And yet you refuse to explain to me how in the 100 person village scenario, all unbelievers won't be paying for the believers statues. Fact is they will, because we do not split up taxes based on religion. You want to fund religious statues with taxpayer funding.
Well, lets see how to explain it so you might at least gain insight if not understanding.
Newspapers go down to the 8th grade level. So that is where I will attempt to start. Lets say you have your mythical town of 100 people, 40 of whom are of various denominations of Christianity, 30 are Buddhists, 10 are Muslim, 10 are of the Hebrew faith and 10 of whom have no particular faith or do not believe at all. A group of local high school art club students, we don’t even know of which belief systems they are/are not, make a five of the 10 commandments plaque [ Honor thy father and thy mother, Thou shall not kill/murder, Thou shall not commit adultery, Thou shall not steal, Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor]. Very well done, just the words, no allusion to where it is derived from even. Of course those who know where it came from would recognize it immediately. They donate this plaque to the city council which has representation equal to their religious make up [ not that that should matter, it’s a secular government remember ] and they agree, 8 to 2, to hang it permanently in the town meeting room. Knowing the students paid out of pocket for the supplies to make the plaque, they vote in the same numbers to reimburse the students. Should the local town council be able to do so?
If that is still too hard to understand, let me know and I will see if I can massage it a bit.
You see, that is democracy. Democracy is not about never offending someone else, that is impossible. Its about how we, the people, want to live, it’s about living within the framework of governing set down by the founders… it is certainly not about a minority saying we cannot choose what we want. Government is the servant remember, not the master.
The amount of mental gymnastics you will go to in order to keep this idea alive is astounding. I've asked you this several times and you've refused to answer: How does saying "Nobody can use TAXPAYER FUNDING to build their own personal religious statues" harassing the religious? The religious are trying to take money from the irreligious. Are you so poorly informed about history that you think the extent of Stalin's harassment of the people was denying them taxpayer funding for religious things?
First of all, can you itemize
where anybody has asked to build someone else’s personal religious statues? I am 100% sure I never said such a thing. You and your straw men should really open your own thread and argue amongst yourselves. I said taking religion out of the public square, not allowing, for instance, a nativity scene on property that is a public place, not allowing a meeting to be opened with a prayer even if 100% agree or if only .0001% disagree. It is about allowing an important part of our heritage and history to be properly represented, just like everyone else wants.
You seem stuck like gum on the bottom of a shoe to just this funding of “building of religious statues” thing. Not able to broaden your vision, cannot see the whole picture when it comes to harassment? As regards politics and history, I probably have in my own personal library more books on history and politics than books you have ever read in your entire life. And to attempt to box me into a silly one dimensional view because while you might not agree with Stalin on mass murder, you and he [ might easily imagine you and Joe high-fiving it on this segment ] seem in near complete agreement with the harassment and expunging of those of faith from the public square, well, would be comical if not so sad, so feeble.
Talk about gymnastics… nice try tho.
I really feel like you're just trolling me now, because nobody could possibly think that not giving christians money is harassing them.
I think you are quite bright enough to get the point by now then…if not, its not about the money. But while we are at it,
any answers yet on why you could call my position fascist? This is the fourth call for that explanation...and as an aside, was it of the Mussolini form, the Hitler form, the Franco form or some other form of fascism… and why?
Trolling? I am not the one who has constantly used dodging, demagoguery, the ubiquitous straw men, hyperbole, and the continual somehow forgetting to answer the question, the continual somehow forgetting that I am not of the Christian faith, the pretended [ I hope] ignorance that nobody is calling for “building of religious statues”. I mean you talk about getting someone to the point they want to pull their own hair out, look in the mirror. I would consider myself having been to the point of being overly patient with you, knowing that you are voluntarily being obtuse.
LOL, you poor victims. You can't use taxpayer funding to force your religion on others. Maybe you should pray real hard about it.
And yet in a democracy
my taxpayer funds can be used for things maybe you or others believe in, like the forced teaching in public school of the unscientific belief in evolutionary origins? That belief is its own religion with Darwin worshiped as a demigod. Why should my tax dollars pay for that, eh? Maybe you should
think real hard about it.
This guy is getting too ridiculous. He keeps repeating the same tired BS over and over again about how victimized he feels because he can't get free taxpayer money for his religion.
Now see, just how low will you go …? That is an outright damnable prevarication right there. I do not know how the moderators deal with someone’s incessant lying about another’s position, but with the amount of lying on just that one issue that you are doing in this single one post, I would consider that trolling. I mean we know you are rabid, you self-identify as so…but when you start foaming at the mouth so, saying things that are absolutely not true in a weak effort to get people to go along with your emotion pleas…
Those poor, poor christians.
Again,
I am not a Christian, I have
no specific religion other than my own beliefs as to a creator god.
So there is not and would not be ANY religious relics from my belief system that someone could build. I do understand and respect those people of faith, even those who are also respectful who have, as is their right, no faith. But our heritage and history is replete with acknowledgement to a higher power and there is
NO WAY that we should be forced to ignore that contribution. I apologize if god did not give you the capacity to understand that, or maybe through random mutation you may just have gotten the lesser reflective and contemplative DNA from the evolutionary brew from which you may believe you descend. Does not change the facts that in a democracy,
we get to decide.
I would have to say I formerly, when seeing your posts, while not always agreeing, assessed them as fairly thoughtful. I now have a whole new perspective.