Dear God, your rep depends on McCain winning....

[FeatsofClay]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/10/john-mccain-ral.html

John McCain rally in Iowa marked by partisan prayer
Rev. Arnold Conrad, in delivering an invocation at a rally today for John McCain in Davenport, Iowa, apparently didn't get the word from the candidate about elevating the tone at such gatherings.

Conrad, who appeared before the crowd before McCain had arrived, offered a prayer that seemed to urge divine intervention to prevent Barack Obama from winning the presidential election -- and cast the outcome as a referendum on differing religions.

The Times' Maeve Reston was at the event, and she passed along the key passage from Conrad's words:

I would also pray Lord that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their God -- whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah -- that his [McCain’s] opponent wins for a variety of reasons.

And Lord I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you would step forward and honor your own name in all that happens between now and Election Day.

Oh Lord, we just commit this time to you, move among us, make your presence very well felt as we are gathered here today in Jesus's name I pray.

Some in the crowd greeted the prayer with applause.

-- Don Frederick


Arnold Conrad, deep end. Deep end, Arnold Conrad.

I am beginning to think that one of the reasons the Republican party is starting to lose steam is that noone wants to be affiliated with the "base."

[Lmik]

I thought that you were going to negative rep me for voting for Obama:boggle:

[The Winslow]

Same thing on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5fdzji2C54

I must admit I love how "Hindu" is a god now. Or Buddha, for what it's worth.

That's what I like with American religious nutcases, it's so very blatant that they consider knowledge and education to be evil and that they're doing all that they can to stay pure, untainted by foul things such as "knowing what they fuck they're talking about" or "having more maturity than a five-year old."

[Bagpuss]

Someone better tell him to look up.

Deuteronomy 6:16 or Matthew 4:7

Even I remember that one from when I was a believer.

One can only hope there is a venomous snake in his future. (1 Corinthians 10:9)

[The Winslow]

Dude, he's keeping his faith pure by not knowing what the fuck he's talking about; so he's not going to actually read the Scriptures. That could provoke knowledge, and knowledge is evil.

[Varaj]

That's what I like with American religious nutcases, it's so very blatant that they consider knowledge and education to be evil and that they're doing all that they can to stay pure, untainted by foul things such as "knowing what they fuck they're talking about" or "having more maturity than a five-year old."

Based around personal observations I'm not sure this behavior is limited to religious nutcases or American's. It seems a good chunk of the world's population (yes we even see it here) seems to feel that "knowing what the fuck they're talking about" is something to be avoided at all costs.

Hell people hold on to their precious ignorance even when the effort of staying ignorant is several times greater than learning something.

[The Winslow]

http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/898/iseewhatyoudidtherevf1.jpg

[Varaj]

http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/898/iseewhatyoudidtherevf1.jpg

:lol:

[Complaint Department]

Based around personal observations I'm not sure this behavior is limited to religious nutcases or American's. It seems a good chunk of the world's population (yes we even see it here) seems to feel that "knowing what the fuck they're talking about" is something to be avoided at all costs.

Hell people hold on to their precious ignorance even when the effort of staying ignorant is several times greater than learning something.

Picture if you will the sum total of all things a person knows as a wall of stones - each stone representing some fact or belief. These stones are laid down throughout our lives and each one influences the types of stones laid down atop them. If a stone is bad it must be pulled from the wall - no small task if it was laid down a long time ago and whole structures of belief rest upon it.

For some ignorance is preferable than the struggle of rebuilding this metaphorical wall - even if maintaining that ignorance requires great sacrifices or effort - so long as the effort of starting over is perceived as being greater the effort to remain ignorant will be maintained.

[Varaj]

Picture if you will the sum total of all things a person knows as a wall of stones - each stone representing some fact or belief. These stones are laid down throughout our lives and each one influences the types of stones laid down atop them. If a stone is bad it must be pulled from the wall - no small task if it was laid down a long time ago and whole structures of belief rest upon it.

For some ignorance is preferable than the struggle of rebuilding this metaphorical wall - even if maintaining that ignorance requires great sacrifices or effort - so long as the effort of starting over is perceived as being greater the effort to remain ignorant will be maintained.

In many cases the stones are little ones that rest on the top without even mortar holding them firm.

[Complaint Department]

But any removal at all requires introspection upon the whole - some would rather not think about it. People most always have reason for what they do or do not do - but those reasons need not be logical, rational or sane.

[Varaj]

But any removal at all requires introspection upon the whole - some would rather not think about it. People most always have reason for what they do or do not do - but those reasons need not be logical, rational or sane.

I agree, but that really doesn't change anything I said. :)

[Lmik]

I agree, but that really doesn't change anything I said. :)

By observing your comment we change it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/11/21/scicosmos121.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox

[The Winslow]

Picture if you will the sum total of all things a person knows as a wall of stones - each stone representing some fact or belief. These stones are laid down throughout our lives and each one influences the types of stones laid down atop them. If a stone is bad it must be pulled from the wall

lol no.

What's a bad stone?

I hope I won't offend anyone's religious conviction with this, but Athena, Zeus, Poseidon and the other gods of ancient Greek mythology do not exist. They are fictional, fictitious, not factual. Is it a bad thing, therefore, to know Greek mythology? Should scholars be brainwashed to forget about them, and books on the subject destroyed and never printed again, so that this "bad stone" is pulled out of the wall?

I could have taken any example. A popular novel or movie. Lasers don't behave as they're shown in sci-fi movies. Elves and gnomes and dragons do not exist. You can't take a train from King's Cross to Hogwarts, as Hogwarts doesn't exist either. In fact, pretty much all geeky cultural references are to things that do not exist. Are they bad stones that need to be pulled out so that only the true and verifiable facts (such as Paris Hilton's love life) remain?

[there_is_no_bob]

By observing your comment we change it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/11/21/scicosmos121.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox

And Prof Krauss stresses that resetting the cosmic clock was not something we have done to the universe but rather what our cosmologically observations may imply about our knowledge of the cosmic clock: "I did not mean to imply causality - namely that our measurement itself reduces the lifetime of the universe - but rather that by being able to make our measurement we may thus conclude that we may not be in the late decay stage."

This is not the only damage to the heavens that astronomers may have caused. Our cosmos is now significantly lighter than scientists had thought after an analysis of the amount of light given out by galaxies concluded that some shone from lightweight electrons, not heavyweight atoms. In all, the new analysis suggests that the universe has lost about one fifth of its overall mass....yeah...

I guess he could be going for a light-hearted tone, but it sure didn't read that way to me.

[The Winslow]

Let us all have a moment of silence in remembrance of Reverend Arnold Conrad's God's reputation.