Jellies come back? Any kind of fool can see...

I second.

Dropping like flies. Fluther will lose it’s sparkle without you. Really. All that will be left is a bunch of crusty people.

Who flew? All are valuable parts of the whole.

Who did lose?

And who are you calling crusty?!

@tom_g Well, who’s still here? :-)

*all that will be left are

I miss those who have left and treasure those who remain.

People leave. It makes me sad.

Please, come back.

Now that I know who flew, I am truly saddened. They will be missed. Yet while I now know I had a part in one departure, I refuse to hold my tongue just so someone else can insist only theirs be heard, and that anything short of that is a gross unfairness to them.

Who? I don’t know if I can handle knowing.

A pm would be nice if anyone cares to share.

Again? Who? :(

Why’d the mouse go?

Who?

Since this is a positive mention, I’ll name names: Supermouse left yesterday, due to her ongoing frustration about religious threads and how they often turn out. We all hope she’ll come back after a healthy break.

She is frustrated? Sorry to see her go, but it is not like she was outnumbered 15 to one, so she had more than enough backup. As the Terminator said: “I’ll be back”, I would not be surprised if we see a post of hers before Columbus Day.

@Hypocrisy_Central How was she not outnumbered?!

I was wondering why everyone looked like Supermouse lately.

@SpatzieLover Only in the sense that she was not the only person arguing her side of the discussion.

Regardless, it’s sad to see her go. It would be nice to have enough active Jellies that people will find it easy to have whichever sort of discussion pleases them, without feeling the need to participate in discussions which upset them.

I have to agree with @Seek_Kolinahr, especially since I learned the hard way as well. We have to have enough emotional distance to discuss things without getting so upset. Easier said than done at times, though.

I have to disagree with @KNOWITALL and @Seek_Kolinahr. The particular thread that frustrated @supermouse asked for an exchange of ideas between theists and non-theists. I’m sure Supermouse joined that discussion in the hopes of an exchange of ideas. It quickly turned into name calling. There is no reason that people can not be adults here and respect each others beliefs without name calling.
How hard is it to just say “yes, I know you believe in a higher being, but I don’t.”
It never happens that way though. It goes on to say “because those that believe knock on peoples doors, try to force me into their way of thinking, and cram their bible down my throat.”
I have never knocked on doors, crammed my beliefs down anyone’s throat, nor tried to force anyone to believe the way I do. I’ve met people from Fluther in real life and you can ask them if I did. I can tell you that Supermouse has not done this either.
Why should theists have to avoid religious discussions which I usually try to do but the non believers shouldn’t have to because it is their right to tell us why we are wrong?
I am not going to reply to any comments made about what I have said here, so if you are itching to argue with me, it’s not going to happen.
@janbb I’m sorry I hijacked your thread.

I saw the Q after the fact and honestly I cannot believe how horrible the answers were. That Q was supposed to be about positives we can and have learned from each other. One of the best answers in my opinion was Mariah’s. She really did answer the question in the spirit intended. I get off track all the time, so I am not saying I haven’t hijacked a thread, but seriously WTH?!

What? Da Mouster left?

@chyna But some of us atheists avoids those threads too because of how mean-spirited and non-productive they are; sometimes on both sides. Not to argue with anything you’ve said at all.

There are many jellies that have left, and left a void in this site.
I didn’t agree with some, but I was sorry when they were gone as well.

^Then there are those of us that leave and come back, then leave and come back, then leave again and come back again.

I know I’m not the only one, <lookin’ at jp>. I’ve always been indecisive. It’s been a lifelong struggle of mine. :)

If I am am being bullied, real or imagined, it must be because I am doing something right. :-)

After years and years of being annoyed by the highly religious and their ways of showing me proof of how much they love Jesus I find it weird that, these days, I’m equally annoyed with the atheists and the constant hammering about how much they don’t believe in a god.

