Why I can't take organized religion seriously #1001001SOS

[Strazos]

I second Endie's entire response.

[Paelos]

If you have the choice, I recommend getting a part-time job working outdoors doing something physical. I caddy at a golf course 3-4 times a week and basically get paid good money to work out. Carrying two bags for 5 miles does wonders for you phsyique.

[Sky]

A couple years ago I tried to work part-time at my old job unloading trucks at walmart. They wouldn't let me, despite the fact they had to replace my crew with more than twice as many guys. I lol'd. I just wanted to do the first half of the shift where I was in the truck doing the heavy lifting, and skip out when they got to stocking shelves and sorting the backstock.

Ah, well. I'll get more sleep this way.

[Stephen Zepp]

Man this thread turned around....

Orson Scott Card doesn't/didn't just write religious themed novels. His early short stories (before Ender's) were pretty much all pure horror/sci-fi, and for the record some of the best horror short stories I've ever read.

He's not only what people call "an asshole", but he's also staunchly conservative--he makes all of the conservatively positioned posters here look like hippies with hair down to their ankles and a joint behind their ear.

I had a mormon room-mate my freshman year on college, and the main reason why the religion was/is racist against black people is due to the historical explanation of their "tribe"--the way he described it to me, people of dark skin are descendants of the "13th tribe", which was the one cast out from the holy lands, or something like that, for being sinful. That's the rationale they use. And while it may not be officially sanctioned, I still saw it with him personally at least--he would have fit right at home with any other racists in my personal opinion.

Why does choosing to write stories regarding religious topics, themes, or plots make what were considered good/great/amazing authors suddenly shitty, religion mongering whores? Some of the best fiction ever written was wholly religious in nature--Dante's Inferno, Paradise Lost, or if you want current stuff look at the movie Seven, or the seventh sign.

I don't believe what he believes, and I find many aspects of the mormon religion counter-intuitive or downright elitist, but just because I don't believe in the underlying stories doesn't mean he's a terrible author.

If your world view is so fragile and unsupported that you cannot examine other world views while enjoying a well written story, and compare to your own, then you have much deeper problems, and your anger at what an author chooses to use as his basis for telling a story is a demonstation of the weakness of your ego.

Besides, it's pretty damned arrogant to think that an author is writing his stories for you...

[Ironwood]

Yeah ?


So tell me your health stance.

[Endie]

I had a mormon room-mate my freshman year on college, and the main reason why the religion was/is racist against black people is due to the historical explanation of their "tribe"--the way he described it to me, people of dark skin are descendants of the "13th tribe", which was the one cast out from the holy lands, or something like that, for being sinful. That's the rationale they use. And while it may not be officially sanctioned, I still saw it with him personally at least--he would have fit right at home with any other racists in my personal opinion.

I'd only heard of that racial stuff vaguely and in a drunken pub conversation: they only backed off it in the 70's when their charitable status was funded, no?

I wonder how that'll play when the mormon standing for the republican nomination turns up in some of the less Utah-white states?  I mean that: I wonder.. I've no idea from here.

[stray]

The press probably won't even bring much of it up. People are already weary of Mormons as it is (even moreso than evangelicals), so it's pointless.

Orin Hatch (a Mormon) ran for Pres a couple of times at least. No one got into too much detail about his beliefs.

[Abagadro]

Hatch was never a serious candidate though.  There will be more scrutiny with Romney.

As for Card, he's an asshole not becasue he is a conservative, but because he says asshole things. He's also a hack who wrote one good book (and maybe two semi-decent ones) and has been living off it since.

[Margalis]

When I work out not only do I end up in a better mood but I have more energy and am more productive and awake the rest of the day.

[WayAbvPar]

When I work out not only do I end up in a better mood but I have more energy and am more productive and awake the rest of the day.

Working out is like beating your head against the wall...it feels so good when you are done!