Rick Reuben wrote:
Can you name which Christian laws interfere with your life? I'm not trying to badger you. I just couldn't think of any. Maybe there's something obvious I'm missing.

Whoa: is that common courtesy I see?

You got laid, didn't you?

-r

The Code is Almighty wrote:

Marsupialized wrote:I would have never answered the door in the first place, I have had this exact thing happen...cops banging on the door. Happened at 9am about 2 weeks ago. I looked out the window, saw a cop and went back to bed. Nothing I wanna get involved with. I'll never know what they wanted. Fuck them. If it's serious enough they'll find me some other way where I can't get away or ignore them. Till then the cops can eat a dick if they think I am willingly going to open my door and speak to them, ever under any circumstances.

This scares the hell out of me.

See, to me it makes sense. I've had cops banging on my door at awful hours twice in the last 5 years. Once for the aforementioned "she says she was raped in your house" case, and once because they were looking for my son (former occupant, same name, numerous legal issues).

In both instances it had nothing to do with me; and considering the rather straight-laced way I live my life, it likely never will. If there's cops banging on my door at 2:00 AM they've either got the wrong guy or the wrong house. That's a guarantee.

Jeff wrote:See, to me it makes sense. I've had cops banging on my door at awful hours twice in the last 5 years. Once for the aforementioned "she says she was raped in your house" case, and once because they were looking for my son (former occupant, same name, numerous legal issues).

In both instances it had nothing to do with me; and considering the rather straight-laced way I live my life, it likely never will. If there's cops banging on my door at 2:00 AM they've either got the wrong guy or the wrong house. That's a guarantee.

Police are often called to make first notification in the event of a death. Maybe anticipating your reaction to that a little bit....it is certainly valid for you to want to be told of a loved one's death by someone other than the law, but there are in fact other reasons than suspicion or just fucking with you for them to come to your house in the middle of the night.

iembalm wrote:

Jeff wrote:See, to me it makes sense. I've had cops banging on my door at awful hours twice in the last 5 years. Once for the aforementioned "she says she was raped in your house" case, and once because they were looking for my son (former occupant, same name, numerous legal issues).

In both instances it had nothing to do with me; and considering the rather straight-laced way I live my life, it likely never will. If there's cops banging on my door at 2:00 AM they've either got the wrong guy or the wrong house. That's a guarantee.

Police are often called to make first notification in the event of a death. Maybe anticipating your reaction to that a little bit....it is certainly valid for you to want to be told of a loved one's death by someone other than the law, but there are in fact other reasons than suspicion or just fucking with you for them to come to your house in the middle of the night.

I know. I guess in my case I look back now and realize that I've always been very accommodating when it comes to the law. In the two instances cited above, I dutifully answered the door and pretty much did whatever they asked; be it agreeing to an impromptu one-man line-up or answering questions about my son. Similarly, when I was pulled over in my shitty car with my long hair and the cop wanted to have a look in the glove compartment and poke through my ashtray, I let him. "Why of course officer, I've got nothing to hide."

I simply assumed I had to do those things, or that it was at least in my best interest to do them. Watching those videos and hearing what people in this thread have to say, I realize that's not always the case. It's refreshing, and perhaps a bit of a corrective for someone like me.

The Code is Almighty wrote:

Marsupialized wrote:I would have never answered the door in the first place, I have had this exact thing happen...cops banging on the door. Happened at 9am about 2 weeks ago. I looked out the window, saw a cop and went back to bed. Nothing I wanna get involved with. I'll never know what they wanted. Fuck them. If it's serious enough they'll find me some other way where I can't get away or ignore them. Till then the cops can eat a dick if they think I am willingly going to open my door and speak to them, ever under any circumstances.

This scares the hell out of me.

Why?
I am 99.9% sure whatever it was it had nothing to do with me. I have never even been arrested, I am not in the system. I am not wanted for anything, have no tickets or warrants and my driver's license says I live in the suburbs. I have not done anything illegal. If they were looking for me specifically there's no way they could ever know I lived here. I get no mail here and all the bills are in my wife's name. Her pre marriage name. Whatever it was, it was some bullshit that had nothing to do with me at all.

Rick Reuben wrote:you're thinking "I despise these total strangers." Makes no sense. It's real bigoted.

Can you name which Christian laws interfere with your life? I'm not trying to badger you. I just couldn't think of any. Maybe there's something obvious I'm missing.

People can do whatever they want, when I say 'religious' people I mean outwardly religious people. Assholes who talk about their religion. Assholes who try and sell other people on their particular brand of religion. People with their nose up in the air for no other reason than they have decided to believe this one particular fairy tale. 'Well, my fairy tale is obviously the best one'
Nobody should talk about their religion to anyone else, ever, let alone try and sell it to someone else.

Children are not taught sex ed in any sort of logical way, thus fucking them and the entire society up. There are huge battles and fights over teaching children evolution and any other scientific facts these people feel does not jive with their fairy tales. There is no swearing on TV. There's no nudity on TV. Even late at night. Movies are edited and ruined, ART is chopped to bits and ruined. My gay friends can't get married. Religious propaganda is spewed out on the radio every second of every day scaring old and dumb people (which there are MANY) into thinking this stupid shit is important to them somehow, thus ignoring the real issues facing the country thus bringing progress to a standstill. The right for a woman to have an abortion is constantly at risk and threatened. Filmmakers and artists are in constant fear of offending these people. Album covers get changed, movies are refused ratings, songs get taken off CD's, scenes get taken out of movies, commercials are banned. On and on.

We will never progress as a species until this idea of an afterlife is gone.
We will never stop fighting each other until everyone agrees that this little time we each have on this planet is it, that's it. We are all just animals living on a rock, and when we die it just goes black and that's that.

