Condi Rice is one of the greatest hawks, if not THE greatest hawk in modern presidential history. No way Mittens makes that kind of mistake. No way. Mittens is actually a smart fella.
I certainly wouldn't have thought so, but apparently I am wrong. It pains me to say this, but a lot of republican voters are not overly sophisticated.
This is exactly right. The link to Bush is just too easy of a target. Beyond that, putting her on the ticket won't get them any significant increase in the female vote and it won't move the black vote at all. So why do it?
The problem is that the Republicans can't win the Presidency with moderate candidates. McCain, Dole, Bush Sr, Ford....
"Rejecting faith is a kind of faith" now that is brilliant. when you use your ability to think and reason and all available evidence tells us that the idea that there is some father figure up there who will torture us if we dont believe in him is nothing more than delusion it doesnt bother me in the least to turn people away from mental bondage and to intellectual freedom. The belief in eternal torment, still subscribed to by fundamentalist Christian denominations, undoubtedly ranks as the most vicious and reprehensible doctrine of classical Christianity. It has resulted in an incalculable amount of psychological torture, especially among children where it is employed as a terror tactic to prompt obedience. (George H. Smith)
another point. if someone escaped from a cult or an addiction and they helped educate others so that they may also escape that cult or addiction are they doing a good or a bad thing?
By definition, a cult or addiction has negative consequences for the person, their family, loved ones, etc. I don't see that with Christianity, although obviously you can cite some wackos who are merely the exception who prove the rule. Even if it is all a fantasy, as you hypothosize, I don't see the harm and I see quite a few benefits from living a life in accordance with Christian principles. Again, people can make bad choices, any activity in which humans are involved will involve bad apples, etc so you can't paint with a broad brush and say any christian denomination or church is perfect, but neither am I willing to dismiss them out of hand. The short answer to your question is that you can objectively identify negative consequences to a cult or addiction. You cannot objectively prove that Christianity is false. You can only substitute your own fallible human reasoning for proof. As one-time atheist C. S. Lewis observed, Jesus was either a liar, a crazy man or who He said He was. After a lengthy personal journey, Lewis, a reknowned intellectual, decided the only rational conclusion was the latter. I don't expect any of this to unmake your mind, but at least admit to yourself the possibility that you could be dead wrong.
you always go back to the torture. arguably there is little if no idea of "hell" in the old testament. and the king james version with the three different names of hell are all jumbled up. I think you are right to suspect God would not torture people forever. I am sure there are plenty of misconceptions about existence outside of time.