A youth pastor is someone who specializes in ministering to “youth”, which usually means middle and high schoolers (about 12-18).
That some how implies they feel shame for believing in what they deem is right.
Even ignoring fundamentalist Mormons in the southwest/prairie states who share the same beliefs, pretending that this fundamentalist “christian” shit doesn’t exist north of the Mason Dixon line is naive at best. Anywhere you live in American, I guarantee you can find a preacher spewing that kind of shit within a couple hours drive. Promise Keepers events (promisekeepers.org) will be full of men who share those beliefs, and only 2 of their 6 events this year are in the South
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Stripped to its bare essentials, spanking consists of one person striking another person to compel them by pain to do something (or stop doing something).
That sounds an awful lot like a fight to me.
When the person doing this hitting is bigger/stronger/older than the person being hit, it sounds like bullying.
But by some alchemy, when the person doing the bullying is the parent/guardian/caregiver of the person being hit, it’s not abuse?
Spanking is abuse.
It’s a low-grade abuse (if it’s possible for abuse to be so categorized) that is tolerated in some places and cultures and actively revered in other places and cultures.
But it is definitely abuse.
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Indeed, you can find religious nut-jobs everywhere, even in ‘coastal elite liberal enclaves’.
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I think Art is neutral in this battle. It has certainly served Religion very well over its history.
One of the shocking facts that I knew about, then conveniently forgot (Freudian repression?), just to be shocked by them again.
That is an ingenious argument that I completely overlooked. I will use it at some point. Thanks 
Sounds good :-).
(I don’t know how much girls like to hug each other in Indiana; and I guess using the same method on boys will lead to wildly different results in different cultures).
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A Vedic snake god? Not impossible if you know of influence from the Mitanni, but seemingly less plausible than a near eastern snake god or goddess. Wait, is this the serpent [who I read as an attempt by the priests to demonize the Wisdom] or the brazen snake?
The gospel according to Matthew, chapter 19, verse 14
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. But there are times when crumple punches might be needed. Don’t push my buttons, smart-aleck.”
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Same here, especially on a website that has an ‘islamophobia’ tag.
And it’s the fact that it’s done unironically is what bugs me. I mean…yeah, at 32% of the world population, Christians aren’t persecuted, by and large. Oh, some parts of the world do. But…here’s the thing. It’s 32% and dropping. Islam? That’s 22% of humanity, and growing.
In this thread, there are people blasting Christianity for the Old Testament bullshit. Ever sat down and read anything form the Quran? That’s some Old Testament bullshit, and in much of the Islamic world, they practice it. The portrayal of women in video games makes you uncomfortable? How about stonings? They still do that shit. In 2008, a 13-year-old Somali was stoned to death in front of a crowd of 100 for the crime of being raped…
You say anything negative about Islam, though, and OMG Islamophobia! Asshole dude punches a kid in the chest and uses the Lord as an excuse, and people condemn an entire religion.
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The brazen serpent, aka “Nehushtan,” seems to be a localized version of the (originally) Vedic snake deity “Nahusha.” Certain Jewish and Christian traditions connected Nehushtan with the serpent in the garden, and the Christians also associated it with Jesus (making the serpent in the garden a pre-figuration of Christ). For obvious reasons:
Christ: “What an asshole.”
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Also, impalement by a large wooden stake up the ass was far more common than crucifixion, but early Christian marketing research found this did not do well with their focus groups.
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I see what you did there 
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I’ve heard this explained as a prohibiton on poles for Asteroth, which was allegedly the Hebrew Goddess, I’m not sure where I read that, but I do know it wasn’t either from fundies or some fringe group, still likely speculation.
As you say here, it’s difficult to say to what extent those holidays are pagan survivals and to what extent they are simply ‘natural’ and logical holidays, the return of the sun is pretty inspiring, winter solstice is a good time for a party, since there’s not much else to do in the dark. Etc…
Asherah and Ashtoreth/Astarte come from two different traditions.
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There’s always Mein Kampf for the parts about women as less than legal citizens and glory of being little more than incubators for little stormtroopers.
I don’t see radical Somali Islamists running for governor or Senate in the Untied States. Nor are those Somalis prying into the personal lives of Americans the way Christian do. However just the other day Sam Brownback the Republican governor of Kansas blamed his states cratering economy on immorality and people turning away from God and the Bible. People rip on Christianity in the US because of this corrosive mix of politics and religion that wrap stupid policies in religion then goes “Waaaaaah! Religious persecution!” when anyone complains.
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Yeah, there were all sorts of crucifixions, including being nailed to the post by one’s genitals. Also failed with the focus group. Although actually the crucifix itself initially didn’t go over particularly well - Jesus on the cross wasn’t a popular image in Christianity until well into the Middle Ages. Previous to that, it wasn’t a great image for a growing religion - too morbid. And we actually have no real evidence that Jesus was crucified the way the “modern scientific” view (through the ankles/feet and forearms) would have it. It’s largely the result of begging the question - starting from the presumption that he died (some forms of crucifixion were more likely to be fatal than others) and that early symbolism was right and it was on a cross shape (although the cross was a pre-Christian protective symbol).
Well, we know they’re Christianizations of pre-existing pagan holidays if just from the fact that they retained the earlier, pagan trappings, festivities and references. it’s just that in different places there were different pagan holidays on the same day (or thereabouts - these holidays often took place over long periods of time, as did the Christianized versions - Christmas in Britain used to take place over more than two months) that all got taken over by the same Christian holiday. There was a certain amount of blending together of the holiday traditions in Europe after Christianization, but this really happened in the US, which has now, to some degree, exported its blended traditions back to various parts of Europe.
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