The people with the most faith are the atheists, bar none!!! If you're a christian and feel like you need a strong dose of humility you could use some practice talking about "God" stuff, talk to an atheist. I wrote a short blog to the 'Wisconsin State Journal' as follows is a response to my blog. Atheism is not a big deal at all if there is no kind of god.We might tweak each others noses on religion, but always stay civil. Of course wars have been fought and are being waged now over religious ideology. If, though, we are in the 'end times' as I seriously believe, a lot of lazy so-called christians need a spur up their butts (can I say that?) hard, quickly and often. We need a heart burn for others spiritual shape. We need to be educated better than we are now so that we can handle other beliefs. Christians should use the bible first and other writings constantly. You can not talk to atheists, Mormans, Jehovah Witnesses, etc. if you do not know what you are talking about. So here am I (lolatom), and an atheist's (forumite) response to my 'blog':
I'm from the KansasCity area and get into the Madison area about once or twice a week. I grabbed a paper and interestingly found your column. About God and Dawkins, be careful. Be very, very careful. If Dawkins is wrong, then a lot of people are applauding a lie. If there is no god, why are the 'atheists' so much about disproving him, even with silly slogans like "Blasphemy is a victimless crime"? If there is no god, he's safe. Leave us alone and let us worship. If there might be a god, then we should be vigilant as to his purpose and character. The thought that interests me the most is this, Almost all people believe and have always believed that God is a reality. That has been the thought and experience of billions of people for thousands of years. I personally believe the christian faith would prosper more if most christians would keep there lips together and they sat on their hands. They don't seem to be able to speak with much knowledge. Debates between 'atheists' and 'believers' are always entertaining and always useless. My suggestion to all those who applaud any body of any faith or world view is to put that speaker's feet in the fire and test him or her as to their reliability of truth. Oh, yeah, I forgot. Most people no longer believe in absolute truth.
lolatom wrote:
If there is no god, why are the 'atheists' so much about disproving him, even with silly slogans like "Blasphemy is a victimless crime"?
To protect us from those who would force their version of God on everybody else.
lolatom wrote:
Leave us alone and let us worship.If those who worship would let everyone else alone, there'd probably be a better chance of them being left alone.
lolatom wrote:
If there might be a god, then we should be vigilant as to his purpose and character.If there was a god, don't you think that He would be capable of making His purpose and character clear to all?
lolatom wrote:
The thought that interests me the most is this, Almost all people believe and have always believed that God is a reality. That has been the thought and experience of billions of people for thousands of years.Nonsense. Christianity is only 2,000 years old. Judaism is only about 1,000 years older, and was an obscure religion in a cultural backwater. Even today, only about 55% of the world's population considers themselves Judeo-Christian (that's including Muslims). For most of history, the figure has been far lower. Most religions, from the first invention of religion, have been polytheistic. And there were never a billion people alive on the Earth until the early 1800s.
lolatom wrote:
I personally believe the christian faith would prosper more if most christains would keep there lips together and sat on their hands. They seem to not speak with a lot of knowledge.Got to agree with you there.
lolatom wrote:
Debates between 'atheists' and 'believers' are always entertaining and useless. My suggestion to all those who applaud any body of any faith or world view is to put that speaker's feet in the fire and test him or her as to their reliability of truth.Entertainment has its own value. And how will you "put their feet in the fire"? How will any religious adherent survive such a test?
lolatom wrote:
Oh, yeah, I forgot. Most people no longer believe in absolute truth.
I have to add this now that reread the post. There have indeed been billions of people on the earth over all these centuries tallied together.
Islam is the 'New kid on the block' since it began only about 623 AD or (CE if you would rather use that).
True christians consider Judaism to be the tree and Christianity to be the branch grafted to that tree. Christ is the root. Another way to say this is Jews are the Christians' elders. Judaism is thousands of years, not ONE thousand years, older than Christianity or Islam.
Muslims do NOT consider themselves either Christian nor Jew and are isulted when they are equated with other religions. In fact, religiously speaking, they despise us.
Atheists do not need protection from Christians, it's the other way around. Atheists would, and are now trying, to pass laws to greatly reduce the influence and activity of any religion, especially Christianity.
I still say that many Christians do more harm than good and would do better if they remained quite while reeducating themselves about basic bible truths.
I still say, also, debates between Christians and Atheists are entertaining at best and always useless.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Homelessness should be a crime
Here's another article from Madison, Wi. from Susan Lampert Smith, bless her heart, she's trying.
I also responded to this. My response follows:
Lampert Smith: Let's talk about homeless issue
By SUSAN LAMPERT SMITH Wisconsin State Journal
Fred Mohs should win an award as Madison 's most politically incorrect curmudgeon.
But give him credit, he 's stirring the pot on an important Madison issue: What to do about the growing population of homeless people in Madison?
