Excellent subject! If I were the devil, I'd be charming, extrovert, good looking, entertaining, clever, witty, a propogandist and I would write good books which everyone wanted to own in order to continue to spread my message. I would entertain with music and theatre and have servants spread my message. I would make grandiose claims of miracles. I would make promises which never evolve. I would complicate the lives of the people with rules and regulations and tradition so their lives are consumed achieving very little and to hinder their progress. I would promote wars and strife in the name of being entitled. I would make the people feel they are exclusive, special, so they form cliques and walls around themselves which then creates animosity with the outsiders. I would naturally manifest hypocrital behavior because I was not true to myself. I would say I was the truth and the light.
Christian group temporarily opens beaches it has closed on Sunday mornings as court fight plays out A Christian religious group that has closed its beaches on Sunday mornings for generations to honor God is relenting temporarily, allowing beachgoers onto the sand. (AP Video: Tassanee Vejpongsa) May 27, 2024 https://apnews.com/article/ocean-gr...ed-christian-f0db40e2212cdf00a810893919943ee7 OCEAN GROVE, N.J. (AP) — For the first time in generations, beachgoers were out on the sand in a New Jersey shore community on the Sunday morning before Memorial Day as a Christian religious group fights the state over its regular beach closures there during Sunday services. The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist group that established a Christian seaside retreat at the Jersey Shore in 1869, said it had closed its beaches on Sunday mornings during religious services in Ocean Grove for more than a century and a half before the state Department of Environmental Protection accused the group of violating state beach access laws. The department threatened fines of $25,000 per day. The association unsuccessfully sought an emergency ruling in its favor, then said last week it would temporarily allow beachgoers access on Sunday this holiday weekend while it continues to fight the court case. “For 155 years, we have closed our beach on Sunday mornings to honor God — a core pillar of this community since the founding of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association,” the group’s statement says. “We are challenging this order to preserve our property rights and religious freedom.”
"To honour god", oh the delusion going on for 155 years. This is how humans behave with crazy religion going through their heads.
Hmmm. That's an interesting case. If the church doesn't lay down and they have the $'s or some operation comes in and backs them, I could see that one going to SCOTUS. A lot depends on how the deed was written up way back when. Property rights, vs. state rights, vs. religious rights, vs. separation of church and state. --->Interesting indeed.