Equal Protection for all Religion?

in particular many satanists are also atheists,

this is three times as humorous as christians celebrating christmas.

i would suggest that one who is a satanist and also an atheist that they should convert to the church of the flying spagehtti monster out of self respect(perhaps this is the problem) and to save a wee tiny bit face.

there has scarcely, if ever, been freedom of religion in the us. there may have been a vague resemblance of it in the late 1800's and early 1900's, but that was just a vague resemblance of it. sure there is more liberty than many other countries, but i'm not going to water down the word freedom.

1. This article makes it seem as though the satanist in question was trying to vandalize a pre-existing display. If that's the case, that's not freedom of religion, that's freedom to be an a**hole, which isn't guaranteed by any gov't document in the US, no matter how often we exercise it.
2. Religious displays on public property should be available to everyone or no one, unless there is a compelling interest otherwise. A good example of a compelling interest is, for example, recognizing the very obvious role played in modern lawmaking
3. Satanists have a reputation as a "shock" religion in the US because of LaVey's attitude both in print and interviews.
4. Christmas is a truly Christian holiday when taken of itself. It's the additional pagan influences that make it curious, but given historical context these all make sense.[/li

There is no lack of self-respect in the satanist movement. Not in general anyway. As steam pointed out, most of them, especially the atheist subset are shockers and contrarians. I have encountered a number of Sith with similar attitudes. There are also genuine Satan worshippers. Some of them are also contrarians much like the traditional LaVeyan satanists, some aren't. Especially in the US only a strict subset of atheists identify by that label, mainly because of the stigma it carries. However, among intellectual atheists many reject both Satanism and the FSM movement and prefer to not identify with either. There is nothing ignoble or shameful about any of those identities in general and on their own, though I would unkindly comment on the worship of Satan or of the FSM as actual beings any day. To say they ought to switch to any one particular because that is what a self-respecting person would do is exactly the kind of semi-religious slander all of those movements were created to combat in the first place.

Steam, you might have misread. It was a Christian lady who tried to vandalize a satanist display.

there are few genuine christians, and even fewer genuine satanists. christmas never was a christian holiday. i am a contrarian in regard to people hijacking religions and just making whatever up, or simply blindly following and being told what to "think" and calling it by an existing name. that is the actual slander/blasphemy.

ghost dog wrote: there are few genuine christians, and even fewer genuine satanists. christmas never was a christian holiday.

Source, please.

there is no single source for any of these three facts. one would simply have to do the research and use the organ residing in the cranial cavity for it's intended purpose. where should i start with Christ Mas?

this is the purpose of most modern day religion - confusion and conflict. the purpose of mainstream modern day religion is to keep people from recognizing the face of the Divine, from coming to know themselves, and the Source(The Force).

if i can re-locate several good singular sources i will post them. however, i know one of them has already been taken off the internet.

http://www.thepropheticyears.com/comments/Apostasy%20in%20the%20Church.HTM

http://youtu.be/oZAL80TMLaE

in my opinion contarians have no place in authentic Satanism, and are an insult to the mythological Satan, or otherwise.

http://youtu.be/OxAo1vr-GWE


to protect genuine Satanist one would have to allow LaVeyin satanists and contrarian satanist to be laughed off the face of the Earth.

Who is Don Koenig to define what a "True Christian" is? Also, do you know what a fact is?
Who are you to tell people how they should call themselves?

there is no single source for any of these three facts. one would simply have to do the research and use the organ residing in the cranial cavity for it's intended purpose.

by ghost dog for a minute.

the infinite heavens are complex. fact or fiction?

let us use this definition of fact so we know we are on the same page.

fact noun \ˈfakt\
: something that truly exists or happens : something that has actual existence

: a true piece of information

A fact is a proposition that is either not in dispute because of the compelling evidence in its favour or indisputable because it can be concluded by logical analysis alone. "The infinite heavens are complex" is neither fact nor fiction, because it is not a coherent proposition. Because it doesn't say anything of content its truth-value cannot be determined by any means. It can be asserted, of course, though it would serve no good as long as the statement has no coherent meaning in the first place.

so we took out the word infinite, and stated "the heavens are complex." would agree that this is a fact?

No, I wouldn't. I don't know what you mean by "the heavens" nor by "complex".

