There are no words for how wrong this is. I'm flummoxed how people can convince themselves this is ...

genessa comments on Jun 20, 2019:

very long and very nonjudgmental article. in a way that's good, but in another way, while there are people who see the wrong in this (you and me for example) there are others who will read this article as a sympathetic endorsement of the practice of influencing gun sales without actually advertising them. the work of being a gun influencer (a largely female industry, and using traditionally female sales techniques -- meaning appealing to men --- is so lucrative, some women may read this article and think, gee, i should get into that! so how nonjudgmental should such an article be, anyway? it's not an easy question to answer. i sure don't have an answer. g

I am wondering to what extent people decide to be atheist/agnostic or just grow out of religion

genessa comments on Jun 20, 2019:

i don't know anyone who decides to be an atheist. atheism is just a description or definition of not believing in any gods. you don't DECIDE not to believe. you just stop believing (or never did believe). you can decide to recognize what you believe. the belief itself is something that happens, sometimes despite your best wishes or efforts or decisions. that's one reason pascal's wager is ridiculous, yes? keep in mind, too, that believing or not believing in deities is not exactly the same as following a religion. plenty of people who don't follow a religion have some kind of belief in a deity. some people who don't believe in any deities still like aspects of one religion or another, and maybe even follow it to an extent, not being forced to but from choice, even if they don't take the god part literally. so being an atheist isn't a necessarily a matter of outgrowing or rejecting a religion in its entirety. g

Trump supporters ...

genessa comments on Jun 19, 2019:

oh PLEASE. i went to a buffet lunch with my guy, as an early birthday celebration for him, with a couple with whom we're friendly. the discussion turned to politics. we already knew that the husband of the couple had voted for trump but he had expressed regret and he started this conversation by saying anyone was better than trump. then suddenly he started railing against biden, warren, hillary (a definite clue -- i mean, she's not running!) and everyone but trump, and talking about how the economy is better and unemployment is down, particularly black unemployment.... a lot of what he said either was blatantly false or true but irrelevant in light of adjacent facts (such as unemployment being down because people are working two or three jobs at minimum wage and still not surviving! that's a lot of employment but it's not a good economy!) he said that we had concentration camps under clinton, then changed it to obama, and said specifically that obama separated children from their parents (not true; obama's administration did see -- not by order or policy of obama, i might add, which is different from what's happening now -- children incarcerated while waiting for fostering out to relatives, and it's also true that this was done badly and the children were not tracked after disposition. it is NOT true that the thousands of children said to be lost by the obama administration were lost; if a kid is given to a relative and the relative moves and the people who fostered the child out to the relative don't call for a year or two and then find out they have no more contact info, that's not a lost child; that's a family that moved, a family under no obligation to tell the u.s. government where it moved, either! there is more, but that's not what we talked about today.) he was upset about hillary's emails! (he didn't mention trump's use of insecure email.) when i tried to lay a few actual facts on him, he got really furious and started telling me that anything i liked was true and whatever i didn't like was fake news. (i think he has me confused with trump!) turns out he watches fox. oh huge surprise there. so i tried to end the conversation but he kept talking even after i turned to his shocked ex- (long story) wife (who hates trump) and when he saw i was ignoring his ranting, he told his wife to take him home; he was done, he was full and he was tired. my guy and i were not done eating AND it was supposed to be a birthday party of sorts for my guy; too bad -- this man was tired so we had to end it, right? she drove him home and then came back for us (they'd picked us up). she told me that when she got home he admitted he'd started it but said that i ended it. that would be a compliment i think, but in fact, i ended it by ceasing to ...

The bottom line for me becoming an atheist is the feeling of freedom. I no longer have to live ...

genessa comments on Jun 19, 2019:

i am glad you are feeling free! i am also glad i never had to go through ANY of what you describe :-)) g

Would it appease the Trump haters if a Republican beat him to the White House in 2020 and not a ...

genessa comments on Jun 19, 2019:

i don't care. i have no interest in appeasing racists, nazis and other "fine people" like that. i don't want them dead, just out of power and under rule of law (you know -- the law that says they CAN'T run people over and kill them, or beat them up because they're wearing hijabs or have dark skin). i don't want the ordinary delusional or duped trumpkin voter punished. indeed, they would benefit from having a democrat in office (beyond having someone to revile). their social security and medicaid would be safe. they don't KNOW this, but they would fare better under democrats. appeasing them is participating in their self-immolation. no thanks. i don't want to burn WITH them, either. g

