Posts by Chris Waugh
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Hard News: Belief Media, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Replace “faith” with “fucking” or “politics” or “a well-stocked liquor cabinet” and that statement seems equally valid to me.
No argument from me. But "fucking", "politics", "fucking politics" or liquor don't have much to do with religious media, do they?
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Hard News: Belief Media, in reply to George Darroch,
*The current xkcd makes humorous light of this (use different browsers).
Tried it in Maxthon. Wow. Maxthon promptly suggested an update. Not saying there's a connection between the comic and the suggested update.
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Hard News: Belief Media, in reply to Sacha,
those church-only exemptions to the accumulation of worldly goods like flash cars, clothes and houses.
Now there's a loophole.
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Hard News: Belief Media, in reply to Islander,
I still dont think they should have tax breaks…
To be honest, I haven't really thought about the tax issue. It does, on the face of it, seem incongruous. I certainly do think that education should be secular, though. Or at the very least, those seeking a religious component to their kids' education should have to pay for it with no subsidy or assistance from the state.
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Hard News: Belief Media, in reply to Will de Cleene,
Describing the pilgrims who went to the New World thusly is fair game.
Fair points, but I'm not entirely convinced. Some of them were fleeing religious persecution, after all. Not that that justifies any of their later misdeeds.
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Hard News: Belief Media, in reply to Simon Grigg,
Which is why I wrote "There are those for whom faith certainly is a crutch. It’s easier than fronting up to the full complexity and uncertainty of our existence."
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Hard News: Belief Media, in reply to Steve Barnes,
People with faith don’t have this particular problem.
I'm not sure about that. There are those for whom faith certainly is a crutch. It's easier than fronting up to the full complexity and uncertainty of our existence. There are those who reach the current limit of their knowledge and who decide that whatever currently lies beyond that is a matter of faith to be updated as new evidence and knowledge arises.
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Hard News: Belief Media, in reply to Will de Cleene,
Would you prefer if I replace the offending term with puritans or religious extremists?
That, I think, would be worse. Religious folk are not all puritans or extremists. I believe Russell's post named a few of a more mild, liberal mindset. How's about replacing 'godbotherers' with a more neutral term such as 'religious people' that allows for the full spectrum of religious experience and belief?
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Capture: Roamin' Holiday, in reply to Islander,
Wisteria, huh. Might have to wait for magnificent purple flowers to see for sure. ETA: Just did a Google Image search. See what you mean about the flowers. Hard to see the structure of the plants, but they seem to follow a fairly similar shape. ’Twas our first time in that park, and we definitely plan to be going back. Does drought prone, frigid winters (minus 10 overnight, highs between 0 and 2 on ordinary days), bone dry for three out of four seasons, with hot (temperatures from mid-30s occasionally into low 40s, night time not feeling much cooler), humid summers count as a suitable climate for wisteria?
Guānyīn/Kuan Yin (I prefer hànyǔ pīnyīn, but the Wade-Giles is equally correct and has a bit more history behind it), you’ll be pleased to know, is very popular in China. This park sits on the boundary between Wang’s Fourth Camp and Guānyīn Hall.
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A clearer, closer view. Pagoda of Buddhas from Ten Directions/十方诸佛宝塔, first built in 1545.
