Agnostic.com
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Why do you use agnostic.com?
genessa comments on Jun 3, 2019:
i like it because, although there are proportionately just as many pugnacious punks and ignorant idiots here as on facebook, there are also proportionately just as many cool folks, and they're not the same cool folks i know on facebook, so i've expanded my reach and my reachability, both. in addition, very few people here say they're going to pray for me or tell me i'm going to hell, so that is cool too. (on facebook, i don't get that a lot either, because i've weeded such folks out of my life, but still. it's potentially more annoying on that level. i still hang out there. i can multitask, you know.) g
Lucky I didn't poke my eyes out with this game.
genessa comments on Jun 3, 2019:
oh yeah for sure. i used to like this, though if i recall, i was rubbish at it. g
We all know they had a tv show back in the day, what other bands had their own tv shows?
genessa comments on Jun 3, 2019:
i don't remember the raiders having their own show. josie and the pussycats had an animated one. then there was the partridge family. out of all of them, the monkees had the best quality. g
I don’t believe in god, but I do think that there is something either spiritual or universal going...
genessa comments on Jun 2, 2019:
so which god don't you believe in, exactly? i mean you are entitled to believe as you will, but if you're going to share that info, then you're inviting questions and comments, right? my answer is that you cannot always find comfort. (mac and cheese is good, though.) not being able to find comfort is not a very logical case for spirituality, not that you need an excuse, but since you mentioned it.... g
Should atheists have to do jury duty?
genessa comments on Jun 2, 2019:
there is no requirement to put your hand on a bible. every court lets you affirm, without any religious reference. g
What is your most creative or amusing use of a bungee cord?
genessa comments on Jun 2, 2019:
i don't know how creative or amusing this is, but when i first went to france, i had a couple suitcases and two working arms. a week and a half into the trip, i had an adventure, which i have written about, and to which i can link you but not right now, as i am still setting up my new computer, a whole 'nuther story, and that adventure resulted in my right arm's being broken, just below the shoulder, just where a reset would've been impossible. it just had to stay immobilized. so there i was traveling around with another six and a half weeks to go, and no way to transport my suitcases. i was staying in rennes, so i just popped on over to a rennish version of a five and dime and purchased a metal-and-vinyl upright rolling cart of the sort that people use to bring shopping, except this was lined in vinyl instead of open-grid with metal showing and no other protection. it didn't have so much as a snap to close its vinyl lid though, so i purchased a bungee cord or two and, having dumped the contents of one suitcase into it, bungeed the other suitcase to the top and literally singlehandedly went on my merry way. g
Peace of mind produces right values, right values produce right thoughts.
genessa comments on May 30, 2019:
it means think right, do right, work. it's a nice thought. thoughts like that do wobble on their platform of everyone's agreeing what "right" is and everyone's caring what "right" is. it is also the antithesis of "the best laid plans of mice and men...." g
What is the answer for your happiness?
genessa comments on May 30, 2019:
no one actually knows the key to happiness, one reason being that there is no one single key that works for everyone. anyone who tells you they have the key to happiness is at best mistaken and at worst trying to sell you a bridge in arizona. g
One day will come.
genessa comments on May 30, 2019:
no it won't. it really won't. g
WOODSTOCK REMEMBERED I was only 14 15 years old when the hippies came to NY for Woodstock.
genessa comments on May 28, 2019:
memories, memories! my dad's boots went to woodstock (and never came back) but i didn't. his friend's son "borrowed" those boots and went. i wish i'd had the courage to defy my folks and go, but it would've been quite a trip. maryland isn't exactly next door to upstate new york. g
Woolworth's.
genessa comments on May 28, 2019:
i think black baby boomers remember woolworth's and its lunch counter a little differently from how nonback boomers do. at any rate, there was a mccory's, much like woolworth's, in our town plaza, very near our school and on my way home, not too far out of the way for my best friend, whose home was in the other direction, and the two of us used to go sit in a booth and each order a small bowl of pickles and a cherry coke -- all we could afford. the staff were eager for us to move on but we liked having a place to talk about life, the universe and everything. unfortunately, one afternoon some friends of my mom's were sitting a couple booths down and reported to my mom what we had said, and mom was NOT amused. also not amused was the cop who patrolled the store and didn't like our standing in the magazine aisle reading some of the teen mags. he was rude to use and ordered us to move on (i think he even tried to move us from the booth once, too, but had less success there, as we actually had paid for our fare and were still consuming it). he was a fine example of the nickname then current for cops: "pig." i have since met more nice cops than mean ones, and a few indifferent ones in situations in which they should not have been indifferent -- but then again, i am not a person of color, and my experience may well have been different, possibly even deadly, if i were. g
[myjewishlearning.
genessa comments on May 28, 2019:
one of the rabbis at the temple i go to once in a while (high holidays if i am well enough, for example) once gave an interesting sermon based on that exact question. his conclusion: we don't know. g
Even those who don't believe in prayer can relate to the sentiment.
genessa comments on May 28, 2019:
it's funny but since i have never prayed in my life, since the picture shows a christian form of prayer and i have never been christian and since that particular prayer isn't part of my background, i don't identify with that method of wishing, nor with that method of celebrating. i do get it, though. quite frankly, i'd rather he live, and spend the rest of his life wearing a suit the color of his face, in a small room with no golden toilet (and no lid on the toilet he DOES have), and a big hunky horny cellmate. g
Does anyone else also make a point of readign books which have been banned at one time?
