BruceVC

Isnt that Old Testament? Christians generally follow New Testament where you dont offer your daughter for rape Its better to learn from New Testament ?We also dont follow everything 100% in the bible because it was written between 1400-1800 years ago in a different era and we dont keep slaves anymore, kill people who work on Sunday or kill people because they gay Times have changed Elerond and we update things accordingly

I am not going to get into another CRT debate this weekend but its much bigger than just what one person thinks he is doing. And I do find what he said offensive and irritating because some of us take this debate seriously or at least our concerns are real. I really think the culture wars toxicity is unhelpful because it erodes real concerns about certain topics

Yes but cults are normally an aberration of scripture and religious teachings, its the same as Islamic extremism does not represent that Islam stands for?

For me personally there are too many unknown facts and data about the world and its mysteries to say "their is no such thing as a god " but I cant prove and convince you that religion is definitely true But I have had some real lived experiences in my life that have made me believe their is more to this world than just what science tells us And I agree with you 100% about the overreach of any religion telling people what they can or cant do around things like dress code or drinking wine. Im not sure what religion allows you to rape your daughter ...thats sounds unlikely?

https://www.wsmv.com/2022/07/15/youth-transgender-shows-persistence-identity-after-social-transition/ So this an interesting debate. The article makes a point "Once a person takes the step to come out as gender diverse, whether that is transgender or non-binary, they may take the first step of making a social transition. Then they can go on further to make a medical transition. That could involve puberty blockers which would prevent development in the puberty they were assigned at birth or going on to receive gender affirming hormones like testosterone or estrogen in their affirmed gender. That is a process that involves a lot of work with a medical team and a mental health professional " I dont believe any kid should be allowed to take medication until they 18 or 21 and before that the parents have to agree. If parents are fine with there kids dressing up like a girl and going to school thats fine but they shouldnt be allowed to use girls changerooms because they still boys I have no issue with young people experimenting with cross dressing but the idea of taking medication to block puberty I think is dangerous What do you guys think? Should kids be allowed to take hormone treatment before 18 and do you think the parents views matter?

Do you want to know why thats a consideration? But dont say yes if you might get offended by what I want to caution you about because I am have been in a similar situation to you

Agreed, science is making new discoveries all the time But let you ask you an honest and important question, why are you an agnostic and why are you not religious? I mentioned most of my family are atheist or agnostic so I am aware of different reasons for people not being religious or they use to be religious and then life experiences changed that. So its unlikely you will surprise me But why I am asking is sometimes non-believers of religion will focus on parts of scripture that we know is not accurate, for example the earth is not 6000 years old. Its 6 billion years old and we also know Noah couldnt have had every animal in his ark because animals like kangaroos and the dodo didnt exist in the ME where Noah lived But for me those stories are parables and are not the real point of the New Testament but going back to the question. Why arent you religious, is it because you dont see any definitive proof? Or do you see religion as hypocritical ?

Thats an interesting analogy around the ruler but I am not sure its the same as sub-atomic particles For example a 30 cm ruler is only 30 cm long and when you start dividing it in half it gets smaller and not bigger. So as you keep making it smaller you right it does become infinitely smaller which is why I ask what exists that is smaller than a quark? Can science answer that?

You guys are comparing a spirit\soul to a physical body. Its completely different and you cant make those comparisons If you look at the suggestion of ghosts or what Hindus believe with reincarnation and the idea of achieving Nirvana its all about a change of form, we already know energy is never destroyed and just changes its state. So there is a scientific answer to death and religion but you cant ask questions from a physical perspective @rjshae may be right and at the time of death your state of mind will be different but it doesnt mean religion isn't true and we also know science provides us with lots of answers but lots of questions exist as well. Just something simple, whatas the smallest sub-atomic particle ...a Quark I think it is. But whats underneath that ? I dont think we can truly ignore the idea of divine creation if we dont have all the answers?

Good question, no one can say for sure. I would assume so ?

Isnt she married?