There’s a dating site I used to be part of and, for religion, they had the option of “Agnostic and serious about it.” I laughed. How could someone actually be agnostic and serious about it?

Now I know.

Agnostic. Unswayed by any argument. Proud of it.

Let’s see, supermouse wrote this, Atheists can teach theists a lot about arrogance. I am pretty sure that most atheists are not the least bit interested in even considering that they could learn anything (aside from how to fish of course) from theists. The first sentence actually sounded to me like she was calling theists arrogant? Did she actually mean the opposite and I misunderstood? Because then her second sentence generalizes about most atheists, and I really take issue with that. I don’t think it is most atheists, I think it is the minority of atheists. She was pretty offensive herself. Both sides were out of control.

@JLeslie and all. What I said in that thread that gave such offense was in reaction to that specific insult leveled at atheists in general. I do not accept that the statement is true, and I said so. I did not, in any of my responses, resort to name calling. Personally, I think calling a large group of people numbering in the tens of millions arrogant and unwilling to learn anything other than how to fish is name calling.

@JLeslie She was calling atheists arrogant, which is, more often than not, the case on Fluther with many atheists who participate in religious threads. And after all the completely unnecessary nastiness I’ve seen from the anti-theists on this site, take what you have an issue with, multiply it by about one thousand, and you might have an inkling of why she got so pissy.

If you take issue with all atheists being lumped into one group and being called arrogant, just imagine being a theist who is constantly lumped into a group with idiotic zealots, repeatedly called insane, delusional, etc… on a very frequent basis, even being insulted by mods, and then getting bitched at and insulted even more for going on the defensive. It tends to make one quite irate and even irrational at times, because you just get so angry at the unfairness of the situation that you can’t think straight.

@ETpro You may not have resorted to name calling in that thread, but you and so many others have, constantly, in other threads, which is what Supermouse got sick and tired of. To say that her comment about arrogance is false is simply laughable. Some atheists here ooze arrogance and disdain from their pores. I’ve seen it time and time again. She’d just finally had enough and let ‘er rip.

@WillWorkForChocolate I don’t really take issue with it. It was not worded in a way that was saying most atheists on fluther. You were careful to say in your post above that you only mean the atheists who are obnoxious (I am paraphrasing). If I had responded to supermouse, I would have just said that I really don’t believe it is the majority of atheists, but I do agree some atheists can be horrible. I really don’t think anyone on fluther thinks all theists are a problem, even if they may have worded things poorly at times. I don’t know why theists take it so personally honestly. When Christians around me make assumptions about atheists that are negative I either try to straighten them out or just think they are ignorant. I am not saying stupid, and I don’t think anyone on fluther is ignorant to the fact that atheists can be good people.

It doesn’t matter if some atheist jellies are arrogant, she overgeneralized and went on the attack with her sarcasm. I’m not saying she is more wrong, I am just saying a lot of people on that Q were wrong. I hate that she left and possibly feels badly. I don’t know if she is just pissed, fed up, or actually hurt.

If we think about our country today, can’t you understand why atheists might feel on the defensive also? If we are to be understanding of supermouse, don’t we need to be understanding of atheists? In TN many politicians ran on Christian values. Doesn’t sound inclusive to me. How many times have people said to me, “well as long as people believe in something.” I could go on and on.

I am not defending atheists who go on the attack, I am extremely critical of them also.

Having just come from a retirement party where I was 1 of about 4 white people in a room of about 80 black people (who I guess were mostly Baptists) and when the food was served, the hostess asked that we bow our heads and she said a prayer to thank Jesus for the food and the party, I don’t argue. I go along and don’t challenge people on their beliefs. On my own, I would never ever bow my head and thank Jesus for the food I have in front of me, but it would be very rude and insensitive to tell the people at the party that. They believe what they believe, I don’t feel a need to stress what I believe, and that’s that. What occurs on the internet would never happen in “real life.” To each his own. All I continually say on these religion threads is “why can’t we all just get along?” (Famous quote by Rodney King). Why not just live and let live?

