(07-03-2012 01:28 PM)Skarro Wrote: "We'd be free to explore the universe that birthed us and advance the standard of living of our collective species": You are...? Did some christfag honestly walk up to you and say HEY YOU CANT RESEARCH THAT!! ???!! that seemed like a pretty empty statment..FUELED BY YOUR ALREADY EXSISTING HATE!! 
... 
I said exactly what you said in reply to violence toward gays. I understand the fact that not every Christian wants to put a bullet in the head of every homosexual on the planet. Some do. Some of them are very vocal, and many of them use scriptures as their "proof" as to why it is appropriate to make the lives of gay people miserable. Your point is moot. The only reason the United States does not recognize same-sex marriage is because of the religious shitstorm it would stir up because too many fundies believe this is a "Christian nation" founded on "Christian principles" completely missing the point that the founding fathers of this country established a Deist outlook on life and said themselves that it is critical to keep church OUT of politics. Atheists are not the majority voice in the country. Not just Atheists, but any level-headed member of any faith. They are not the vocal majority. The Christian apologists you posted in that link are a small fraction of a larger group that doesn't feel the same way.
A lesbian couple was gunned down and their bodies dumped in tall grass in Portland, TX recently. Maybe you heard about that in the news. Portland is essentially my backyard, I live literally 10 minutes outside of it. I don't know about you, but to me that's fucking terrifying. It's horrifying to know that as someone who is out in public that this entire time in a town where I've spent large portions of my life
I could have been shot and killed at any moment by a bigoted, hateful, worthless sack of shit "doing God's work". That could have been me. That could have been one of my best friends. You do not know that kind of fear and you never will because you are "the societal norm". You will never know the feeling of reading the news, seeing the headline "Same-sex couple found murdered in Portland" and feel that pit form in your gut realizing "wow, this happened where I live to people just like me". That's messed up.
This is what religion does. It makes people live in fear. I have two upcoming shows to perform at anime conventions, one of which is in Corpus Christi, also 10 minutes away from Portland on the opposite side of me. I am an LGBT-friendly comic and that's my persona. I am seriously considering canceling the show because I don't want to be there. I am afraid.
Religion makes people who are oppressed live in fear. You believe in God and you wouldn't shoot someone, but you cannot speak for everyone. Those people are out there and now I know all too well that they're as close as home to me.
There are bills and laws working through government as we speak that attempt to dismantle the availability of contraceptives to women, not to mention the political quagmire that is the debate on abortion. It's a mess, and if you look at
the most vocal opposition, all of them are people who have a Bible where their head should be.
You take a statement that is meant to be thought about in a rational sense, such as me saying science is being held back by religion; it is, just take a look at the educational backpedaling taking place in Louisiana to have
state-funded textbooks sent to Christian schools saying evolution is false and the Loch Ness Monster is real. Judging by the impression you left on me your knee-jerk reaction to that criticism will be "IT'S A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL DON'T SEND YOUR KIDS THERE".
That isn't the problem. If parents want their kids to be taught improperly on purpose that's their business, the problem is these textbooks and supplies are state-funded. That's tax payer money. Ergo, that is
government money. That is a clear violation of this notion of "separation of church and state" in the most literal sense. If that school wants bogus books so badly I am sure there is a church willing to shell out money. The problem gets worse when churches are endorsing political canditates (Mitt Romney). This is a stark violation of IRS tax law. Churches can get their tax-exempt status revoked for doing this, but the problem is that the IRS isn't going to pursue that and the churches know it. It would be a massive-scale PR/political/public/religious nightmare.
I am sorry, but for all inclusive purposes religion is a hindrance to humankind and the advancement of certain realms of human health and wellness. You may not like what I have to say, but unfortunately that's the way things are running here. It doesn't matter what I have to say to you about it, at the end of the day you're just going to find one sentence of mine to pull apart and then drop some meme-speak like "christfag" and "goodonebro.jpeg" and trolololol yourself back to the Promised Land. This is exactly why I'm not fond of religious debate.
