singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

The way you profess this then, is that all religious books miraculously appeared and then mankind learned to read and write? Somehow this seems reversed,illogical and incomprihensible to me. Weren't all these moral stories about the origins of mankind and earth and the heavens all been told around campfires and in caves long before there was anything other than pictograms on cave walls illustrating our origins? And why does the Christian Bible have more books in some religious versions than others? Somehow I see a flaw in your logic that this book or any religious book has not been interprited and altered through time and understanding, or politically changed by those who profess it as the all telling and all explaining document that should be used as a basis for laws that may effect all of us for years to come. Isn't civil logic and individual rights the issue here instead of religious doctrines?

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

I see you didn't comprehend my point at all.

Add to that the "scatter gun" approach to discussion and I'll use this opportunity to say...thanks for the discussion such as it was...

Bye bye. :-)

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

Again Pavich, you misquote me. I never stated that any religious volume was incorrect. I simply stated that it has altered though interpritation, political agenda by religions in an effort to control the masses or gain untold wealth or zealots. The most outragious atrosities mankind has ever perpetrated were through religious beliefs and the infliction of religion from one social group upon another. Tribal Warfare of sorts.

Roger Hicks Loc: Aquitaine

Most people have a fairly strong moral sense, regardless of their religion. Exactly which religion (if any) emerges from their individual and shared moral sense will vary with geography, history and economics. As HH Dalai Lama says, religion is the consequence of universal responsibility and the good heart. To pretend that religion is the cause of universal responsibility and the good heart is to get things backwards.

That's about all there is to it. How can anyone pretend that THEIR religion and THEIR God is the only one?

The only way anyone can pretend that THEIR god has the right to control everyone's lives is if they think like the Taliban -- and I assume that few Christians are great fans of the Taliban.

A burning desire to control others' lives is all the more curious when it comes to morally neutral arrangements about who wants to live with whom, and how, i.e. marriage.

Cheers,

R.

ngc1514 Loc: Atlanta, Ga., Lancaster, Oh. and Stuart, Fl.

In your opinion...

ngc1514 Loc: Atlanta, Ga., Lancaster, Oh. and Stuart, Fl.

Agreed... They have that authority over the people who bend to it: the believers in that particular cult. That authority is overruled by the laws of the land - as the Mormons learned when they wanted Utah admitted as a state - and they end at the walls of the church.

It's the American way!

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

Bullshit. Churches do not have authority to determine what constitutes a legitimate Marriage in this country. A church or religious organization has the right to refuse to marry a couple but not law determining what constitutes a civil union or a marriage. As the USA has seperation of church and state, you seem to be uneducated as to who makes laws. This is the responcibility of Congress and the Senate and ratified by the President. Then it can be objected to in Supreme Court.
CIVICS 101
And the Episcopal and Unitarian Churches have performed marriages for Gay and Lesbian couples in states that allow this marriage license to be issued, so your premise is sorely mistaken.

RockinRobinG Loc: The Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska

Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:8-11:
"We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me."

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

Sorry dear. This is NOT the word of GOD, but the preachings of a human apostle. And laws are made for all to follow and not just the irreligious and unholy as you put it.
I am still waiting for any passage where GOD says such drivel from any religious book from any religion. Why did GOD not write this as one of the 10 Commandments, or was this commandment one of the 5 on the tablet that Moses dropped? According to the bible, this is the only document written in the hand of GOD, by GOD.

ngc1514 Loc: Atlanta, Ga., Lancaster, Oh. and Stuart, Fl.

Slow down, Viking! You didn't read what I wrote. Nowhere did I say churches, "have authority to determine what constitutes a legitimate Marriage in this country. "

I said that authority only resides over the believers of that particular cult and ends at the walls of the church. How you got the idea that a church decides what marriage is or is not in this country escapes me because I certainly didn't write or mean it!

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

NGC1514;
If you look back, you will see that this comment was proposed by ARCHANGEL and not myself or you. My responce was to that entry.

ngc1514 Loc: Atlanta, Ga., Lancaster, Oh. and Stuart, Fl.

Whew!

MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy

I personally believe that if two consenting adults of legal age wish to be legally married then it should be their right to do so. Two men or two women getting married does not diminish the meaning or value of my own marriage. If I thought it did then I have bigger issues in my marriage than the issue of two other individuals declaring their love and commitment to each other.

I also think it should be a national issue, leaving this issue to each state causes confusion. If a couple were to marry in Iowa and then move to Texas, their marriage is null and void, what happens when they file their federal taxes? Last year they were married, this year they are single? They are not divorced, not separated, just moved from one state to another and according to the state of Texas their marriage does not exist.

If my sister were to move from Canada with her wife to certain areas in the US, her marriage would not be legal, they have been married for 2 years, together for 5... how can you take something so basic (who you chose to love and spend your life with) away from someone? What happened to equal rights to all?

Harvey Loc: Pioneer, CA

Here is where the Rubber Meets the Road- right here it is stating if you don't believe the way our group/religon does we have a law agaist you.
RockinRobinG]Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:8-11:
"We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me."[/quote]

Harvey Loc: Pioneer, CA

the rebels? sinful? ungodly? irreligious? sexually immoral? those practicing homosexuality?- again some one trying to force their way of life and thinking on others by making laws.

[/quote]