Mormon Fundamentalists...

BYU has students from over 100 countries. But about 30% of the student body is from Utah, and most of them are from the Scandinavian stock that settled heavily in the area in the 1800s.

 

So in other words, nothing. I mean, you pretty much sound like a good Roman talking about those wacko Jews who believe that some obscure provincial traitor and rebel named "Christos" - get a load of this! - ROSE FROM THE DEAD! Hoo boy, that got a laugh down at the baths, I tell you what.

 

Except that your reasons for thinking Mormons are loonier than Christians don't stand up under a comparison between the two groups.

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Mormons = "the Bible with a crazy ass American topping"

Christians = "the Tanakh with a crazy ass Greek topping"

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Mormons = violent history

Christians = violent history

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Mormons = perserving their faith through revelations

Christians = preserving their faith through revelations

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I don't see any difference in wackiness between the two. They're equivalently batguano insane from any rationalist POV.

 

what!

forgotten your basics?

redheads were created by that evil angel, Lipitor, to seduce nice Mormon men and turn them into coffee drinking heathens.

you needs your caffeine to keep pace with your average redhead, bucko...

 

No, it will too bad for YOU when Poku shows up on the Last Day and sends you infidels to Terrapin Hell where you'll have to listen to endless loops of Wham's greatest hits while watching the same three reruns of "Roseanne" for all eternity. Repent now!

 

True, dat.

 

sorry. i gotta say that "Roseanne" was the most "real" family on TV during the time her show was broadcast. they were emotionally intimate ( i didn't like to think about possible physical intimacy, but they had 3 kids, if you call DJ a kid ), the program talked about actual family values issues, and it was f*nny.

maybe i wouldn't want to spend 83 seconds in a room with Roseanne Barr, but i thought the show was great.

but possibly that wasn't your point. as the other Roseanne would say, "Never mind."

 

All religious fundamentalism is bad.

 

if you mean that someone believes that there is a specific Truth that their life is fixed upon, then i would have to disagree with you.

anyone who has a flexible religious belief set probably doesn't believe anything worth living for, let alone dying for.

 

Nope, I'm agreeing with bigred here.

Fundamentalism in religion is dangerous. It causes people to be inflexible, to be judgmental, to be able to cause harm to others that do not fit their personal definition of a human. It is terribly inflexible and not open to new ideas, and it is easily directed (with Nationalism) at hatred and violence against others.

 

fundamental Christianity should render a person non-judgmental, from the standpoint that Christians must love others regardless of whether they believe the other person is wrong in belief or behavior. finger pointing is wrong. whether you have religious beliefs or not.

open to new ideas? Christianity was a "new idea" when Jesus lived and the religious establishment had him killed.

and i submit that your intolerance toward a strong set of religious beliefs, calling them dangerous, is finger pointing.

what Christian do you know personally who has ever harmed anyone because of a belief system?

 

Yeah, Christianity was a pretty new idea, 2000 or so years ago. Since then there have been a lot more new ideas which Christianity hasn't exactly done a very good job of embracing.

As for Christians harming people because of a belief system, wow, are you serious? Sure, they aren't out there bombing abortion clinics every day, but when that isn't happening, you sure do have a lot of Christians who like to declare that "God hates fags" and other lovely things like that. While it isn't physical harm, it isn't exactly the warm and fuzzy picture of Fundamentalist Christianity that you like to paint.

 

I haven't seen a link to this story in this thread, but found it an interesting article -

Boys Cast Out by Polygamists Find Help from the NYT.

 

Are Mormon's generally literalist about the historical passages of the Book of Mormon?

 

what new ideas do you want Christianity to embrace?

i've never, ever met someone whom i've heard say anything more critical of homosexuals than to say that it's a lifestyle choice that is contrary to the Bible's teaching.

when you say "you sure have a lot of Christians...", do you have any idea how patronizing and critical that is? my guess is that you think that a majority of Christians think God hates homosexuals. i don't know anyone who thinks that way.

does the Bible teach that homosexuality is a sin? yes. should Christians be more concerned about homosexuality than the adultery of Christians who go to the churches we attend? NO. are some of us more concerned? YES. and that's a terrible commentary on how easy it is to point the finger.

in my experiences on BigSoccer's board, i find the community of atheists and agnostics far more intolerant of the Christian perspective than vice versa. read the posts. atheists and agnostics call us stupid, dangerous and narrow-minded.

the most significant persecution of any people group during the past 75 years has been by the atheistic Soviet regime under Stalin toward Russian peoples, some of whom were probably Eastern Orthodox Christians. that is a fact. the historical Christian persecution toward non-Christians pales in comparison.

 

StiltonFC, may I introduce you to the Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church:

http://www.godhatesfags.com/

And also, let me introduce you to the Rev. Pat Robertson:

I can go on, if you'd like.

 

Or killing for. It's mindsets like yours that creates bin Ladens.

The only possible dissent with scaryice's post is that it wasn't broad enough to include ALL fanatacisms, including dogmatic "Marxism", neoconservativism, various nationalist or racist movements, etc.

 

The willingness to die (or kill!) for a belief system has absolutely no bearing on its truth value or its social value.