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#31
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Re: Christmas and Schools
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Perhaps I'm forgetting about some enormous movement toward Christian persecution in the history of the United States that parallels the real religious persecution that history has shown to have occurred around the world -- The Holocaust, The Crusades, The Witch Trials, or maybe The Boxer Rebellion. Nothing you have experienced is comparable to the scale of tyranny that a single religion, when given preference by the state, can bring forth unto other faiths. You're a member of the majority class and, as such, do not know oppression. Oppression is nothing more than theory to you, and you wield that theory dangerously and without regard for the consequences. It's fun to pretend that Christianity is on a level playing with all other faiths, or even that the balance of power has tipped away from its favor, by both those ideas are quite false. This is way off topic now and I don't believe I have much left to say on this subject. History is clear enough about the things that have happened regarding religion and government, so the best I can hope to do is illustrate those facts. I'm not going to bother trying to make anyone believe in them. Last edited by Madison : 27-12-2003 at 11:35. Reason: addition. |
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#32
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Re: Christmas and Schools
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#33
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And persecution is what the person chooses. Yes it is not fair but they choose to beleive in a God so strongly that they are willing to die for it. But then again you wouldn't understand being an athiest or agnostic... |
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#34
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Being an atheist, I can't imagine the woes and pains of a Christian in modern American society. |
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#35
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Re: Christmas and Schools
Some examples?
Sure lets see being shunned, grouped, fights, vandalism.... yeah not as extreme as being shot but then again we are america, land of the free, except for those who are different |
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#36
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Re: Christmas and Schools
Black, I believe Foto was referring to specific examples of "being shunned, grouped, fights, vandalism" etc., as you did say you were subject to it. Also, don't you think it's a tad ignorant to say that atheists and agnostics would not understand being willing to die for a god, as you are neither of the two?
I think every faith--and also athiests--have to take a lot of crap from others, but that's diffucult to quantify, so how about let's not go saying that one particular faith has it the worst. In the United States, it is clear at this moment that neither Christians nor atheists have it nearly as bad as those that belong to some other faiths. Back to the matter at hand, would this imposition of Christmas not qualify as the exact opposite of the argument that Christians are persecuted more than others? I think it's so entrenched today that it's taken for granted. What about Easter? |
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#37
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Re: Christmas and Schools
Ive been a born again, bible believing christain for 16 years now, and I have experienced hostility and rejection repeatedly because of this.
Many people in our society think that someone who believes in that 'Jesus nonsense' must be stupid, deluding themselves, or a former drug addict or alcoholic - because from their perspective no rational person would belive in 'religion over science' if you dont think that affects your life on every level, you should try it sometime and see. Jesus said His followers would be persecuted the same way He was - look what they did to Him. The more seriously you take your belief in God, the more people will reject you for it. |
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#38
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#39
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Ken, I think that the more someone believes or does not believes in something, the more they'll be criticized for it if it's not widely accepted with everyone. This would include being religious or not being religious. It depends a lot on where you live and the overall community. I could imagine a lot of deep South communities being heavily Christian while some place like Ithaca is not. |
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#40
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Re: Christmas and Schools
Yan, you stated places about the deep South.
Yes, oh the lovely Bible Belt. I live in the Bible Belt, but yes things have changed greatly since I was a young even. I live in a place where the Christians often belittle those not of that faith. But the world is becoming more and more politically correct. Things are losing their spirit. We live in a world where people sue each other just for looking at someone the wrong way and calling it slander yet you can't sue them for forcing you to the point of being uncomfortable just because you dont believe in Jesus. Here in the south, public schools still aren't seperated from religion. Proof in point: my school's Bible class. It was 'intended' to be about the Bible being literature when it turned out to be taught by a local minister. It is now just a 'bible study' course instead of what it was intended to be. Easter break got changed to Spring Break and then they moved it away from the weekend of Easter, at least in the surrounding counties here. It got moved to the end of the third quarter. Except on the Easter Weekend we get a 'spring holiday' and Friday before Easter and the Monday after Easter. Christmas Break use to extend for the full 12 days of christmas and almost always all the days of Chanukah. Then politically correct school board members came and made the break winter break. Now the dates in the past have no longer accommodated those not Christian. *Yes I am aware that Chanukah has been rather really early in the past few years but those still use to be* Winter break happens now at the end of the second quarter. And now I to actually continue to what this thread is truly about. Religion and major holiday school breaks. As long as there are strongly religious people in charge of school boards our breaks are going to aid those religions, at least here in the Bible Belt. |
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#41
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Re: Christmas and Schools
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Last edited by gsensel : 27-12-2003 at 23:03. |
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#42
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#43
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#44
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Re: Christmas and Schools
I just got back from my vacation, so I appologize if you're one of those purists who feel I'm bringing the topic back from the dead...
anyways, I'm not going to start one of my usual flaming-liberal rants that has that awful tendency to get threads locked, but I do want to say (yes, kinda off-topic, but interesting nevertheless) that the reach of Christianity and Westernism in general is far greater than many of us realize... I just spent about two weeks taking a tour in Southeast Asia (Bali, Indonesia > Singapore > Bangkok, Thailand > Hong Kong). From what I saw, the West really does influence a lot more than we realize. Singapore's population, for example, is predominately Buddhist (something close to 50%). No other religion makes up more than about 15-20%. Yet, when we visited a Hindu temple, there was a giant banner on the entrance wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. The Hindu temple had a banner wishing a Merry Christmas. The picture is attached at the end of this post. A similar thing was encountered in Bali (Indonesia). Almost everywhere we went, there were banners wishing everyone a Merry Christmas even though something like 95% of the island is Hindu. Even the airport had such banners. Just goes to show you the influence of the West, Western culture, and the dependancy of other countries on the West (i.e. tourism). |
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