Well, at least you have the humility to acknowledge that your comments in this discussion have no evidential basis whatsoever. However, you really should preface such patently false statements with "I reckon", because an opinion is not a fact, no matter how much you'd like it to be true.

I take most of my observations from life experience Sancho.
There seems to be a terrible weakness in the youth on this site that they always have to refer to other peoples reports, graphs, charts, so-called research etc.
Life experience is living and watching.
Knowing COMMON SENSE...much of it.
Seeing people and what they do and not forgetting it.
Id rather write a story up, based on my years, than someone else data.

Gibo

You are 100% right in that those practicing homosexuality spread disease at a far higher rate than the normal population through their unhealthy acts. The deniers are the same who deny the devastating effects of pornography. Their defense of perversion at all costs to society totally blinds them of facts.

'By recently admitting that "HIV is a gay disease," Matt Foreman, outgoing executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, acknowledged what the medical community has known for decades: The homosexual lifestyle is extremely high risk and often leads to disease and even death.' http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=61856

Gibo - Your detractors are not interested in facts just a condoning of their perverted philosophy.

My life experience has taught me that gay people are just people. However, my life experience has also taught me to seek out gay people, because they are often the most interesting people in the room — open-hearted and loving and brave, despite (or because of) exposure to the hatred and bigotry people like you, Gibo, inflict on them. My life experience has taught me that my gay friends are affectionate, intelligent, ethical, profound, moral, theatrical, hilarious people. My life experience has taught me that gay people experience sex as erotic and loving, just as heterosexuals do.

My life experience has taught me that the fire of hatred against heterosexuals is sparked by fear and a personal sense of powerlessness, and fanned by religious prejudice. My life experience has taught me that religious people, particularly Christians and Muslims, are overly interested in other people's sex lives. My life experience has taught me that many Christians prefer to emphasise the parts of the Bible that preach hate rather than the parts that preach love. My life experience has taught me that when people accept one report as true and another as fallacious because the former backs up their argument and the latter proves it incorrect, those people are lying to themselves. My life experience has taught me that when religious people say that hate the sin but love the sinner, they are simply reciting a platitude, and that, deep down, they really do hate that sinner.

But let me guess. My life experience isn't as good as yours, is it Gibo? It's as erroneous as my statistics, I imagine.

"There seems to be a terrible weakness in the youth on this site that they always have to refer to other peoples reports, graphs, charts, so-called research etc."

Maybe the "youth" part does not apply but I'll assume that I'm included.

I loved Vanilla's post about her life experience, I've posted previously about my life experience and how it's shown me that the christain god does not exist. At a guess Gibo won't value either Vanilla's or my life experiences enough to give them any weight.

We value studies and research because we have enough life experience to know that the world is far larger than our own experience. That our interpretation of our life experience is impacted by the things we already believe and the slice of life experience we get exposed to.

Research can be tainted by the same things but good research has tools that can work to avoid that tainting. Gibo because his god does not like homosexuals will see the bad bits much more willingly than he sees the good. Because he is so tied up in a church culture that considers homosexuality a sin he will recieve regular reinforcement of negative views of homosexuals. I spent many years in that kind of environment and it is really difficult to understand while you are in it just how much it warps your perceptions of what is outside.

The problem lies not with those who pay attention to what others have learned through carefull and considered study but with those so arrogant they they consider their own limited and distorted life experience to be the only valid measure of truth.

The world is a much richer and wonderful place than religious fundies will ever know while they continue to insist on seeing everything via the blinkers they have chosen to wear.

R0bert

Vanilla & R0bert

Both your posts are very apt and profound.

I particularly endorse R0bert saying:

"The world is a much richer and wonderful place than religious fundies will ever know while they continue to insist on seeing everything via the blinkers they have chosen to wear."

This was the point I was trying to make between religiosity and spirituality. One is about following a doctrine, the other is about feeling alive.

No-one is truly alive who hates for no more reason than they believe it is a form of self-righteousness.

Gibo has simply substituted one addiction for another, at least on drugs or alcohol there are times when one is sober, but the religious fundamentalist addict is always blind.