PixlBit

I am formulating a response to this, but I'd prefer to read it first, and it's got some formatting problems. 

I look forward to it.

I love arguing, but have little desire to at the moment.

Why is that?

It can be very difficult to argue about religion, especially since a major part of it is faith, blind trust.

I understand that. A lot of this was me venting, but I do understand needing to believe in something. My main issue is the way it's represented and handled today.

Plus, Christianity is such a large umbrella.  There are the core beliefs that make you a christian, and then from there it splits into all of the different denominations.  

But seriously, no pokemon...  what is wrong with this world? 

In my case, I was born and raised a Hindu but I honestly don't believe in the stories. I consider myself (depending on my mood) an agnostic or a devout member of the Holy Church of Chuck Norris, peace be upon him, (no offense to any Muslims here). In all seriousness, I don't actively practice any religion, and the only times I go to the temple are when my parents make me, but it's hard to overlook the positive effects of religion in the old world that pretty much shaped how we live today.

For instance, despite what you might think, the religion of Islam actively encouraged the spread of learning and knowledge. One of it's requirements was that all people who practiced the religion must be literate in order to read and understand the Qur'an. Because of this, there were many ancient scientific advancements in the Middle Ages that were all done in the name of Islam. Other religions like Buddhism in India and China also were influential because they outlined specific teachings that influenced the behaviors and actions of many different people and encouraged peace and understanding.

When speaking specifically about Christianity though, the religion sort of had a bad rep of discouraging madeical advances and claiming that "It is that way because God meant it to be! The only way to cure the bubonic plague is to repent your sins, blah blah blah!" which we all know is complete BS these days. So history class was actually useful!

I didn't mention other religions specifically because I know nothing about them. I know christianity, and it annoys me. Full stop. Religion can be great and change people for the better, but it also tends to have the exact opposite effect on a lot of people too.

Curious as to what caused this sudden rant? Was there a specific event that occured that elicited this response? The gays in my Animal Crossing town need salvation. You are more than welcome to visit my town and convert them. LOL! Party Animals! It probably won't work, as they are way to busy partying and looking fabulous!!!

I went home and endured a couple of days with my dad, and needed to vent a little. Also, I got a couple of messages about the christian jokes, and they frustrated me, because christians take themselves so fucking seriously.

Don't even get me started whatsacow. Did your dad cut out all the sugar and sweets because it was evil? I was raised Catholic, but I no longer practice religion, you know because of books and science? I remember many years ago I was looking for a church and when I came across one that I liked, I went in and asked the priest where the alter to the Virgin Marry was so I could off a prayer, and the priest looked at me like I was insane? He was like this is a "Christian Church" we don't worship saints or whatever. Like fuck me right? He was so smug and disgusted like get the fuck out of my church you filthy Catholic. I was just a kid too. Fuck'n A-hole!

 He wasn't that bad when I went back. He just kept trying to convert me, and get me to leave college all the time. I was respectful to the point where he told me that pursuing an education was pointless because the end was coming and I just fucking lost it. When I lived with him it was a different story. I wasn't allowed to hang out with my friends from school because they were bad association because they weren't christians. They wanted to stop me from finishing high school because apparently they would corrupt me and turn me against god. I wasn't allowed to watch harry potter, because it was made by demons. 

 That and the people are so judging! I mean you'd think they'd want to help a kid when he fucks up and is doing stupid things, but no, they want to avoid him so no one else i corrupted. They're so fucking backwards it just makes me sick. I remember being flogged because my nan bought me a christmas present and I didn't turn it away. I wasn't even allowed to visit my mum half the time because she wasn't a witness. He tried to stop me from visiting my nan - who I'd lived with for 10 years might I add. I mean fuck him.

Wow, you were a Jehovah's Witness?

I found it droll once when I commented on Bryce Harper being ejected from a baseball game. He being a devout Mormon, I found it strange that anything he would say would get him in trouble since devout Mormons refuse to use profanity. Then I mentioned I was an atheist and all hell broke loose. These Christians seem to be ready to defend their religion online at popular sites like YouTube and ESPN/CNNSI. The first guy, at least, was clearly a Pentecostal. I didn't bother with the others. It no longer became about baseball.

It's very prevalent in the U.S. Even in 2080, the U.S. is still a God-fearing nation in the world of Sega's Binary Domain and I'd wager to guess if I live to be 109, somebody will say that on T.V. If you want to believe in religion, fine. Don't push it on me, though.

