YABBY...

"You of course forget Boazy, that the Christian (Catholic) Church,
not so long ago, used to have heretics like myself and others,
burnt at the stake!"

Noooo Yabs.. I don't 4get it 4 a minute! but what you 4get is that such things were entirely 'human' and absolutely and identifiably NOT how Jesus lived or taught, so.. go figure mate... if.. and its a big 'if'.. you could say "Oh and look.. they are just following what Jesus did, what he taught...." I might have some serious concerns, some self doubt..but ya caynt :) and this alone should touch your heart that no matter how bad people are, there is 'ONE' who was different, and He is the Son of God.
Jesus did express a harsh sentiment once.. and 'shudder cringe, shock horror'..it was this "If they do not receive you, shake the dust of your feet and move along to another town" wooooo now that is reallly harsh....you reject some religious nutter and he shakes dust off his feet.. now that must hurt.

Peril... do you have tunnel vision? I was responding to TRTL who felt we don't have a clue about 'what it's like' to be ridiculed, offended, mistreated, maligned or persecuted.... read the Barnabus report Pericles to see what is happening NOW.. today to Christians in many places.. there is nothing 'shrill' about it, but you never miss a 'bash a christian' opportunity do you..

ROBERT... you might be suprised to hear this, but I think your post was most balanced and accurate. I've seen one of those 'portable PA blokes' too.. at the high rise in Fitzroy.. freaked me out.

CJ.. 'hijabs' ? Well.. maybe 1 out of 50 in our group cover the head, but in our case its a symbol of peace...not war.

No point in protesting, Boaz. You are clearly becoming increasingly desperate in your search for sticks with which to beat up Muslims.

>>CJ.. 'hijabs' ? Well.. maybe 1 out of 50 in our group cover the head, but in our case its a symbol of peace...not war.<<

The hijab, a symbol of war, Boaz? That is not simply an exaggeration, it is an outright fabrication, a figment of your increasingly fevered imagination. The hijab is a symbol of personal modesty and respect, nothing more.

This is also beyond reality:

>>read the Barnabus report Pericles to see what is happening NOW.. today to Christians in many places.. there is nothing 'shrill' about it, but you never miss a 'bash a christian' opportunity do you..<<

But Boaz, as you very well know by now, this is not about Christianity. I have many friends who are perfectly well-behaved and well-mannered, and who are also Christians.

I am also well aware that a great many people derive a great deal of comfort from the idea that they are being watched over by some form of higher power, and many of these are Christians also. I neither begrudge them their comfort nor wish to join them.

However, your posts have been a constant source of concern to me, as you consistently and persistently denigrate the religion of other people, purely and simply to stir up animosity and fear.

It is also clear that you consider yourself separate from the mainstream of Christianity, since each time the misdemeanours of past Christians is brought to your attention, you quickly disown them. Ipso facto, any criticism of the tone and content of your whack-a-mozzie rants can have nothing to do with Christianity itself, can it?

Once again, in case you still wish to misunderstand: it's not about Christianity, it's about using it as a banner to beat up on others.

Just like those Crusades, in fact.

runner - I'll concede the point in relation to your catholicism or otherwise - touche. I'll also concede that often opposing views get trampled. Fair enough.

But that's about it. And your insinuation that I should be embarrassed made me quite furious.

You keep stating that I've been proven wrong in that thread.

I've yet to see the proof.

What bothers me and why I brought up the abortion comments you make, is that there's never any explanation or attempt at real backing.

Just one mighty serving of judgement and denigration. Whenever an abortion thread pops up, I know you can be relied upon to pop in, make some remark about it being murder, genocide, baby killing, etc, without the slightest nod of acknowledgement to the fact that other people might not consider a fetus that doesn't yet have a brain, eyes, limbs or the ability to think or see, a human being.

Despite this being pointed out and the disagreement noted, we can still be sure that on the next abortion thread, nothing will have changed.

We can also rely on you just to pop in and say secular humanists are responsible for the ills of society. It's a shallow, insulting dig at people you disagree with.

Also very insulting to secular humanists. Clearly however, when presented with examples of Christianity gone awry, you don't like it one bit.

Similarly, in that thread I put forward on Christian fringe groups, you say that you're fine with judgement being cast on Christian groups, but you've put forward nothing persuasive that leads me to believe any of those fringe groups aren't destructive.

You made some claims, but in contrast to at least the article links I put forward, you've put forward nothing to back them, then have the hide to insinuate I should be keeping my head down for embarrassment. It came across as incredibly arrogant, given that I've seen no persuasive evidence to the contrary of what I've claimed and I'm certainly not the least bit embarrassed.

TRTL, I wouldn't let runner's boofheaded version of Christian ignorance get to me. As you say, all this guy ever does is stick his beak in with some lame comment like 'earth worshippers are violent', 'secular humanism is evil', 'evolution is stupid' or some other such nonsense, and rarely backs any of it up with anything that resembles argument or evidence.

As one of OLO's most obdurate Christian boofheads, I generally ignore him - but you're right, he can be annoying and insulting to the vast majority of us who don't share his very skewed view of the world.

Fortunately, he no more resembles the majority of Christians with whom I interact daily, than do Boazy, Philo, Gibo etc.

TRTL.
Like many other christians Ive seen evil spirits. Been attacked by them...smothered and bitten.
Its life experience I was talking about which seemed to escape Philo...and you.
Philo is into theory based on "I sometimes imagine things which I subsequently believe to be true".
A lot of that goes on here.

I'm sorry Gibo, but that had me laughing with such amusement.

You really can't see it can you.

When you say: "Philo is into theory based on "I sometimes imagine things which I subsequently believe to be true".
A lot of that goes on here."

Ha!

Yes, a lot of that does go on here, and Gibo, you're the main culprit.

Doesn't it strike you as a little odd that only a tiny handful of people in Australia share your belief in demons, and most of them are regarded as a little loopy by the public?

Isn't it possible when you speak of demons, that you "imagined things which you subsequently believed to be true"?

Or, put more simply, which is more likely - everybody else is wrong, or it's just you?