‘My mum didn’t vaccinate me – this is what happened next’ "It started when I accidentally...

genessa comments on Jun 19, 2019:

tetanus can be deadly and it's much easier to prevent than to cure; there is no actual cure. you can survive it if you are treated and are lucky. it takes both. g

The silence about black slavery in the Arab world | David Meir | The Blogs

genessa comments on Jun 19, 2019:

i was at a slavery conference in 1995 or '6, can't remember which, in nyc, and it focused largely on the sudan and mauritania. i have heard nothing since then about the abolition of slavery in those places. as for not living there, yes we do. we live on planet earth. there is here, and the sex slave trade at least, not to mention the household slave trade, is active here -- and not separate from or unrelated to the full-blown slave trade "there"; it's not a fixed thing. it's fluid and mobile. fixing it all over is the only way to fix it locally. g

So I have an uncomfortable suspicion regarding my father. For years now, I've suspected he may be a ...

genessa comments on Jun 19, 2019:

well i'd hate to judge without being an expert (i've watched a lot of svu and that's about it) and without knowing him, but the signs are all there. the scary thing is, (i think) more people use religion to justify acting on their pedophilia than to suppress it, and if he really was (still) acting on it, how would you even know? you would probably have to invade his privacy illegally (like breaking into his computer to see if kid porn was there) or following him around to know; i can't think of a way to get a confession... and what would you do if you got one? if you seriously think he may be harming children, you might want to get someone who knows how to investigate to do so instead of asking him. if you do not think so, leave it to the mysteries of time (if i may be all cliche-y). the statute of limitations has run out on anything he may have done in the time frame you mention, and you may need to make peace with your desire to know. troublingly, pedophiles don't just stop, and as i say, religion doesn't tend to hold them at bay -- not christianity, anyway. g

Which famous atheist/nonreligious person do you admire the most.

genessa comments on Jun 19, 2019:

i don't know the religious or irreligious bent of every single person i admire; i do know that of some, but not of others. it is a factor but not the only factor determining my admiration and would not alone be the determining factor. so there maybe someone i neglect to mention simply because i don't know. however, i very much admire carl sagan, and we know not only that he was an atheist but, because he was sufficiently famous and influential, all those other things about him, so i need not describe him. i suspect that hypatia was also irreligious and i much admire her as well. g

Do you suspect there is an evangelical arm of atheism that wants to convert religious practitioners ...

genessa comments on Jun 18, 2019:

look, there is an evangelical arm of everything. i have been proselytized to by vegans, by conspiracy theorists, by a vegan conspiracy theorist, by adele fans.... of course there is such an arm here too. it doesn't represent the majority. i think most of us just don't want to be discriminated against, and by extension wish that courtesy for others as well, and desire separation of church and state as well. the rest is just people being people. g

"The Democratic Party Is Trying To Downplay Climate Change. Don't Let It. All the candidates want ...

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

this is an opinion piece, right? well i don't agree with that opinion. the democratic party is NOT trying to downplay climate change; at least one of the candidates is making his campaign ALL about climate change and the others are all in favor of reversing the damage trump is doing and proceeding to treat the issue as a serious emergency. i do not see any downplaying at all. the dnc won't host a climate change debate... as of right now. that means the democrats, as a group, are downplaying? maybe the dnc is waiting for a better time! it's not as if holding such a debate today is going to be more effective than holding it in a few months, since the ugly powers that be will do nothing regardless. and even if i'm wrong and the leaders of the dnc (i happen to like perez a LOT) are being pissy about this, how does that mean that the democrats as a group are downplaying climate change? g

School Board Jesus Prayer

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

i don't think public schools should have prayers at all. why should they? it's not just christian ones that should be forbidden. but private religious schools can do what they want. g

User: michaelinlivonia Sealioning Troll. [agnostic.com] [agnostic.com] This is one thread ...