I really wish that we could nix religious questions from this site, but that won’t happen. I stay out of them because I can’t stand that crap that is said.

Just sad that she left. I would love for to come back. I really can understand why she has had enough, though.

@jca Because many of those same Baptists vote to not let @Mama_Cakes marry her girlfriend. I don’t care if they believe in God and thank Him before a meal. Have at it. Although, at a work function I find it odd and inappropriate but would not make a big deal about it. But, during a discussion on fluther about gay marriage, it will simply be a fact that many of those against it are against it because of their religion. Probably the religious person will feel their religion is attacked even if no one ever mentions their religion specifically. I am not saying most religious people are against gay marriage, I am only saying those who are against it most of the time root their objection in their religious beliefs.

I was just getting ready to post a question asking why so many Jellies have Stuart Little as their avatars, but now it all makes sense. Sad to see her go. =/

I steer clear of a lot of threads on here because of how nasty people tend to get. I stick to light-hearted questions such as those about food, what makes different people happy, the weather, etc. As soon as they start to derail and go south, I bow out gracefully.

Hopefully the Mouse just needs some time to cool off and will be back again in no time!

@Mama_Cakes I was devastated when I learned she had left, knowing how much this community meant to her and the part I played in her departure. I truly don’t think I said anything in that thread that I should have expected to cause her to do so. I most certainly did not insult her or call her arrogant in return for her labeling me and all my kind as such. I fervently hope she thinks better of it, and returns. But if she does, I still won’t abide her disparaging all atheists, or all agnostics, or even all theists, or Buddhists or pick your faith. When first pointed out to her, she could have just said, I didn’t really mean all of you.

What seems the most odd to me is that people can go on and on about fighting over religion. This is the 21st century and fighting over religion is till on the heat. Only now it’s not so much the fight between the religions, but the fight between those that believe in something and those that don’t.
It is odd to me because no one can know what the truth is. No one can know if there is a God or not. But still people bitch over each other’s believes as if they know better. But no one knows better when it comes to this topic because no one can fucking know the truth about this topic.

I also think that the talking about religion is very black and white here. Either you are an atheist and don’t believe at all or else you’re some religious person who are linked to those opposed to gay marriage, free will and what not. I can’t believe that this is often seen so black and white between intelligent people. It is not black and white. Just because you believe in a God does not mean you are some stone-age person with crazy opinions, it doesn’t even have to believe that you are religious but merely that you believe. And yes, there is a difference.

I avoid these topic for the most part myself because I think people have their head up in their asses too much and refuse to look at the topic from different perspectives. Because I think people think they know the truth too much and no one does. If we could just accept that.
I had to throw in my two cents, I hope it’s okay.

I’ve said it before & it bears repeating, this overbearing/hostile/extreme attitude towards religious folks just doesn’t happen over here in england town.
Believers are left in peace with whatever religion they follow, no one gives a shit about it & certainly wouldn’t attack anyone over their faith.
I think it says far more about the piss takers than it does about god fearing church goers, but still.

I have been here for over 6 years now, and my participation has waxed and waned during that time. Sure, I get annoyed with some people and the closed-mindedness of some can be frustrating, so I ignore them. I just don’t ‘get’ the sturm und drang of complaining about other people’s behavior, announcing that you are thinking of leaving, deleting accounts, re-opening them or coming back under a new name, etc. I’ve seen that on several sites, not just on Fluther, and it reminds me of High School. People announcing that they need to take a sabbatical from social media or whatnot… it just seems to be a cry for attention. If you don’t want to participate, don’t – a press release isn’t necessary.

