This is David Akridge from Washington DC. Mr. Akridge works at the American Inns of Court. It even has his picture on their site, right here. While not annoying me, Mr. Akridge spends his time at the Gay's Men's Chorus of Washington, where WhitePages.com lists him as a board member.
He is also a board member (treasurer) of Rainbow Families DC. It is crazy to me that someone this hateful towards perfect strangers and their children would work for a place like this. It seems that a gay man would be more tolerant against those who are different from him, but apparently Mr. Akridge has no tolerance whatsoever. It totally surprises me that a family organization like that actually has someone of his character on their board. But don't worry, I have every intention of letting them know exactly what kind of person he really is.So should I rant on and on about what I think of your lifestyle as a homosexual? Because I don't think you would like it very much. But I respect all people, regardless so I won't go there.
I really hope that you don't have children. It would be impossible to be as perfect as you think everyone should be. At least according to your standards. I couldn't imagine the hell you would give them considering the things you felt entitled to say about my children. Really if being an atheist is so great, then why are all of you so angry?
Mr. Akridge is a member of an atheist meetup group and they have really enjoying bashing my family on their mailing list this week. Mr. Akridge started it with this post.
I ran across this rather nauseating blog. http://bagbybunch.blogspot.com/ It's full of those treacly platitudes about Jesus being the "reason for the season" and all. This woman is apparently home-schooling her kids, and yet her blog has numerous and remarkably consistent grammatical errors, most notably a complete lack of understanding of the difference between a plural and a possessive.
Call me an elitist, but it's people like this that are responsible for the perpetuation of ignorance. I mean, just look at her kids' "curriculum".
Just my Tuesday rant. Go about your business.
Then some of his friends in the group jumped on his hate bandwagon and added their own thoughts. Let me introduce you to Shelley Mountjoy. In my opinion, she is an idiot. And I'm about to tell you why! Here is what she posted to the group.
From: Shelley Mountjoy
Sent on: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 5:26 PM
The Jesus for the season crap doesn't both me as much as the accounts on her site of her homeschooling. Don't take that as me getting soft on you all but rather a frustration with Christian books for all subjects and overall lack of any standards for the kids whatsoever. I mean what is 7*7? I thought it was 49 but when Jesus and bread is involved it's probably like 7 trillion or something.
Here's an excerpt from her blog:
"Aaron and I keep going back and forth with taking the kid's to Mainstay Farm for their Homeschool Day. He doesn't want to go and I don't want to pay the $35 to go. Maybe we will take the kid's to the dollar movies to see Kung Fu Panda instead. In fact, that is a great idea. Anthony is finishing up his China unit this week and he is doing a lapbook on Giant Panda's. See, I can mark it down as an educational field trip. ;) Us homeschooler's have to be creative ya know!"
She subsequently did end up taking the three kids to see Kung Fu Panda. Here's what they missed at the farm:
* A short educational film
* Dress a scarecrow/farmer relay
* Hay Play and Jump
* Roast marshmallows around small contained fire
* Color maze
* Hayride
o Your class will see bee hives (at a safe distance), blackberries, pumpkins (in season) and live Christmas trees.
* Stop and play at the tree house fort, swinging trees, and wooden maze
It looks like the admission is $7 for the kids and $8 for her. That comes out to $29 here so the $35 must be a result of Jesus math. It cost her $4 total however to take the kids to the animated comedy film instead. It sounds like the farm would have been an all day affair. After the kids returned from the movies they took a nap in the bed with their Dad. She talks pretty frequently about the expenses involved in homeschooling. Aren't public schools in Texas free?
On a side note, it's interesting that they can't go to public schools during the academic year but they've spent the summer at Bible school for at least the past three years... I suspect something happened three years ago as that is when she decided to start homeschooling the oldest.
I stopped reading the blog at this point.
Here is Shelley......
