Showing posts with label The Thinking Atheist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Thinking Atheist. Show all posts

Monday, May 6, 2019

The Thinking Atheist: Andrew Torrez- 'Donald Trump, The Courts, and The Evangelical Right'

Source:The Thinking AtheistAndrew Torrez: on The Thinking Atheist.
Source:The New Democrat

"Andrew Torrez is an attorney and co-host of the Opening Arguments podcast. In this short profile, Andrew talks Trump, the law, impeachment(?), and the Supreme Court."

From The Thinking Atheist

Source:United Church of God"Ten Commandments List: Where in the Bible does it talk about the Ten ..."
I guess that I have a different take from Andrew Torrez on this, even though I agree with most of what he's saying here. My point here is about Donald Trump and what's called the Christian-Right and when we talk about these two movements ( which is exactly what they are ) we need to be careful when doing this and not put every Christian-Conservative in the same camp or say that everyone on the Christian-Right is a Christian-Conservative. And instead separate the people who truly are Christian-Fundamentalists and live by those values and if anything think Donald Trump and a lot of what he stands for in many ways is anti-Christian and an insult to Christianity, separate those people from the Christian-Nationalists and the hyper-partisan people on the Christian-Right in America.

I think it's also dangerous to try to get into someone's mind and try to label say this is exactly what they think and believe in. We shouldn't do that when it comes to politics or religion, but what we can do is go by people's actions and talk about how they act and their politics and believes based on what they say and what they do. And then see if their actions match up with what they claim to believe in. So I'm not going to try to argue that Donald Trump is not a Christian. He might truly believe he is ( even if his personal lifestyle and character makes it clear that he isn't ) but what I am going to do is make the case that Trump doesn't act like a Christian and a lot of what he believes in and how he presents himself, his lack of morality and character is very anti-Christian and I'm going to use The Ten Commandments and his personal behavior as my reference for that.

Let's start with the third commandment thou shalt not take God's name in vain: do you know of another President or American politician at any level that swears more in public more than Donald Trump? Within his first days as President he gives a speech at a church in Washington and of course he was joking here, but he was talking about Senate Chaplin and he said that he knows he can't appoint the Chaplin for life and then he says: "the hell with it, I'm appointing the Chaplin for life." And it got a big laugh, but the President of the United States literally not just swearing in public, but doing it at a church. And I realize the hell with anything is very mild when it comes to swearing in America today, but we're talking about a President who can't even keep his dirty mouth shut at a church.

How about though shalt not speak ill of the dead: I realize this might not be an official member of The Ten Commandments, but what's Christian and moral about speaking ill of people who can't defend themself and in Senator John McCain's case who was a POW and war hero in Vietnam, because he wouldn't rat on his fellow Naval officers: where'e the morality and Christianity about speaking ill of man like Senator John McCain who is dead?

Though shalt not commit adultery: Donald Trump, has been married three times and is a three-time adulterer. His personal life is exactly that and I'm not ready to says he's a bad man because he's a three-time adulterer, ( God knows there's so much more and better evidence to lay out that he's bad man without his adultery ) but it's not just that he's a serial adulterer, but take up to the points where he's cheating on his wife while she's carrying his third son with two porn actresses. And then pays off both women so his family never knows about that and it doesn't hurt him during the 2016 presidential election.

Here's a good one: though shalt not bear false witness: again, do you know of an American politician at nay level that lies more than Donald Trump? I wrote a piece a few weeks ago talking about liars and bullshitters ( and no, I'm not Christian myself ) and differentiating between the two: Donald Trump, qualifies both as a liar and a bullshitter. Which is a remarkable accomplishment in itself and its not that he just lies or lies so much is really bad by itself, because you're talking about a President where maybe 3-5 Americans simply don't believe the man every time he speaks. Whoever said that credibility and character is everything, knows what they're talking about.

But it's not just the lying and bullshit that comes out of Donald Trump's mouth or that he's President when he does that. The real problem here is that he simply doesn't give a damn ( to put it mildly ) and doesn't seem to care if others knows when he's lying and bullshitting and does it anyway. And that he's so bad as a liar that a 10 year old kid could think to themself and say: "wait, that's not true and does he even believe what he's saying here." I mean the man even lies about his own height: his official New York drivers license has him at 6'2 while he tells everyone else that he's 6'3 and everyone already knows that he's a big tall man and yet he has to give himself and extra inch. He even lies about his own father and ancestry saying that his father Fred Trump was from Germany, when the fact was his father was born in America to German-American parents who were from Germany.

Why the so-called Christian-Right thinks it's Christian to loyally back a man who isn't even aware of The Ten Commandments, let alone follows them or believes in them you'll have to bring that up with them if you want to know the answer to that. And while you're at it you might want to ask them if it is worth sacrificing their own character, morality, and credibility to get fewer abortions performed in America. But again its important not to put every member of the Christian-Right in the same box and instead separate the political partisans from the true Christians who actually live up to the values that they say they believe in.

Monday, August 13, 2018

The Thinking Atheist: Seth Andrews- Interviewing Andrew Torrez: Christianity,Crimes & The Constitution

Source:The Thinking Atheist- The Donald Trump, 45th POTUS. 
Source:The New Democrat

I believe to believe in the First Amendment, as well as the Fourth Amendment, and I would add Fifth Amendment, you have to believe in the right to choose, the right to believe, the right to free expression and believe what you believe. Not saying you have to believe in religion and that America is a place and great place for Atheists and Agnostics such as myself, but that since this is not a communist state or any other kind of socialist state we believe that Americans have the constitutional right to practice or not practice religion.

