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Post by m52nickerson on Jun 30, 2012 17:32:18 GMT -5
If we have to stay it will just take some house keeping to get things up a and humming again.
It is strange being back.
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Post by m52nickerson on Jun 30, 2012 15:18:36 GMT -5
Well I'm getting the dustbuster out just in case.
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Post by m52nickerson on Jun 30, 2012 14:36:55 GMT -5
Could this have something to do with the recent falling out that happened?
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Post by m52nickerson on Jun 30, 2012 13:26:32 GMT -5
Keep us informed Distind, and if there is anything you need help with drop me a PM here or email me.
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Post by m52nickerson on Dec 22, 2011 16:16:25 GMT -5
Well if fan vids can count as art then....
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Post by m52nickerson on Dec 7, 2011 17:21:20 GMT -5
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Post by m52nickerson on Dec 7, 2011 16:49:16 GMT -5
I will....
FUCK YEAH!
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Post by m52nickerson on Dec 7, 2011 14:54:32 GMT -5
If someone tells you "Merry Christmas" and you get offended you're and idiot.
If someone tells you "Happy Holidays" and you get offended, you're an idiot.
If someone tells you "Happy Hanukkah" and you get offended...you're and idiot...and maybe Hitler.
If someone take the time to wish you well in any way shape of form and you get offended the next time they should tell you to fuck off!
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Post by m52nickerson on Dec 3, 2011 11:21:40 GMT -5
If it's a private establishment, they can put up whatever they want. That's their right. Anything publicly run, or taking place in public space, can't give preference to anything associated with a religion. Preference is the key word there. That does not mean you can't have any religious reference at all.
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Post by m52nickerson on Dec 2, 2011 19:47:46 GMT -5
The former. Frankly, trying to pass Christ Mass off as somehow secular strikes me entirely as part of the ongoing effort to squeeze more christianity into secular life. Maybe, but I have yet to hear a Christian push Christmas as a secular holiday. So I think you have it a bit backwards. I've visited a local church that is that bad. They are the type who feel any effort to stifle public expression of christianity is a war on the faith and see no problem in a war memorial for dead soldiers, on public land, being a giant concrete cross. Despite there being plenty of people who have died for the country who weren't christian. These guys are two streets over from where I live, it's frightening and it's personal. Well Christians have just as much right to express their beliefs in public as you have to express your, or lack there of. Personally I have little problem with a cross as a memorial to fallen soldiers. Nor would I have a problem with a Star of David, or a Crescent Moon serving the same purpose. In the end the memorial is about honoring the fallen. The separation of church and state does not mean that religions should be treated as if non-existent.
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Post by m52nickerson on Dec 2, 2011 17:13:57 GMT -5
I think people underestimate the weight "Christ Mass" can have. Frankly, that atheists celebrate christmas I think is a problem. If you want to get together we people you like in december, have a nice meal and give some of them presents... that's awful sweet of you, but it should never be in any way related with christ mass. Or it is a christian celebration. Why? What is your reasoning for that? Is it because you don't think atheist should give the appearance of supporting a religious holiday? Is it because you don't think it is fair to Christians to co-opt their holiday?
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Post by m52nickerson on Dec 2, 2011 16:36:37 GMT -5
Approximately 70% of the country is Christian, so it's not surprising that even people who do not profess belief in that religion are still exposed to and, to whatever degree, participate in the rituals associated thereof. It doesn't make them Christian by default, but it does mean they are participating in a holiday that 70% of the country (minimum) identifies as having ties to the Christian faith. None of that means that for the other 30% or so the tree and holiday does not have a different meaning. Just because an atheist understand that a Christmas tree had religious meaning does not mean it does not have non-religious meaning as well. Oh, and just because a majority of people identify as Christians, does not mean they actively participate or even think much about religious meaning of things.
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Post by m52nickerson on Dec 2, 2011 13:53:25 GMT -5
to the majority of Americans, the glittery tree IS associated with the Christmas holiday and is NOT secular in any fashion. Tell that to the millions of Americans the celebrate Christmas, but are not christian. Or as mentioned before all the Christmas specials that talk about the Christmas tree and Santa Claus but never once mention the birth of Christ. Even the courts have rules that Christmas has become largely a secular holiday.
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Post by m52nickerson on Nov 30, 2011 20:27:48 GMT -5
The problem is that (per the modern definition) a Christmas tree is a symbol of Christmas, which is a Christian holiday associated with the Christian religion. It is what it is; it's conventionally associated with Christmas the way a menorah is associated with Hanukkah. If it works for you to associate it otherwise, cool, but a Christmas tree doesn't become a secular symbol just because some people prefer to see it that way. Thus (my original point) it's silly to try and claim it's both a religious and a secular symbol as it's impossible by definition for something to be associated and not associated with a religion simultaneously. You can't have it both ways...reality doesn't work like that. Symbols do in fact come to mean different things because people see them that way. I would argue at this point Christmas is just as much a secular and societal holiday as it is a christian one.
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Post by m52nickerson on Nov 30, 2011 15:06:43 GMT -5
Who says it can't be both? Symbols can easily mean different things to different people. I would presume because it's impossible for something to be representative of religion and not representative of religion at the same time? They're kinda mutually contradictory terms, if memory serves. It depends on who put it up and who is looking at it. For me they represent the holiday which is about giving gifts and children waiting for Santa. For someone else they could represent the holiday celibrating the birth of Christ.
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