genessa comments on May 28, 2019:
no. i don't look up which books have been banned, when, why, or by whom. there would be a gazillion of them. sometimes i find out about such things as i go about my normal life, which involves a lot of research that could incidentally reveal such information. unless i have reason to be curious about a specific book, or about a specific banning entity, i don't go seeking these things. i have read books which, as it turns out, have indeed been banned, but not because they were banned. i read them because i was interested in them. if i was ever interested in a book and it turns out it was currently banned i might make an effort to read it, but i would be more likely to work toward unbanning it, whether or not i then read it. g
Me, tRump and a Louisville Slugger. Two men enter, one man leaves!!!!
genessa comments on May 28, 2019:
eww, you would have to have the bat fumigated! g
[forward.
genessa comments on May 27, 2019:
haha just a side note but how can he be a born-again christian when he wasn't born a christian to begin with? anyway i try not to think about his religious proclivities because i like his music and his social conscience, if not his ego and misogyny. g
Last Sunday, the subject of the sermon was "The Lonely Atheist".
genessa comments on May 27, 2019:
so in what way does realizing that the absence of gods make atheism bullshit? atheism is just the realization of the absence of god. it has nothing to do with whether or not that matters. oh, and by the way, none of that is a secret. g
I have no problem with the word “god” It is fun and nonsensical to get into an argument with ...
genessa comments on May 27, 2019:
i would have no problem with god meaning what you said if that is what god meant. however, it HAS a meaning, or meanings, already, and they are meanings that MEAN something to people -- people have feelings about those meanings. there is no use making up new meanings for old words that are so emotionally charged for those who care about them. every word is just a word. so what? you have a new meaning? find a new word. g
I was just thinking, have any of you read George Orwell's, "Animal Farm?
genessa comments on May 27, 2019:
orwell knew whereof he spoke. he volunteered in the spanish civil war (against franco, naturally!) and saw it all coming. g
I Quit This Forum & will not return.
genessa comments on May 27, 2019:
this is not true. you are still posting here. g
Does this group do anything consrtuctive that benefits society?
genessa comments on May 27, 2019:
is the general and hello group SUPPOSED to do anything constructive that benefits society? or is that not what you mean by "group"? if you mean the entire site, yes, it does something constructive that benefits society in two ways. it benefits people who have a need to talk to other people not brainwashed by religion, and it benefits by extension those to whom our members then reach out. g
I'm curious about what people on this site feel about the simulation hypothesis.
genessa comments on May 27, 2019:
i have never heard of the simulation hypothesis so i cannot comment on it, itself, but i can certainly wonder why one needs a belief system. having a belief system seems iffy in and of itself, regardless of what that system is. g
Answer This Question Honestly---- Who Had The Most POSITIVE Influence On People.
genessa comments on May 26, 2019:
not most. more. you named two people. you use a comparative, not a superlative, when there are only two elements to the comparison. meanwhile, do you mean positive influence as in making individuals who followed them happy, or positive influence as in helping people become better people? and why those two outdated names, come to think of it? g
Although I am an Atheist my self I have to say that some of the most rude, inconsiderate, foul ...
genessa comments on May 26, 2019:
what's a rascist? someone who beleves in rasc? and if we're so rude (and you've said elsewhere that you quit) why are you still here? anyway, your experience is certainly not the same as mine in terms of who is more racist. foul-mouthed is another matter but that only bothers me when the so-called bad words are used AGAINST someone instead of for emphasis. do you think your posts against our characters are polite or considerate, then? hmm. g
It appears that we have No Black Members.
genessa comments on May 26, 2019:
i see black members here all the time. how were you searching -- for people who put "black" in their profiles? g
Did Billy Graham do anything that injured our society?
genessa comments on May 26, 2019:
i do not know much about him apart from his advising nixon, which makes him suspect already, but he fathered franklin graham, and the existence of that pest is a bane to society. meanwhile, how can you ask whether conversions to his brand of (or any brand of) christianity helped or hurt society? do you really not know? g
Copped this from Twitter
genessa comments on May 25, 2019:
when women run the world there won't be any posters of women who fit whatever the current standard of beauty is and run around doing their business in bikinis. when women run the world they will look like hillary clinton, maxine waters, alexandria ocasio-cortez and ruth bader ginsburg, and they will BE heads of state. g
Have you ever been annoyed by just the sight or voice of a person?
genessa comments on May 25, 2019:
only a few. there was a woman named kathy something selling cookware who had an extremely annoying voice, and there is currently a super-long commercial for some kind of wrinkle-remover that is narrated by a woman with a voice as irritating as can be. of course donald trump takes the cake, and then add content and he's impossible. g
Do you remember Cosmos with Carl Sagan?
genessa comments on May 25, 2019:
of course! i adore sagan. g
WHAT YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE -- Let me see if I have this straight.
