Life Is Short; Have an Affair

[Aroura]

Untrue.

The Duggars lost thousands of followers from the molestation scandal, and this will probably do them in as people to "look up to" for other religous people.  

So yeah....these things actually do have an impact!  
Being an honest being MATTERS!  I'm baffled that you would argue that is basically affects people not at all.

Lying on this level is terrible, and it ruins relationships (straight, gay, friends, families, all kind of relationships).  To defend it as just something everyone does is BS.  Though protestith too much, if you know what I mean.

Those people stopped believing what they did, or just transferred their beliefs to the next masthead?  Now, because I'm defending something else, and in the course of that accepting an uncomfortable -fact-.. I'm probably a cheater too huh?

Jesus christ.....

No, I did not mean to impy you are a cheater.  I edited back out after I realized how it sounded.  

Don't you think it planted the seeds of doubt about Christians being more moral in even one persons head?  

There are people on this very forum that were once DEVOUT believers.  They didn't just wake up one day and say, naw, that was all bullshit.  It takes actual things happening to raise doubts and questions.  It often starts with doubting the organization and leaders, and those who represent them.  The Duggars have made some some atheists-in-waiting with their misconduct. It will take time and more input to get them there.  I suspect Hamza will have driven a few people further from Islam as well.


The same goes for politicians.  A hardcore conservative can become more progressive if he loses faith in his political leaders (and vise versa).  My uncle was a very hardcore republican.  He watched Hannity and O'Reily every day (drove my mother nuts...she took care of him in his old age).  But he lost faith in the party line because of Bush and the illegal wars.  Before he died, he disavowed the republican party, and he even voted for Obama's first term.

People are not fixed forever in one state, you know.  Events in the world have an impact.  I still find it wierd that you are basically arguing they do not (that people will just find another wackjob leader to follow, so no impact).