I wonder if Jehovah Witnesses would want to join my group, the Content Atheists. It would be funny to see me talking in their ear as they go door-to-door but it wouldn't work. I'm not a de-programmer.

That's exactly it! That's my problem with religion. Practise it all you want but leave other people out of it. They have a right to not give a flying fuck. I don't think it should be taught in schools though, because no other religion is. 

 I mean I understand religious people being defensive on the internet though. Dude... they cop some serious shit lol.

 Although simply saying you're an atheist or a christian should not be reason for an all out war IMO.

Well first off let me say yea im a christian with that said im non denomination and my Wife is from a family of Jehovah Witness and really the only thing i disagree with is whether Jesus was actually the son of God or if God is Jesus in human form and i beleive God is Jesus to whete my inlaws beleive hes the actual son of god but really enlight of that im very opened minded.

 Yeah. I have no problem with you being religious. If it makes you happy, who am I to take it away from you. Hell, you might be right and I might be wrong. I have no idea. I just don't like it being shoved down my throat is all... so I kind of vented a bit.

I agree no one should make you beleive in anything if you choose not to but then again i say im christian but im not a very good one lol!! I just try to live right and i do hope theres a god when i go and if not what have i got to loose right.

Hey and for the record they call the bible the living bible cause its different for everyone and me being a christian doesnt make me right and you wrong when it comes to the bible you take what you get out of it for your life and beliefs and i for one will never tell you what to beleive nor will i think less of you for what you beleive were all brothers and thats all that matters 

I believe the bible has some good lessons in it, I truly do. I also believe it's a product of it's era, and there are some things in that book we should take with a grain of salt. But you're right. It is a book that has positively affected so many people that it deserves the recognition and praise it gets.

I'm a christan but haven't gone to church regularly since i was 12ish, my dads family where brought up catholic but my grandad didn't go to church. In our family in general the institution of the church is a very deeply opposed concensus not to trust (try being a young black boy in the 70s and getting the small presents at the top of the tree and that will do something to you).

I grew up with my religion not being central to my life so an kind of Zelous religios antics astounds me or makes me feel uncomfortable to some degree, i guess it's just it's 'cause i'm an introvert at heart

Anyway, it's funny just how much the Bible itself gets away with beyond the sexism racism and Incest (in most versions that's a "read between the lines" situation), but as i got older i started not holding christianity to all it' flaws because every other religion is just as bad once i realised that with help from people who knew better I can't help but laugh.

It's small things really that can stop religion bieng viable, like what you eat. Chris Rock said it best

"I refuse to believe on Judgement day my diets going to come into question"

As for all the conflict religion has caused? Well, it's sad to say but i'd rather it be for religious reasons because then we'd have to conceed the human race is pretty hopeless. Because then we'd all have to admit that we like killing each other for no other reason.

Anyway, nice to gaze into the life and times of whatsacow 

War for religious reasons is fucking atrocious. "They believe something different to me!" is not an excuse to kill someone, and it goes against EVERYTHING the bible stands for. These fucking morons make me sick.

Anyway, that Chris Rock line is brilliant.

I agree with you it says thou shall not kill as one of the 10 commandments i have to beleive theres no exceptions but killing for any reason is wrong unless someone is going to hurt you or your family then i think god may be lenient but i could be wrong.

Yep. This is the best article ever for this bit. Was written just after 9/11

http://www.theonion.com/articles/god-angrily-clarifies-dont-kill-rule,222/

This is one of those very touchy subjects that seem to be quite hard to discuss without offending someone. I think it's hard for some people to discuss something reasonably that sits very close to their heart/their core belief structure.

I grew up Catholic, went to church every Sunday, and I was even an altar boy along with my brother for a couple years. Not sure if I chose to do the altar boy gig because I was really religious or because I found it slightly more tolerable/engaging than just sitting there idly for more than an hour every week.

Anyhow, as I went into High School and started critically thinking about some of the stuff that was taught, I really started to question my belief structure and what was important in life. By the time I hit college, I had completely walked away from Catholicism. There was too much dissonance in there, too much that didn't mesh up logically. How can God be all-loving but condemn certain groups of people that he supposedly created in his image? Something about that just didn't make too much sense to me.