genessa comments on May 25, 2019:
"Jews believe in God but not in a divine Jesus. They're also not really down with the whole Heaven/Hell thing. They believe they were chosen by God because they best personify the moral and ethical behavior God demands." the last sentence is incorrect. the chosen people thing has a single source, and it is that (i am talking from within the jewish belief system now, not from my own belief) god offered abraham, and through him the jewish people, a covenant. abraham had a choice whether or not to accept the covenant. he accepted. i have always thought the term should be "choosing" rather than "chosen" but the "chosen" comes from the choice god made to offer the covenant to the jews. had abraham not accepted, presumably god would've gone on to his second choice. it is not about best personifying the moral and ethical behavior god demands. naturally, the follower of any religion follows that religion believing that is what god wants, so EVERY religion believes that god has chosen them because they best personify the moral and ethical behavior god demands. that is not unique to the jews and therefore cannot be what being the chosen people means. if that is what "chosen people" meant, every religion's followers would be, in its own view, the chosen people. i'll also add that "chosen people" in terms of judaism means that god gave extra commandments to the jews. i don't know why christians refer to the 10 commandments; jews have 613. i forget how many god demands of nonjews -- and the fact that they have fewer (WAY fewer) commandments, according to judaism, does not make jews superior. it makes them more obligated. g p.s. judaism also is not defined by NOT believing in the divinity (or necessarily the existence) of jesus (not his real name in any event). judaism is a lot older than christianity, and jesus, if he existed, was jewish.
Anybody else remember their Grandmothers dressing like this?
genessa comments on May 25, 2019:
sorta. one died before i was three, the other just as i was turning three. i remember the latter and her dress was a bit like that. i don't know whether the hairdo i remember her having was hers or a wig. i know her parents were orthodox; i don't know how religious she was. i know that when the last remaining orthodox grandparent (great0-grandparent of mine, i always assumed, as i heard this in retrospect) died, my mother turned to my father and declared that she would no longer keep a kosher household. he balked but a few years later he was eating mcdonald's cheeseburgers, so i guess he got over it pretty fast! g
Trump invokes emergency powers to sidestep congress and sell arms to Saudi Arabia ...
genessa comments on May 24, 2019:
he wants to be considered a legitimate president, which he (atypically, correctly) suspects he is not, and yet, he doesn't mind going down in history as a president whose presidency was beset by one emergency after another! g
Do you think that studying the history of the world helping to make everyone become agnostic or ...
genessa comments on May 24, 2019:
it depends on who is writing the history. remember studying history in elementary school? we were told that the brave, noble christopher columbus discovered america. he was no such thing and did no such thing. have you watched the history channel lately? it has become the jesus/aliens/conspiracy theory channel, but it's still called the history channel, so those who watch it might be tempted to consider it educational. then there are the holocaust deniers and other revisionists. meanwhile, some people's history exclude all but the most unavoidably famous women, refer to eras as bc and ad instead of bce and ce, call jesus "christ" even if it's not from WITHIN the religious bubble, and are otherwise less dependable than some other sources. so how do you propose the less aware who want to BECOME aware tell the difference between the "real" history and the "fake" ones? g
Selfishness as a virtue?
genessa comments on May 24, 2019:
between selfishness and selflessness is the concept of acting for mutual benefit, even if one's own gratification is delayed, or passed on to a descendant. libertarianism, to me, while claiming to be for individual rights, is in fact only for the individual rights of the libertarian doing the claiming. why pay to educate someone else's kids? because 1. you were a kid and you didn't pay; pay now. 2. it is easier to live among educated people than among ignorant people. 3. other people are paying for things from which they do not benefit and you do. it evens out, more or less. why pay for roads? can't we build our own roads? no, not everyone can build a road. everyone's talents are different. we all pay to have the roads repaired (although trump says now he won't consider repairing them, or bridges, or anything else, until investigations into his life cease) even though some of us know how to build roads, and we all have to pay for public schools even though some of us know how to teach, and we all have to pay into social security even though we don't KNOW which ones of us will need it later. it's not redistribution. giving tax breaks to gazillionaires is redistribution. so... every libertarian i've ever confronted with any of this has had nothing useful to say in response but instead has changed the subject. can you tell what i think of ayn rand and of libertarianism from what i've said? rofl! g
I am proud to be a liberal and I will always vote for the most liberal candidate I can find.
genessa comments on May 24, 2019:
well said, and while i'm at it, welcome to the group! g
As a freethinker I don't believe in life after death.
genessa comments on May 23, 2019:
there is no logical way to justify belief in an afterlife. i too understand why people are desperate to believe in such a thing and may eschew logic for the sake of their peace of mind, but it just doesn't work if you think too hard about it. fortunately for me, in terms of missing loved ones, i dream prodigiously, and have often dreamt of my dead parents and my dead best friend (and even my recently deceased cat, golde). the first time i dreamt of my mother after she died, she appeared to me floating in the air about two stories high, and i looked up and said to her, "but mom, you're dead!" she made a funny face that i would say was unique to her except that sometimes i feel myself also making that face -- it was a face she used when she thought someone had said something ridiculous, and it was her version of an eye-roll. she retorted, "i am NOT dead. i'm a LATE person!" g
When you were a kid what did you think?
genessa comments on May 23, 2019:
nope, it never occurred to me, because we were secular jews and didn't go to temple, or talk about religion. we talked about culture. we celebrated holidays. we talked about history. i never even knew whether my parents believed in god until, as an adult, i asked them, and neither of them was sure what s/he believed even then. so there was no habit, and no hypocrisy. we had our problems as a family but that wasn't one of them. g
Why do i believe in science?
