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In reply to the discussion: Ed Schultz EXPOSES Cause Of Racism In The South [View all]Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)There are people on DU, I don't know how many, who think my handle is inappropriate. They think I am rude and confrontational.
They think I hate all things Xtian. I don't. I have a more nuanced view.
I've sung in numerous church choirs. I've sung solos in church. I've played the violin for Christmas Eve and Easter services. I've played the piano for church services. I've directed church choirs. And I enjoyed all this very much. Did it for the joy of it, not for money.
I listen to lots of ethereal church music in Latin. I've seen the Tallis Scholars in person. They're the best a cappella sacred choral group in the world.
Look them up on Youtube. You will be astonished and transported.
I watch Midnight Mass from Saint Peter's Cathedral in Rome because I love the fabulous Baroque architecture and art that Bernini and Michelangelo created. I've been to the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City and marveled over the splendor.
Some Xtians do bad things for bad doctrinal reasons, or to feed their ego, or pride or fool themselves over illogic and lack of apparent causality in their beliefs & actions.
For instance, does prayer work? Does god exist in the form the human mind imagines Him/Her/It/None of the Above? I've got problems with causality and evidence with those.
I want them to think. I want them to ask themselves if they are following the religion because they were told it was right and everyone around them followed that religion, and they did not think and ask questions, because disobedience to church authority is the ultimate sin.
Or do they follow it because they have decided it's a good guide to morality? It's impossible to follow because it's contradictory and quite antiquated. You'd get arrested. It can't adapt to 21st century living. It even has a thought crime in it like George Orwell talked about. Thinking about committing adultery is just as bad as actually doing the deed. Very totalitarian.
God spies on your mind all the time and knows what you think.
I was told on this board that all moral systems have contradictions and that it's not a big deal to recite a creed you don't believe in on Sunday in church. I guess they are immune to feeling like an utter fool when doing that. So their word and oath is worth nothing? I am asking. They say you can be a Xtian and not believe anything in particular, which to me strains credulity.
I have been told that the Xtians on DU don't know any pushy Xtians who interrupt conversations, are ignorant of the bible, and are happy to tell someone they are going to hell. Those things have all happened to me. Some very angry, negative people out there. Calling their religion what it really is offends them & they accuse me of "chutzpah". But the Xtians on DU all seem to attend liberal gay-friendly, non-woman-hating churches. I don't think they can see the big historical problems of thousands of years' standing.
There are moral systems that are consistent and deal with things like modern medicine, evolution, chemistry, and the fact that the earth is not flat and pi is not 3.
Are they just going along with the herd or did they think seriously about what they are letting a preacher put in their minds? Is it useful or is it just dressed up superstition and fables? Or village gossip, as my mother used to say?