Welcome to Gaia! ::

I put 42 down as the answer to the one question on my math final I had NO idea how to do.

I think he gave me half credit on it, too. lol.

Yeah, Burny, that's why I try my best not to talk about really vital things with my best friends over the internet....because they hear it differently than I do...particually when I'm trying to be sarcastic.


Oh, and a shout out to Douglas Adams, for reuniting us all with his slightly skewred humor.

"Ford. You're turning into a penguin. Stop it."

haha, don't worry about it. it's actually somewhat of a cult classic sort of book. it's really funny but wasn't all that popular. but yeah, you should read it. i'm sure you'll find it funny. it makes fun of philosophy, organized religion, science, sci-fi books, and anything dealing with those subjects.

i think Douglas Adams was somewhat of an agnostic. or he just saw the so-called "clash between faith and reason" as ridiculous.

Come now, there are atheistic religions. *wavewavewavewave* Anthropology is spiffy... Who doesn't like it, hm!? Hmm?

So, what were we talking about again?

Oh, right. *pounds fist into palm* Gay rights now! biggrin Help teh Pirate get married!

>< Can we get back on topic?

I think healthy debate is a good thing. Hell, we might learn something here from one another. I think the problem lies in the ad hominems being tossed around here.

Difference between that topic and this one, is that this one is outside of religious context, for the most part. While in the other, we will debate on the interpretations of various Bible passages, we will debate about the legal aspect of gay marriage in this topic. Seemed to me we were moving on to the following: Assuming (though I disagree) that Christianity states that homosexuality and gay marriage is a sin, should Christianity have any say in U.S. politics?

If you ask me, being a European and not-too-long-ago immigrant to the U.S., I would say that church and state being seperate improves things quite a bit. Keep in mind that I come from a country where Christianity has a heavy influence, and causes a ridiculous amount of problems, and ten million social issues, not only with the general public, but between different Christian denominations as well. The U.S. being mostly free of such, I think it is best to keep church and state as seperate as possible. I think that human rights in an of themselves need to be recognized here, and that any right that does not harm another need not be denied.

U.S. history is astounding. If you ask a number of people of this country what they think of the whites of the past who lived in the United States and actively denied blacks the same rights as themselves, subhumanizing them because they were a minority group who was much, much different from them, they will respond that they think the history of the U.S. is a bit shameful, and they will testify that they cannot understand how anyone could deny such a group basic things like the right to even walk amongst white people as a free black. Many people still struggle to understand those who denied interracial marriage as a right. Perhaps they would never marry someone of another race themselves, but they would never tell people they could not marry because of this difference.

I think the issue is clear. Human rights are being denied. These rights harm no one, if granted. Why not grant them? Because of some religious/moral tabboo? I think that is utterly depressing.