My then girlfriend, now wife, Chessa, also felt very similarly. Needless to say, we haven't baptized either of our children and believe me when I say that caused quite the commotion in both of our families. We've calmly explained our viewpoints and why we perceive it to be damaging to the development of our children. We both have a strong moral compass and would rather use that to direct our children than the vague (mis)interpretation of the Bible used by many priests and other holy folk that govern the church.

Of course, after our systemic rejection of every possible point they could come up with to convince us to raise our children in the church, they laid down the original sin line. As horrible as I think religion can be at times, I don't think there's much worse than the concept of original sin. If such a thing as heaven or hell exists, I can't imagine that one of my boys would be condemned to it for simply not being baptized. The fearmongering that backs that thought is horrendous. Babies are helpless and harmless. To argue that the ones that are taken prematurely are sent to hell for not being baptized is beyond awful.

In any event, we eventually got over the hurdle with our families, but it's still a sore spot when it does come up. While I'm pretty firmly in the atheist category, Chessa is more of an agnostic. I think if we dissipate all of the noise around the bible and take a look at the core teachings of Jesus, whether he be man or god, we're left with something valuable.

He preached love for your fellow man and taking care of those around you. That's some righteous stuff and something I can definitely get behind. Sometimes I find it sad that so much hatred and negativity accompanies Christianity. I think there's something valuable buried within it, but it's been polluted by a lot of garbage and sensationalism over the years.

 The original sin thing is mentioned here. It's a harsh joke, and it even makes me cringe no matter how many times I watch it, but it gets the point across really well. Babies shouldn't be baptised, because they are far too young to make up their minds. That's one thing I think Jehovah's witnesses get right, they don't allow baptism until you're like 18, so you can properly make up your mind.

 Now, I can absolutely get behind a lot of the bibles teachings. I mean there are some great guidelines in that book that really work well today. However, I do think that we should be able to question what we are taught, and that religion should be able to evolve and adapt. We should say "That rule seems archaic, let's take the general principle behind that rule and morph it so it's more up to date." I'd be fine with religion then, I think. It's the fact that nothing can ever change because apparently that's disrespectful. Change and intelligent thought is apparently offensive to the most intelligent being in the universe, who also happened to change everything. Right.

 I can definitely relate to your thought process, though I think I was a little more sheltered, as I honestly still believed some of it even while I was doubting it. It wasn't until I left home because dad wouldn't let me go to college even if I paid for it that I actually started to really stop believing. I mean that was hard too, because it's so engrained into you. I mean they had me giving talks at the kingdom hall, and preaching to people, so I was fully invested in this religion. I can understand it being so close to people's hearts, because it can effect them so deeply and offer them hope. However, it should not, under any circumstance be forced onto other people. Talk to them about it sure, just let them make their own mind up.

 In the long run though, I don't think either of us can blame our parents. I know my dad does it because he honestly believes that I'll die and he'll never see me again if I don't return. If I believed that, you bet your ass I'd try to convince my son or daughter to become a witness.

Everytime someone says "thank god" I say "you're welcome" lol, or "oh god" with a "what?" reply, and "god dammit" with a "what, I didn't do anything".

God, that's a great comment :)

You're welcome hahahahahahahahahahahaha.

I stay away from churches. I have a fear of bursting into flames at the door. Also I follow the left hand path.

They had to take atheist sensors out of churches as it was deemed a fire hazard. You should be fine now.

Funny. I said this to a girl once, super jesusy, and a fight ensued. I did not win that fight. She was defending the church from people like me, LOL!

Humans have the capability of civilaty and kindness without the fear of burning for eternity like oginazined religion would like people to believe.

I was raised southern Baptist.  Although I had my doubts earlier, it wasn’t until college that I would even admit to myself that I thought it was all bullshit.  It’s kind of tough to admit that something you believed for most of your life just makes no sense whatsoever.  I now call myself an atheist, but I guess I’m really an agnostic who just heavily leans towards there being no god.

Living in the south (of the united states), it can be kind of tough being an atheist.  Pretty much everyone assumes everyone else is a god-fearing Christian and to not a cause a scene I typically just play along unless I know the person well.  At my work someone always gives a prayer prior to any type of food gathering we do. 

