Religion general

@Zincy  
It also has many practical uses.  
That was why salt was so sought after in ancient times that they’d use it as currency.  
Despite having no knowledge of germs back then. Salt probably would’ve been their only source of anti-septic. That “healing property” might have led people to believe salt as a sacred substance.

@SeraphimDawn  
Actually, it isn’t.
 
It’s water blessed by a priest, the salinity doesn’t matter (even if my grandpa used to say that salted Holy Water was used only for bless the tombs.)
 
 
@Zincy  
Just out of curiosity, what faiths? On top of my head, I know only Judaism and Shinto.

@Daxn
 
Most Pagan faiths consider it a purifier.

Zincy, do you really believe this pagan stuff, or are you just trying to be cool?
 
Also, I am never going to have a religious girlfriend.

@Randomosaur
 
Yes, of the more abstract concepts especially. I’m skeptical of certain things, like Wiccan magic for instance. I’ve yet to be convinced that any of it works. I have my little trinkets of course, whether or not they do anything doesn’t really matter so much as the symbology of it does. I don’t know if my Celtic shield pendent protects me, but it certainly makes me feel better.
 
I’d rather not go into a long winded explanation of everything I believe. So to answer your question succinctly, yes I do believe “this pagan stuff”, and no it’s not to be cool.

@Zincy  
If you ever do magic successfully, please go to a museum and reanimate a dinosaur skeleton.

@Randomosaur  
Don’t forget to add to it being a reanimated skeleton that breathes fire just like in Parasite Eve.

Speaking of Magic…
 
It can be dangerous thing.

Threads sinking, we need some new fodder to chew on.
 
Lets talk tolerance and respect, or more specifically, the lack there of.
 
 
I have a few fun little horror stories about my encounters with “religious tolerance” from my little corner of the bible belt.
 
One good one starts at a festival we have here every year. It’s a Pagan days festival that happens in a local park, it’s in its 4th year coming this Nov. The past 2 have gone off without a hitch, the first one was a little…bumpier. For starters, there were Churches and Church groups petitioning the city to not allow the festival to take place. Now, Roanoke is a pretty liberal city, so needless to say these petitions fell on deaf ears. So they shifted their strategy, and decided to gather at the fringes of the park and hand out leaflets to every person they could reach preaching about the “glory of Christ”. Best of all, one of our states worst news agencies, which is so fucking biased toward the religious right that even many conservatives have called them out on their crap, decided to run a little story filled with so many “what-ifs” it was like, and pardon the pun, a witch-hunt.
 
Most of these folk would have cried foul and ran crying to the governor and courts if anyone did anything counter to their faith. And they have, numerous times. Big champions of “religious freedom and tolerance” they are, in name at least. People need to start realizing that religious freedom is a two way street.

@Zincy  
I can’t speak for tolerance and respect or more specifically the lack of it but I do like to share this one quick story. A few weeks ago, as I got off the bus and to the community college I attend, an old guy gave me a Chick tract. Said tract was titled “The Long Road” I believe. I found it funny since one of the characters resembled Colonel Sanders and I made up some aesop from it that KFC is evil and Colonel Sanders is the devil. Aside from that, I can’t share much in relation to horror stories that are encounters with “religious tolerance”.

@Zincy
 
I have similar problems living in easily the most backward province in Canada. I’ve been told, to my face, that there’s no such thing as an atheist, among other insults. By relatives even. Yeah, real tolerant country, when you can get away with telling someone straight-up that they and anyone who agrees with them don’t exist.

@Kazapsky
 
What little I know about Canada makes that seem especially shocking. Of course, most of my knowledge of Canada comes from Sips so…
 
But yes, I’ve had little direct encounters like that. Except it’s less “no such thing” and more “You’re a devil-worshipper!”.

I’m an atheist. I also don’t believe in anything supernatural. I strongly dislike religion.

@Kazapsky  
As a Christian who believes atheist are real (I’m sure of it since I’m friends with a couple, not to mention, some here have posted saying they are atheist), I guess that means I do not exist. Since this is in Canada, I like to know, what region of Canada is this from?

Since we’re talking about tolerance or a lack there of, this happened recently.
 
I’ve noticed a nice little piece of intolerance on the interwebs directed at atheists, specifically that everyone will swear up and down that they are totally cool with atheists, as long as they never, ever talk about their atheism. If you talk about it, it means you’re militant.
 
To be clear, you have to actually be walking around with guns and demanding the deaths of infidels to be considered militant in any other religion. To be a militant atheist you just have to have an opinion.
 
Actually intolerance against atheists, while never reaching the levels of organized oppression that other groups have suffered, at least in the US, is pretty ingrained in the culture. The atheist is at best a broken creature, surely the only reason they don’t believe in God is because of some deep personal trauma! Invariably in most movies and tv shows the mean ole atheist will be proven wrong by characters arguing that “you have to have faith!” with no reason beyond faith just being this sort of nebulously good thing given.
 
Then there is the fact that as of this 2006 study from the university of Minnesota we are the least trusted group in America, because apparently morality can only come from a hope for eternal reward or fear of eternal punishment.

@gasmaskangel
 
The Marine Corp used to list atheism as a “combat risk” because they believed they’d have a lack of drive to risk their lives, and that they might not be as “morally sound”.
 
That didn’t get changed until somewhere around 2012.

@Zincy  
The fact atheism lacks a drive to pointless martyrdom is one of the points about it that I like.
 
Personally I dubious about the idea that signing on to die for Hod and Country is moral at all.
 
Bonus fun fact: It was my time in the army that both made me a libertarian and thus anti-war, and put me on the road to atheism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZFG5PKw504  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4yBvvGi_2A  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY0rj-TEx4o  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoRSBGD7vbA
 
Watch these creationist videos and lose faith in Americans. (New Zealanders for the second one)

@Randomosaur  
Let me ask: Is Ray Comfort in one of them? I ask since you mentioned “creationist” and “New Zealand”.

@TommyWiseau  
Yes. The other two are Kent Hovind and Chuck Missler.
 
For those who can’t be bothered to watch, Kent Hovind says these things:
 

@Randomosaur
 

 
That makes my brain itch, I think the stupidity is giving me an aneurism.

@Zincy  
It’s like creationism, alternative medicine and cryptozoology rolled into one big “intellectual diarrhea” sundae.

@Randomosaur  
I think we’re all familiar with Occam’s Razor. You know, the simplest explanation is the most likely. I’d like to propose a razor of my own. If any one statement makes you go “FUCKING WHAT?!” and their statements can only be supported with the use of conspiracy theories then all said person’s statements that are not immediately provable can safely be disregarded as false.

@gasmaskangel  
Actually, Occam’s Razor says that we shouldn’t suggest more explanations than necessary.

Let me just put this here.  

 
Okay, back to serious discussions.