The Taxman

Either 21 by Adele, All Things Must Pass by George Harrison or Revolver by the Beatles. I like songs with some philosophy and some heavy lyrics (without them being too cheesy). Do you love or hate Eighties culture?

Eh, I've felt suidicial before, and I don't mind suicide jokes that much as long as they're not 'why don't you just kill yourself?' but I'm not really one for joking about it. It's not the same for everyone, though. But if you are feeling suidicial, it does get better. Also if you kill yourself you won't be able to visit this thread anymore which is a sad sad fate

...that thing's awesome. What's your favourite album of all time?

If the voice actors are still in well shape, then I can understand their disappointment, but no matter what their voices have obviously evolved somewhat by now. I'm not sure if they would be able to continue to replicate the same voices for the entire series, so it was pretty obvious that they were going to be replaced, now that you mention it. If the new VAs do the cartoon justice, no problem. I'm wary of giving this show a reboot since it's a big classic for the kids of the late 90s and earlier 00s (including me), but if it does a good enough job, I have no problem with it, though it would be nice if the voice actors could have a cameo in one of the episodes.

*fades into non existence yet again*

*fades into non-existance as well* *waves to Punic* Hello.

Following this statement, I have realized I am also in need of passionate kisses

I like the way this is going

How modest of you. Also, team... there is no heaven!

Then why didn't the Americans rename us McKinleyLand?

That's its name! Now, why are we named after a Spanish king if we're not Spanish? That still confuses me.

The place with the adobo. Don't ask me the name, that's the only thing I remember about this country. Food...

The day isn't even half over yet in Asia and my battery is almost down to half. Should I cut down my Internet activity...?

Pepperoni, maybe. But pizza with the olives on top are overrated. They're crunchy, but what else?

If pizza is life, what the heck is bacon?

Screwdriver. Do you have a social life?

It's funny-Jesus himself condemned people who do the same things you mentioned. I don't really pray anymore, I just meditate after I take a bath to some music in the early afternoon. Specifically, just how I'm doing for the day so far and how I can improve myself. No supernatural things involved, though sometimes I take things out of some holy texts and reflect on them (though I don't pray to God).

Well, we have to bring in mind that the Torah was likely written during the time the Historical Israelites came back from exile in Bablyon. That might have had something to do with it. Fear of being exiled again...which happened. Unfortunately. But, anyway, still a huge headscratcher for anybody who takes the Bible literally. It's impossible to equate that with 'the God of second chances' of the last few books of the Old Testament and the New Testament. It's fascinating to study it from a cultural and historical background, but I just can't believe that some people take these stories SERIOUSLY.

About cherry picking, I agree with that. Some conservatives accuse liberal of cherry picking passages only because we're 'too scared to face the truth' but the reason why I cherry pick is because I find traditional Christianity to be downright illogical. It's only if we look into the historical background of most holy texts when we can start to all discover our own idea of truth. Speaking of rich, due to a...debate yesterday I'm now reading something called 'Faith Within Reason' which was written by a conservative Christian and...I don't get it. The arguments are, simply put, crap. I have forty more pages left on this thing and I don't think the author is even attemtping to be serious. The next chapter is on atheism and agnosticism and, oh, boy, can't I wait to be proven wrong by a person who seriously equates religious pluralism with Nazism.

Yes, yes, it definitely is a harmful thing! It encourages your kid not to think out of the box and if you teach them your religion is the only right one it's going to cause them A LOT of worrying (trust me, I've been there before). I'm going to raise my kid in a UU church if possible, but if they decide to move away from the belief I won't mind as long as they don't go into an exclusive form of religion.

That's a problem I have with the Judeo-Christian religions too, though it's not THE problem for me. The problem I have with traditional Christianity is that it implies that God has favourites and thus does not pay the same degree of attention to non-believers. I find that to be unacceptable as well as illogical. I find the Dalai Lama and Bhudda to have had just as much as a moral and positive life as Origen or Martin Luther, so why would God prefer one to the other? Not only that, it causes religious hate. Let's say you're a traditional Christian. You have three friends. One's a Christian, the other's a Jew and the other is a Wiccian. You love the three of them dearly. However, you're only sure you'll see ONE of them in your idea of heaven. You're not sure about the Jewish friend and you're definetly not expecting the Wiccian to be there. Can you imagine the division this might cause? Here's the only thing I really pity about conservatives: they're scared. They don't want that atheist uncle of theirs to go to hell and they can't bear to imagine their grandmother burning in hell-didn't she die an atheist too? That's why they're so vocal in the media. It's not that they think they're the only right ones. Well, actually they do and their arrogance seeps through sometimes but that's not the full story. They're too afraid of seeing their fellow countrymen in hell. I view Reformed Judaism, Liberal Christianity and Liberal Islam to be very positive religions, though. There's nothing wrong with any religion if it allows you to think for yourself instead of relying on a book that's been mistranslated and used to justify slavery and fear of other various groups. I just prefer being agonistic.

I love them. I can't show any outward sign of that for various reasons.

Agonistic Unitarian Universalist here! There was a quote way back in this thread that said that some agonistics believe in some sort of spirituality and it's true in my case. I don't believe in the traditional concept of God being a bearded guy but I don't completely disbelieve in God either. For me, God is a light within us, the human nature that will tell us to treat others well. People interpret this light in different ways and that's why there are so many religions. Now, I don't think religions are infallible, though. It's quite obvious that a lot of other people misuse them to persecute minorities or to gain more power. If your religion or philosophy tells you to treat others fairly and equally, I have no problem with it. I think everything happens for a reason and everybody has a unique life that tells them where to go to. Now, I have no idea if anybody is guiding the spirtual or moral realms that I believe in or that's just the way it is, but what matters most to be is to try to be a nice peep.