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China cracks down on 'Doomsday cult'
December 19, 2012 at 3:08 pm
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/18/world/..._inthenews
Why are christians so keen for the end of the world?
Quote:Members of a fringe Christian group in China have been rounded up for spreading rumors of an impending apocalypse, pegged to the Mayan calendar.
Known as the "Almighty God" cult, the group latched on to the Mayan doomsday scenario to predict the sun will not shine and electricity will not work for three days beginning on December 21, an official with the Department of Public Security in the northwest province of Qinghai told CNN.
Group members would spread doomsday rumors door-to-door or at public venues and claimed only they could save people's lives, according to authorities.
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
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RE: China cracks down on 'Doomsday cult'
December 19, 2012 at 3:35 pm
I'm always amused when jesus freaks claim that "xtianity" is making great gains in China.
THIS is the kind of stupid shit that is spreading among the ignorant over there.
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RE: China cracks down on 'Doomsday cult'
December 19, 2012 at 4:02 pm
downbeatplumb Wrote:Why are christians so keen for the end of the world?
Because they think Jesus is coming then, which will simultaneously vindicate their religion and give them a chance to look down their noses at all of the people whom they tried to warn but wouldn't listen.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
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RE: China cracks down on 'Doomsday cult'
December 19, 2012 at 4:19 pm
I find it repulsive that the chinese authorities cracked down on this movement.
Cult or not, stupid ideas or not. It`s not a reason to crack down on them for exercising their free speech.
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RE: China cracks down on 'Doomsday cult'
December 19, 2012 at 5:58 pm
(This post was last modified: December 19, 2012 at 6:12 pm by Anomalocaris.)
In their civilizational experience, tolerance of apocalyptic or utopian cults generally precedes social upheaval, bloody civil wars, dynastic collapse. They have long memories and a strong cultural reliance on civilizational experience. They also have a high appreciation for sophisticated, case by case pragmatism, and a contempt of the western concept of general "principle", whether that concept is applied to "free speech", "free market", "rights", etc.
To them, no one should have any freedom to speak in a manner which experience has shown to threaten social stability. If a "principle" contradicts this, then obviously the principle is overreaching, stupid and needs to be scraped.