I do find religion fascinating though. It’s just amazing to me that such a large percentage of the world’s population has complete faith in something that seems so absolutely ridiculous to those that don’t believe.  And the fact that there are (and have been) so many different religions, all whose followers are so certain that their religion is the correct one.  It’s funny to me to hear a Christian talk about how crazy something like Scientology is.  Yes, it’s nuts, but take a look at what you believe!  I took a couple classes on world religions when I was in college and have read the bible in its entirety twice.  Just yesterday I received an English-language quran from amazon.com that I plan on reading soon.

Yeah I'm glad I don't live in Southern America. I hate country music, I'm an atheist, and I think NASCAR is the most boring "sport" on the face of this earth. I can't imagine you're predicament lol!

 But yeah, I think even Atheists should read the bible. If you don't, you have no idea what you disagree with, and you're the idiot then.

I was a Catholic, then the Red Sox won a World Series in 2004, and I just said to myself, "there's no fucking God" and started wearing their tee shirts. There's really no more context to the story.

I'm raising my kids Catholic though, the little fuckers walking around today have no discipline.

I am a part-German agnostic-atheist with a Catholic upbringing named Joseph S. and I demand some fucking discipline!

Lol. I believe you can discipline kids without religion, and bring them up well. 

From what I've read, you don't have a problem with Christianity, you have a problem with religious people, that happen to be Christians.  No matter what religion (even atheist), you're going to come across people that want you to join them and they go about doing it in a bad way.  I advise not to take it personal.  They don't know any better.  Religion is a personal & growing process and people, in general, are impatient.  Most religious people don't take the time to discuss religion in a mature and respectful way.  They're too busy being "right" and trying to convert you, so they can tell their church  or whoever what they did.  If you disagree with them, they will sometimes take offence and become assholes (making their contradictions more obvious).  It's not the religion, it's the people.  

The best thing to do is be respectful when discussing religion with people.  If you or they can't do it, then don't discuss it with them.  It's a touchy subject.  If I ever want to piss anyone off, religion is one of the topics I know I can do it.  2nd is politics.  

Pretty much. I have a problem with some of the teachings, but it's more how they're used by people than the actual teachings themselves.

It's pretty clear Jugs why your avatar is Itachi!

wow, that should have said 'jgusw', didn't mean to make you sound like a pair of boobs!

LOL! 

I'm a pagan. And a non-denominational pagan, at that. Imagine the shit I have to put with, lol. My best friend from college went the "born-again" route and has gone completely off the deep end. I severed ties when she felt the need to chastise me over my lack of Christian faith. One of my other good friends is a Baptist who has never felt the need to push his belief onto me. We've had some great debates and discussions and have come to the agreement that although we don't agree on the path or the form of our final destination, the end result is the same: live a good life, be kind to others, and follow some sort of code of ethics.

What do you believe Tami? I imagine that would be quite interesting :)

 I know some great people who happen to be Christians, and that's the point. These are normal people who happen to believe in god. They don't feel like everyone should be a Christian, and nor should they. No one has the right to impose their beliefs on anyone. They can discuss it all they want, but forcing it on people is terrible.

 Still, the shit I got for being "The Wrong Type Of Christian" makes me really empathise with you for not being christian at all.

My beliefs are nature-based, for the most part. Everything is inter-connected. All living things have an essence, some places have one, too. We all have power and abilities, if we choose to use them. I also believe in karma and reincarnation. I have an interest in Buddhism, as well, but I'm not enough of a believer to become a Buddhist, can't give up my omniverous ways, nor am I going to allow mozzies to bite me without slapping them flat, or ants to get into my sugar bowl without spraying them with soapy water. That's kind of a general overview, more or less.

Fair enough. That makes sense to me, more sense than an omniscient being anyway. I kind of wish we could have just been here forever, and had no reason to look for a beginning.

I'm pretty happy with looking to science to explain where we came from. 

In all seriousness, I understand where you're coming from, mostly cause my Freshman year of college I was "that" atheist guy, and while some conversations called for it, sometimes I was just being a dick with no real provocation from people in the room.

When I say something like "could have done without the Christian bashing" on one of your blogs, it's cause I find it a bit irrelevant to the blog's topic, and see it as unnecessary. If you talk about things like homophobia or anti-scientific thought, then I'm on your side, but those are specific things not all Christians are on the wrong side of, and in that case, there'd be more context. 

If you want to see what a giant hypocrite I'm being right now, go to my 1up or Google Blogger accounts and read my 08/09 posts. I did a lot of my own out of place bashing. 