And here is how she proved herself to be an idiot.The Jesus for the season crap doesn't both me as much as the accounts on her site of her homeschooling. Don't take that as me getting soft on you all but rather a frustration with Christian books for all subjects and overall lack of any standards for the kids whatsoever. I mean what is 7*7? I thought it was 49 but when Jesus and bread is involved it's probably like 7 trillion or something.
If you had clicked the box that said 7*7 then you would have read that 7*7 means saying 7 prayers for your family 7 days a week. It's kind of a play off of 24/7. Not that hard to figure out.
Here's an excerpt from her blog:
"Aaron and I keep going back and forth with taking the kid's to Mainstay Farm for their Homeschool Day. He doesn't want to go and I don't want to pay the $35 to go. Maybe we will take the kid's to the dollar movies to see Kung Fu Panda instead. In fact, that is a great idea. Anthony is finishing up his China unit this week and he is doing a lapbook on Giant Panda's. See, I can mark it down as an educational field trip. ;) Us homeschooler's have to be creative ya know!"
That was said in a joking manner, but obviously read more into it than that.
She subsequently did end up taking the three kids to see Kung Fu Panda. Here's what they missed at the farm:
* A short educational film
* Dress a scarecrow/farmer relay
* Hay Play and Jump
* Roast marshmallows around small contained fire
* Color maze
* Hayride
o Your class will see bee hives (at a safe distance), blackberries, pumpkins (in season) and live Christmas trees.
* Stop and play at the tree house fort, swinging trees, and wooden maze
This is one of the best parts of it. For one thing, did you ever think about the fact that we might have done this trip last year and it wasn't all that great so I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend my money on it again?
Shelley actually took the time to go to the farm's website just so she could "see what we missed". BUT, she's an idiot and completely lied. None of the thing's she listed were available on the Homeschool Day. She looked under the information for school field trips, right here. Besides the hayride, the fort and maze, none of those activities were available on Homeschool Day.
Oh yeah, not to mention that even if they had been available, the week before Homeschool Day there was a field trip to a local apple orchard where they were given a presentation on how bee's affect apple tree's.
This is what actually happened on Homeschool Day.....
THE GREAT PUMPKIN PATCH HOME SCHOOL DAY AT MAINSTAY FARM OCTOBER
Home School Day at Mainstay Farm.
October 1, 2007 from 10 am until 2 pm
(We close promptly at 2 pm to give
us time to pick up our own kids from school).
ADMISSION $7, check or cash. (Infants less than 2 are free).
The Wilson Family welcomes your home school group to our farm. Our pumpkin season is a wonderful time to visit the farm. Every visitor 2-and-up gets to pick a pumpkin to take home--five pounds or smaller. You'll see our film, "How Pumpkins Grow in Texas," and you'll have Big Time Fun doing all sorts of things: Take a hay ride around the farm pulled by our antique tractor and see goats climb telephone poles at GoatScape Mountain. Get lost in our wooden maze put your brain to work to navigate through our Color Maze, and take a walk through our brand new Hedge Maze. Play in the Triple-Decker Tree House and slip down the new 80-foot SuperSlide. The Hay-Play and Jump barn is always a favorite... it's here and ready. OUR RESTROOMS are great! A women's side and a men's side. Private stalls, too. All are WHEEL CHAIR ACCESSIBLE. Bring your lunch and eat in our picnic pavilion, we have picnic tables waiting. (Mainstay Grill will not be open today).
So basically it was like a big pumpkin patch. That costs $35 to go to (I know, Jesus Math, I will get to that in a minute). BUT, I took my kid's to a pumpkin patch where they got to do pretty much all of those activities plus more and it didn't cost me anything. Here is where I had posted the slideshow of that.
Now on to the part where you said I did subsequently take the kids to see Kung Fu Panda. Yes, I did....5 days later. It's funny how you made it sound as if we took the kid's to the movie over the farm. And what you totally failed to mention was that when we did take the kids to see Kung Fu Panda, that wasn't the only thing we did that day. October 6th was the day that we took the kid's to see the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art. After the museum we took them to Kung Fu Panda and then we came home and the girl's took a nap with their dad. Here is the post from that day.
