Why are Christians under attack ?

Originally posted by FMF
I oppose discrimination against racial minorities. So I certainly wouldn't be disposed to murder people from racial minorities.

So you say but is it enough? Gee I dunno, if there was just some popular stance that you have opposed i might be more inclined to believe you.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
I don't know its difficult to say. I would have made my private property a haven and a sanctuary and used all my resources to give them protection and safe passage.

So what makes you think I wouldn't have done the same? My spouse and I have given sanctuary to victims of domestic violence on several occasions in spite of prevailing attitudes here that hold that beating a wife is a husband's business and none of ours.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
So you say but is it enough? Gee I dunno, if there was just some popular stance that you have opposed i might be more inclined to believe you.

How popular was lynching in the U.S.? What percentage carried them out and what percentage condoned it, and what percentage ~ like you ~ would not, by your own admission, have stepped in to try to stop it from happening?

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
i am asking you what popular consensus or opinions have you opposed or taken a moral stance against?

Where I live? Racism. Domestic violence. Discrimination of various kinds ~ including against the disabled. Political collusion. Sexual harassment. Institutionalized bullying. Land seizures. Environmental degradation. Iniquities stemming from decentralization. The abrogation of indigenous land rights. These things ~ and ambivalence to them ~ are prevalent and ingrained here in the culture where I live and opposing them only animates a relatively small and determined proportion of the population who are willing to stand up to the way things are.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
I don't know its difficult to say. I would have made my private property a haven and a sanctuary and used all my resources to give them protection and safe passage.

If the lynch mob came to your property to take custody of their intended victim would you offer any physical opposition or defend them in any physical way?

Would you have taken any political action or engaged in any political activism to oppose or dismantle the political factors surrounding the persistence of lynchings?

If you were here in Indonesia, would you actively oppose any of the social ills and social complacency that I oppose and/or help people to oppose?

Originally posted by FMF
If the lynch mob came to your property to take custody of their intended victim would you offer any physical opposition or defend them in any physical way?

Would you have taken any political action or engaged in any political activism to oppose or dismantle the political factors surrounding the persistence of lynchings?

If you were here in Indonesia, woul ...[text shortened]... oppose any of the social ills and social complacency that I oppose and/or help people to oppose?

Rob would just hand out leaflets and magazines.

Originally posted by FMF
How popular was lynching in the U.S.? What percentage carried them out and what percentage condoned it, and what percentage ~ like you ~ would not, by your own admission, have stepped in to try to stop it from happening?

I did not say that I would stand by, I said that I would not resort to violence. Is this really the sign of a man of moral fibre willing to stand up against the grain for what he believes to be right or a moral degenerate always going with the flow. I am still undecided.

Originally posted by FMF
If the lynch mob came to your property to take custody of their intended victim would you offer any physical opposition or defend them in any physical way?

Would you have taken any political action or engaged in any political activism to oppose or dismantle the political factors surrounding the persistence of lynchings?

If you were here in Indonesia, woul ...[text shortened]... oppose any of the social ills and social complacency that I oppose and/or help people to oppose?

I would make my property a haven and a refuge, a land of promise and hope, protect it by hiring armed guards, building fortifications and pursuing lawsuits against those who dared to trespass upon it. My presence alone would be a political statement. My haven worth more than all the political haranguing imaginable. I actively oppose all social ills by giving people the necessary practical and social skills to deal with all kinds of adverse circumstances. All you would be doing was putting plasters on cuts and bruises!

Originally posted by FMF
Where I live? Racism. Domestic violence. Discrimination of various kinds ~ including against the disabled. Political collusion. Sexual harassment. Institutionalized bullying. Land seizures. Environmental degradation. Iniquities stemming from decentralization. The abrogation of indigenous land rights. These things ~ and ambivalence to them ~ are prevalent and ing ...[text shortened]... l and determined proportion of the population who are willing to stand up to the way things are.

and you include yourself in these relatively small and determined band of politically active and vociferous remonstrants?