When you let someone else’s words get under your skin, you are giving them power over you. When you start reacting emotionally, you are being dragged down. It’s better not to take the bait, to maintain one’s composure, and to lead by example. Let the assholes’ behavior speak for itself. Demonstrate what civil and respectful discourse look like. Accept that some people will never grow up, and that some people have a deep-rooted psychological need to be “right” or to get the last word in. Those are their issues, let them take ownership of it.

I have no comment about the post the drove the mouse away, as I avoid those posts like the plague once I detect their decline into pettiness (which usually doesn’t take long). I do like the mouse very much, and am sorry that she got so upset over something that virtual strangers have said. If she, or anyone, has difficulty detaching emotionally from internet forums, then perhaps it is in their best interest not to participate. I always advocate staying away from people who bring out toxic reactions, so it makes sense to avoid social situations which have a similar stressful affect.

@JLeslie: I am not going to change their minds over their personal opinions. That is my point. My not agreeing with their opinion is nothing to do with my behavior, which is live and let live. That is my point.

(as far as praying at the work event, it was at a country club so it was after hours. I must say, however, that at the various locations I’ve worked in, the vocal Baptist majority will always “pray over the food” at the start of a party)

@jca I think the point of a discussion is to learn other points of view and possibly we change our minds. If a jelly chooses to participate in a discussion then their point of view might get challenged. That is totally different than just going about your life and someone questioning your religious beliefs or related actions.

Of course SuperMouse was offended. The entire thread turned into an attack on belief in God, which so many do. When you are religious, and such an attack is leveled, of course it upsets you!
My daughter likes to tell the joke: How can you tell if someone is Vegitarian? The answer is: Don’t worry, they’ll tell you! I find atheists to have that same mindset, thinking they are better than others because of their positions. That makes it hard to keep civil on threads like that.
Come back, SM! The numbers are worse without you!

@filmfann Wouldn’t you agree that in real life many Christians are quick to say they are Christian? Either directly or indirectly? I can’t tell you how many people have declared to me, “I’m a Christian,” trying to communicate they have integrity. Or, asked what church I go to when they first meet me. I think atheists point out on fluther they are atheists when a discussion might relate to religion. Some Christians pull out their Christian faith for everything. Again, I mean in real life. I never experienced this in the northeast, USA, no one ever made an issue of their religion in my presence and no one ever made an issue of someone else’s. But, it is totally different in other parts of the country. I don’t know how it is where you live.

No offence to the mouse that is super or her “followers”, but I have to say I was relieved to see it wasn’t Bellatrix who jumped ship.
She hasn’t posted for a while & did have a personal issue that was bothering her, now her i’d miss, she being a cool Brit & everyfum.

Funny, for a while the thread turned into an attack on my parenting skills and mental stability. Yet I’m still here.

After reading this thread, I am left with exactly the same question I had after the other thread: Are we all reading the same posts? I don’t see the same things in that thread that others here saw. I did see what @ETpro and @JLeslie saw. The Mouse was the first to make it ugly – she came into that thread loaded for atheist bear, and she didn’t discriminate between “the nice atheists” and “the mean atheists”, despite people (including me) showing offense to that generalization. The people who are apologizing for her keep saying things like “Yeah, but most of the time, atheists are mean, so she has a point!” Well, I’m sorry, but that’s crap, and it doesn’t make me feel better about being attacked.

That being said, I do appreciate her as an individual and as a jelly, and it SUCKS that she left. I hope she comes back. I have no idea who the other person who left was, and I’d appreciate it if someone could PM me to let me know.

@Seek_Kolinahr I didn’t see an attack made on you personally. What I saw was a user who specifically said since she knew about your background, she could totally understand why you hold the views on religion that you do.

@JLeslie I beg your pardon, then. I referenced you taking issue with it because you said, “Because then her second sentence generalizes about most atheists, and I really take issue with that.” I was explaining the exact problem theists have with the exact opposite of that occurrence on a regular basis. What we see, much of the time here, is anti-theists generalizing about all theists, and throwing shit all over the place.