It's crazy how you left that whole part out just to prove your point about how we just throw away educational experiences for our kids. You also didn't mention how the week before that I had taken the kid's to Fort Worth's Annual Day in the District, where we got into all of the museum's for free. We took that field trip last year too but with the exception of Log Cabin Village, we chose new museum's to visit this year. Including one with a special exhibit of the Impressionist's. You can check that out here.
It looks like the admission is $7 for the kids and $8 for her. That comes out to $29 here so the $35 must be a result of Jesus math. It cost her $4 total however to take the kids to the animated comedy film instead. It sounds like the farm would have been an all day affair. After the kids returned from the movies they took a nap in the bed with their Dad.
This is my favorite part. Jesus Math. I will always think of it that way. Since you took the time to visit the farm website but apparently didn't take the time to look up the correct information. The normal admission price is $7 for kids, $8 for adults.
On Homeschool Day, everyone was $7. Are you ready because this is where it gets good. There are 5, count them five people in our family. And if there are 5 of us and the cost of admission for each one of us is $7.....Five times Seven is $35!! Oh my gosh Jesus Math rocks!! Maybe you should switch over because your system isn't really working for you.
She talks pretty frequently about the expenses involved in homeschooling. Aren't public schools in Texas free?
Yes, like I've said before, they are free, but at what cost?
On a side note, it's interesting that they can't go to public schools during the academic year but they've spent the summer at Bible school for at least the past three years...
This is another good one. I love how you said "they've spent the summer at bible school for at least three years". Ok, let me break this one down for you. Vacation Bible School (VBS as it is called) is only a week long, not the entire summer. Not only is it only a week long but it's for only 3 hours a day. And no, they have not gone the past three years, they went to VBS three years ago! There is a difference there.
I suspect something happened three years ago as that is when she decided to start homeschooling the oldest.
Yes, something did happen. I realized that my child deserved a better education than the one he was getting at public school. It was like I was blind and suddenly I could see. Awesome. Just awesome.
I stopped reading the blog at this point.
Yay, because you obviously don't know how to read right anyways! You crack me up, thanks for entertaining me.
Oh, but I'm not done with Shelley just yet. She had another genius moment in this post she made....
I didn't see the Jesus being the reason for the season post but I didn't look too hard. However, I did notice that from her Thanksgiving pictures it appears she lives directly across the street from the church. I also noticed she buys her son's History and Math textbooks from a press that refers to itself as "Christ-centered resources for education, edification, and evangelism." They also sell materials on grammar but she went with a secular source instead.
I didn't see the Jesus being the reason for the season post but I didn't look too hard.
It's not a post. It's a little picture on the sidebar.
However, I did notice that from her Thanksgiving pictures it appears she lives directly across the street from the church.
From "the church"? Because I happen to live across the street from a church that just must be the one we go to huh? What an idiot! Sorry hon, but that church is the wrong denomination. I would love it though if we could just walk across the street to go to church. I love being at church. Makes my heart happy with all of that goodness.
I also noticed she buys her son's History and Math textbooks from a press that refers to itself as "Christ-centered resources for education, edification, and evangelism." They also sell materials on grammar but she went with a secular source instead.
Actually I didn't buy any of the Bob Jones books. A very nice friend gave them to me because she didn't need them anymore and my son was in the right grade for them. And I do have the Bob Jones Grammar and my son does use it. I just don't have it listed on the sidebar. And the so-called secular source, isn't secular. They use the bible to refer too, especially in the poetry unit.
See, it would be one thing if you actually knew what you were talking about, but you obviously don't. If you took a school textbook and one of my textbooks and compared them, there wouldn't be a ton of difference. Bob Jones gives the teacher both sides and lets them choose to introduce the other point of view if they want to. Even in their science books. It's up to the parent to teach what they choose....kind of my whole point this week....up to the parent, aka nobody else's business!
And the last of Shelley's comments I will post about.....
