%18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing facts

[scotpens]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

Or maybe if didn't say all that stuff about "My individual salvation is tied to the Collective Salvation"....

Which, as far as Christian doctrine is concerned, is total hogwash. Salvation is by faith alone, and strictly individual. There's nothing "collective" about it.

Yeah, freakin' Obama not being selfish.

Maybe he was just inventing his own brand of Christianity, kind of like Bill Clinton with his mix-and-match Bible quote: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall inherit the Earth."

 

[Rush Limborg]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

Which, as far as Christian doctrine is concerned, is total hogwash. Salvation is by faith alone, and strictly individual. There's nothing "collective" about it.

The "faith alone" thing is more of a Protestant view....Catholic doctrine puts emphasis on works as well.

True. I'll accept that.

However...Pope Benedict himself has denounced the "collective salvation" concept as--his words, not mine--"demonic".

 

[gturner]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

But what if you're just a small part of the team that's flying an airliner into a building? Surely the entire team, even its least important, do-nothing member, gets 72 virgins, or do they have to share?

 

[Rii]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

What the hell is up with your signature? Is that seriously a quote from Wikipedia? You know, I'm a huge defender of that site, but... that's crossing the line!

It's from this page about LGBT symbols, referring to the gay subculture.

And yet - then and now - my mind persists in conjuring up hilarious images of bears congregating in the forest to hold philosophy conferences. Possibly because I've read too much Douglas Adams.

The entire passage is surprisingly amenable to this interpretation:

The bear concept can function as an identity, an affiliation, and an ideal to live up to, and there is ongoing debate in bear communities about what constitutes a bear. Some state that self-identifying as a bear is the only requirement, while others argue that bears must have certain physical characteristics—such as a hairy chest and face or having a large body—and a certain mode of dress and behavior.

 

[Davros]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

Which, as far as Christian doctrine is concerned, is total hogwash. Salvation is by faith alone, and strictly individual. There's nothing "collective" about it.

Unless you are a Catholic, then you are also judged by your good works.

 

[cultcross]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

But what if you're just a small part of the team that's flying an airliner into a building? Surely the entire team, even its least important, do-nothing member, gets 72 virgins, or do they have to share?

Do all Christians get their own wings, harp and fluffy cloud?

 

[RJDiogenes]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

Screw that. This is my America, too, and I'll be damned if I'm just going to hand it over to ignoramuses, cowards, and morons.

As a fellow NIN fan, your words strike a chord with me. Still, I'm sorry, but there are days I really do entertain the notion of abandoning it. This is one of them.

The other days far outnumber them, though.

I've never seriously considered leaving. It seems like giving up, somehow. And I tend not to give up on things.

If Americans gave up that easily there never would have been an America. Besides, despite all the political nonsense that's always going on, we've been getting closer to our goals for 234 years.

The bear concept can function as an identity, an affiliation, and an ideal to live up to, and there is ongoing debate in bear communities about what constitutes a bear. Some state that self-identifying as a bear is the only requirement, while others argue that bears must have certain physical characteristics—such as a hairy chest and face or having a large body—and a certain mode of dress and behavior.

And a fondness for picinic baskets.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

It's from this page about LGBT symbols, referring to the gay subculture.

And yet - then and now - my mind persists in conjuring up hilarious images of bears congregating in the forest to hold philosophy conferences. Possibly because I've read too much Douglas Adams.

The entire passage is surprisingly amenable to this interpretation:

The bear concept can function as an identity, an affiliation, and an ideal to live up to, and there is ongoing debate in bear communities about what constitutes a bear. Some state that self-identifying as a bear is the only requirement, while others argue that bears must have certain physical characteristics—such as a hairy chest and face or having a large body—and a certain mode of dress and behavior.

That's fascinating. I'll have to run it by my girlfriend; she spends a bare minimum of ten hours a week perusing equal rights forums and news articles. I wonder if she's heard of this before.

 

[Eleanor_zhDarjel]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

But what if you're just a small part of the team that's flying an airliner into a building? Surely the entire team, even its least important, do-nothing member, gets 72 virgins, or do they have to share?

Do all Christians get their own wings, harp and fluffy cloud?

Do the ladies get virgins too? I wouldn't blow myself up for 72 boy-virgins. *shudder*
And if they don't share, the guys I mean, where do all the virgin-girls come from? My math has deserted me and my common sense is calling for a parley.