In case you 've been lounging on a tropical beach somewhere, here 's the latest tempest.
Mohs, who has lived downtown for 50 years and owns a lot of it, has grown weary of the homeless. In his view, they 've taken over the State Capitol basement and the downtown library, and some of their number have committed crimes ranging from last summer 's State Street murder to the burning of the St. Raphael Cathedral.
Last week, Mohs told the First United Methodist Church, located just down Wisconsin Avenue from his home, that if it continues to shelter the homeless, church members can forget about parking in his Manchester ramp.
The church responded that the poor are more important than parking.
"The bottom line is that this is a caring community, we do care about people here, it 's part of our culture, " said Madison attorney Bill White, a church member and spokesman.
While White may sound like he 's on the side of the angels, and Mohs, the devil 's advocate, they agree that the current situation of full shelters every night is a bad one.
"I 'm proposing that (Mohs) and I take our show on the road, " White said. "Why not use it to highlight the issue of homelessness in Madison? "
You can hear the next installment of their debate on this morning 's 10 a.m. edition of "Outside the Box with Mitch Henck " on WIBA-AM.
The main buzz on the issue is coming from private citizens rather than local government. Last month, a group called Welcome Home held a press conference to highlight the fact that it had tried to rent a South Side home for homeless men, but that they were evicted.
Organizer Kristen Petroshius rented the home, owned by Duane Steinhauer, under the pretense that she was living there alone, Steinhauer said. He was contacted by town of Madison building inspectors, who told him there were an illegal number of people living in the single family home. The inspectors had been contacted by police.
And who called the police? Steinhauer said the previously homeless tenants called the police themselves because they were fighting with each other.
(Petroshius later told Isthmus that the home was a "wet shelter " for people who had been drinking and thus couldn 't get into the regular shelters.)
Needless to say, the Dane Street neighbors were not thrilled.
And there 's the problem. Mohs thinks the homeless are bad for his downtown neighborhood. But what neighborhood would feel differently?
That 's why we need more people talking, and more leadership on the issue.
Contact Susan Lampert Smith at ssmith@madison.com or 608-252-6121.
My response:
In reference to the article about homelessness, I just gotta get this off my chest! Simply, homelessness should be a crime. Why, you gasp? I am not talking about the temporary victims of house fire, flood, and other catastrophes. They have family, friends, insurance, motivation, etc. Help them. I am talking about the classic 'Hobo', the street beggar, the vagrant man or woman who clutter the cities, streets, eyes and if you get to close, the nose. I'm not a cruel man nor am I promoting cruelty. The better idea for homeless people in my kind opinion is to require them to get off the streets or out of the city, all cities. Jail won't get it, but handing a five dollar bill out the window on a street corner won't get it either. Stop the bleeding heart crap. Is it good for a person to get frost bite and lose body parts that turn black and slough off in the cold weather because of no safe place to sleep or hang out? Is it good for them to become silent victims of street crime or worse yet, be perpetrators of street crime? Duh, the answer to those questions is 'no'. Vagrancy used to be a crime. Return the law and enforce it. Oh, you say, what about the drug addict, the prostitute, the mentally ill. Arrest the first two and others like them. Snatch the ill off the street for their own good and place them in the long term care necessary to keep them safe. Bottom line is, all homeless people need help. Letting them do what they want, where they want is a subculture of anarchy and danger. Restore order in their lives and the streets. This is a traveling man's humble opinion. Thank you
I also responded to this. My response follows:
Lampert Smith: Let's talk about homeless issue
By SUSAN LAMPERT SMITH Wisconsin State Journal
Fred Mohs should win an award as Madison 's most politically incorrect curmudgeon.
But give him credit, he 's stirring the pot on an important Madison issue: What to do about the growing population of homeless people in Madison?
In case you 've been lounging on a tropical beach somewhere, here 's the latest tempest.
Mohs, who has lived downtown for 50 years and owns a lot of it, has grown weary of the homeless. In his view, they 've taken over the State Capitol basement and the downtown library, and some of their number have committed crimes ranging from last summer 's State Street murder to the burning of the St. Raphael Cathedral.
Last week, Mohs told the First United Methodist Church, located just down Wisconsin Avenue from his home, that if it continues to shelter the homeless, church members can forget about parking in his Manchester ramp.
The church responded that the poor are more important than parking.
"The bottom line is that this is a caring community, we do care about people here, it 's part of our culture, " said Madison attorney Bill White, a church member and spokesman.
While White may sound like he 's on the side of the angels, and Mohs, the devil 's advocate, they agree that the current situation of full shelters every night is a bad one.
