[at-l] God is Dead, was Problems in Erwin

[DaRedhead@aol.com (DaRedhead@aol.com)]

In a message dated 1/18/02 8:48:09 AM US Eastern Standard Time, 
nealb@midlandstech.com writes:


> The negative reaction to the sign may actually be more "bigoted" than the
> sign.  Not that it could not have been meant the other way.  But there use
> to be a lot of signs in restaurants down here in the South that said "We
> reserve the right to refuse service to anyone."  It usually meant blacks,
> but I know of one restaurant that had that sign up that served blacks and
> had blacks working for it.  

Okay.  You knew of ONE restaurant.  It was unusual, and you noted it.  As a 
citizen of the community (at the time) that spouted that sign, I was 
appalled. (Speaking of the Erwin sign on that Church).

There is a passage in the bible ( I don't remember which one specifically but 
I can find it, in both the Old and New Testaments) which, to paraphrase since 
I don't have it handy as a reference, says something about not praying to 
your God in public, to beware, in fact, of people that need to say loudly 
that they do so, to go into your CLOSET and pray to God quietly and privately 
and then shall you be rewarded, that people who stand on the pulpit or the 
street corner proclaiming their love for GOD is not what GOD asks of you, but 
an attempt that all mankind see your prayers and praise you for that, and do 
good for you in this life, a type of arrogance and assumption - but a quiet 
PRIVATE conversation w/ GOD was most acceptable.  I'm not making that up, and 
I'm sure those of you who have actually read both the old and new testament 
know that.

I'm not trying for a discussion of God or religion here.  (Myself not being 
very religious, that would be wrong - but I have read more of the bible than 
most people that call themselves religious have.)  What I'm trying for is for 
somebody, ANYBODY, to draw similar parallels on the right for that Church to 
POST that on a sign on the road, and Warren for his comments opening night at 
the Gathering.  Nobody *I* know is arguing the rights for either.  But then 
again, nobody I KNOW is arguing that they were appropriate for the time and 
place. RnR hasn't even argued that.  Because he can't.  Freedom of speech is 
a given.   No matter how some argue what is being said here, we never said 
they didn't have the right to say what they said.  We said the medium, the 
venue, the time and place, was wrong, in this instance.  Therefore, the 
rights of assholes often outweigh the rights of everyone else.  And if you 
think "assholes" is too strong of a word, perhaps I should have used "narrow 
minded".

I'm sure I'll get hits 'cause this isn't Trail related - but I caution those 
of you who would claim God as their reason for stating such a thing - in case 
you've forgotten, the sign clearly said "My God is alive, Sorry about YOURS". 
 I can think of no context where talking about whether God was alive or not 
would condone the above sentence.  Whether it was in the 70's, 80's, 90's or 
not.  This is now the - whats?  whatever it is, it is at least 20 yrs after 
the 80's ;)  Some people think this country is built upon freedom of speech.  
I don't deny that it is unusual, and makes us (and the media) what they are.  
But it is also built on freedom of religion, and separation of Church and 
State so that no one religious group could ever become a modern day "God".  
And I know of no religion, be it all those standards in the south or even 
Buddhism, that says that that sign was appropriate, or that what Warren Doyle 
said was appropriate - for the time and place.

Go ahead, smite me.

Red







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