I look forward to discussing this more if you want, I realize I'm being a bit vague, that's for brevity's sake. I deleted a much longer comment earlier.

Yeah I know. A lot of the time it's a stupid joke that is specifically designed to get a reaction, as my sense of humour can be quite offensive at times. I probably shouldn't use it as much, but people seem to like the whole angry ranting thing other wise they wouldn't read my blogs. I know I should tone back a bit at times though.

 I'm really not against religious teachings though, more people who warp and twist those teachings to become more insidious, or people who use that religion as a protective barrier so people can't touch them.

Hey, high five! I was raised Jehovah's Witness since I was born. My mother is still devout, and actually turned her back on her Catholic faith at the age of 9 to study on her own. She's 70 now, and I see the glow it gives her, and how active it keeps her mind. She looks and talks like a woman 20 years younger.

For myself, I'm torn. The way I was raised definitely helped me to be a good person. I'm honest, I follow the law and rules in general (my ex girlfriend laughs at me when I yell at her for running red lights), and I try to live my life the way my parents taught me.

But I don't study anymore, and I don't attend meetings. Why? I'm lazy. We also stopped attending for a good 5 years when I was a kid, and as such the message never took hold in me like it did for others. But my parents were strict on the whole "don't associate with worldly people" thing, so even though I had lots of friends at school, they weren't allowed to come over, and I wasn't allowed to go to their homes. Problem was, I didn't have any friends that were Witnesses, so I kept to myself.

In the long run, I think that's stunted my social growth. I have very few friends, because even as I got older and had people at work that wanted me to hang out with them, I would decline because I was under my mother's roof and abided by her rules. Now I'm 33, and I can count my close friends on one hand, and the closest of them just moved away, so I feel very lonely.

I can understand your frustration. For my part, I believe that the way Jehovah's Witnesses do things is great, and much more inviting than other Christian religions I've encountered. But you have to be committed to it, and if you're not, it can make things difficult on a kid.

I could hug you right now. In a totally manly and not weird way.

 Wow. Small world lol. I think I was in the same boat, as not many other witnesses were similar to me so like you, I kept to myself. I developed a few friends, but none of them were my age. They were all either older or younger than me. That said, the routine of studying, writing and deliviering talks and preaching made me better equipped academically.

They do a lot right, but I think they do a LOT wrong as well. For instance, they seem very quick to judge and isolate. They don't seem to want to help you unless it's convenient for them, and if you have a mental disability, or you're a bit quirky, they don't want anything to do with you. If you want to be an individual, they don't want anything to do with you. And that's part of the reason I felt so frustrated with it, and all of christianity I guess. It's not so much the teachings, but the way people twist those teachings to suit them, their prejudices and their desires, and I just can't stand that. I honestly think my fathers insane dedication really turned me off religion for life.

 Still, it's great to meet someone who comes from a similar background to me!

Yeah, to be honest when you wrote about your dad I was shocked. Pokemon is so family friendly. I can get the Harry Potter stuff, what with the black magic. Some parents I know were way overboard on that stuff. I had a friend who wasn't allowed to play Super Mario Bros. because the manual says that Bowser is a sorcerer.

But at least on the media side, my mom trusted me to seperate fantasy from reality. I was buying M rated games from 16 on, and I was going to see rated R movies from 18 on. I'm happy that she lets me be, although there are times when there's friction. I went to Vegas with a platonic lady friend last summer, and my mom got on my case for sharing a room with a woman, even though we were in seperate beds.

But that may be a product of her being 70, also. :P

Oh yeah. The pokemon thing was so retarded. As is their policy on music. They got up me for listening to Nirvana. They're like "do you know what the name means?" I'm like "Yeah, fucking happiness. You know that thing God supposedly wants you to have, asshat?"

 In our family, no matter what age you were you weren't allowed to watch anything over an M rating. Also, they were massive hypocrites, because we were allowed to watch all the Shrek movies, but not Lord of the Rings. Idiots.

  Yeah, my dad freaked out when I had a girlfriend in high school, and then he freaked out again when I said I was staying over at a girls place, who was also a witness, and we were sleeping in different rooms. I'm like for fuck's sake you people are retarded. Well, no, most of them are pretty decent people. It's just some who are idiots.

