Traci

20 years in prison for vandalizing a Tesla may be the only viable retirement plan left.

Church employees are ineligible for unemployment compensation. It’s not like they are getting something for “free” paid by someone else.

Church employees are ineligible for unemployment benefits.

Today’s stage of civilization collapse: I’m at the lab paying out of pocket for a blood test to see if, as an immune compromised person, I have sufficient antibodies or if, at 46, I need an additional booster so I don’t get FUCKING MEASLES.

The first Republican I ever vote for will be whoever runs against you. At least you can see their moral bankruptcy up front. Utter betrayal of the people who elected you.

I hate Facebook. They’re over there saying Democrats are the threat to Social Security, not DOGE. Maybe they’ll stop listening to Fox News when they start broadcasting all in Russian.

The Venn diagram of people pretending they don’t know that Zelenskyy dresses in solidarity with his soldiers and the people who have no problem with the unelected muskrat wearing t-shirts and campaign hats in the Oval Office is a single circle.

What is this place and why would anyone go in there?

Life expectancy increased, so retirement age increased. When life expectancy tanks because healthcare is unaffordable and the environment is unlivable, will retirement age also drop? No? Because billionaires blew up the economy & looted Social Security & we’ll never get to retire anyway? Oh, OK.

Why a higher bar of “evidence” for divinity? What any of us know (trust, believe, assume) about most of human history comes from hearsay and anecdote. Believing Hannibal crossed the alps requires a leap of faith.

You didn’t answer my question. Whether I do or don’t make that connection, I’m one of billions of theists in the world. How is it not hypocritical to accuse me of making assumptions then paint that many people with one broad brush?

“displaying the common theist tendency to MAKE CONNECTIONS THAT AREN'T THERE, which is often a fundamental reason why a theist believes in God”

I read that you used to be Christian and now are anti-theist and call belief stupid, and it’s an illogical connection to guess something negative happened in between. But it’s OK for you to make blanket assumptions about why people believe in God. And that’s not at all hypocritical to you?

“Exvangelical” together with “anti-theist” are words that carry a certain connotation, whether it’s what you intend or not. I’m glad you had a wonderful time and no bad experiences related to the Christian faith that you are now calling “stupid shit”…though you can maybe see why one would assume?

Never said solely.
Your profile implies you had a bad experience with religion; I’m sorry for that. I’ve had a good experience, so I still see its potential. I think it’s crucial for diverse folks to focus on what unites us, but if you want only atheist allies, that’s not me, & I’ll let you to it.

I think it’s a little bit humility. My thing is, so I believe God intends for me to care for the environment and all the people in it (and to do that with a TALL wall between church and state, btw)…Shouldn’t I be able to do those things w/out my motivation being called stupid?

Yes! Hard to build a coalition with people who keep calling you stupid 😕

That God’s existence has not been plausibly established to *your* satisfaction is not itself a sufficient reason to say anyone who believes differently believes in stupid shit. I’m disinclined to want to work w/you to make this world better when you insult my motivation for making a better world.

I am sorry you were taught that you would be in hell. I mean, beyond the hell we’re living through now. Tons of religious people, and I am one, who do not think hell is a literal destination for anyone (although the vindictive part of me watches the news and wishes…)

Sure, we can’t “prove” God exists. Wouldn’t waste time trying. But you haven’t disproved God’s existence just because you haven’t seen evidence of it yourself. They discovered a new plant species in a national park *last week.* It’s humility, not stupidity, to think there’s more than we can see.

Time for what? Stop finding joy and hope in the universal spiritual ideal of doing for others as you would have them do to you…so you still have time…to say derogatory things to strangers on the internet?

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I have been reluctant to go down that path because I don’t want to be a conspiracy theorist like the other side was in 2020…But…I’m in PA, and my mother’s ballot never did scan…she eventually had to leave it in the box and trust it would get counted…and it does seem like the numbers don’t add up 🤔

I love this…but I don’t understand why people didn’t just vote responsibly in the first place. The better time to fight fascism is before you elect fascists…

The all-encompassing, benevolent energy of which everything, not just everyone, is a part. The Bible is the metaphorical vocabulary I use to discuss, in some concrete ways, a mystery that can never be fully understood.

I do. As do about 3/4 of people in the world now and likely a higher majority of previous generations. Obviously we don’t all believe the same thing. Aren’t you really asking “Do you believe in God *as I understand God*?” and my answer to that is probably “no.”

I would agree if I believed what you claim I believe. But you’re incorrectly attributing a belief to a whole group that in reality is quite diverse. Half of Christianity doesn’t think what you claim we think. Failure to recognize nuance and name calling hasn’t served our society very well, has it?

I’m an ordained minister with a Masters of Divinity. You just have to read to chapter two to hear two completely different stories of creation. “How” is not the point of scripture, “why” is. Science and religion aren’t any more incompatible than science and gym class. They serve different purposes.

You seem to assume that the Bible and science are trying to do the same thing. The Bible is mythology, like any other mythology, that attempts to give meaning or “why” to the human experience, not explain “how” like science does. I grant you a lot of believers don’t understand that.

Some disabled people can work. I work—not manual labor—but 100% full time, and some weeks more than 40 hours. But I’m on Canada’s no-no list of disabilities.