Nice, the Ruskies will be very mad and provoked

Gorthfuscious !!!! Thats very controversial and funny EDIT : You also make a good point if you are atheist or agnostic

You once said you support CRT being taught at schools, what were talking about if you support it? Because I assume you dont just support things that dont exist? And then I will repeat what I mentioned several times, I have seen several interviews on CNN where teachers in different US school districts openly say " we have been told we cant teach CRT and its unfair because we want to provide our students with an inclusive view of history " (or something similar ) Here is a link from a teacher that acknowledges CRT teaching has been banned but has found a way to bypass it, again its strange how liberal teachers themselves are talking about how the curriculum has been banned considering how you say it doesnt exist https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10005353/Iowa-teacher-proudly-shares-circumvents-states-ban-CRT-encouraging-questions.html But just to clarify something, since we dont have anyone who can produce a curriculum, not the same thing as saying it doesnt exist, my issue with it is around any teaching that tells kids that a country like the US was founded only on racism and inequality and the US is country of structural racism. Thats false, the US was not founded or created only on racism and oppression and racism exists in the US but its not structural And why do I care about this type of false narrative in the US? Its because this spreads to other countries like the UK and SA and I dont agree that history should be selective or revisionist

Its funny you mention Codex, some people on this forum have called me a racist, fascist or colonialist Yet on Codex some people call me a led-belly, snowflake, degenerate, glowie liberal Im confused about my identity, what am I

Yes that correct, at least at the school level. Its was originally a university subject but the university subject is part of law and not controversial. Its the school subject that is concerning But their is an attempt to teach it, I personally cant find a school curriculum but Im also not going to spend too much time looking ( I have spent 1-2 hours ) but anyone in the US public sector school in a state that wants to teach it would have access to it. If you take Lexx's link it states " A resolution banning critical race theory" And I have made this point several time, you cant ban something in a school if it doesnt exist in some form or another. So there is no doubt it exists in the school level. All I have ever asked is access to the school curriculum so I can read what they want to teach kids. Parents should have the right to that as well? And this matters to me personally because as I predicated its now come to SA and there are one or two debates around " should we teach CRT in schools "

Strange story because that happened in liberal California ?

Yes but the majority of women find out they pregnant when they miss their period. At that point you not showing so all women in the US need to do is not register and not tell the state and go to another state. Their is complete confidentially in states that allow abortion So the state of Texas that makes abortion illegal will never know. And its not like people are monitored and questioned when you travel between states. No one will ask why someone is travelling to another state

Yes but all you do is dont tell the state you pregnant, its not like people generally announce it to the whole world?

How is anyone going to know if a women travels to a state and has an abortion?

Elerond I am not sure if you have researched what new voting laws target minorities unfairly? I havent but I have followed some interviews on CNN and Im not sure what people are talking about ?

You very cynical you know that

One final point about Trump and the reason people support him. I responded to Lexx around his policies during his presidency. His policies are different to his statements and grandstanding that you referenced This is an important distinction because most of his policies were implemented and created by people who werent about the theater of Trumpism like the trade war with China which was the brainchild of the erudite Wilbur Ross And the reason I mention this is if you judge the Trump presidency only on his statements then I agree he is an epic failure. But tax breaks and getting Conservative judges into the SC is more about Conservative values So thats why many Conservatives dont support Trump necessarily because of the theater of Trumpism but because he was able to deliver on certain successful policies And this matters because you dont want to think that all the people who vote for Trump believe the offensive things you mentioned. For many GOP supporters its about his policies like the anti-socialism stance that many Cuban Americans agree with

Its important to remember that only 55% of Americans vote or are registered voters https://www.statista.com/statistics/273743/number-of-registered-voters-in-the-united-states/ Which means 150 millions Americans dont vote. So whatever the outcome is of any US elections it doesn't represent what Americans believe ideologically. It only represents what people who vote think So if Trump wins in 2024 its not the end of the US

What concerns you the most about the EU and its ostensible direction towards authoritarianism We dont discuss enough about real problems in the EU so Im always interested in what concerns EU citizens ?