She talks about the lessons in a way that really gives the reader the impression she just tosses the kids an activity book and moves on. At least that's what it sounds like she does with the older boy. I doubt she knows some of the information herself that she is teaching - much less checks every book.
Well, I am sorry if that is the impression you get. It's inaccurate, but whatever. And you doubt if I know the information I am teaching? For one thing, I too went to school, so it's not like there is a ton of new info and I do have a good memory. Plus, if there is anything I don't understand...I learn it before I teach it. And yes I do check every book. Why wouldn't I?
It seems to me that you need a lot of attention. Just look at how much time you spend on your meetup group posting messages. It looks like you get about 5 hours of sleep and spend the rest of your time looking up articles to post. Get a life!
Time to move on to the next person....meet Michael Martha (the one on bottom). Here is what he had to say.....
| From: | Michael Martha |
| Sent on: | Tuesday, December 9, 2008 11:50 AM |
| From: | Michael Martha |
| Sent on: | Wednesday, December 10, 2008 10:27 AM |
All,
Actually, I take it back. I DO NOT WANT these
kids serving me food at
a diner! Yikes, what a head-ache that would be!
That said, I would like to say that I feel
genuine sorrow for these kids.
Reality if going to be especially rough for them.
It's so nice of you to say these things about children. You and your friends must be really proud of yourselves for attacking children. Seriously, my family is just horrible but you are great and wonderful saying these types of things? You are off your dang rocker!
There are more people in their little atheist group who put their 2 cents in as well.....but for now, we will move on. If you want to check out the entire thread, you can find it here at the atheist meetup group.
On to the last comments my blog received from Anonymous.....
What are your degrees? Do you have a masters in Education? Yes, I am sure you can read and repeat what's an a book to your kids, but can you back it up? Can you interpret them? Do you have an extensive background in History and Science? Have you travelled abroad and learned other languages? Do you even know there is a world outside the US? You seem like the typical fat redneck with minimum culture. Whya re you exposing your family in a blog like this? Why don't you keep it to yourself and your family members and close friends? Do you realize the whole world can see you? Do you think your low income low education family is anything special? There are tons of uneducated overweight people out there! Do you realize that being overweight and LETTING yourkids be fat at such an early age is a sign of ignorance? You do not know anything about nutrition and I am sure you are filling your kids with fatty and sugary treats.
What are your degrees? Do you have a masters in Education? Yes, I am sure you can read and repeat what's an a book to your kids, but can you back it up? Can you interpret them? Do you have an extensive background in History and Science? Have you travelled abroad and learned other languages? Do you even know there is a world outside the US?
I will ignore all of the obvious grammatical errors and move on....I don't have to have a degree to be able to teach. Some people are just capable of things others are not. I did not realize that all teachers have an extensive background in history and science! But I seriously doubt it if they do.
Nope, I have not traveled abroad and I have only learned one other language. Are you implying that in order to be a teacher, you have to do these things? Well, then your precious public school teacher's would fall short of your expectations of what a teacher should know.
What? There is a world outside the U.S.?? Oh my gosh, I thought that you just dropped off if you tried to go past Texas!
You seem like the typical fat redneck with minimum culture. Whya re you exposing your family in a blog like this? Why don't you keep it to yourself and your family members and close friends? Do you realize the whole world can see you? Do you think your low income low education family is anything special?
Wow, you aren't getting your way with me so you resort to calling names. Way to be an adult! Oh yes, I'm a redneck because I live in Texas. Can't you come up with anything better than that?
Yes I know the whole world can see us and it's my choice to be out in the open. Just because I have put us out there doesn't mean that I am going to sit back and let anyone, especially cowards who hide behind anonymous, say whatever they want to say about us.
And now we are low income and low education. What makes us special? Because we rock! You seem very angry that we exist and somehow just by breathing we have offended you somehow. All you have to go on is our looks and your preconceived notions of what people should be like. It also seems to make you angry that I have this blog and keep going on about my life and not curling up in a ball crying my eyes out because you chose to attack us. And if it's so "unspecial", why do you keep coming back? haha
There are tons of uneducated overweight people out there! Do you realize that being overweight and LETTING yourkids be fat at such an early age is a sign of ignorance? You do not know anything about nutrition and I am sure you are filling your kids with fatty and sugary treats.
