it's part of the culture and it's part of who we are.
I don't understand how American can have so many people claiming to be Christian when you look at their culture. Eg:
Their high rates of crime conflicting with the bibles 8th commandment "
thou shalt not steal" and "
thou shalt not kill" commandment.
Ethusiam to seemingly be constantly involved in a war or often starting own war making a mockery of the "
Thou shalt not kill" commandment (a commandment which in itself controdicts stories in the bible where 'good' 'character's killed others but never mind).
Very high divorce rates and a culture where having a affair is quite common, contradicts the "
Thou shalt not commit adultry' commandment.
The capatilist style politics and culture where being rich is admired and looked up to when the bible clearly states that rich people will not go to heaven. It's in Mathew 19:24 (and a few other sections)-
'And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.'
Some American states allow gay marriage (something I support) which is pretty rare in this world yet the bible clearly says that all gays (or at the very least gay males) should be put to death in Leviticus 20:13 - "
If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."
More than %10 of the US population lives below the povety line yet despite what the bible says in Deuteronomy 15:7:
I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land" . Americans give more to their church (who just spend it most of it on themselves) than they do to the poor who obviously aren't get enough help (or any at all).
Less than half of all Americans attend church every week, some polls showing as little as 25% actually do.
I haven't seen statistics for this but it would appear they're also in violation of the 4th commandment: "
Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy".
Why? North America and Britain have always embraced religion or spirituality, it's part of the culture and it's part of who we are.
Is this by way of exposing Children too it straight from Birth (by way of baptisims, christenings, circumcisms etc etc)? I don't know about Britain but Australia, as part of the Commonwealth/British empire does not 'embrace' religion and it's not part of who we are and our Prime minister does not constantly tells us to 'pray' or 'bless'. In the past we've even elected Athiest prime ministers (Paul Keating).
Belief in something greater than yourself is a wonderful thing
In what way?
This makes me think about the fact that no alcohol can be sold or bought on Sunday in this state. Every time I go to the grocery store on Sunday and I see those tarps lining the shelves with booze I get so fucking aggravated. And no, I don't drink.
I didn't know that. So much for a free country.
But did they have to create 100 different variations of a single religion?
I assume thats because they keep finding themselves violating their own relgion's rules so they start up a new Christian church with rules adjusted to suit themselves.
Being intelligent doesn't necessarily mean having a scientific background or being a special effect specialist on a TV show. Though generally, scientists tend not to be religious.
Thats true, but being scientific means knowing the facts, being logical, using or discovering evidence and defining unproven work as theorys which are all characteristics of a intelligent person. Christianity on the other hand requires a person to ignore evidence and believe in unproven stories/statistics of which they are not allowed to question or believe otherwise. These are the chracteristics of a narrow minded person who is unable to think for themselves - things that a intelligent person
isn't.
Most of us also possess the ability to not push our beliefs on other people
I may be wrong, but doesn't the Mormon Church (and the church of latter day saints or are they the same church) and similar churches come from America? All they seem to do is send people door knocking around the neirbourhoods, armed with a bible to try and convert people. Most of the people we get in Australia doing that, are actually Americans who travelled here specifically just to do that. Why don't they spend their time doing charity work instead?
Anyway, back to the original post, Someone tell me what these statements from the president are needed for and what they're supposed to mean.
Frankly I found it rather scary that the person in charge of the worlds most powerful country believes in a super natural being.