introductory calculus.
To tweak Clinton's "18 million cracks".
Kentucky you say? Wow, maybe we can get just as many atheist cracks in the bible belt.
When people say it is impossible to fight the religious right in this country, stories like this remind me how far minorities AND atheists have gotten. I think some atheists are short sighted an want an emediate overnight change, and that is not the way life works, on any issue.
But think about where blacks and gays were in Kentucky, just 15 years ago, or 30 years ago, and now listen to this post. I think the same can happen for atheists long term considering we have an atheist congressmen, several atheists with best selling books and atheists who have taken up prime time network TV time.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
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Not all the followers of Islam in the Middle East are fanatics. There is, in fact, a thriving moderate form of Islam there which vehemently opposes the radicalization of the Islamic faith. The same can be said for Christianity in the U.S.
Both groups of moderate believers are actively opposed to their more extremist bretheren.
To address the original post, I concur. Theism represents license to ignore logic and rationality, to reject facts which contradict theist beliefs and to adopt an attitude of superiority over non-believers as well as adherents of other faiths. Religious belief may have had some worthwhile dimension at some point in the past, but its relevance to modern society is declining, hopefully soon to be relegated to the dustbin of history, as well it should.
I have to agree with Sam Harris though that moderate religious people do bad by giving validity to faith as a reason for accepting something.
Matt Shizzle has been banned from the Rational Response Squad website. This event shall provide an atmosphere more conducive to social growth. - Majority of the mod team
census data
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/church_bodies.gif
It isn't just that people in the south and midwest believe. It is WHAT they believe.
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