genessa comments on May 23, 2019:
why does someone have to BELIEVE in science? science exists. you can witness people performing scientific study every day. science isn't a belief system. belief and science don't really belong in the same sentence, not in the current context anyway. g
PETE BUTTIGIEG GOES NUCLEAR Mayor Pete claims Trump faked disability to avoid draft ...
genessa comments on May 23, 2019:
i hate to break it to you but pete was not breaking shocking news. everyone KNOWS (and has long known) that donald faked his bone spurs. he played tennis the whole time he was supposed to be in too much pain to serve. this is not exactly a secret. g
Any takers?
genessa comments on May 23, 2019:
he still owes me $130k for not sleeping with him. g
'Islamization of Europe a good thing'
genessa comments on May 22, 2019:
there has always been islam in europe. it is responsible for much of the great architecture of spain. muslims, christians and jews (and presumably atheists, as long as we kept our mouths shut) lived in harmony until those most inquisitive folk ruined everything. auto-da-fe, anyone? g
Do you remember these? Which one was your favorite, mine was caramel.😊
genessa comments on May 22, 2019:
hmm, no, not my thing, then or now -- and i don't tend to like products from kraft anyway. if i had to use one, though, i would likely choose butterscotch. g
The down side to this fuck wad dropping dead would be the long line waiting to piss on his grave.
genessa comments on May 22, 2019:
my piss is too valuable to waste on his grave, and the earth is too valuable to be polluted by his corpse. g p.s. to my surprise i found i had typed (so it seemed at the time) "to valuable," and immediately edited that. to my surprise, after i had corrected and saved it, it still read "to valuable"! i had to do it AGAIN for it to take. i do not think it was a glitch with the editing feature. i think that ag dot com is back to its old ways of dropping letters (and even whole words) as it did for a while several months ago.
What if I’m atheist not Agnostic? Just asking, to stimulate conversation.
genessa comments on May 22, 2019:
what if? nothing. be whatever you are. the address atheist dot com was taken when this site was created. if you actually read the about and all that, you will see for whom this site was created, and that includes both atheists and agnostics. g
My coworker had migraines 3 days in a row because he was fasting for Ramadan.
genessa comments on May 22, 2019:
i spoke to a muslim cabbie the other day about ramadan and your coworker could have been excused from fasting. the point isn't to make yourself sick. same as yom kippur; not only are the ill excused, they're forbidden from fasting. one is not supposed to hurt oneself. religions have a boatload or ridiculousness in them but this isn't an example of it; it's an example of someone not understanding his own religion. g
Can’t verify
genessa comments on May 22, 2019:
why can't you verify? i got it right away. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-ballistic-fox-and-friends/ short answer: false. g
Well, well. Look who's hearing the appeal. [huffpost.com]
genessa comments on May 21, 2019:
haha now let's not get carried away thinking a fine judge like garland is going to do anything vengeful. he will hear the arguments and judge them on their merricks, er, merits. but since trump's arguments have none, i think we can predict the outcome without suspecting any bias. g
\Some people just want material things.
genessa comments on May 21, 2019:
i want a few material things. i am too old and sick to be homeless. i want a roof and food and all that stuff, and comfort for the furbabies (one of whom has cancer). i need money for all the things that will keep me alive. i don't think that makes me a materialist. g
There is clear evidence that humans invent gods.
genessa comments on May 21, 2019:
well, yes, we know, so no, no new thoughts. none required! g
Who was Jesus ?
genessa comments on May 21, 2019:
we will never know, since (because he was not divine at any rate) he won't be coming back to tell us. i suspect he never existed at all, but if he did, he sure wasn't anything like what people who never met him and were not even alive during his lifetime said he was. since i have never been christian, this has never been a burning issue for me. g
Who is actually 'open-minded'?
genessa comments on May 20, 2019:
i forget who first said that some people are so open-minded that ideas enter and exit without stopping anywhere in between :-)) g
My daughter's science teacher believes in God, magic etc.
genessa comments on May 20, 2019:
how did such a man even get to BE a science teacher? g
American voters must be embarrassed having a President who sabre rattles with foreign powers on ...
genessa comments on May 20, 2019:
american voters chose hillary clinton. she won the popular vote by almost three million. (her win would've been even bigger but there was a lot of voter suppression.) the electoral college should be ashamed but i doubt its delegates are capable of shame, or any human feeling at all.
How do you answer the banal message, "Hey, how are you?"
genessa comments on May 20, 2019:
i don't usually get asked this unless i've not been feeling well and then i am asked by someone who knows i've been ill, which i usually am. therefore i take people at their word and give an honest answer. g
I think it’s safe to say this is all of us
genessa comments on May 19, 2019:
i wouldn't let his foul lips anywhere near my pure oversized ass! g
[agnostic.
genessa comments on May 19, 2019:
the only thing i can see right off the bat is his english doesn't sound native, which isn't a crime or a scam in and of itself. he also has pictures but none chosen as a profile pic, or am i missing something? but his only post is about measles and there is nothing wrong with it. lol about his pictures being too good to be true -- i didn't find them all that good, no offense -- i'm no great beauty myself. g
Do atheists value life more than theists considering that they don't believe in a afterlife
genessa comments on May 19, 2019:
i wouldn't generalize. people who realize there are no gods and by extension tend to realize there is no afterlife (it's not part of the definition but it's logical -- and yet i see people asking about it here as a separate issue) are not all alike, and just because one has made one realization we should not assume that person has made all realizations (impossible anyway). good and bad people alike can be atheists; valuing life is a relative thing anyway; valuing one's own life and valuing the lives of others, or selected others, is another. g
Are we (progressives) giving Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez too much praise?
