LaMachina wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2017 1:54 pmI don't view myself as one who thinks mormonism must be burnt down. There have been a number of times on the old site when I thought the church was being unfairly criticized and I spoke up about it. People would often disagree with me but I can't say I ever felt attacked. But communication is a difficult thing.
Maybe you can read what I wrote to "notbuyingit" to help you understand where I was coming from.
Last Sunday, in SundaySchool, I spoke up too because I felt like everyone was going along with things that were not true and actually kind of dangerous to believe. Basically, I explained the scripture suggests not just going by the spirit (emotional reasoning) because the spirit's generally not a long specifically detailed memorandum, but an intuitive feeling - and we tend to fill in the details. So it makes sense to study things out on our own - to ponder and THEN pray. I also explained how if you just go along with things, believing because everyone else is believing or because the prophet told you so, you won't have a strong testimony. And when someone questions it and you discover a flaw - you might discard the whole thing because of bi-polar thinking "it's either true or not" - one extreme or the other. Just as Thomas Jefferson did some screwy things (having slaves when he supposedly was against it), there are some things like polygamy and freemasonry that may cause concern for some in the church's past. But that was history. Just because founding fathers did some screwy things doesn't make me want to reject my American citizenship. Similarly, I don't consider his-story in the church as much of a concern as what is going on today (I didn't mention financial corruption and teachings that inspire mental illness).
Sure I agree. Can you give me any examples of non-believers infringing on the rights of Christians in north america to believe and/or practice their religion as they see fit? How far must one go in respecting the beliefs of someone? Because I can give a number of examples of Christians infringing on the rights of non-believers to believe how they wish or when someone's beliefs go dangerously too far. I ask that sincerely.
Let's define "rights." You mentioned North America - and I'm American (nor sure if you are), but I'll refer to a US founding document:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Who is it that gives these rights? It's their Creator - these rights to LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - are inherent rights, just for existing, and actually, IMO, they apply to people all of the world, not just Americans, though many are denied those rights. And as mentioned, those rights are for all - with no prejudice for age - even children (developing humans) are endowed with those rights by their Creator. There have been 55,772,015 Abortions in America Since Roe v. Wade in 1973. Over 55 MILLION children have been masacred in a mass genocide based on age discrimination and denied the right to life.
To me, that is one of the worst attacks of rights. Another example are the many attacks on people for refusing to fall for the mind control that society has been subject to (
http://www.massresistance.org/docs/issu ... _ball.html). Have you ever wondered how it that so many went from really disliking homosexuality, to loving it - and hating anyone who didn't love it? -Systematic mind control developed by a renowned Psychologist - similar to how the church works - with peer pressure.
I'm sure there are a lot more... but here are some examples of how religious rights have been infringed on:
Children have the right to not be taught homosexuality in school. Yet, in places where same-sex marriage has been supported, these rights have been infringed upon...
*Freshmen were told not to tell their parents about a pro-gay seminar & were required to sign a confidentiality agreement (Derrfield, Illinois Mar. 2007).
*In March, 2007, a Massachusetts high school banned parents from attending a seminar for students on how they can know they are homosexual.
*In October, 2008, First graders (6 year-old students) were taken on a field trip to watch their lesbian teacher's wedding.
*In Oct 2008, a Hayward CA public elementary school celebrated "Coming Out Day."
Normalizing & even encouraging children to explore homosexuality obviously causes more to experiment with homosexuality.
"The Legal Liability Associated with Homosexuality Education in Schools... This report is part of an integrated strategy to inform and educate parents, students and school officials across the nation of its contents and of their respective rights and duties. It has documented the concern that the health of students in many schools across the country may have been compromised and their First Amendment rights may have been denied."
Some in the homosexual activist group have bluntly admitted that their eventual goal is to normalize pedophilia and inappropriate adult-child sexual relations.
Many have been harassed by the homosexual herd, without public notice, but some have been public, like Chick Filay and a Miss America contestant, both who voiced their support for marriage between a man and a woman.
Other examples include...
*In April 2008, an Albuquerque photographer was fined over $6,000 for refusing to be hired to photograph a lesbian couple's commitment ceremony.
*In May, 2008, a black administrator was fired from the U of Toledo, Ohio, for writing an editorial objecting to the comparison of black discrimination to same-sex marriage.
*An intolerant opponent of Proposition 8 violently attacked & injured a Proposition supporter in Oct. 2008.
*On November 19, 2008, eHarmony, a Christian-based matching service was forced by New Jersey's Division on Civil Rights to provide website matching services for homosexuals.
*And one of the biggest: 5 of the supreme Court ignored the democratic check-and-balances and like a king, DECREED that society must now accept same sex marriage, despite the fact that marriage is not mentioned in the constitution and is not under their jurisdiction. Scalia (one of the 4 who opposed this) was vocal about how unlawful 5 of the Supreme Court justices were acting: “[T]o allow the policy question of same-sex marriage to be considered and resolved by a select, patrician, highly unrepresentative panel of nine is to violate a principle even more fundamental than no taxation without representation: no social transformation without representation.” Mysteriously, after being so vocal about this, and calling them out, he was found dead in his hotel room - when recently he had a clean bill of health from his doctor.
