mererdog

I am more concerned with what sort of relationship Daddy thinks he will have with his child, if his child should grow up to believe in some sort of "nonsense". Because a Daddy who makes a habit of the kind of talk you describe doesn't leave a lot of room for a child who happens to be a believer to feel safe around Daddy...

Allow me to suggest that if you cannot tolerate and respect the way that your husband chooses to express his beliefs, you will not really be able to model the behaviors you wish your child to develop. Strong beliefs are challenging to deal with, no question. But if you love someone, and they are not being abusive, you kind of have to learn to let them be wrong as loudly as they want... no?

I am often struck by the ability we have to see what we want when it is not really there, and to not see what we do not want to see when it is right in front of us. It's a difficult sort of truth for me to remain cognizant of for long, though...

Read the Sermon on the Mount lately? Read any of Ghandi's biographies? You can change the world for the better without harming anyone. And kindly stop calling me a coward. I'm guessing you would not want me to call you names.

It takes more strength to take a punch than to deliver one. You confuse pacifism with cowardice. They are not the same thing. Many a coward has been violent and many a pacifist has placed his life on the line for what he believes in.

I am a pacifist. I know in my heart that violence is always wrong, and I have made a commitment to do what is right. There is simply no way around that. While I can admit as a matter of intellectual honesty that I may be wrong, I believe what I believe. I understand the desire to be pragmatic. I understand the desire to see two wrongs equal a right. I even understand the desire to do something when you don't know of a right way to solve a difficult problem. But I know in my heart that violence is wrong, and I have made a commitment to do what is right. So I am a pacifist.

Whereas calling people monsters is somehow kind?

You are trying to translate the wrong thing. The word "troll", in context, does not derive from a Scandinavian myth, but from a form of fishing. When trolling for fish, you drop a lure out of the back of a moving boat and hope something bites. When trolling the internet, you drop an inflammatory comment and hope someone takes offense....

The link to the paper is in the first post.

That would simply be a matter of redefining the word to make it mean what you want it to (well, technically, to keep it from meaning what you don't want it to), wouldn't it?

Simply put, he was a satirist who people don't realize is a satirist. A discussion of Nietzsche is almost always a study in unrecognized irony.

Control is only a good thing where it is applied by someone with both good motives and the ability to create good outcomes. And, unfortunately, people are not good at knowing when they do not have the ability to create good outcomes, so they invariably exert control in ways that are not good.

The thing that always amazes me about Neitzsche is that the punchline is never hidden, but most people still fail to see the joke. It's not just that they don't think it's funny, they don't even realize it's supposed to be., you know?:

Guilt avoidance.

Because it ceases to really be "our" pledge as soon as you put those words in it. It makes it so that only people who believe in God can be completely honest when taking it, don't you see? And if that doesn't matter, maybe it isn't the under God that should be taken out, but the parts on either side of it...

Doubt is, by nature, uncomfortable. It is an uncomfortableness I am fairly used to, however. I don't have a belief system.. Certainty is a strength. It allows us to act with confidence. All strengths come with inherent dangers, of course.....

Ew. It looks like they were right. First they let the gays marry, and now people are marrying babies. :close_tema:

I'd call that a massive improvement. I think the font might be making the text seem less balanced than it is, but it isn't anything I'd put much time into "fixing" if it were mine...

I'm not sure I understand the question.... In craft, form follows function. In art, form is function.

I would say that the ability to adapt your environment is more important. I would probably not say that if I did not believe that my accomplishments will outlive me.

I see that. To further complicate things, there is an odd legal difference between a church warning its member's about the dangers of voting for some specific legislation and a church warning its members about the dangers of voting for a candidate who plans to enact the same legislation...Is that pejorative use of the word politics the only difference you see between politics and religion?

I would think that a religion would be more appropriately compared to a political philosophy, whereas a political party would more appropriately be compared to a church. The one set being things people believe in, and the other being groups people belong to. Does that seem too nitpicky?

By definition, a matter of fact is one where there is a right and a wrong, while a matter of opinion is one where there is no right or wrong. If I say that my shoes weigh 20 pounds, it would be both a matter of fact and wrong.

What is the difference between politics and religion? Is your answer to that question a matter of fact, or a matter of opinion? If it is a matter of fact, is it possible that your answer was wrong?

Laws which limit the free flow of goods and services across borders create profit motivations that inevitably lead to organized crime. Laws which criminalize nonviolent acts inevitably cause some otherwise peaceful people to resort to violence in order to avoid incarceration. The more effort put into enforcing the laws, the greater these negative effects become. Because I like neither organized crime nor violence, I support the notions of free trade and open borders- and resent all efforts to "protect our borders".