genessa comments on May 19, 2019:
what's wrong with praise? you say she hasn't got a swollen head. so i see no down side. no one stays long in a superhero costume and she herself isn't trying it on, so i'm not worried. g
I actually saw an ad on TV today, that surprised me - in a good way, telling about "Freedom from ...
genessa comments on May 19, 2019:
i love that ad. ron reagan is funny and smart. i see him sometimes on msnbc and he always makes sense, and makes it in a clever, compelling way, too. g
if your mother was on her deathbed and she begged you to pray with her.
genessa comments on May 19, 2019:
that would have killed my mom. we're jewish. but pretending to pray with someone dying, someone you love, and actually accepting a nonexistent christ into your heart are not the same thing. how would anyone even know what was in your heart? you could be on your knees and saying to yourself, "i am not praying but i am on my knees to make my mother happy, and she will die peacefully because of this pose, and it hurts no one, including me." my mom on her deathbed said she thought she would be joining my dad in heaven. do you think i said "gee mom i'm sorry you're dying but guess what? there's no heaven!" i said no such thing and i did not feel like a hypocrite for not correcting her. you only die once. g
Not ridiculing, just curious.
genessa comments on May 18, 2019:
a lot of people are new atheists/agnostics and really need the support of others because they're going through trauma involving friends, family, community. not everyone is able to say "i'm an atheist" and get an "oh, okay, what's for lunch" kind of answer. so you see a lot of discussions not only about atheism itself but about how to deal with religious people, and some of that involves clarifying responses to possible challenges by such people. others are working it out online. but let's imagine that some people are not entirely comfortable with their beliefs and are seeking validation from others? how is that so awful? maybe they become more comfortable through these efforts. that is a GOOD thing. g
Kansas Supreme Court Declares Choice a State Constitutional Right
genessa comments on May 17, 2019:
brownbackistan crumbles lol. maybe, MAYBE back to normal as a state, maybe starting now? g
Are we suffering from existential dread or the real thing?
genessa comments on May 17, 2019:
ach can't edit either, and can't approve pending posts. there is one below, which may or may not be approved (or rejected) by the time i submit this, which says (i'll copy and paste): "What's the difference between exiexistential dread and 'the real thing'? i wanted to approve it so i could reply simply "since when is existential the opposite of real? existential and real are not only not opposites, they're not mutually exclusive. is it big or is it green? is it drunk or is it 10 feet tall? g
Are we suffering from existential dread or the real thing?
genessa comments on May 17, 2019:
i'm having trouble getting the reply button to work so all i can do is post a new comment. ag dot com is having technical difficulties i suppose. so my reply to the reply to my comment below would've been "true enough, there certainly are -- good thing we can multitask!" g
Are we suffering from existential dread or the real thing?
genessa comments on May 17, 2019:
my spending a few moments telling those who think it's horribly important to distinguish between agnostics and atheists how silly they are doesn't prevent me from acting upon more pressing concerns. g
I am not an Atheist, I am Agnostic. There is a difference, actually a huge difference.
genessa comments on May 16, 2019:
look at everyone making decisions about what an atheist is and what an agnostic is when in fact there is such a huge difference that sometimes there is an overlap! i don't happen to have an overlap. but look, someone below said an agnostic doesn't care whether there is a god and an atheist cares very much. well, i am an atheist, not an agnostic, and i do NOT care at ALL whether there are any gods. i know agnostics who don't claim to know whether or not there are any gods and also don't care. so that definition is true of some but it's not true of all, or even most, so it's not definitional at all. it's like saying "dogs are animals who don't bite." "no, dogs are animals who do bite." some dogs bite, some don't, and the definition of dog has nothing to do with biting. the definitions of agnostic and atheist have nothing to do with whether we CARE whether or not there are gods. the definitions also have nothing to do with whether or not we're curious, whether or not we're arroganst (i've heard that too) or whether or not we want proof either way. so you are an agnostic and not an atheist. okay. fine. that's your business. and you think there is a huge difference. wrong, but okay, whatever. were you planning to support that statement in any way, or even just present what you think the huge difference is? g
[agnostic.com] Very bland and who adds a pic of themselves and writes 'Very sweet'?
genessa comments on May 16, 2019:
look how many other profiles in other locations have WORD FOR WORD the same profile! https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS734US735&ei=oTbdXOTNIM2s5wKF5qOgAQ&q=%22I+have+a+big+heart%21+I%27m+romantic%2C+and+love+to+cuddle%21+I%27m+not+afraid+to+say+I%22+am+wrong%2C+or+say+I+am+sorry%21+I+am+patient%2C+I+smile+a+lot%2C+I%27m+very+positive%2C+a+great+loving+Woman%2C+and+a+lot+more%21+I5l3j69i61j0.2576j0j4%26sourceid%3Dchrome%26ie%3DUTF-8&oq=%22I+have+a+big+heart%21+I%27m+romantic%2C+and+love+to+cuddle%21+I%27m+not+afraid+to+say+I%22+am+wrong%2C+or+say+I+am+sorry%21+I+am+patient%2C+I+smile+a+lot%2C+I%27m+very+positive%2C+a+great+loving+Woman%2C+and+a+lot+more%21+I5l3j69i61j0.2576j0j4%26sourceid%3Dchrome%26ie%3DUTF-8=psy-ab.3..0i71l4.26947.31018..32126...0.0..0.0.0.......2....1..gws-wiz.IEjd3Kg1EiE g
how do you define success?
