As near as I can tell, after over 200 years Congress has its first representative who doesn't believe in God. I have heard Christian parents tell me they have heard of Christian children being discriminated against in school and I want to pin them to the wall and ask if they can imagine what it is like for a non-Christian to attend American schools.
"NONTHEISTIC Americans, including humanists, are the group most likely to be discriminated against for their convictions," said Fred Edwords, director of communications for the American Humanist Association. "Recent polls show that fewer than 50 percent of Americans would vote for an atheist presidential candidate, even if that candidate is well qualified. The fact that Pete Stark's public avowal of nontheism is controversial reinforces this point. Atheists are the last group that a majority of Americans still think is okay to discriminate against."I am a Universalist of the UU denomination. That means I believe in God depending on how you define God. Give me a definition of God and I'll see if I can believe in it.
Tags: Christians, religion, politics, discrimination, theists, humanists, universalists, UU, unitarians, atheists, agnostics
4 comments:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness (did not comprehend) or overcome it....
....He was in the world and the world was made through him yet the world did not know him. He came unto his own and his own did not receive Him. (found in the first chapter of the gospel of John)
Judging by your article I would say that you wont believe in this definition and in fact the catch is, according to John? You prove what is written here to be true.
No offense intended.Just an observation.
The Book of John: "The first fourteen verses are introductory. In order to set at rest all controversy the Divine nature of Jesus, John glances, in the first three verses, back to the beginning, recorded in Genesis, and affirms: (1) That he who was afterwards manifest as the Christ existed before creation began; (2) that he was present with God; (3) that he was divine; (4) that he was the Word; (5) that by or through him were all things made that were made (Joh 1:3). The first chapter of Genesis helps us to understand its meaning. God said, Let there be light (Ge 1:3), Let there be a firmament (Ge 1:6), Let the earth bring forth (Ge 1:11), etc. and it was done. God exhibits his creative power through the Word, and manifests his will through the Word. There are mysteries belonging to the divine nature and to the relation between the Son and the Father that we have to wait for eternity to solve. They are too deep for human solution, but this is clear: that God creates and speaks to man through the Word. As we clothe our thoughts in words, so God reveals his will by the Word, and when the Word is clothed in flesh, as the Teacher of men, we recognize it as Jesus Christ"
Now, "His own did not receive him" refers to the time of Christ, obviously from the context. It can be stretched to include everyone throughout time as there are a lot of soft squishy philosophical concepts in this book.
John borrows heavily from Helenistic and some Rabbinic traditions and became a primary basis of Gnosticism and Mandaism, later declared heresies.
Put in your own words what you think it means when you repeat "the Word was with God, and the Word was God" and the rest and I will tell you if I believe in it.
Only look is the son of missionaries. I roomed with the son of a minister in college and also knew a beautiful daughter of missionaries at First UU. There is hope for him yet.
Meanwhile to get up to speed on the Gospel of John start with the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica and I'll give later references as needed.
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Gospel_Of_St_John
Finally! Congratulations, Mr. Stark. 534 presumed theists and 1 brave nontheist. Will the next nontheistic Member(s) of Congress please make themselves known now?
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