Letting my kids be fat? You are an idiot. I never once said that we always lived a healthy lifestyle, but we do now. Fat doesn't go away overnight and it does take time. I really thought by now you would have figured that out, but you keep trying to educate us on our supposed stupidity instead.
We are all being treated by a doctor for our weight, we do eat healthy, we do exercise. Reversing years of bad habits takes time. Especially when you are trying to reverse those habits in children and yes, it was us that taught it to them in the first place.
I actually know a lot about nutrition and my husband knows even more than you and me combined. Being fat doesn't have any bearing on intelligence. Everyone is hard wired different, raised different, exposed to things differently. It is so annoying trying to explain these obvious, basic human things to someone.
And all throughout my blog are examples of what I feed my kids. It's so funny that there is never any mention of the bentos filled with healthy, portion controlled foods that I give my kids. Don't worry, I will do the work for you. Here is one. And another. another. another......really I could go on and on with it. On rare occasions like holidays my kids can have treats. And every now and then they can have a soda. But they are by no means a regular occurance here at all.
And what makes you so great? What makes you an expert on how all other people should live their lives? Are you perfect? Do you do everything in your life exactly right? Get over yourself already!
In your dellusion, you think it was god who gave you this and that instead of yourself/your hard work/your parents? So this god of yours talks to you? He prefers you to other folks? The same god who killed thousands of innocent kids in the tsunami? So your god is better than the Muslim god or the Zoroastran god or the Scientology guy? And you also believe in heavern and hell and that humans came from one couple and that the whole planet was created in one week? Why don't you at least TRY to read another point of view instead of being brainwashed by a corrupt local pastor who thumps the bible than has sex with the church secretary or is secretly gay while driving his Mercedes Benz bought with the money of the innocent and naive and low educated folks who come to his "church" and leave 10% of their hard working money in exchange for a slot in heaven, ha ha, how can people fall for that? People with low IQ, people with an IQ under 110, 100!
Open your mind by seeing both signs of the coin:
www.positiveatheism.org
www.richarddawkins.net
www.friendlyatheist.com
www.flamewarrior.com
Take a look and start thinking!
You think I'm deluded. I feel the same way about you. The difference between you and I? You get angry about it and I just feel sorry for you. If believing what you believe in will make me an angry, hateful person who attacks strangers and children to try and force my beliefs or way of life on them....then no thank you.
I prefer my life the way it is. I don't force my belief's on you...in fact, I haven't tried to this entire time. I have given my point of view. You are the one getting angry that I don't see things your way. I guess we are at an impasse.
8 comments:
I just happened onto your blog from a google alert.
Congratulations! You penned a very well-crafted response to these *ahem* tolerant folks. Yes, that's the way it runs with the gays and atheists, we're supposed to grant them all sorts of special treatment, but they don't feel the need to be nice in return.
Nope, they just don't play nice, do they? A nasty, frustrated crowd they are.
And, how did you get all those photos of them? Heh Heh, they can criticize you all they want, but God bless you, you are quite resourceful.
Besides, do these "tolerant" people have so much hate in them that they have to come pick on your children? Truly, just stop and think about it? It's kinda pitiful, isn't it?
Excellent reply to these people.
Elaine
P.S
Just so Anonymous and his friends know. I'm a homeschooling mom, have a master's degree in Early Childhood Education and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. However, the biggest qualification for a homeschooling parent is love and patience. Hmmm, maybe that is why Anonymous and Company couldn't ever homeschool!
Sigh.
This is all so sad. Can't we all just talk like rational beings while letting people live life? Breathe - everyone.
Mary Ann
I was wondering if you could toss a link where you found these posts. I'm a little confused why someone who's part of a Capital Atheist group in Virginia/DC would be worried about someone in Texas. If you don't have a link, could you narrow it down for me, which Capital Atheist group?