genessa comments on May 15, 2019:
are those the only two choices: money or peace of mind? how about accomplishment other than wealth, such as inventing something useful for the world, or fighting for justice, either of which necessarily provides peace of mind? there are a gazilllion ways to define success that do not involve money or peace of mind. g
Has anyone here had any experience of or with Satanists?
genessa comments on May 15, 2019:
not i. my understanding is that the satanic temple named itself that to annoy christians and otherwise has nothing to do with the christian character, satan (note that in the hebrew bible, there is no devil/satan/beelzebub/etc. but rather a prosecuting attorney, or ha-satan, who works for god) but rather advocates for freedom of religion. i have mixed feelings about that. on the one hand, good for them! on the other hand, it does rather reinforce ignorant folks' impression of atheists as satanic. guess you can't win them all. g
Sarah-Art. Looks like a pornstar
genessa comments on May 15, 2019:
jhovana kelly.she claims to be. whether the real kelly is a model or a porn star i do not have the energy to further research. g
[forward.
genessa comments on May 15, 2019:
don't be ashamed. you are not responsible for miller's self-hatred, which is the worst kind. if he were in a concentration camp, he would be the first to volunteer as capo, and he wouldn't do it to protect his people either. g
Temporary setback. Sympathy for people with chronic pain.
genessa comments on May 15, 2019:
even temporary pain sucks. i, like @linxminx, also have arthritis and fibromyalgia, as well as neuropathy from my diabetes and some other stuff. like her i try not to complain; folks do NOT understand, any more than they understand that depression isn't just feeling sad. i had a recent experience of which your post has reminded me. i go to adult day care thrice a week, and the director is a nice person but i felt dismissed this past monday when i was feeling some rather unusual pain that i could not attribute to anything i know i have. i had back spasms in a place that i have never before had them, and the pain migrated to the front into my ribs and affected my breathing. i mentioned it to the director and she said "let's talk about our aches and pains!" and mentioned something that hurt her, and then walked away. it was rather shockingly dismissive. my pain got worse and by the end of the day i had to cancel my ride home and instead call for an ambulance, and guess what? the paramedic had the same attitude! he kept asking me if i was SURE i wanted to go to the hospital! i was fearful that he would write down that my insurance shouldn't pay because it wasn't a real emergency! i think chest pain and an inability to draw a full breath counts as a real emergency. when i got to the e.r. the doctor expressed his fear that my pain my be coming from a pulmonary embolism. he ordered an x-ray (which an urgent care could have done) and an ultrasound of my legs (which would NOT have been done immediately at urgent care). they found nothing. they said a p.e. was not eliminated totally but less likely than previously thought. they didn't offer me an alternative explanation but they did send me home with the usual instructions: call your doctor. but to be dismissed so, twice in one day! at least the doctor wasn't like that. but lay persons.... they definitely do NOT understand. i do not wish your pain upon you and i cannot say i am glad you have it. i don't and i'm not. but i AM glad that since you DO have that pain, you are wise enough to interpret it properly and imagine what it would be like to have it chronically. not only would people not understand what it's like, but if they DID purport to understand, then they wouldn't take your seriously if you had a pain you knew was DIFFERENT from your chronic pain! g
Hey guys! I posted a few weeks ago about my process of leaving religion and I know deep down that ...
genessa comments on May 15, 2019:
it is sort of scary to be on your own if you've been relying on that kind of "guide" right? but the more certain you become that the guide was your inner self all along, the sooner you'll stop punishing yourself, and then you'll realize that the only hell there could be is the one you create for yourself (not counting external circumstances such as, say, being a pregnant girlchild in alabama). the terror will subside. g
What was your most enjoyable dream?
genessa comments on May 15, 2019:
i can answer part of that: yes, sometimes i can go back into a dream after a brief awakening. i am not sure how i do it. i just do it. g
"We are stardust brought to life, then empowered by the universe to figure itself out - - and we ...
genessa comments on May 15, 2019:
he borrowed the stardust imagery from carl sagan, which is fine. g
How many of you had one of these.
genessa comments on May 15, 2019:
i had a normal bicycle. later, in japan, a friend lent me his bicycle, and i injured myself with it. still later, i rented un velo in france and injured myself worse with it. i stay away from bikes now. g
Morality is optional when you're conservative
genessa comments on May 15, 2019:
i don't even think it's optional. i think republicans punish each other if they are ethical. you have to be a criminal to be appreciated. g
When i finally opened my eyes after 30 years and was able to look unbiased at the bible and the ...
