Red_Dragon wrote:

We should be able to scrounge up two more so we can play flaming hearts.  

 GeneP59 wrote:

You and me, brother.

I will be pleased when we evolve past the religion thingy and killing in the name of God.

Yeah yeah yeah I know I’m going to burn in hell. 
 

So I've spent way too much time chatting about this with family today... so why not post here.

Here, for your review, is the crescendo of the song Gethsemane, as sung the other night by Cynthia Erivo as Jesus in the live concert of Jesus Christ Superstar.  (I think it's worth watching the whole song...but queued to streamline your busy day).

The "faithful" are losing their minds.  In an article suggesting her playing the role is demonic, it states:

a 38-year-old woman, identifies as a queer bisexual and is a strong advocate of non-binary identities despite claiming to be Catholic, telling Elle last year she has “a deep belief that God makes people as they’re meant to be.”

I've never really liked her, but there is no denying she's an enormous talent.  This rendition is painfully emotional... and if people are getting stuck on her sex or sexual orientation, that's their loss.

I agree with this even though I am a lifelong Agnostic:  

 rgio wrote:
fixed that typo

So now the Pope says it's OK for priests to bless same-sex marriage, but explaining why Johnny has 2 mothers in Florida will get a teacher fired?

Pope says Roman Catholic priests can bless same-sex couples

Help the Victim, Ignore the Perpetrator: Naming the Threat of Christian Nationalism

Never regarded religion as bad, per se.
Decades long in my life, I thought it would be helpful for my own 'spiritual' growth.
Coming towards the ageing phase, I realized none of it really matters on the outside.
Did dive deep into some meditation technique from India. Had that kundalini awakening.
Breathlessness. And deathlessness hoped for, but never ever encountering that silver-bearded God figure.
Able to communicate I am.
Did it change my character? My horniness of babes? My readyness to party or get wasted? 
Well, it sure didn't.
In hindsight, years awakened haven't changed me all that much. What remains is a breath to take - the final one - to view the other side of the Rio Grande...

 kurtster wrote:

Well sure, like all biases we hold...they influence decision making.
But they shouldn't be inflicting their specific choices on others.

 Red_Dragon wrote: 

Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square. Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Williams Jennings Bryant, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King - indeed, the majority of great reformers in American history - were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause. So to say that men and women should not inject their "personal morality" into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

BARACK OBAMA

 R_P wrote:

jfc

 Antigone wrote:

Meanwhile in Texas, Republicans just approved a party platform that thoroughly embraces right-wing Christian beliefs: “We affirm God’s biblical design for marriage and sexual behavior,” they aver. They would rescind no-fault divorce and same-sex marriage, declare homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice,” and put “prayer, the Bible, and the Ten Commandments” in schools. Legislators around the country are passing laws that will force women to bear children they don’t want because, in Gov. Greg Abbott’s words, “Our Creator endowed us with the right to life.”

And thanks to Christian nationalism and its allies on the Supreme Court, American women have just lost all federal legal protection against this God-given oppression, which former vice president Mike Pence, for one, wants to make into U.S. law.