As far as not understanding why people take it personally, asking a Q like, “Christians, why does it seem that blahdiblahblah…” and then having the thread immediately pissed on by non-Christians who comment for the sole purpose of shoving your face in the mud, and flat out calling you ignorant, stupid, delusional, insane, retarded, brainwashed, etc… well… one does tend to take that personally. If you haven’t seen that happen here, over and over, and over, then I’m not sure where you were on those many, many occurrences.

I realize that questions you have asked have been asked purely for information, and may not have received the same godawful treatment, but it totally depends on the manner of the asking. So many anti-theists here just loooooove to post religious Qs to be purposely disrespectful and mock the Fluther theists. Sometimes, the Q itself will seem fairly benign, but upon reading the details, the mockery and disdain are plainly visible. I’ve seen people deny that this is the case, but some of us, I guess, are just more intuitive when being able to clearly see the intent behind the post.

There isn’t one point in my life when I believed in a God. I’ve always been an agnostic/atheist and I was surrouned by religious people growing up with the wonderful diversity Las Vegas has to offer. Not once was I ever offended by the religion I was surrounded by. I accepted the people around me as having different beliefs and viewpoints and I dealt with it. Like @jca‘s example of going along with the prayer before dinner. I don’t get why some atheists complain about having to deal with all the religion they are surrounded by. It does not offend me. (I’m not talking about not being able to marry your partner. That I get)

I think we are all smart enough here to realize Mouse did not mean all atheists. Come on people. Do we have to be that nit-picky? It happens all the time here. I once said “women are emotional” on a question, not meaning all women, but you should have seen the attacks towards me after I wrote that. Just because I left out one simple word. I knew Mouse didn’t mean all atheists. I was not offended by her comment about atheists being arrogant. The truth is, there are a handful of atheists here who are arrogant and rude to theists, and if you don’t see it that’s a shame.

Abby, the referenced attack has been moderated. I have a screenshot, though.

Ahhh, that would explain it, then. ;)

@Seek_Kolinahr Why would anyone attack your parenting skills? That’s not cool.

Just figured out which jelly is no longer a mod (but, is still a jelly).

It was easier than having a rational argument, I suppose.

OK – a thread that I was hoping would stay benign has changed and it was a somewhat natural segue, I understand.

I’m going to change horses and ask a further Meta question that might make for a more productive question.

I’m sorry, @janbb. It seemed like something that needed to be said, but I still apologize for hijacking your positive thread. There are several jellies that I miss, and most of them seem to have bailed because of the same situation. It makes me sad and angry, and I get over emotional.

I appreciate the apology.

I’m sorry for my little rant, @janbb.

@janbb Sure. You are one of the jellies that I truly lurve for your ability to remain calm.

I absolutely agree some atheists are horrible in how they challenge theists. They use words like ridiculous, idiotic, and basically show no respect for the beliefs of others. There are atheists who come onto a Q and don’t care what the main question is, but see it as an opportunity to slam theists, I think it is awful. Also, supermouse said most, not all. I take issue with even the word most, but I don’t want her words twisted or relayed incorrectly. I don’t think she was the first on the Q to say something negative. I might be wrong, I don’t feel like going back to the Q.

The reason I am not sporting a ‘mouse’ is because of the comment about arrogance. If we as theists find religious attacks or negativity unacceptable and want to change things, we should be examples. If it gets to the point we get mad, we log off, cool down and come back when we’re ready.

Thanks to all you jellies, especially @Seek_Kolinahr, @JLeslie and @ETpro, you have given me a whole new approach to this site and how I respond and how often, and I appreciate it, even though it was and still is difficult for me to remain less emotional. I’m not going to say there haven’t been highly offensive comments, Q’s, etc…but our response to that negativity or unacceptable behavior, is the only thing we can control. :)

@WillWorkForChocolate If you take issue with all atheists being lumped into one group and being called arrogant, just imagine being a theist who is constantly lumped into a group with idiotic zealots, repeatedly called insane, delusional, etc… on a very frequent basis, even being insulted by mods, and then getting bitched at and insulted even more for going on the defensive.
Lets see, I have been called zealot how many times, and delusional, lets count; oh, ran out of fingers and toes. I can’t say you could have stated that any better or genuine. As the Native Americans would say; “There is iron in your words of truth”.

