--WebTV-Mail-726401160-3914 Content-Type: Text/Plain; Charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit
Roni........I live next to a church and they are all real nice people.......UNTIL they attempt to legislate my life with their beliefs. Then its war. So it matters to me WHAT they believe in their service to their god. The evangelism that continually attacks the separation between religion and government that is dangerous to liberty has to be treated with hostility.
SNOWLEOPARD:
Let me quote a statement by Thomas Jefferson that is always taken out of
context because it is never quoted completely First though, so you dont
think the altar of god he refers to is the altar of your god, here' one
of my favorite gems:
"I concur with you strictly in your opinion of the comparative merits of atheism and demonism, and really see nothing but the latter in the being worshipped by many who think themselves Christians. Would not Society be better without Such religions? Is Atheism less pernicious than Demonism?" Jan,1789 letters
*************This is his best************** "They the clergy believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me: and enough, too, in their opinion." -Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush, Sept. 23, 1800 (right before his first term election)
Here is a couple more:
"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes. -Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.
And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors. -Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823
--WebTV-Mail-726401160-3914 Content-Disposition: Inline Content-Type: Message/RFC822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit Received: from mailsorter-101-2.bryant.webtv.net (209.240.198.96) by postoffice-151.iap.bryant.webtv.net; Thu, 20 May 1999 23:44:42 -0700 (PDT)
mailsorter-101-2.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/ms.graham.14Aug97) with ESMTP id XAA29541; Thu, 20 May 1999 23:44:41 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by maxwell.kumo.com (8.9.1/8.9.1) id AAA26363 for virus-outgoing; Fri, 21 May 1999 00:34:55 -0600Message-ID: <005201bea354$b80ea360$d39f0e3f@rchapman> From: "Rhonda Chapman" <spirit_tmp@email.msn.com> To: <virus@lucifer.com>
X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.5 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3Sender: owner-virus@lucifer.com
Thursday, May 20, 1999 5:36 AM "Rose" of Snow Leopard wrote:
>look at what you
>stand for. If you saw a person talking to another about a family crisis,
>and the listener says, “I will pray for you,” you’d call ‘em “sick”.
This is a very generalized statement, which is in no way representative of the vast majority of this list. I have numerous friends, acquaintances, and family members who are christians to varying degrees. I do not every condemn them for their religious beliefs. It would never enter my mind to do so. I would certainly never suggested that anyone was "sick", based upon any offer of support.
If anything, the reverse is often true. It is far more common that a non-christians is attacked, for not being christian, than the reverse. You appear to be doing so now and you are using an argument, which you have apparently devised within your own mind. You are taking a stance in which you position yourself as a "victim" of a judgment, which I have not witnessed. Your group continues to attack the other members of the list and assume that we are all out to belittle or "get" you. I am sorry to disappoint you. Although, I believe in no gods, I have nothing against anyone for doing so.
I am curious and have been for some time. Precisely what were your intentions in joining the Virus list? What were your intentions in writing this message? I do not need to know the answers to these questions. What I am suggesting is that you need to review your own motives. Just take a look inside your heart/soul; are you representing yourself with "christian charity"?
Roni
--WebTV-Mail-726401160-3914--