What I've read, and it was three years ago so I don't have a stinkin' link, was that it's the fundementalist faiths that are growing fastest. I also, read that building of mosques in the US is outstripping the building of churches.

Seems to me that in uncertain times, people prefer the guidance of clearly set rules instead of having to analzye everything for themselves. Is it thinking always or is it confusion sometimes?

I don't know, am I?

I am a bit curious. I don't understand exactly what it is that's "infiltrating". Do the gay people you know (if you know any) do things differently from everyone else? - Of course sex in the privacy of ones home is excluded. Don't gay people go to work, buy homes and cars, pay taxes etc. I just want to understand what identifies this "lifestyle" that is being force fed upon everyone.

As far as rights - yeah I think you are a bit off base there. The only right that gay people have that heterosexuals do not is the right to have their violent attackers also charged with a hate crime. That's not much of a right in my opinion.
What rights do they not have. Well they can not get married. If they are hospitalized and do not have the correct paperwork they can be denied access to a partner of countless years (because they can not be married). When they die (hopefully not unexpectedly) they hope to have enough protection in wills and other legal documents that they only have to pay excessive taxes on all that one partner leaves to the other. Oh and they can still be fired in many states just because they are gay. I think those example alone are enough to show that gays have significantly less rights than the average Joe.

As far as being in the Church if the church does not want them there they will not be there.

Is homosexuality a sin? I guess it depends on which set of superstitions you subscribe to. :shrug:

Is that much different from "Times are uncertain, so I prefer to be told what to do, instead of figuring it out for myself"? ;)

And again, not to be too pedantic, particularly as we applying terms like liberal/conservative [which we have enough trouble achieving definitional consensus on in the political realm] to the entirety of religiosity, . . .
But I take issue with the dichomoty you present.

Having grown up in a church that has liberalized as radically as any out there, I've seen a transformation from;

preferring full and animated exposition of all aspects and stories of the bible, drawing inferences from disparate parts of the text to illimunate the interplay between faith, agency, adherence, parables, wrath, joy, fidelity. Almost Jewish in the way that the stories of the Bible/Torah live with you and inform day to day decisions.

to;

"Isn't God great, and isn't it great to get together today and think about how great God is? You know, God's real cool. . . blah, blah, blah, Personal journey, . . . blah, blah. . . dictates of your own personal truth . . . blah, blah, God is awesome."

Duhhh.

Do you have 50 cent?

I need to buy a cup of coffe with all of your smarts man. I be too dum to work, I need yo help.


Is it o.k. if I breed? I be to dumn fo dat. Yus betta come and fix me sos dat I caint do dat no mo.

Please don'ts owtlaws my breed o humankind, causin dats not fayer.

Yous so smart dat you have all da ansas fo my ignoant ass, please tell me wats Im supoosse to do,

do you have it figured out!

Something is just not right with this sentence.

So sayeth the Lord Dave, or was it Josephus?

I'm just speculating on why fundamentalist faiths seem to be growing the fastest in what is generally considered to be a secular era.

To be honest with you I don't think the average person has the same reasoning powers person-to-person.

That being said, is there really anything wrong with that?
I don't think so.

If one finds a faith ( or any philosophy ) that provides him a clearer path over others, then if that works then fine. If another doesn't...that's fine too. I do think overall, we all can't figure everything out on our own...so borrow from each other. We can always reject what doesn't seem to work. Then people can fall into the trap of being self-serving only.

BabyLee, I didn't really understand your post?

If fact, the Bible says as much.

"No one is righteous, no not one."

"For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God."

Which one?

Does anyone know what 'proscribed' means?

Like I said it is a church problem.

Do I know any gay people? Hell I have probably hired more gay people than anybody else here at chiefsplanet including the gays. 18 years in the health club industry will do that. Living in California? Come on.

Infiltrating. If you got voted into the position to act in the best interest of the church knowing you were going to pull this that would be the case. A lot of people donate serious money so the church can do good things for people. If she knew her position and didn't let people know that before voting her in on an issue that big it is deception and infiltration. It's not like this is anything new.

My point was hate crime. There are also insurance issues on both sides but that is a whole subject unto itself. I believe they should have the same rights as everyone. I believe marriage should be made a union but a union should not necessarily be considered a marriage if that makes any sense.

Hamas and people like him are the essence of the problem IMO. There is a big difference between tolerance and acceptance. Tolerance is a just a word he uses as a dagger to go after others when in reality he has no more tolerance than anyone he criticizes. It's a real groovy word to use when it fits your agenda. Denise was the master of that.

Wow! That was fast, I hadn't finished editing.

#110.

I just want to put my deacon in your steeple baby.