Originally posted by Proper Knob
Rob would just hand out leaflets and magazines.

Right you are Boss Hogg! Real teaching takes a much greater degree of personal involvement than handing out leaflets. We are not in one of your music classes now.

Originally posted by FMF
Given that you kicked off your OP with this: "One frequent and vociferous correspondent to SF has said that she feels she and fellow Christians are often under attack here. I propose a thread to discuss this", isn't the kind of hatred fomented by Islamic State rather off topic?

I was replying to a pointed question whether I thought there was genuine hatred at this forum. I have not seen genuine hatred at this forum, so I supplied an example of what I think genuine hatred looks like. It is an aside, yes.

EDIT: What I do see at this forum is vituperation.

Originally posted by RJHinds
The atheist may not say that I am a person that believes in evolution, but if someone askes a person that claims to be an atheist if he believes in evolution, he will say yes, if he is honest about it.

You missed the emphasis, and the point.

I was talking about people having "I AM a person that believes in evolution" as
a core part of their identity and self image.

There are all kinds of things that people accept as being true, but if they found
out that they were wrong, then no big deal.

However I was talking about beliefs that go to the very core of who a person believes
themselves to be.

Religious beliefs tend to be of that sort, beliefs about evolution tend not to be.

Originally posted by moonbus
Hi Suzi, thanks for weighing in. I knew you couldn't resist this one. I do appreciate what it is to suffer a dark night (or decade) of the soul, to search for an answer to the question whether one's life or existence in general makes any sense or serves any purpose beyond quotidian details.

I also appreciate that a modern thinking Christian has a more com ...[text shortened]... ave all the answers already. This smacks of a lack of humility unbecoming of a confessed sinner.

About the church being the main hindrance to finding God, do you mean "the Church", which when capitalized is usually referring to the Roman Catholic Church, or just to "the church", what others here call "organized religion"? I am glad I am part of a church's congregation, I do not find that it actually hinders finding God, but rather facilitates it. I have become friends of the pastor at my church, and I see how God moves in her life. I am a part of my church, in that I have a sense of community and a view of how that community interacts with each other, supporting each other and helping each other where we can. I wonder if this is how it was with the early Christians when they gathered for the Sabbath. I admit, though, I had already found God before I found my church and I think one is more likely to find God through one's acquaintances than through an organized church, but I think one doesn't go to church to find God, one goes to celebrate God and worship God.

I think even the most committed Christians and those of strong faith would certainly agree that they are not at the end of that road. But that's because the best part of that journey is the journey itself, growing into God while God grows within.

Originally posted by FMF
Suzianne made very specific accusations. Her inability to substantiate them would suggest that her tirade on page 1 is born of paranoia rather than a considered answer to the OP question Why are Christians under attack?

You could turn your focus to my first post on page 1, where I answered the OP in carefully considered terms. I answered the OP there, you know, in case you missed it.

But, no, that doesn't fit your paradigm, *at all*, and so you must pick the low-hanging fruit. All my other posts in this thread (that most have focused on, instead of my post on page 1 answering the OP) were answers to other people looking for something to blow up into a suitable derailment, much as you have done here.

Originally posted by Suzianne
You could turn your focus to my first post on page 1, where I answered the OP in carefully considered terms. I answered the OP there, you know, in case you missed it.

But, no, that doesn't fit your paradigm, *at all*, and so you must pick the low-hanging fruit. All my other posts in this thread (that most have focused on, instead of my post on page 1 a ...[text shortened]... people looking for something to blow up into a suitable derailment, much as you have done here.

Can you substantiate this paranoid nonsense that you posted on page 1?...

But then Googlefudge launched into a massive attack upon me for even considering to propose such a ridiculous idea and he wasn't going to respect me no matter what and even that yes, Christians were "dangerous" and should be opposed at every opportunity and with every breath. This caused some atheists to reverse course and say yes, you're right, those nasty Christians should be mercilessly "put in their place" and the persecution stepped up to even more than it was before.

No you cannot.