genessa comments on May 14, 2019:
the romans were the early-middle middleman in the deal. popes and then the british kings tweaked it even more. but before the romans, there was paul, and paul invented the beginnings of christianity as we know it, and if he had gone anywhere but to greece things might have worked out somewhat differently. first of all there is an old jewish expression -- yes, THAT old -- "he's a real son of god!" that just refers to a pious person. the greeks, on the other hand, had in their religion real sons of gods, gods who raped human women who then produced demigods. so that is how the greeks understood paul's statements about how good jesus was. second of all, tourism wasn't going to be greece's economic mainstay for a couple millennia, so they were supporting themselves raising pigs and fishing, and half of what they fished for wasn't kosher either. they were NOT going to convert to judaism! (cut my WHAT off? are you KIDDING?) so paul had to decide which was more important: converting the greeks to judaism, which is against jewish law anyway (jews are not permitted to proselytize!) or make the greeks goofy for jesus. he chose the latter. christianity is born! and by the way, the greeks went and called this new god a "christ," which does mean savior but savioris not an accurate translation of messiah. the messiah was never meant to be a savior. that's not a jewish concept at all. in judaism one is responsible for one's own sins. the messiah was prophesied as a human king who would bring peace (not an apocalypse, for example) in his own time (not after being killed on purpose so he could be resurrected and then vanish and then everyone could try to guess when he was coming back and make bumper stickers guessing what he would want them to do in the interim). now, you may say, jesus may never have existed, and surely did not exist as portrayed at any rate. of course! but that makes no difference to disciples, apostles, emperors, popes, kings or american evangelicals. g
Atheists make up a wide variety of independent thinkers.
genessa comments on May 14, 2019:
much as i would like to say we're smarter than other people, i think our only unifying attribute is that one way or another we came to the conclusion that there are no gods, or probably are no gods (see, even in that we are diverse). as for a unifying purpose, the only one i can think of we MIGHT have (i have it, myself) is working for the separation of church and state. everything else is up in the air because there are no tenets or rules to atheism, other than the actual definition of the word, which ITSELF is broad (do you believe there are no gods or not believe there are any gods?) not being a religion and all, it has no other attributes unless you count being reviled by a portion of the theistic population. g
I write this with a sadness I am unable fully explain with words.
genessa comments on May 14, 2019:
i am awfully sorry. g
Do you have pictures on your refrigerator?
genessa comments on May 14, 2019:
one picture and a boatload of magnets. g
GOP Sen.
genessa comments on May 13, 2019:
oh tom cotton who violated the hatch act with impunity? that tom cotton? someone ought to make a q-tip out of him. g
[agnostic.
genessa comments on May 13, 2019:
yeah he's giving me a little argument in his heaven and hell post.seems he can say he is an atheist and a believer all at once because, although he says in his profile he can't live without god, in the details section he says he's 50-50. he's a bit of a whiner, too. g
For previous believers, what was it that made you unconvinced about god and religion?
genessa comments on May 13, 2019:
i was raised a secular jew and was never religious, but i did (until age 15) believe, in a vague way, in some kind of personal god, sort of like an invisible friend. as a lonely and abused child, i needed a witness and this god filled that position. i didn't read about religion or anything like that. i just felt the need to examine my beliefs one day after realizing that my folks had gotten something wrong and i'd bought into it (it was silly; they said long-haired boys were dirty and i found out that simply wasn't true) and god went right out the window. it was a tad startling in its way but not a huge shock, and it didn't take any big philosophical delving or research. i just realized that there was no such animal. g
What is your opinion on Catholic schools? Are they forms of modern brainwashing?
genessa comments on May 12, 2019:
i have never been christian and went to public school. however, i know people who went to catholic school and they all have been abused, physically. one friend told me a nun picked up his desk, with him in it, and tossed it across the room. brainwashing? surely. however, there is, or at least was, physical abuse too. g
I heard about this movement on NPR the other day and had to seek out more information.
genessa comments on May 12, 2019:
i have not worn a bra since 1970. i have not worn underpants since 1997. i have never worn a corset. i don't wear stockings or pantyhose. i do not wear makeup. there are many things about my body i would change if i could but those things i just mentioned that i eschew would not solve any of them and in fact could make some of them worse. g
The orthodox definition of the theistic god includes omnipotence, omniscience, and omnibenevolence ...
genessa comments on May 12, 2019:
sorry -- i have never been christian. g
Christian Mom: It’s a Travesty That Girls Are Outperforming Boys Academically | Sarahbeth Caplin |...
genessa comments on May 12, 2019:
many moms: "don't argue with him. don't let him know how smart you are. men don't like smart girls." my mom: "you can be whatever you want to be." g
Last week my son's girlfriend came over with her brother.
genessa comments on May 12, 2019:
like the old man throwing the beached tortoise back into the ocean, the kid who scoffed and said "it makes no difference," and the man's response, "it makes a difference to THAT tortoise!" g
Trump Joke of the Day The Pope and Trump were on stage in front of a huge crowd.
genessa comments on May 12, 2019:
i have seen versions of this joke, and sometimes obama was substituted for trump. it made no difference except for whom one liked. as much as i hate trump, i don't find this joke funny because it is not specific to trump. you could, depending on who you were, substitute anyone you didn't like. that's not enough. now, i saw a funny one that wasn't funny when i first saw it because it was posted by an anti-obama, pro-trump person, but reversing it made it funny NOT just because i hate trump and love obama, but because it touched something real in trump's life. here is that joke, MY way: trump and obama accidentally found themselves in a barber shop at the same time, both in for a shave and a haircut. they didn't say a word to each other during the ministrations, but their respective barbers finished at the same time. trump's barber asked him if he would like a splash of aftershave. trump said, "no; i don't want to go home to melania smelling like the inside of a whorehouse." obama's barber asked him if he would like a splash of aftershave. "sure," he said. "MY wife doesn't know what the inside of a whorehouse smells like." that joke doesn't work the other way around! reminds me: an incorrigible evangelical trumpkin friend of mine posted a picture of melania on facebook, calling her beautiful. i refrained from responding by posting one of melania's pornographic photos. i am a nicer person than i give myself credit for being. i did hide the post, though, and hide all from the idiot from whom she got the picture, too. g
Religion and tradition repressed people and kept them stupid.