I ask because I recently did a vid on my adventures with New York City Atheists and this tale could fit with my theme of promoting the concept of secularization meaning being accepting of others regardless of ideology.
But if someone was that worried about Mainstay Farm, I must entertain the possibility you have the wrong person.
Thank you for your time and have an inspirational day.
It is Beltway Atheists. The link is posted a little bit after the last photo in the post. It says Here at the atheist meetup group.
I have moved past all of it now, but I wanted to answer your question. I will post an email link for you or anyone else who wants to contact me.
Thanks
Thanks for the quick response.
One more silly question, just to be clear. You're not an activist, political figure, or an outspoken person that actively goes out of your way to promote things like banning evolution from being taught in the school.
I hope you don't mind if I clear up a factual inaccuracy. These people are not capital A Anonymous, but they are capital A Atheists. Anonymous is the spawn of the 4chan crowd who's goal was to generate lulz (Laughter at someone else's expense). They have since moved on from childish roots and protest the Church of Scientology and perhaps other groups that are anti-free speech.
I know nothing about these Beltway people. I bumped into Shelley recently and wondered what sort of activism she did, and your blog is the ONLY action I've seen. She must not like your heart shaped sandwiches. Thank your lucky stars you don't own a sol-luna cutter.
They won't make my cult watch yet. They seem far too insignificant.
But you're right, Shelley is an idiot, an idiot in a very obscure PhD program, some sort of odd ball "interdisciplinary" mix of Electrical Engineering with Information Technology. When the school calls the program "innovative" be afraid, be very afraid.
Um, thanks I guess? lol
No I am not an activist or a political person who wants evolution banned from public school.
I do not mind my children learning both sides of the coin. I think that was where the atheists had me mixed up.
Just being a Christian didn't mean I didn't let my kid's see all points of view.
Before I reply to this I do want to communicate some distinctions.
Generally speaking when I refer to those who want avoid teaching evolution in schools odds are I'm talking about those of the Abrahamic religions. (Judaism, Christianity, Islam). Obviously other groups have their own take, but the Abrahamic family do share similar beliefs in this regard, and at least in this country I don’t see the Hindus for example trying to promote their dogma as fact but I can’t discount there are Hindu creationists.
The people you are encountering are capital A Atheists, also known as evangelical atheists, bible thumping atheists, or boneheads who spend way too much time not believing in something. Atheism to be fair is not in it self an ideology and most of the world atheists, about a half billion, are not these bozos. It gets confusing since there is no universal accepted definition of what a god is, but most larger branches of Buddhism, Taoism, Shinto can be considered atheistic. But silence is consent, and I plan to continue speaking out against bigotry in any form.
These people who came to the states are not at all offended by Christmas or being told "god bless you". It's simply a non issue. Gestures of kindness are seen as such, a holiday is seen as such. It's easy enough to spot the bonehead type. They're the ones to claim to fight for the first amendment, but at the time same are quixotic dolts against "theism" which is more politically correct then outright saying anti-Christian.
Now on to the reply.
"No I am not an activist or a political person who wants evolution banned from public school."
Great. So you're not like a talk radio show host that likes to say the government won't permit prayer in school when it's a non-issue. You can pray in public school, you can form a prayer group in school. Public Schools can’t organize nor can I imagine anyone who follows a faith think this is a good idea.
It's gotta be your heart shaped sandwiches. You want to make a real statement, see the reaction to Sol y Luna (sun and moon) sandwiches would have.
"I do not mind my children learning both sides of the coin. I think that was where the atheists had me mixed up."
The capital A Atheists? Absolutely! Keep in mind that main stream religious groups, to be fair, actually have standards for their leadership. Even Unitarian requires at least a Master's degree to be a minister. Organized Atheism doesn't have the same standard for their ministers.
