Lars

Both those are beautiful, @unseen.  And I read your ghoulish lullaby to my wife last night, she of the horror genre film adherents, and she loved it!

@simonpaynton So the stick is more potent than the carrot.  If you’re a donkey. No big surprise then.  Moral:- don’t be a donkey.

I think the fear of death can only be properly approached by those not deluded in a joyous afterlife reuniting with loved ones. It is false comfort. It keeps you from facing the loss of your loved ones with a fake crutch that you’ll see them again. It shifts the need to remember, celebrate and pass on your lost one’s values and memories in this…[Read more]

@unseen That ‘fear of death’ is probably the most duplicitous in terms of the religious solution. When something scares you, you can either come to terms with it, or believe a pretty fairy tale.  The problem with the pretty fairy tale, is that it doesn’t enable the believer to actually come to terms with their fear, and move forward ac…[Read more]

Two horrid problems you are the victim of. Many Christians and even barely-religious people think that it is they who are being opessed. They simply don’t believe that non-christian bullying exists. That if it does it is very isolated and exceptional. But it does and clearly you are suffering greatly for it. You need to be vocal about this. The…[Read more]

@unseen, thanks for capturing my point so succinctly.

Years ago, I used to be quite a popular beta-tester on various computer programs. The idea was that you’d try to crash or otherwise break the new program. I beta-tested for the early google site.  Programmers love good beta testers as it enables them to fine tune their work.

The same applies to new scientific theories. The proponents of the th…[Read more]

@Daniel

There is nothing about the United States that makes the current direction of US politics a permanent one. The overwhelming majority of the facets of American life is identical to other western countries. It’s the irrational and sometimes cold/cruel peculiarities that always stick out. Perhaps the future will see a kinder approach to s…[Read more]

@Daniel

The point of that comment had little to do with trashing the USA but instead to lampoon “cultural relativism”. Relativists claim that other worldly practices are beyond the sphere of our moral judgement as they live in their own subjective context and we have no right to apply our own moral compass onto them.

In cases like this, hard…[Read more]

@Pope

I suppose an American can make that assessment. But the rest of us…we cannot judge American culture. It has emerged from a different and beautiful culture where the people and how they express themselves is to be heard and seen…not judged. It is arrogant to think that people from social-assistance countries should have the right to look…[Read more]