Your thoughts on Satanism and the petition for a Satanic statue.

[Catholic_Lady]

My eldest cousin on my moms side is a satanist, as well as part of that vampire sub-culture thing. He makes beds inside of coffins (I shit you not).  Makes a pretty good living catering to that crowd.

Lol, what? 

I saw an episode on true life about people who think they are vampires. Pretty interesting stuff, but definitely creeped me out.

[Cecelia]

Ok. I don't keep up much with politics, but I just doubt that this country will ever not have separation of church and state, even if some people might come along and try to push for it. What particularly "Christian" law do those guys want to impose?

They want to ban gay marriage.  They want to ban abortions (even in the cases of rape, and some even in cases where the mother's life is in danger, and even when the fetus has no chance of survival)  Some want to ban contraception.  Many of them have attacked single-mothers, and a few of them have even said that it's the wife's job to stay at home.  And they even want to make gay sex illegal, and I'm sure Rick Santorum would like to make pre-marital sex illegal.  Santorum even thinks women shouldn't be working, that her place is in the home.

In fact Santorum has called Separation of Church and State a communist ideal.

[TheRocketSurgeon]

This stuff freaks me out like nothing else, but nonetheless it's kind of intriguing in a morbid sort of way. 

They picked Satan on purpose because it makes Christians uncomfortable. They could have just as easily picked Cthulu. They want you to be freaked out because it might be the only way to get some people to see how others feel when they're constantly bombarded with messages from a human-sacrifice-centered cult.

When my family (who are mostly Catholic, since I am half-Cajun, on my mother's side, even though she personally converted to Southern Baptist, my dad's faith) start getting too heavily into their human-sacrifice-cult talk, I tend to fire off a quip from Warhammer 40K to let them know how creepy I find their ideas:

"Blood for the Blood God!"

You can dress it up in a suit and tie and a pretty bonnet with bows, but in the end Christianity is a weird combination of a blood-sacrifice cult from the Ancient Near East's desert sheepherder/warrior tribes and amalgamations of the various Pagan ideas in first century Persian, Greek, and Roman cultures. The idea of murdering a man-god as a substitute for a baby sheep sacrificed ritually to placate a Blood God is no more or less creepy than any other pagan idea I have seen, including those of Satan Worshipers (distinct from Satanists). The only difference is that Satan Worshipers are more aware/open/honest about their creepy ideas, and our culture is so heavily-infused with the insanity of Christian doctrines that people don't see just how creepy their most basic ideas really are, when examined from a "fresh sheet of paper", so to speak.

[Ravenshire]

Because it would tell me (if I were an American): "This courthouse/city hall is not for you. You are a second class citizen (at best)"

I don't think that's what the intention is.

What's that old saw about the road to hell?

[TheRocketSurgeon]

Ok. I don't keep up much with politics, but I just doubt that this country will ever not have separation of church and state, even if some people might come along and try to push for it. What particularly "Christian" law do those guys want to impose?

They want to ban gay marriage.  They want to ban abortions (even in the cases of rape, and some even in cases where the mother's life is in danger, and even when the fetus has no chance of survival)  Some want to ban contraception.  Many of them have attacked single-mothers, and a few of them have even said that it's the wife's job to stay at home.  And they even want to make gay sex illegal, and I'm sure Rick Santorum would like to make pre-marital sex illegal.  Santorum even thinks women shouldn't be working, that her place is in the home.

In fact Santorum has called Separation of Church and State a communist ideal.

You forgot Blue Laws, Prohibition, changing our national motto and altering our Pledge of Allegiance, even attacking science education by trying to insert religion-based dogmas into the curriculae in numerous states, which is still going on.

We could probably list more examples all night, and that's not even counting the almost-constant propaganda by religious leaders and religious politicians that misrepresent what atheists actually believe, try to get us banned from government and/or suggest things that should horrify any person of conscience.

If you must wonder why we're "so sensitive" (a common complaint when we fight back) and "hostile to religion", consider the above. And do your own Googling for a million other examples.

[Ravenshire]

Also, the concept of the devil is also borrowed. So again...who cares?

I have to live next to conservatives. We're not allowed to post signs about it. But if the conservatives are allowed to post about their beliefs, we liberals would be allowed to as well. Do you think someone isn't going to feel directly offended because of opposite view points in that situation? It's the same thing, essentially, just missing people believing in a divine component that is somehow supposed to invest them with "being more right."

Conservatives and liberals do have different views, but one isn't a symbol of hate and evil towards the other. That's where it's different.

Tell that to the nes-cons.

[Ravenshire]

Then the only issues you seem to have pertain to which of the symbols have the prior claim and the relative proximity. Out of interest, what sort of separation wouldn't be a sign of hate to you - twelve inches? Six feet? Twenty feet?

Probably just far away enough so it doesn't look like they are meant to be associated.

Which will never be far enough for some.

The proximity isn't the issue here (not you, in general). It's the simple fact that some symbol other than a christer symbol is on the courthouse lawn that is the issue. And, it's precisely this issue the satanists are trying to point up. If we really want all religions on equal footing, then we won't be able to get into the damned courthouse because of all the religious iconography cluttering the place up.

[Cecelia]

You forgot Blue Laws, Prohibition, changing our national motto and altering our Pledge of Allegiance, even attacking science education by trying to insert religion-based dogmas into the curriculae in numerous states, which is still going on.

We could probably list more examples all night, and that's not even counting the almost-constant propaganda by religious leaders and religious politicians that misrepresent what atheists actually believe, try to get us banned from government and/or suggest things that should horrify any person of conscience.

If you must wonder why we're "so sensitive" (a common complaint when we fight back) and "hostile to religion", consider the above. And do your own Googling for a million other examples.

I'm sure I forgot a lot of things.

Whenever many right-wing religious folks speak about rape it makes me want to smack them back into the 50's.  The 1650's.  Not to mention anytime they mention aspirin between the knees....

[Catholic_Lady]

Ok. I don't keep up much with politics, but I just doubt that this country will ever not have separation of church and state, even if some people might come along and try to push for it. What particularly "Christian" law do those guys want to impose?

They want to ban gay marriage.  They want to ban abortions (even in the cases of rape, and some even in cases where the mother's life is in danger, and even when the fetus has no chance of survival)  Some want to ban contraception.  Many of them have attacked single-mothers, and a few of them have even said that it's the wife's job to stay at home.  And they even want to make gay sex illegal, and I'm sure Rick Santorum would like to make pre-marital sex illegal.  Santorum even thinks women shouldn't be working, that her place is in the home.

In fact Santorum has called Separation of Church and State a communist ideal.

The only one of those I agree with is making abortion illegal, since it's the killing of an innocent human life. Can't say I've heard any politician in the US say contraception, gay sex, and pre marital sex being illegal though. Are you sure that's what they meant?

[Ravenshire]

The only one of those I agree with is making abortion illegal, since it's the killing of an innocent human life.

I sincerely hope you are never elected to a high ranking political office.