Southern Ignorance

This is why GLT rights are useless

MTF trans experience violence at a far higher rate than anyone else in GLBT.

With G and L most of the problems come in high school years, the unacceptably high suicide rate in those years being the biggest problem

The population split is at most 2% for G and L, 0.025% for trans, and anywhere from 10-50% for B depending on ones definition

It will just all get overun by other political, religious, civil rights groups for their own gain

And even if we could seperate all those other groups, bisexuals will still talk over the top of us becuase they outnumber the rest of us at least 5 to 1

Parts of that demographic that will later on in life enter into a same sex marriage will be the ones that indentified as straight for a good chunk of their life, including the ones that hazed the gay kid in high school out of their own frustration, or even went as far to gang up with his buddies and push the gay kid into the shower block for sexual favours

I will never go around tampering with federal documents of course, but its a very strange irony that if i ever question the true private nature of such a union or even have evidence to the contrary, I still am doing the same thing as Ms Davis at least in a meta sense

 

Show through? LOL I'm un-apologetically bias against 'Christians', plenty of good reasons for that too!

I have reason(s) to dismiss cogitative psychology as pseudo-science as a whole, atheist or not.
But when I read about a "scientist" that writes a book about religious tendency being natural, and he works at a theological seminary, making a statement implying immersion in "wilderness or more natural systems" would challenge an atheists beliefs, or more accurately, lack of them, I call bullshit.


"Prof. Barrett makes clear that the “unnatural” aspect of theology does not mean that theology is inherently “bad,” just that it requires a broader institutional and cultural context to help us develop and learn these concepts. - See more at: http://www.researchonreligion.org/uncategorized/barrett-on-the-naturalness-of-religious-belief#sthash.lREDHRnS.bFvM5rWm.dpuf

 

I think it's clear that Professor Barrett isn't reporting a scientific finding on this point, but is offering an opinion based on his research concerning things that might contribute to a religious or irreligious outlook. As such, it fits into the discussion, as a response to MeAgain's remarks relating cultural differences to rural background. I was at a discussion group a couple of weeks ago where someone mentioned that anyone who's been in farming or ranching knows there's a God. Everybody agreed but me. As the city boy in the room, I'd have to take their word for it or suspend judgment. Throughout most of human history, religion has been a universal in all societies, leading to the question why. Inquiring minds want to know. Barrett is making efforts to find out through experimental research. It's only been in the past few centuries that significant groups have challenged the existence of God. Today, western Europe in general and Scandanavia in particular have embraced secularism. Urbanization seems to be one of the major variables explaining this.

 

I can see this effect. Altho I have questioned Christian god in the image of Zeus, I have and still do have an underlying sense of cosmic consciousness (Why I am more Agnostic than Atheist). In the '70s I got into spiritual searching with the Hippie community which had all sorts of cults and Eastern philosophy groups, including the Hare Krishnas. I was particularly prone toward Buddhism.

After my trip to the Atlanta Pop Festival and San Francisco, I built a shack in the woods on my dad's place in Mississippi with no electricity or running water. It was there that I read the 4 gospels by kerosene lamp - and got into the year-one technology in which they occurred. My take at that time was that Jesus could have been influenced by Eastern mystics, perhaps Hindus or even Buddhists.

Then I met Jim who was into Meher Baba and got into that. We visited the Meher Spiritual Center at Myrtle Beach in a sylvan retreat. Then we went to India and lived in a bungalow outside of Ahmednagar, a small town. All these were rural settings.

The thing is at nite in the country you look up at the sky and see the universe - stars lite the sky. In the city you do not see past the building and the man made lites the obliterate the cosmos. You are centered on the works of man, impressive buildings, indoor plumbing and electricity and all the distractions that provides. Easy to forget the ageless awe of looking out into the universe and wondering how or why?

 

Also, hunter-gatherers, pastoralists and farmers are particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of climate, weather and other environmental factors beyond human control. Belief in deities who can control nature if the right prayers and rituals are observed can give rural folks a sense of having some control. Disappointments can always be explained away.