"My shmaguffle is brabtoquirous." also isn't a fact for quite the same reason.

brabtoquirous - is a drug extracted from a complex turquoise compound with infinite synergistic properties. some people get shmaguffled on the stuff.

ghost dog wrote: to protect genuine Satanist one would have to allow LaVeyin satanists and contrarian satanist to be laughed off the face of the Earth.

How do you define genuine? If someone believes something truely, regardless of whether they're LaVeyan Satanist, Christian, or church of the flying spaghetti monster... who are you to tell someone they are not genuine?

I am Nobody. I am stating this in regards to freedom of religion. Will you allow me my freedom?

Can i not laugh at those who hate individuals for thinking for themselves? Or would it make you more comfortable if i toed the line silently unresponsive to the masses of lemmings that mock the Truth?

ghost dog wrote: I am Nobody. I am stating this in regards to freedom of religion. Will you allow me my freedom?

I wasn't aware that I was preventing it... when I say 'who are you'.. I am not talking you specifically, I am talking about generally.

Edan wrote: How do you define genuine? If someone believes something truely, regardless of whether they're LaVeyan Satanist, Christian, or church of the flying spaghetti monster... who are you to tell someone they are not genuine?

I have this same conversation all the time with a coworker who thinks all subsets of Christianity other than hers (which she just refers to as being Christian) aren't actually Christians. Well they are, they're just not the same kind of Christian as you are.

The world is so full of people who refuse to see things from another person's perspective. Why can't everyone see that they're all wrong and I'm right about this? :laugh: _{see what I did there?} :laugh:

ghost dog wrote: would it make you more comfortable if i toed the line silently unresponsive to the masses of lemmings that mock the Truth?

Truth does not need protection. Truth persists no matter what people think of it or how they treat it. People mocking it does not bother it at all.

Nobody was not bothered. Nobody has no body to protect. That is why Nobody makes some people uncomfortable. that is why the question is posed "who is Nobody to speak of the Truth?"

Truth is hard to find for some, and impossible, in this incarnation, to find for others.

Why was the library in Alexandria burnt to the ground?

Whether the Truth needs protection or not is a matter of opinion. If people cared about Truth most christians would not think that christmas is a christian holiday.

should the truth about how to purify water be protected? if that truth is lost so will more life be lost. some people think this is a good thing.

"Who is Nobody to say "the self professed vegan that eats Mickey D's, sausage, and various animal based carion every day is not a genuine vegan.""ghost dog. "if a carrion eater of all types of animal flesh wants to claim to be a vegan, as long as they truly believe it, they are genuine." somebody.

ghost dog wrote: If people cared about Truth most christians would not think that christmas is a christian holiday.

Okay, look:

"Christmas" comes from the original title "Christ's Mass", which is a mass (service/ceremony) in which Christ is celebrated. The focus for Christmas has always been the nativity, due to the nature of the narrative of the religion, so the birth of Christ has always been central to the holiday.

Do we (Christians) really believe Christ was born on Dec 25? No. We don't. We know He wasn't because a) his historicity is still in the air, and b) if it weren't, contextual cues put the time of his birth closer to the general time period of the celebration of the Jewish new year on the first of Tishrei (which usually falls in September in more Western calendars). Not that any of that matters any more than deciding to hold your birthday celebration on Saturday when your birthday is on Tuesday because people have work schedules.

So, why is Christmas celebrated in December? Partly because of Saturnalia, partly because of Yule, partly because Christianity was lacking a winter solstice holiday. We stole bits and pieces of both of the previously mentioned celebrations partly to Christianize those peoples and partly because those peoples became Christian.

Stop saying Christmas isn't a Christian holiday. It very clearly is, since we rather kind of invented it. It just happens to take place coincidentally with other holidays which it shares similarities to because of syncretism of local faith.

steamboat28 wrote:

ghost dog wrote: If people cared about Truth most christians would not think that christmas is a christian holiday.

Stop saying Christmas isn't a Christian holiday. It very f***ing clearly is, since we rather kind of invented it. It just happens to take place coincidentally with other holidays which it shares similarities to because of syncretism of local faith.

Takes place coincidentally with other holidays.... no. Lets be clear, the leaders of this faith stole traditions from just about any faith viewed as a threat, then they placed their holy days right on top of others in vain attempts to stomp their faiths out of existence. Just about every tradition AND belief in Christianity is "borrowed" from paganism or some other faith.