1. @ Hagar
   MM,MP,MMA

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   1. Heh… Good to see another. 🙂 BB

2. I’m a Jew, not very observant. I have friends who are devout Jews and others who are devout Christians of many sorts. I’ve known Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, but have never seen this level of intolerance and plain meanness.
   Nevertheless, if I witnessed persecution of this sort, I’d stand by you and yours, or anyone else being targeted. Just so you know.

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   1. I have a feeling that most of the people on GFZ would stand by me in the face of this kind of thing. And I will be honest, I’m not getting rocks and burning crosses these days… that was back in the early 90s. But I get so damn tired of being told it didn’t happen. My insurance claim on the window, and my very angry landlords over the burned lawn are proof enough for me. And for the record, I did call the police about it, filled out reports, and of course no one was ever caught.
      .
      I guess the problem comes along when people say it doesn’t happen *often*, or hey show some proof (when I’ve just said I personally witnessed it and/or experienced it). It feels like a way of fluffing it off, saying it’s just not serious enough. Which is essentially what the police said, btw. Meh.
      .
      Here’s one for you. A few years ago, a Jewish friend had swastikas painted on her garage and some other nasty stuff. While I was 99% sure it was “just kids”, I didn’t say that to her. I told her that hubby and I would show up with the “red neck mobile” with a couple of lawn chairs and some rifles, and watch her house if she needed us to. Why? Because whether it was kids or not, it didn’t matter. Her safety was that important. No one did that for me, and I don’t see a lot of people outside of my own community doing it for our community. If that makes sense.
      .
      I’ve stood watch at churches to help out. For the most part, I’m not seeing any “God fearing Christians” offering to stand watch over MY house, godless pagan that I am.
      .
      Hopefully all that makes some sense.

3. I could write for the next week on religious persecution that has come from all directions within the world of “Faith”, (which includes atheists). My advice is to remain guarded, while breaking contact, putting as much distance as possible from intolerance. I don’t throw my pearls before swine. I don’t waste other people’s time. Christians, so called, attack one another more than they do anyone else. I don’t have time now, but later I’ll share a strategy in dealing with overzealous people of faith, who just won’t take a polite “No” for an answer and sometimes become extreme overbearing and downright rude.

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   1. These days, it really doesn’t bother me that much. I live in a multi-faith household. I live in a multi-faith neighborhood. While the prevailing religion is Christianity, it doesn’t appear to be the nasty kind. I’ve never had anyone here be rude to me because of my religion. What I described originally happened when I was much younger, and it frightened me. I’m sure it was meant to.
      .
      I don’t spend time with people who are assholes. I don’t delete them… but I don’t engage them. I am not the Asshole Whisperer. If someone tries to keep talking after I’ve said no, I close the door on them, walk away, or put my hand out to make sure they are not invading my personal space.

4. Do not fall into a trap of painting with too broad of a brush.
   .
   People are A-holes. They become bigger A-holes when it gets emotional or spiritual with them. Their conviction in their own righteousness leads them to believe it is OK to demonize others. .
   We have all been victim to it. And, there is a good possibility we have victimized others without even realizing it. However, the harassment you have dealt with is a bit harsh, and certainly undeserved. Bricks through windows???
   .
   The point is to realize a store display is not some kind of affront to anyone’s spirituality. The strongly Christian should just walk past it and realize it is Halloween decorations, not some kind of indoctrination of the young. And the liberals need to calm the F down and not assume the Christians are trying to suppress their beliefs.
   .
   Here is the reality.
   No one cares about your emotions, no one cares that you are offended. Maybe your spouse/SI, kids, or close friends, but the world in general has more important things to do.
   .
   If you think Christians complaining about Halloween decorations is some kind of insult, get a life.
   And, if you are offended by Halloween decorations, damn… you need an orgasm. Badly.

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5. The USA, and indeed the world, is in its present state of decay, precisely because of tolerance. when the coming times are concluded, and IF, I am still on this earth at that time, someone saying the word tolerant to me is in serious danger.