"I 'm proposing that (Mohs) and I take our show on the road, " White said. "Why not use it to highlight the issue of homelessness in Madison? "
You can hear the next installment of their debate on this morning 's 10 a.m. edition of "Outside the Box with Mitch Henck " on WIBA-AM.
The main buzz on the issue is coming from private citizens rather than local government. Last month, a group called Welcome Home held a press conference to highlight the fact that it had tried to rent a South Side home for homeless men, but that they were evicted.
Organizer Kristen Petroshius rented the home, owned by Duane Steinhauer, under the pretense that she was living there alone, Steinhauer said. He was contacted by town of Madison building inspectors, who told him there were an illegal number of people living in the single family home. The inspectors had been contacted by police.
And who called the police? Steinhauer said the previously homeless tenants called the police themselves because they were fighting with each other.
(Petroshius later told Isthmus that the home was a "wet shelter " for people who had been drinking and thus couldn 't get into the regular shelters.)
Needless to say, the Dane Street neighbors were not thrilled.
And there 's the problem. Mohs thinks the homeless are bad for his downtown neighborhood. But what neighborhood would feel differently?
That 's why we need more people talking, and more leadership on the issue.
Contact Susan Lampert Smith at ssmith@madison.com or 608-252-6121.
My response:
In reference to the article about homelessness, I just gotta get this off my chest! Simply, homelessness should be a crime. Why, you gasp? I am not talking about the temporary victims of house fire, flood, and other catastrophes. They have family, friends, insurance, motivation, etc. Help them. I am talking about the classic 'Hobo', the street beggar, the vagrant man or woman who clutter the cities, streets, eyes and if you get to close, the nose. I'm not a cruel man nor am I promoting cruelty. The better idea for homeless people in my kind opinion is to require them to get off the streets or out of the city, all cities. Jail won't get it, but handing a five dollar bill out the window on a street corner won't get it either. Stop the bleeding heart crap. Is it good for a person to get frost bite and lose body parts that turn black and slough off in the cold weather because of no safe place to sleep or hang out? Is it good for them to become silent victims of street crime or worse yet, be perpetrators of street crime? Duh, the answer to those questions is 'no'. Vagrancy used to be a crime. Return the law and enforce it. Oh, you say, what about the drug addict, the prostitute, the mentally ill. Arrest the first two and others like them. Snatch the ill off the street for their own good and place them in the long term care necessary to keep them safe. Bottom line is, all homeless people need help. Letting them do what they want, where they want is a subculture of anarchy and danger. Restore order in their lives and the streets. This is a traveling man's humble opinion. Thank you
Wisconsin State Journal
Susan Lampert Smith reported on Dawkins in Madison, Wi and I replied to it, what do you think?
First, her report,
Lampert Smith: God is bogus, Dawkins dares to say
By SUSAN LAMPERT SMITH Wisconsin State Journal
Who knew an evolutionary biologist had rock-star drawing power?
OK, he 's not Hannah Montana, but evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins ' visit to the UW-Madison campus this week blew off the charts for a Distinguished Lecture series event.
All 1,300 free tickets to Dawkins ' Tuesday night speech on "The God Delusion " at the Union Theater were snapped up long before the event. You could see Dawkins ' fans begging for tickets on Craigslist, right between someone selling floor seats to see The Boss at the Bradley Center and someone wanting to buy Big Ten tourney tickets.
All this for an Oxford University professor whose previous titles included "The Extended Phenotype " and "The Selfish Gene "?
Sean Carroll, a UW-Madison geneticist who introduced Dawkins, said the response comes from two groups of students: biology majors, who have all likely read Dawkins ' books on evolutionary biology, and new fans who are cheering his hard line against the belief in God, "saying things that had not been said. "
Carroll is a bit of a rock star himself in the world of biology; he 's working on a two-hour "NOVA " special on Charles Darwin to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Darwin 's birth and the 150th anniversary of "The Origin of Species. " He was part of a discussion Tuesday afternoon between Dawkins and undergraduates who live in the Chadbourne Residential College.
"They were interested in The God Delusion, ' " Carroll said. "I think because it is a topic that has never before been presented to them as fair game for debate. "
Pratha Muthiah, a freshman engineering major, said she first saw Dawkins on "The Colbert Report, " where he debated the existence of God with comedian Stephen Colbert, who is either a Catholic or at least plays one on television.
She and her friends were intrigued, and went out to get Dawkins ' books. She said some of her fundamentalist Christian friends got tickets to Tuesday 's speech because "they want to hear what he has to say. "
They heard Dawkins quoting atheist slogans such as "blasphemy is a victimless crime " and saw him showing slides that labeled God as "an imaginary friend. "
In an interview before the talk, Dawkins said his six-campus tour has drawn "extremely enthusiastic audiences " and no protesters, despite the kind of anti-religion taunting that would result in a fatwa on his head in some places.
