Back in the old days I might have used it or repped another person for using it in a rivalry context. But its weird, as the league gets bigger it feel like the RSL guys and the Colorado guys see eye to eye quite a bit on a ton of different topic areas. I would never utter the phrase now.
I like to think that my not responding to this with a piss-taking dig at a rival poster, is a sign of growth.
I'm an atheist and a Red Cross volunteer. No-one at the Red Cross has asked me about my beliefs. The Boy Scouts of America accept Christians, Muslims, Jews and non-theistic Buddhists and Hindus but they do not people who are openly atheist. Nor for that matter can an atheist get past step three at Alcoholics Anonymous ------------- Globalization is a perfectly acceptable term. Once you stick -ism on the end of any word someone is going to take offense.
Not true. The term "god" or "higher power" is how ever one wants to think of it. I've met Born Again Christians, Buddhists, somebody who though of "God" like The Force in Star Wars, and even those who generally scoffed at religion in general.
But I don't believe the flying spaghetti monster never replies to my prayers. Step 3: 1. Must be a higher power to whom I pray 2. Must be a higher power that responds to my prayers (or that I truly believe responds to my prayers) 3. Must be a higher power that cared about my existence in some way,
Since @Paul Berry decided to open this thread back up, I'll take the opportunity to mention--for the thread newbies this will attract--that fiosfan was NOT kicked because his personal opinion was Arena over Klinsmann or that MLS is a good league.
For newbies, and from a mod who was not involved in the decision, multiple mods have explained why (see my post on page 13). The passive-aggressiveness of this post is very poor as it infers something that is not in evidence - that is was based on his politics. If that is a misreading of the above post, it should be clarified.
You are reading it as a very traditional and literal manner of praying. While that works or many (most?) that is not the intent. It is to be used in conjunction with the serenity prayer, which in terms of addiction, is accepting that the person in recovery will always be in recovery. When one is talking about addiction and recovery, if the terms "prayer" and "God" are thought of literally and in religious context, it missed the point of the 12 steps to recovery, which is accepting that the addiction is in control.
How would you feel if you were hurt in a car accident caused by a drunk driver, the driver took responsibility and wanted to attend Alcoholics Anonymous, but they wouldn't let him in because he or she was an atheist?
I didn't want to get too deep, since there is this entire thread devoted to the subject. But, yes, it wasn't about his politics but his unwillingness to heed countless warnings from mods and persistent trolling.
Ya know, there is some rehash and some off-topic stuff (yes, I contributed), but I'm gonna close this down. We need to move on and take the off-topic stuff elsewhere.