\"Man, you need to relax on the hostility.\" Well.. wouldn't you get a little testy if you asked a question and all you got was a bunch of filibuster?
\"This is a very good thread.\" of course it is. I've been reading it almost every chance I got.
\"What did you expect would happen?\" I expected a relatively normal conversation/debate thread where people ask questions, got answers and posted their views. Up til now, it's been two out of three.
Now to the meat of the matter.
\"bye the way - in all 3 pages you where the only one to use the word stupid aside from me. You used it in a negative fashion and I responded it was not stupid. The word is never again used by anyone\"
Yea i know i called the protest stupid. not saying I didn't. I fully admit I did, and if I find something stupid i will call it just that.
Duper: interesting response but it still didn't answer my initial question.
\"but since you seemed to miss the subtly of what i was implying\"
No. I knew
exactly what you were implying. I didn't like it very much and so I pressed you for an answer.
\"kids are now and still being suspended for holding prayer meetings on campus (high school and junior high)when initiated by the students themselves all across the country. It's not headline news though. A second grader was suspended without prior warning when she brought Valentine's Day cards to school and gave them to her class mates. This happened here in Portland about 2 years ago.\"
That would be a problem with the schools that needs to be dealt with and it's completely irrelevant to what I asked.
Lothar: not really, no. In fact, I did respond to Kilarin. Spidey had some interesting commentary but nothing that really rubbed me the wrong way so I thought it best to just read what he said. I'm not exactly the type of person to just say 'i agree' and not post anything more than that.
Thorne: \"It's the \"value\" that homosexuality is normal and acceptable.\"
And because of your beliefs, you think it's both abnormal and unacceptable. I'm pretty sure that quite a few reasonable people would disagree with you, such as neutral christians for example. If you accept that God's plan is completely just and flawless, then you must also accept that God also put gays on this planet because it's part of His perfect plan.
if you think that's a horrible 'value' to spread to people, then it's probably a horrible 'value' to have women vote, to end racial segregation or to even legalize interracial marriage.
I did a little digging for these values that NO ONE will even bother to answer and would rather run circles around are these:
protection from hate crimes based on sexual orientation;
an end to discrimination in employment and accommodation;
the right to marry or enter into civil unions;
the right to be accepted as church members;
the right to be considered for ordination, etc.
That's a real 'horrible' agenda, isn't it. I must buy canned food and board up the house.
Please.
Prejudices were supposed to end twenty years ago. Not rage on into today like a bull in a china shop.
You guys forget that I too, am a christian with my own relationship with God. But as I was taught by my very christian mother (my whole family, including relatives) to never to spread hate, myself and my church would never subscribe to an idea like 'protesting a day of silence'.
Again, this debate.. which will undoubtedly turn into a religious pro/anti-gay one (with a little dash of for/against the protest) has been mostly subjective with some people worried about how this might affect their children. very little hard fact has been actually discussed.
Most kids; if they haven't already been taught that 'homosexuality is a sin and should be abolished' by now are going to look at their parents as completely out to lunch on that respect. I know I would if I was a kid and saw all this happening.
The problem that I'm seeing, is some people here have a fundamentalist-leaning viewpoint that homosexuality is wrong because the bible says so, they feel compelled to tell everyone else that it's wrong and they must also tell their kids it's wrong, which will lead to intolerance. and if their kid is gay, it will lead to a very warped sense of being.
There will be kids that will involve themselves in the day of silence, and will do so willingly. they won't be forced into doing it (gun to the head comment) by being paid, pressured or otherwise coerced. They will be asked to do it. and the kids always have the option of saying 'no thank you, i'm not interested'. No one is enslaving these kids to do it. And that's the thing I think a lot of people here have missed.
If people would actually take the time to understand how it works and why people get involved, a protest would not even be necessary.
but it always comes down to one thing. religious fundamentalism in the guise of 'protecting our children'.
People are going to look back on this day of silence and not really care that it happened. But people are going to look back at the day of silence protest as a sad joke.
Just watch.
J/K