@JLeslie I really don’t think anyone on fluther thinks all theists are a problem, even if they may have worded things poorly at times. I don’t know why theists take it so personally honestly.
Should believers have a different standard from the ungodly? Non-believers will wrangle over words, syntax, phrasing, etc instead of deciphering the context of the sentence as a whole. Even if something was worded poorly, as you say, if non-believers stuck to the whole context of the sentence they would not have nothing to take personally either.

@jca On my own, I would never ever bow my head and thank Jesus for the food I have in front of me, but it would be very rude and insensitive to tell the people at the party that.
The simple cure for that is not to go. I would find myself a hypocrite if I went to a party of non-believers and I was to put God on the backburner or deny Him for a couple of hours because the host did not want me blessing my food. If that were the case, I would pass. There will be other parties. If I were hosting a party I would respect a guess more if they said up front they did not believe in blessing their food or such, and I can excuse them to go have a smoke or something while I bless the food, or simply pass on inviting them and tell them why; because I feel they would be offended with all the God-talk that will be going on.

@tups I also think that the talking about religion is very black and white here. Either you are an atheist and don’t believe at all or else you’re some religious person who are linked to those opposed to gay marriage, free will and what not. I can’t believe that this is often seen so black and white between intelligent people.
That seems to be the crux of the biscuit; atheists are fun loving, kumbaya, people and believers are totalitarians, seeking to ruin everyone’s fun, bash gays, and FORCE everyone to believe. As long as those visions about believers permeate society people will be at odds and in contention with each other. There have been zealots who have tried to use a bully pulpit, but they have their counterparts with atheist using the bully Baal pole.
@JLeslie Some Christians pull out their Christian faith for everything. Again, I mean in real life.

2 Timothy 3:4–6
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

It should be no surprise that today they are many modern day Pharisees and Sadducees. Many like the ideal of being Christian because they can believe they are good people and going to heaven, that they have near impeccable integrity, that they are honest, wholesome, etc. They say and do this to impress other men, and to lie to themselves, they never cared to put God in it or recognize Him as the author of their faith.

@Hypocrisy_Central So wouldn’t it be better to take us all as individuals and stop projecting the crimes of others onto each other, on both sides?

I’m curious if non-theists think it’s easy to be ‘good’? I seriously try and it’s not easy, so I find the struggle of my fellow Christians to be very courageous frankly. Call me delusional if you want, but I still believe God makes us want to be better people because we’re held accountable at Judgement.

This is a bummer, man, I feel so judged and I’m a pretty good person.

@Hypocrisy_Central I just maintain we can question what the person really meant by what they wrote and not assume the worst and take it personally, I would have asked supermouse does she think it is most atheists, as in the majority in the whole wide world? Then she can clarify. I am not easily offended. I generalize constantly. I never mean or think all of any group ever. I try to word it well, but I sometimes don’t succeed or forget and I give the same slack to religious people, to everyone. However, using most in stead of just saying atheists, shows some thought, doesn’t it? I might write, “Christians keep accusing Obama of being a Muslim.” A very sloppy sentence, I do not believe a majority of Christians in America think that, I just believe the people saying he is a Muslim are overwhelmingly Christian. But, let’s say I write “most Christians believe he is Muslim.” I think that shows some thought to how many I think believe it.

@KNOWITALL @Hypocrisy_Central So wouldn’t it be better to take us all as individuals and stop projecting the crimes of others onto each other, on both sides?
It certainly would. I do not project anything on anyone that is not in the Bible because that is the ultimate authority. If it is something I personally think, that has no biblical basis, I will say so.