"It looks to me that people who go to lectures want to hear someone they agree with, " he said. "I 'm preaching to the choir, but I 'm encouraged by the size of the choir. "
Tuesday night 's choir gave Dawkins a standing ovation.
Contact Susan Lampert Smith at ssmith@madison.com or 608-252-6121.
My short response:
I'm from the KansasCity area and get into the Madison area about once or twice a week. I grabbed a paper and interestingly found your column. About God and Dawkins, be careful. Be very, very careful. If Dawkins is wrong, then a lot of people are applauding a lie. If there is no god, why are the 'atheists' so much about disproving him, even with silly slogans like "Blasphemy is a victimless crime"? If there is no god, he's safe. Leave us alone and let us worship. If there might be a god, then we should be vigilant as to his purpose and character. The thought that interests me the most is this, Almost all people believe and have always believed that God is a reality. That has been the thought and experience of billions of people for thousands of years. I personally believe the christian faith would prosper more if most christains would keep there lips together and sat on their hands. They seem to not speak with a lot of knowledge. Debates between 'atheists' and 'believers' are always entertaining and useless. My suggestion to all those who applaud any body of any faith or world view is to put that speaker's feet in the fire and test him or her as to their reliability of truth. Oh, yeah, I forgot. Most people no longer believe in absolute truth.
First, her report,
Lampert Smith: God is bogus, Dawkins dares to say
By SUSAN LAMPERT SMITH Wisconsin State Journal
Who knew an evolutionary biologist had rock-star drawing power?
OK, he 's not Hannah Montana, but evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins ' visit to the UW-Madison campus this week blew off the charts for a Distinguished Lecture series event.
All 1,300 free tickets to Dawkins ' Tuesday night speech on "The God Delusion " at the Union Theater were snapped up long before the event. You could see Dawkins ' fans begging for tickets on Craigslist, right between someone selling floor seats to see The Boss at the Bradley Center and someone wanting to buy Big Ten tourney tickets.
All this for an Oxford University professor whose previous titles included "The Extended Phenotype " and "The Selfish Gene "?
Sean Carroll, a UW-Madison geneticist who introduced Dawkins, said the response comes from two groups of students: biology majors, who have all likely read Dawkins ' books on evolutionary biology, and new fans who are cheering his hard line against the belief in God, "saying things that had not been said. "
Carroll is a bit of a rock star himself in the world of biology; he 's working on a two-hour "NOVA " special on Charles Darwin to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Darwin 's birth and the 150th anniversary of "The Origin of Species. " He was part of a discussion Tuesday afternoon between Dawkins and undergraduates who live in the Chadbourne Residential College.
"They were interested in The God Delusion, ' " Carroll said. "I think because it is a topic that has never before been presented to them as fair game for debate. "
Pratha Muthiah, a freshman engineering major, said she first saw Dawkins on "The Colbert Report, " where he debated the existence of God with comedian Stephen Colbert, who is either a Catholic or at least plays one on television.
She and her friends were intrigued, and went out to get Dawkins ' books. She said some of her fundamentalist Christian friends got tickets to Tuesday 's speech because "they want to hear what he has to say. "
They heard Dawkins quoting atheist slogans such as "blasphemy is a victimless crime " and saw him showing slides that labeled God as "an imaginary friend. "
In an interview before the talk, Dawkins said his six-campus tour has drawn "extremely enthusiastic audiences " and no protesters, despite the kind of anti-religion taunting that would result in a fatwa on his head in some places.
"It looks to me that people who go to lectures want to hear someone they agree with, " he said. "I 'm preaching to the choir, but I 'm encouraged by the size of the choir. "
Tuesday night 's choir gave Dawkins a standing ovation.
Contact Susan Lampert Smith at ssmith@madison.com or 608-252-6121.
My short response:
I'm from the KansasCity area and get into the Madison area about once or twice a week. I grabbed a paper and interestingly found your column. About God and Dawkins, be careful. Be very, very careful. If Dawkins is wrong, then a lot of people are applauding a lie. If there is no god, why are the 'atheists' so much about disproving him, even with silly slogans like "Blasphemy is a victimless crime"? If there is no god, he's safe. Leave us alone and let us worship. If there might be a god, then we should be vigilant as to his purpose and character. The thought that interests me the most is this, Almost all people believe and have always believed that God is a reality. That has been the thought and experience of billions of people for thousands of years. I personally believe the christian faith would prosper more if most christains would keep there lips together and sat on their hands. They seem to not speak with a lot of knowledge. Debates between 'atheists' and 'believers' are always entertaining and useless. My suggestion to all those who applaud any body of any faith or world view is to put that speaker's feet in the fire and test him or her as to their reliability of truth. Oh, yeah, I forgot. Most people no longer believe in absolute truth.
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