Source: Player FM- The Thinking Atheist 
The freedom to and from religion and that we also have the Separation of Church and State. The Freedom of Religion, but that covers everyone and every type of religion in America and that Atheists and Agnostics have the same right as Christian of all sects, Jews, Muslims., again of all sects, as well as everyone else that practices one form of religion or another. And that government literally stays the hell out of religion other than to protect the rights of all free Americans to practice or not practice religion.

That we're not a communist or socialist state, but we're not a theocracy or some other fascist state and we don't tell Americans as a government how to practice or not practice religion and that government doesn't operate based on religious beliefs, but governs under the U.S. Constitution. The problem with America is not our Constitution or any of our constitutional amendments. The problem with America is that we have too many people who simply don't believe in it and ignore it. The Christian-Right especially which are really Christian-Theocrats who believe that their interpretation of the Bible should be what governs us, not the actual text of the Constitution. And that Separation of Church and State doesn't exist at all.

So now we not only have a Christian-Right that has been officially active at least since 1975 or so and played a big role in the 1976 presidential election and every election presidential or Congressional since, but we have a political party that's basically dominated by the Christian-Right. The Republican Party today, is not the Barry Goldwater Constitutional-Conservative-Libertarian party that they became when they nominated Barry Goldwater for President in 1964 and then not only nominated Ronald Reagan for President in 1980, but put Reagan in power and helped Republicans wins back the Senate in 1980 for the first time in a generation.

The GOP is now a party that's made up of Christian-Theocrats and Christian-Nationalists who believe they're the real Americans and the Constitution only protects them and their rights and beliefs. And the Un-Americans ( anyone who disagrees with them on anything ) are invaders essentially and not deserving of the same rights and beliefs as the Christian-Nationalists in America. With the never-trumpers the Goldwater Conservatives in the party, are now representing the minority in what once was a great conservative party in America and along with the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, perhaps the only two great conservative parties in the developed world.

Again, as a Liberal I believe in the freedom of religion, free choice, personal choice, personal; responsibility, but I also believe in free speech and the First Amendment in it's entirety and that you have the right to your beliefs and I have the right in mine, but that you and big government or government in any form doesn't have the right to force your beliefs on me. I'll allow you to make your case for why you believe what you believe, but you're not going to be able to force your beliefs on me or any other free American in this country. That's called the First Amendment which protects our Freedom of Religion, but also Freedom of Speech. and Separation of Church and State.
Source:The Thinking Atheist

Monday, February 26, 2018

The Thinking Atheist: Seth Andrews Interviewing Dr. Michael Shermer- Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things

Source: The Thinking Atheist- Dr. Michael Shermer, is the publisher of Skeptic Magazine. 
Source:The New Democrat

Why smart people believe stupid things? Perhaps a better question would be do these smart people actually believe these stupid things, or are they ( pardon my French ) bullshit artists? People aren't necessarily good or bad because they're smart or even stupid. There not necessarily honest or dishonest because they're smart or stupid. They're Saints who are smart ( not necessarily in New Orleans ) and there Devils who are smart. ( Especially in New Jersey ) There are smart people who are honest like the late Dr. Martin L. King and there are smart people who are bullshit artists. Take cult leader and serial murderer Charles Manson.

There morons who are honest and where you know exactly what they think or don't think all the time. Seem to have this hellbent desire and lifelong quest to broadcast to the world how stupid they are. Donald Trump, might be a good example of that at least when it comes to government and public policy and his lack of knowledge of those issues. And they are morons who are also dishonest which really makes them dangerous. Because they not only know very little if anything that is important at least., but they lie about what they actually think about those issues that they've somehow managed to get themselves involved in. Perhaps they have friends who feel sorry for them and decided to bring into their fields. Again, Donald Trump would be an excellent example of this. At least when it comes to government and public policy.

President Trump not only has a horrible habit of saying things that aren't true, but when he is clearly contradicted by people who even work for him, then he tries to deny and hide that he previously held stupid positions and made stupid statements before. Even when it's obvious that he did. And not to pick on our dear President who I don't view as a moron generally. But when it comes to public policy and government, it's hard to name a time in the history of the world, at least in America where you had a President or public official who knew so little about what they actually spoke about and positions that they took and then lied so much about what they actually thought.

When you see smart people say stupid things, here's a suggestion. Question whether they actually believe what they're saying. Especially if they're in politics either as a politician or as a candidate. Also look at the audience that they're speaking to and at risk of being insulting look at the intelligence level of the people the politician or wannabe politician is speaking to. I don't mean give everyone in the audience IQ tests. ( Unless you have way too much free time on your hands ) But look at what they believe and what they think, political and social positions that they've made in the past and take now.

Because the politician might believe the people they're speaking to are morons and are dumb enough to believe him or her when they agree with the groups they're speaking to. Which is how I look at Donald Trump. Not as someone who is a moron in general, but as someone who views his base as morons and as people who'll believe whatever the hell he tells them. And who takes their side simply because he believes he needs their political support.
Source:The Thinking Atheist

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