To be fair my man, I ve never met another human being (myslef included) who isn't a hypocrit. You seem to get a tough time of it at home, despite that you know we both see this subjects from rather different angles I actually agree with more than one of your points. People who say we have it worse now (in terms of violence etc) really don't appreciate how barbaric we were as a society a few hundred/ thousand years ago. Sure nasty things happen now just as they did back then but on the whole the world seems a generally more civilised place with more 'equal rights' for sexes, ages and creeds. I also see you point on 'loving God' but I see that in a slightly different way to what you auggest here; my interpretation is that we (humans) are infallible and by placing all our faith/ love into another human is foolish as at some point they will let you down/ break their promises etc. Thats not to say not to feel true love for another person, infact that is what being human is all about, but I quite like Dante's depiction of the lovers level in 'Hell' where they are forever swirling about close to each other but never able to touch (just so you know I don'e believe there is actually a 'tornado lovers level in Hell, I just like the analogy it offers). Hell is a funny concept, for me I believes it's just the absence of God (ghosts/ spirits haunting buildings etc), I can imagine nothing worse than being stuck on this planet (which is cheallenging enough when you are alive) without being able to enjoy sleep, taste, smell and touch. People however (as I ve bleated on about before!) need tools to formulate their understanding of the world and whilst I think you are clearly an intelligent and questioning individual to which these tools are 'obsolete', there are plenty of other people who need these tools. I love this quote from Itchi Uchia from the series Naruto:

"People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That's how they define "reality". But what does it mean to be "correct" or "true"? Merely vague concepts… their "reality" may all be a mirage. Can we consider them to simply be living in their own world, shaped by their beliefs?"

Thats one of the most inspirational things I ve ever heard.... and it was from a cartoon.

Your Dad needs to respect that you should have the space, time and freedom to find your own path to what ever lies beyond us, and the desperation he seems to impose on you to 'convert' lies in his own misunderstandings of what God want's, misunderstanding what God truly wants is something every single person on this planet no matter what faith they follow/ do not follow falls into. Finally let me finish with an awesome anaolgy about what it is like to argue with a Christian that I read on the comments section of you tube:

"Arguing with a Christian is like playing chess with a pigeon, even if you are victorious they strut around like the winner, knock over all the pieces and shit on the board"

Classic!

To be honest, as I've said in other comments, it's not so much what's in the bible, but how people twist it that annoys me. I mean it's an old book written by men (through the hand of god) so it's going to have parts of the times come through. I get that. I don't get how people won't accept that times have changed and not everything in that book is relevant. Can't we make that book more modern? Take the lessons in it and make it easier for people to apply it to modern day life? That would make sense.

 That's an interesting look at hell. I'd love for their to be ghosts in real life. I reckon not all of them would be malevolent, and hanging out witrh a spirit would be pretty awesome. Also, if I was a ghost, I'd spend ALL of my time recreating scenes from horror movies lol.

 I know the bible doesn't condemn love, I just find it a little offputting that Jesus expects me to love him more than my family. I don't even like my family half the time, but at least they've been there for me.

I understand your position.  I am not a religious person myself.  I find a lot of hypocrasy in all religions.  I tend to more rely on fact and science but do not look down on any religion because they are mostly good.  And I do not know what exactly to believe in myself.  I do believe that if you are a good person and try to lead a good life, then it shouldn't matter what you believe. That is how I live life.  I don't try to convince anyone that what they believe is wrong because I don't know.

I'm not trying to convince anything of anything other than that I have reason for not believing and they should stop trying to force their insane fairy tales on me. I don't know what to believe either, but I'd rather believe in nothing than be forced into something. And yes, if you are a good person you should be fine. The bible itself says god goes off the heart condition of a person, it's just that a church has more power if it has more followers. Pretty sure the entire vatican will burn in hell if there is such a thing.

I had a friend in high school who was a Jehova's Witness. Upon graduation he bailed on the town and his entire family,went out to California. Said his family would disown him and never speak to him again. Did not matter to him,he wanted to have a life. Said the rules he had to live by were too oppressive to take any more. Sums up exactly why I don't go to a church. This world puts enough rules on us as it is without inviting more! Hypocrites are in abundance in our local churches,too. The bullshit they preach has nothing to do with Christ or his teachings. So no,I'm not the least bit offended. Everyone's got a right to their own opinion. Seems like there are far too many people in politics right now who want to enforce their religious doctrines down our throats. It's wrong and it's more evil than anything they scream about. The bottom line is it's about control. It makes them feel safe and powerful to dictate how others may live.