And the thought of a virgin gang-bang on fluffy clouds with wings and harps involved is more then a little disturbing...

 

[Hoser]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

Which, as far as Christian doctrine is concerned, is total hogwash. Salvation is by faith alone, and strictly individual. There's nothing "collective" about it.

Which is so true, and if Beck hadn't been trying to do damage control after going after every Church that talked about 'social justice' by demonizing statements that Obama made to graduates, telling those graduates not to just take their diplomas and chase selfish desires but to do good for their community and country, to help save it, I'd be behind that pitchfork waving brigade you're trying to head.

But I'm not, because A.) I just had to read an article written by Beck himself to make sense of you and B.) wrote a run-on sentence.

And as an aside, salvation is personal, but faith without works is dead. Obama never mentioned religion when he made those statements, but even if he was, he realizes that you can say you're saved until you're blue in the face, but the rubber's gotta meet the road or there's no proof it actually runs.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

But what if you're just a small part of the team that's flying an airliner into a building? Surely the entire team, even its least important, do-nothing member, gets 72 virgins, or do they have to share?

Do all Christians get their own wings, harp and fluffy cloud?

Of course they, what do you think they'll, get collective clouds, shared flightpaths and unionised harp playing? Communist!

 

[Danoz]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

Not a huge fan of that link-- it's politically charged and bias. Some of these I'm not sure I even believe. Titled, "America the ignorant," as if other countries don't have similar statistics of an uneducated or misinformed populous. This is clearly an article meant to inform people of their erroneous beliefs about Obama's background, and it's thinly veiled. Why should your average American be able to name more than two Supreme Court justices? The only reason I know them is because I studied political science, lived in Washington, D.C. for three years and spend no less than an hour a day reading the news. I don't expect that from every citizen, and neither should the egotists over at Newsweek. Every few years somebody writes up a "man on the street" quiz and attacks everyday Americans. They can shove it. Write an article about improving general education if that's the point-- just taking shots at people doesn't help anybody.

Typical Newsweek these days. You want a decent progressive magazine, stick with the Economist or one of the foreign policy journals.

 

[Rii]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

^ They got you on heliocentrism, right?

Some stats on Australian ignorance to salve your wounded American pride:

- The majority of high-school students couldn't identity the Queen as Australia's head of state or describe the significance of the Union Jack on the Australian flag.
- 10% of Australians do not believe in evolution.
- One-third of Australians believe that humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs.
- 40% of Australians did not correctly identify '1 year' as the time taken for the Earth to orbit the Sun.

And there's no reason this sort of thing shouldn't be lampooned in the media.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

Thank you, that helped. I think I'm going to leave the planet now.

Reflections of Robert Maxwell and his brave stand in America confront Jeff O'Connor as he prepares his ascent. The courage then finds him once more, and he forgoes his plan to leave Earth, thus in all likelihood preventing his death as he had no real means of pulling it off and surviving.

 

[Rii]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

Y'know, in all the coverage of Miss South Carolina's verbal faceplant - which, let's face it, was pretty hilarious - a few years back, I've rarely seen anyone question the accuracy of the, err, question:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww[/yt]

Frankly, I find it rather difficult to believe. Even if one had never seen a map of the world before and was familiar with the layout of the United States only from weather charts on television, one would think that'd suffice. It's not exactly small.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

Why did they clap? Why did they all clap? What was the goddamned clapping for? Boo her off the stage! Show your intelligence, not your modesty! Now is not the time for insincerity! Now is the time for booing!

 

[scotpens]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

But what if you're just a small part of the team that's flying an airliner into a building? Surely the entire team, even its least important, do-nothing member, gets 72 virgins, or do they have to share?

Stop me if you've read this one:

Seventy-Two Virgins -- Steve Martin

 

[Eleanor_zhDarjel]

Re: %18 of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, and other disturbing fac

Why did they clap? Why did they all clap? What was the goddamned clapping for? Boo her off the stage! Show your intelligence, not your modesty! Now is not the time for insincerity! Now is the time for booing!

It's horrible. Like beeing dumb like a flagpost it's a good thing. Stupid is the new black. Not only an american thing. There are several let's call them nini-stars in german tv that use the same method to stay in peoples heads. Look at me! Im blond and silly! Isn't that funny?

*sigh*