Agreed. The last thing I want is the Democratic Party emulating the Republicans. Their party is about 1 vision (at the exclusion of others). Dems should focus on recapturing patriotism & “American values & stories,” like democracy, inclusion of others, or the historical immigrant story of many people.

I barely identify as a democrat due to their lack of moral conviction or care for bread & butter issues. Dems focused too much on identity politics, with social polices now being easily eroded, rather than making gains with working people. Too much money / neoliberal bullshit clouding the judgment.

Anyone trying to block democratic action preemptively is actively dooming our country. It’s a complete disgrace, not that I expected anything less from Rafael Cruz.

Somewhat irrelevant: omg, this is peak “corporate art sucks.” It’s like corporate art combined with fascist content, more than usual.

She wore this after visiting children in cages. She’s no friend of mine.

New England is distinctly different from Nomansland.

100 homie. Sorry if it sounded like I implied that. Not my intent.

Sounds like gender affirming care.

Sorry to be snide. I don’t take TRT, but everyone should be able to do this sort of stuff without judgment. You only got one life.

Reality.

http://www.thelastquestion.net/

The God of the Gap will always live at some level.

What’s your setup? I do joke writing as a hobby.

Let’s say you’re arguing in good faith. What if I offered you a different conception of God?

You’re reading the Torah. Have you read the Gnostic gospels? They are early Christian texts & beliefs, some that run roughshod over the beliefs in Judaism. Some Gnostics believed YHWH was a false God, because why would God say, “You must believe in me?” Or why would he genocide the earth with a flood?

Other people have said it, but religion is made by humans. However, what if God was more like the Dao/Tao? Maybe it’s not a person (that’s a human notion), but more like a spring or fountain? Like a source of goodness? Or it’s a foundational substrate for metaphysical realities?

You say, “Why has no holy text predicted what science has revealed?” To me, it sounds like, “Why hasn’t a pig flown?” I think the critique misaligns religion with a goal.

Science reveals the physical world to us. We know there’s an inherent gap between what we observe and some sort of capital T Truth. We could be brains in a vat, a demon could have us hostage, etc. Religion lives in the gap, and I’d say it can reveal things. What it reveals isn’t about the physical world, though.

When I read a Bible verse, a Buddhist Sutra, or hear an Islamic Surah, it connects me to our species. I go to church for the people, the community. The values resonate with me, and I think my family & kids are better off because of that environment. I have science to explain the physical world.

I’m a Unitarian Universalist, so I look at religion in my own way (was an atheist for 20 years prior). Have you tried reframing God as not “old man in the clouds?” If you have, does that framing change how you read the Torah?

P.S. Check out some of the discussion of quantum science and consciousness. Some are arguing that consciousness is the metaphysical reality. Everything may be conscious, but certain conditions may need to be met for the emergence of it in physical reality. Some people have also theorized that all electrons are the same. Some fun theories out there.

What the joke & structure? What’s the setup? What’s the punchline? Asking legitimately so I can hear your comedic take.

https://youtu.be/yuOHbyuanbY

Sure seems like a free market right now. /s

“Free market”

Respectfully, my post is asking for self reflection.

Peace & love.

Vranyo – Russian for when you lie and everyone knows it, but you don’t care

Hey, candidly, as a fellow UU, seeing the term “enemy” makes me pretty sad. I don’t like ICE, I think the concept is abhorrent, but naming other humans “enemies” feels like a violation of several principles.

We posted online about white Christian nationalism on the church’s social media, and there was a lot of heat locally after. We ended up inviting people to the church, having a large discussion, and even some critics who came changed their minds after learning more about the terms. A lot of people, like some of my family, heard the term and literally said, “I’m white, I’m Christian, and I love our country. What is so wrong with that?” It was a misunderstanding.

We also discussed the paradox of tolerance, or “Do you tolerate the intolerable?” If someone is malicious or a bad faith actor, how do we respond? The Article II discussions spoke to this specifically:

1. Justice. We work to be diverse multicultural Beloved Communities where all thrive.
2. We covenant to dismantle racism and all forms of systemic oppression. We support the use of 33 inclusive democratic processes to make decisions within our congregations, our Association, 34 and society at large.

Here’s a different take: what if an ICE agent came? Would they be welcome? Or would they be denied? They aren’t coming to detain someone, but if they came to the discussion, how would you treat them?

Another exercise that’s valuable is 4 voices: groups of 4 people sit together and each takes on a voice; pro, against, past, future. We did a discussion on border policy. Our pro was an immigrant in real life, from Canada, who thought what was happening was abhorrent (I agree personally). I was the against, and I used the character of someone signing up for ICE because their family was hurt by an immigrant. Each voice speaks without interruption for 4 minutes, because the goal is to listen and learn from different perspectives.

This is food for thought, and I hope your event goes well regardless. Peace, love, aṣẹ.

Imagine life was a game. You lived for 2025 years. You worked 260 days / year. You made the median US salary.

You would need to relive that process 3,145 times to match an Oligarch.

That amount of wealth is unethical while humanity suffers. No one can really fathom “1b dollars.”

Read the book so you can tell others “Isn’t this what you believe?” I’m so sick and tired of the Right claiming Jesus. They claim Jesus with no good acts. Loving Jesus & not emulating his teachings is equivalent to no faith (James 2:15-18).

Matthew 32 calls for Christians to care for the poor, the sick, the immigrant, the unhoused, and the prisoner. “What you did to the least, truly I tell you, you did to me.” Every immigrant sent to a jail is sending Jesus to jail.

If ever these goons come for my family, I will quote the Bible until it haunts them. This country is corrupted.