The Code is Almighty wrote:

Marsupialized wrote:I would have never answered the door in the first place, I have had this exact thing happen...cops banging on the door. Happened at 9am about 2 weeks ago. I looked out the window, saw a cop and went back to bed. Nothing I wanna get involved with. I'll never know what they wanted. Fuck them. If it's serious enough they'll find me some other way where I can't get away or ignore them. Till then the cops can eat a dick if they think I am willingly going to open my door and speak to them, ever under any circumstances.

This scares the hell out of me.

Totally reasonable not to answer the door.

A few months ago, while living at andteater's, a cop came knocking at the door one afternoon. I opened the door before even thinking about it. The cop asked me the whereabouts of somebody I've never even heard of. I said, "I've never heard of that person." Then he asked me if I was the owner of the house. I said no. He said, "Who is the owner of the house?" I gave him Andy's name. He asked me again about the person I'd never heard of. Again, I told him that I'd never heard of that person. He asked me how long I've lived there. I said about a month or so. He asked me my name. I gave it to him, though he didn't write anything down. Then he asked me if I saw any suspicious-looking people around. WTF? It's Chicago and I'm a little paranoid, so I see suspicious-looking people pretty much everywhere, all day. But I told him no. Then the cop left, looking a little disappointed.

The odd thing about this exchange, for me, was that I felt (but resisted) a strong urge to lie to him at pretty much every juncture. Though the cop wasn't unpleasant or accusatory at all, I felt guilty of something. I felt like I was being interrogated. I felt a little bit of shame that I'd volunteered my friend's name so easily.

Next time, I won't answer the door either.

Rick Reuben wrote:

Marsupialized wrote:Nobody should talk about their religion to anyone else, ever, let alone try and sell it to someone else.

But you are allowed to sell atheism or opposition to religion, as loudly as you like?

Marsupialized wrote:Children are not taught sex ed in any sort of logical way

Parents can teach it. There is no religious law preventing it.

Marsupialized wrote:There are huge battles and fights over teaching children evolution and any other scientific facts

Parents can teach whatever they want and do. There is no religious law preventing it.

Marsupialized wrote:There is no swearing on TV. There's no nudity on TV. Even late at night. Movies are edited and ruined, ART is chopped to bits and ruined.

This is not the result of religious laws. This is the government and the marketers of media tending to their audience. Over-the-air pornography is opposed by those who are not religious, too.

My gay friends can't get married.

This is partly the result of morals preached by religions.

Marsupialized wrote:The right for a woman to have an abortion is constantly at risk and threatened.

But you're winning on that one. You've got to remember that you win battles against religion all the time.

Marsupialized wrote:Filmmakers and artists are in constant fear of offending these people. Album covers get changed, movies are refused ratings, songs get taken off CD's, scenes get taken out of movies, commercials are banned. On and on.

They're looking at their audience and selling to it. Nothing to do with religious laws here.

Marsupialized wrote: We are all just animals living on a rock, and when we die it just goes black and that's that.

What you are saying there is a religious belief. Obviously, you don't know what happens after death, so you are making a faith-based statement.

You are wrong that my version is a religious belief.
Things are born, they live and they die. We agree on that, correct?
You can see this in action. Buy a dog, don't feed it. It will drop dead one day and that's it. It's dead. No more alive.
Anything else, magic happy land in the sky, etc...
Everything else is obviously a construct of human beings and their imaginations.
Every other version of what happens when you die takes 'faith' and imagination and trust in other humans, that they have been imparted on some sort of magical otherworldly information somehow and hearing about it from this other human suddenly now you are in the know and oh what a great day it is.
My scenario is the default scenario. It's the scenario with every bit imagination and 'faith' taken out of the equation. I can watch something stop moving and making noise as it dies. Eventually it rots and then it's gone. POOF!
This takes no imagination or faith. I can watch this happen.
This is not 'religious' this is an observation. A clear headed observation with no 'religion' or 'faith' or whatsoever mixed in.
I am not scared shitless of dying, so I do not feel the need to create this grand false scheme of things in my head where my being alive on this Earth for however many years....me just one of billions upon trillions of life forms who have been slithered, walked, swam or flew around this floating rock....I don't feel the need to mentally inflate my importance in this grand scheme.
There's a man in the sky who cares whether or not I say, masturbate this morning? Or kill someone, or steal something or cheat on my wife? Or swear?
The idea about a 'soul' and 'heaven' and yadda yadda, that has nothing at all to do with physical fact and I am not interested in getting involved in it.



As for the laws, if they stop talking about it I will also stop. I will gladly make that deal.
Sex ed, parents can teach it yes but it will be in direct opposition to the screwy shit they put in their heads at school. Same with evolution.
They are not catering to the audience they are catering to review boards.
I am not talking about porn on TV I am talking about not bleeping the word 'fuck' on Gordon Ramsey at 10 at night. I am pretty fucking sure if you took a straight across the board vote 'do you think you can handle the words 'fuck' being said a few times on TV late at night?' I am pretty sure everyone would say 'uh, yeah'
2 seconds of Janet Jackson's nipple. What happened there? Who created that uproar? Nobody I know was offended. Yet this huge uproar that sends a message across the board to artists and companies. 'Be nerdy and do what we say or else it might cost you a LOT of money!'

Rick Reuben wrote:Would you at least agree that there are many good people in all religions, including Islam, and agree that making religious membership alone a reason to 'despise' someone is bad policy?

No, I woudn't. By averages I think it's a fine policy.

I want our species to stop fighting and progress. They are part of the problem, no matter how nice they are.