This being said, there are some ecclesiastical groups who will misrepresent science to promote their ideology. But I’m seeing the same thing in Organized Atheism as well. My action against the New York City Atheists was mainly about a person who
they tried to present as an expert, self-taught expert, who they claimed translated the whole bible from Greek by age 25, could prove that it was the intent of the canonical gospel authors to write fiction, as in Jesus was the equivalent of Superman.
I knew the guy in question, hardly knows a lick of Greek let alone Koine, not to speak of the huge mess of biblical languages actually required for real literary criticism. Obviously they had no business presenting him as an expert. While issues are rarely polar, your axiom makes sense, but obviously one shouldn't lie just to promote their ideology esp when the field is divinity and the first year students know more than the self proclaimed “expert".
If someone like your self would propose teaching of religion in public schools, people like myself will say all or nothing. All is hardly practical but covering the top 10 world religions would actually serve to help get our kids to be citizens of planet earth, and it is a global civilization. It’s social studies. Telegraph, telephone, radio, no single human is ever more then 500 milliseconds apart.
"Just being a Christian didn't mean I didn’t let my kid's see all points of view."
Obviously not. The example I like to pull out of my hat is Father Lemaitre. Proposed a wacky theory, rejected by Einstein, and was insultingly named by Fred Hoyle as the
"big bang theory". “Too Religious”.
When I meet a person, I don't care what their ideology is. It's a non issue. What they do in the world is another matter. The major failing of organized Atheism is it's essentially another religion, one which will demonize outsiders who don't believe what they believe. The ultimate goal should be promoting freedom of, and from, religion as being a good idea for everybody. Criticism is not a bad thing, it’s a gift. If you're organization can actually withstand critical review, you've got something worth exploring. If you can look in the mirror and ask your self if your beliefs serve to yourself and the rest of the world and honestly say yes, then it’s no one else’s business. But any group is going to have it’s extremists who think their way is the only way to live.
Now I’m going to have “some” empathy to those who have been victims of violence in the name of an ideology. I wish more people would speak out on this issue. But I don’t think this is an issue with the people you encountered. I think they are just so insecure with them selves they have to go out of their way to find people they see less intelligent than themselves and harass them. Since they consider any “Christian” stupid by default, the just expose them selves as the bigots they are and are counter to the goal of promoting the idea that the world is big enough for various points of view, and drilling into the populous that this is a global civilization and until we’ve finally worked out a way to coexist freedom of and from religion are paramount to allow us to figure this out.
I don’t share your philosophical position, but I wouldn’t want to live in a world where everyone agreed. To this end I offer the following vid links
[Wayman29]
http://www.youtube.com/user/wayman29
“Discussing and researching religious literature, and how it influences our culture.”
Brilliant man. I tossed him a request to cover etymology of “Christ” (mashah, mishha, mashiah, Christos, Χριστός), he did his homework and came back with 3 pages of information I have yet to cross reference.
[Angel and the Bad Man, The (1947)]
http://www.archive.org/details/angel_and_the_bad_man_ipod
“John Wayne plays Quirt Evans, a gunslinger with a nasty rep who is injured and nursed back to health by a Quaker family.”
This is an odd family friendly film which is now public domain, as in you can share it freely, it’s legit. There are a ton of legit free movies on archive.org.
Even though you don't share my views, thank you for your info.
As far as prayer and such in public school...if that is the kind of enviroment that you want your kids in, you could always homeschool or there are lots of private Christian schools. And when I say you, of course I mean in general, not you specifically.
Christianity had no bearing on our decision to homeschool, it was more of an added bonus that the curriculum we used was Christian based.
After seeing the Beltway Atheists mailing list and the topics they discuss, it seems to me that they have nothing better to do than look for reasons to hate.
I don't feel that they succeeded in their goal to break me down. I am still here blogging and living my life and their feelings on it have absolutely no bearing on me.
My blog has always been my ramblings, on whatever topic I want to talk about. No one has to be here reading it if they don't want to and I can ramble on about whatever mindless thing I want to. It is my life and I am quite happy with it.
Again, thanks for taking such an interest. I hope that you have a great week!
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