@JLeslie I generalize constantly. I never mean or think all of any group ever. I try to word ot well, but O sometimes don’t succeed or forget and I give the same slack to religious people, to everyone.
I can’t think of anyone who has not ever done the crime of generalization. Most truly intelligent people can determine by the entire context of the post or sentence that the poster of the comment or question is not meaning everyone, everywhere. If I were to say in a conversation, “why is it raining so much?” Most people would know I was referring to the region I was at, I was not including Florida, Mexico City, China, New Zealand, etc. Someone having to comment that it is not raining in Riyadh, or asking me if I meant Colorado, is just being silly or obnoxious. I maybe generalizing that it rained too much either where I lived or even in America in general doesn’t mean I actually believe it is raining that much in every square mile of the US.

@Hypocrisy_Central I am not sure I agree. I constantly feel like some Christians take things personally when people generalize and assume we mean all. So, if someone says most, do you think they mean most?

When someone generalizes about women, Jews, and other groups I identify with, I admit when it is true where it is true and argue when it isn’t, or when there are many exceptions. I cam criticize my own group without feeling like it necessarily reflects on me.

@JLeslie You’re right but if it wasn’t such a constant belittling of Christianity, then an occasional generalization isn’t misconstrued.

By the by, I appreciate all your efforts to be non-offensive and understanding, I’ve noticed. :) Now if I could spank a few of the others, we’d be all good.

@JLeslie I don’t think most Christians are like that. I know I am not. I began a project of reading 4 different versions of the Bible at once, and I had to catch up with one translation that I was given several months in, so I took it to work to read on breaks. I was carrying it, and people I worked with for 10 years stopped dead in their tracks, and said “You’re a Christian?” Apparently, my foul language, and coarse remarks disguised my faith.

@Filmfann I call myself a secular christian. I love God but can’t stand some of His followers lol

@KNOWITALL A lot of Christians creep me out.

@filmfann I don’t think most are either. I really observe a difference more among bible belt vs. not, or maybe it is small town vs. big city, or maybe it is diversity exposure? It’s hard to separate those things out. Maybe nne have anything to do with it. Growing up in the northeast I never encountered a religious argument that was heated or where people felt offended. I guess in the south I also didn’t really encounter religious arguments, but what I did encounter was religion brought up a lot. It’s so a part of everything where I lived. Or, maybe it is just that in the last 30 years religion has been so well intertwined with politics. The Republicans purposely did this, and now the US population sees them as intertwined, they did a good job. It seems to me religion and politics used to be two separate subjects and now they aren’t anymore. So, if I dislike your politics, maybe I now dislike your religion too. Know what I mean? Not me or you, I am just stating the dynamic.

@filmfann Half are in my family, ugh….rules, rules and more rules. They always make me want to rebel – lol

@KNOWITALL I find that interesting, because I never feel I need to rebel.

@JLeslie Someday I’ll make you a list of rules that you need to follow to be a ‘good’ Christian, it’s quite tiring.

I just find it constraining, think church every night of the week and weekends or people call to see why you didn’t come help with (bible study, painting the church, doing to sign board, watching kids for ladies meeting, prayer group, door-to-door witnessing, visiting the shut-in’s, etc….)

@KNOWITALL Well, that’s their definition of a good Christian.

Just noticed that another of my favourite mods is no longer a mod. Wtf?

@Mama_Cakes And where’s Bella been?

@KNOWITALL I knew that she was going to be vacationing in Canada.

No longer a mod, though?

Probably mod duties would be hard to keep up with while she’s traveling. Maybe she’ll return to it when that’s done? I hope so – she has such a cool head.

@Bellatrix Chose to resign as a mod for her own personal reasons, she told me so in a PM, nothing to do with any trip.

I’m hoping that Bella will rejoin the mod team at some point.