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6. Curbys law (as applicable for 2023)- people SUK.
   Some, because they have been emboldened, believe it’s perfectly ok to go batshiite crazy on others that are different.
   “Religious “ (SOME, not all) people can be the worst. You don’t belong to THIER sect therefore you are evil, looked down upon, trashed, not good enough. like liberals who treat me with disdain I just walk awayfrom religious fruitcakes.. Religious Freedom is just that and many can’t handle it. Those who throw stones often forget to open the window in thier glass house first.. I just cackle maddeningly, point my finger at them and say “thinner”….

   1. I’ve seen the same attitude from militant atheists. It’s an a-hole thing.

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7. I think this is another one of those problems that will age out mostly as the older generations die off, much like homophobia etc. Nothing will ever go away completely, but I think it will diminish, it has, and will be replaced with the new thing to hate people about.

   People are not logically consistent and cannot stand the embarrassment and/or cognitive dissonance of the shoe being upon the other foot. That is why you get religious people who scream about freedom and in the next breath scream to restrict something that displeases them for whatever reason. They don’t see that well my one god says this so its bad is the same thing as the other guy saying well my different one god says the opposite so you are bad. Pretty much the purpose of your posting here; mee the center. No one looks at it from the perspective of well my god is the one and only and he says his god is the one and only and there can be only one and they are different and he has the same type of evidence as me then who is right????? That is the obvious basis of cultural relativism and non aggression principles. Chaps my ass incessantly the hypocrisy of this we see constantly.

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8. Someone throws a rock through your window, or burns a cross on your yard, you shoot them. The people trying to “exorcise” you — they should just be laughed at, and any place that tolerates that BS should be off your list to visit.
   .
   But… I grew up Catholic in a small rural town — a town with more churches than bars, and more bars than stoplights. A town that wasn’t in the south, but you could literally hear Kentucky when the weather was right, and most of the families I knew came from or had relatives in Kentucky. Never had anyone say anything about my being Catholic — and had friends and classmates from every church in town and a few not in town. I know the town wasn’t particularly enlightened or liberal.
   .
   On the other hand, when I went to college in Illinois, my girlfriend’s friend was horrified that I was Catholic. And my girlfriend’s mother was horrified by my role-playing game hobby. They came from a much larger town, and were relatively well-educated. The town was more conservative than the Illinois average, but never struck me as more conservative than my hometown.
   .
   I don’t think it’s a right/left or religious/non-religious thing. I think there are just a-holes in the world who will latch on any excuse acceptable to their community to be an a-hole.

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   1. Rob, at the time those things happened, I lived in Canada. No guns. And both instances happened in the dead of night, so by the time I was upright, there was no one around to shoot anyhow. The police were less than useless, too. The exorcism was more embarrassing than anything else. The restaurant got police in and the person was escorted off the property, and I got my dessert for free. But when you’re 19 years old and someone starts doing that, it’s intimidating.
      .
      And yes, it’s an asshole thing… I guess my point is, when “my people” make asses of themselves (the “norse pagans” who are choosing to be self-professing white supremacists, for instance), I hold them accountable. I point and say, “That is NOT what this is about.” I make it plain that what they’re doing has nothing to do with me, my religion, my beliefs, my sexuality, my whatever. And I watch for anything that I can call the cops on, because if someone is doing things that are illegal and wrong (noting that some things are illegal but not wrong, and some things are wrong but not illegal), then they should be arrested. Meh.

9. I was going to write about one of several religious conflicts but there were so many I decided to just make a statement which should sum it all up.
   .
   The Bible is not a book of religion, it is not a religious book, but rather it is a book of science, with one purpose, which is to assist people in the experiment with life by implementing the system of trial and error; throwing out what has been proven to not work so that only what does work remains, which is the true definition of science.
   .
   I denounce all religions from a-z and some more than others. But I do know the Bible from every possible hermeneutical discipline known to mankind and thus trust it over all religions. This qualifies me for an honorary degree in Experiencing Religious Hatred. Can I get an AMEN? ?

10. You got any, you know, EVIDENCE for these incredibly vicious accusations of what ‘dem ebil christians’ have done?
    Or are you going to claim that the ultra-Christian right-wingers at CNN and MSNBC are colluding to bury the stories?

    1. I believe that my personal experiences should suffice, for the purposes of this article.

       1. Come on! We all know personal experience is sufficient when it fits our bias but its only a mere anecdote when it doesn’t!

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