genessa comments on May 12, 2019:
science isn't causing us to do what we're able to do. we could've ended humanity in the stone age by just setting each other on fire. we can just do it faster and better now. the planet would survive -- but it would be uninhabitable by humans and a hell of a lot of other species (more if we destroyed ourselves faster, fewer if we took our time and destroyed them first). freedom of movement is just freedom of fast movement; we moved out of africa and we never did stop moving. religion is the arbiter of morality; ethicality is the purview of the secular, and i will not talk about morals as a good thing. i talk about ethics as a good thing. religion and ethics often clash. living in a fantasy world has its own intrinsic problems, whether religion or mental illness is the cause. so is your question about whether religion is worse than climate change? apples and oranges. or are you asking whether religion is worse than science and freedom of movement? yes, of course it is. science is good. freedom of movement is good. we can control what we do with our knowledge and abilities. whether we WILL control them is another story. g
[agnostic.
genessa comments on May 12, 2019:
one sees this on youtube all the time. here... rather unexpected but i guess it had to happen SOME time, eh? g
What liberals need to do is get back to these core values and quit pandering to the bankers and ...
genessa comments on May 11, 2019:
what liberals need to do is stop pretending that liberals are corporatists and panderers. if you actually paid attention to what liberals say and do and how they vote (i mean in congress, and in scotus) you would realize that liberals are not the right target of these accusations. this is propaganda that appears to come from the left but it is really coming from the right. g
Ouch! Mayor @Pete Buttigieg responds to ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ slam that he is “Alfred E Neuman”...
genessa comments on May 11, 2019:
funny thing is, when i was a little kid, jfk was running for office, and i saw a poster of him in my elementary school. it occurred to me later that this was kind of weird and maybe wouldn't be permitted these days. anyway, i didn't know who he was but i thought, because of his red hair, that he looked like alfred e neuman, which of course he otherwise didn't. (robert morse does, a bit, don't you think?) so to connect a president with neuman is funny to me -- but neuman is clever and trump isn't. ah well. g
Am I the only one this has happened to?
genessa comments on May 11, 2019:
well, satan has never been part of my language, since he has never conceptually been a part of my life (there is no devil in judaism, and ha-satan just means prosecuting attorney; all that satan-is-evil stuff is christian,and i never have been christian). but this reminds me of a nice line i heard on the old match game the other night. the mama turkey says to her progeny, "you're a bad child. if you father was alive he'd be rolling over in his ____." the contestant said "stuffing." the proper answer, which most of the celebrities got, was "gravy." g
Is there anyone....
genessa comments on May 11, 2019:
most vets do NOT support trump. that's another one of his lies. alas, the other two groups do tend to support him. i don't think it is necessarily ALL hypocrisy. some of it just stupidity. g
Which Religious Group Wants To Base U.S. Law On Its Faith?
genessa comments on May 11, 2019:
it would never in a million years have occurred to me that the answer was "muslims." i know a few muslims, and they just want to live their lives. on the other hand i've known a hell of a lot of christians, and most of them were pretty intensely interested in changing me. g
After reading the interesting post on left-handedness, I have a question: I am a left-hander.
genessa comments on May 11, 2019:
i don't know many lefthanders, or i do and they haven't mentioned it (not necessarily hiding it -- it just hasn't come up). therefore i cannot speculate or generalize. i DO know that lefthanders have more right-brain activity and righthanders have more left-brain activity, so looking up what side of the brain controls what might be helpful. i can also say that i am not ambidextrous and am righthanded by the usual definition, which is that i use my right hand to write and handle such tools as forks and spoons, but on the other hand there are certain things i can ONLY do easily with my left hand, and yet other things i can do equally easily with either. i can further say i am pretty damned independent (and stubborn, some might say). i cannot attribute this independence or stubbornness to these anomalies of handedness, nor (on the other hand) say for sure they're not connected. what a longwinded way to say "i don't know!" i hope it was a tad helpful, nonetheless. g
Maybe this is a wierd question.
genessa comments on May 11, 2019:
it wasn't for me, because i was never closeted. i have always been open about my lack of belief in any gods, even when i realized, at the age of 15, that they didn't exist. it isn't as if i got asked a lot. i am trying to think whether i ever got asked, at least until the internet arrived. but my observation of what others, from religious families or communities or workplaces, have experienced leads me to believe that there is a parallel. i think "coming out" is an apt expression to use. g
When is too late to start looking for a life partner?
genessa comments on May 11, 2019:
i met my life partner when i was 48 and he was almost 52. i'm 67 now and he will be 71 next month. i am wondering why anyone thinks there is a time limit on this, other than our own mortality? g

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Atheist, Humanist, Secularist, Freethinker
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