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So, what lessons did we learn? And what does the future hold?
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Amid the all the hand-wringing, or wailing jeremiads, or triumphant op-eds
out there, *I’ll offer in this election post-mortem some perspectives that
you...
4 days ago
5 comments:
Nice act. Need to see more of Sam.
Act? "Brother" Sam is sickening. Freedom of speech and freedom of values? Who the hell cares what "Brother" Sam thinks........... until you brainwash the younger generation, who most likely just think you're "cool" (because you are combative, as many young people are... while they are trying to figure out WHO they are). How many of your cool blue glasses have you sold to your many fans for $1,000 so that they may be just as cool and free as you, "Brother" Sam? Get over your daddy issues and grow up and get a real job.
Well, Anonymous, apparently you care what Brother Sam thinks.
Yes, this is an act. Isn't that obvious? And I assume that he makes some money at it, although I doubt that it's anywhere near as much as the Christian evangelists he parodies.
Furthermore, when it comes to brainwashing, no one can match Christians and other religious believers at that. They start when kids are still in the cradle.
But I think you've got entirely the wrong idea here. "Brother Sam" is hardly designed to lure believers from the church. His kind of entertainment is aimed entirely at people who've already seen the light.
It's not surprising that it's not to your taste. It's not entirely to mine, either, but I can enjoy bits and pieces of it. Of course, I don't take it very seriously.
I respect your opinion, WCG, and thank you for respecting mine. I am only anonymous for the reason that I don't want to join another website. Not for the reason that I wouldn't say to Mr. Sam exactly how I feel about him. As far as what you say about those seeing the light...... my feeling is that he directs his views (Mr. Sam's) at younger people who don't know which way to go, spirtuality-wise. Making a mockery of God, Jesus and faith is just wrong. Sure, there are jokes about religion and churches and some for good reason. But this guy (Sam, the act) married my son a few months ago and I feel it made a mockery of marriage, including and especially his marriage. My son also returned a Christmas card that I had sent him with a Christmas puppy sticker on the back and he'd drawn horns, a pointed tail and a speech bubble with him saying, "Hail, S-t-n!" (he'd spelled it out and I won't). Do I think that "Brother Sam" has had any influence on my son? Hell, yes!!! And because "Brother Sam" happens to be some cousin (2nd or 3rd) of my son's new wife and SHE told me how she thinks "Brother Sam" is one of the smartest people she's ever known, I think he's put this guy on some kind of pedestal. Smart? This is why I think he brainwashes and is truly harmful. My name is Kim, btw. Freedom of speech is not just the right of "Brother Sam Singleton". In fact, I will say my view of him is that he is outright damaging and dangerous. That's my opinion.
Kim, I understand now why you take this more seriously than I do, and I'm sincerely sorry for the trouble in your family.
I don't know what the situation is with your son, so I'm not going to comment on that. But let me point out that I exchange Christmas cards myself, and those I send, while not religious, aren't disrespectful.
As far back as I remember, I've always been a non-believer, and I never knew a single other atheist - or even a non-Christian - all the time I grew up. Many of the Christians I knew were good people, and I don't have bad memories of church or of believers in general. Furthermore, I strongly support your right to believe whatever you wish.
However, I'm sorry, but I can't agree that making a mockery of God, Jesus, and faith is necessarily wrong. (It is wrong in certain circumstances, yes.) I know you believe, but I don't. I don't believe in God - or any gods - because I've never seen any good evidence that he exists. I don't even know if Jesus existed. I suspect so, but I don't see any reason to believe what was written about him in the Bible (which was written long after the fact, in any case).
And I believe that faith itself is damaging and dangerous, to use your phrase. Faith is why religious fanatics flew planes full of people into buildings. Faith is why good Christians burned women alive. Faith is why Galileo was threatened with the same end for merely claiming that the Earth revolves around the Sun.
I don't think that ridiculing religion is bad, because I think that religion in general is bad. I certainly think that faith-based thinking is bad. (Note that this doesn't mean that believers are necessarily bad or that religions don't do many good things.)
I also believe in politeness. We can disagree but still get along. I do disagree with most of the people I know. Thanks to freedom of religion and the separation of church and state, we can be friends despite our differences.
But I will mock religion sometimes, and I'll mock religious leaders when I think they deserve it. It's been my experience that believers will often say the most outrageous things about atheists, but get offended when not treated with exaggerated respect themselves. Well, you usually are treated with exaggerated respect, so I suppose it can be pretty shocking when you're not.
I'm not crazy about "Brother Sam" Singleton, although I think he's funny sometimes. He's not entirely to my taste, but I don't know anything about him personally. I'm very sorry to hear about your family troubles, but I can only speak about generalities here.
And the fact is that Brother Sam does not brainwash people. He may try to convince them, but if your son is old enough to get married, he's certainly old enough to hear contrary opinions. He's not a child any longer, and he has to make his own decisions. Some of them will be mistakes, no doubt (like that Christmas card incident, I'd say). Well, we all make them.
PS. If you're curious, I've written a series of posts about my non-belief here. The first, in particular, tells about my background. But you are welcome to comment on any of them.
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