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

if anyone would like to see (and maybe back me up) i have just fed him. may he choke on it. https://agnostic.com/group/CriticsofCapitalism/post/360898/powerful-video-report-on-immigration-concentration-camps-in-usa-today-06-14-19-what-we-can-do-b?aid=1822902 g

User: michaelinlivonia Sealioning Troll. [agnostic.com] [agnostic.com] This is one thread ...

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

you will notice my numerous posts in that thread; you are correct in your assessment of him. it is good that he is blocked but i felt obligated to counter his claims for the benefit of anyone less well informed who might find the topic interesting and in ignorance and innocent tend to believe him. it wasn't for his benefit, that's for sure. i have not blocked him personally... YET. g

You really are priceless you lot, how you all come out of the woodwork when someone makes a ...

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

to whom do you refer and to what post? g

How and when did you lose your religion?

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

i never lost my religion. i just realized when i was 15 that there were no gods. it didn't have much to do with religion itself; my family was never religious. g

Does anyone else think the depth and breadth of discourse about religious detriment on this site has...

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

some has. some hasn't. i would not want to characterize every dialogue the same. it is possible to be quite articulate and thoughtful here and it is possible to be a snert and everthing in between is possible too. the site isn't what's making the posts. we are. is it superficial? so post something less superficial. g

Do you have to be a rationalist to be agnostic/ atheist? Is there space for magical thinking?

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

it depends on whether you play with magical thinking because it's fun or whether you would have a heart attack from the guilt if you stepped on a sidewalk crack. i enjoy magical thinking. i don't believe it, but it's fun. g

I had to block antidronefreeman. He truly believes Obama killed more people than Hitler. Also, ...

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

hahahaha i just looked antidronefreeman up and found that i seem to have blocked him. i don't remember him. the provocateurs all seem to fade and blend into one big mass of unpleasantness, don't they? but blocked he is and blocked he shall remain. g

I had to block antidronefreeman. He truly believes Obama killed more people than Hitler. Also, ...

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

i had to block someone (not the same person) from my group, liberals who don't hate each other. he started spewing hatred and when i extremely gently pointed out what the group was for, he got personal and exhibited some gaslighting techniques as well. it's rampant. these people are behaving as they do deliberately, and cannot be convinced that the ideas they promote are wrong because they're promoting them with an agenda, not necessarily because they believe them. blocking is the only way to deal with them. g

How did you come to be atheist, agnostic, etc.?

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

i was raised in a secular jewish family. cultural identity was important to us but religion itself was not. i never even learned whether or not my parents believed in a god until i was an adult, and i only asked them because someone had asked me and i didn't know the answer. i believed in a kind of personal god, sort of like an invisible friend, just an observer or witness, until i was 15, at which point i realized that something else (unrelated to religion) my folks told me, believing it themselves, turned out not to be true. i decided to examine every belief i'd taken for granted and god went right out the window. g

Tuna! I love tuna!

genessa comments on Jun 16, 2019:

i am with that cat in spirit! but i like my tuna either raw or in steak form. from a can... i don't mind it sometimes but it's SO good the other two ways. then again, i'm only a cat in the eyes of my felines. g

Despite the fact that there has never been any corroborated truth of the existence of any deity, why...

genessa comments on Jun 16, 2019:

it's just language. it has a specific meaning and it usually refers to nature, not deities. when i hit my toe and yell "oh shit" i am not deluded into thinking i have encountered a pile of poop, nor am i trying to direct anyone to defecate; if i hear about something awful and i say "jesus" i am not invoking that likely fictional character who has at any rate never been a part of my life. "act of god" doesn't offend me either. if the company tried to make this in some way literal, that would be different. it quite obviously isn't meant to be taken literally. g

Does anyone else struggle with hating religion? It is a daily struggle, letting go of hate, as I ...

genessa comments on Jun 16, 2019:

not i. first of i don't hate religion. i hate that some people want to push it on me, either personally or through legislation or adjudication, but i don't hate religion. i think it's mostly silly, and i believe there are no gods, but why would i waste my energy hating religion? so no struggle either. second of all, i've been openly atheist since the age of 15 (and wasn't closeted before that; i believed in a vague god in a vague way and then realized how silly that was and stopped). so i do not hide or diminish my beliefs, political, regarding deities or in any other way on any other topic, to make others feel better. why should i? g

I am without a doubt an Atheist,but a few days ago I saw a Ghost !!! If anybody is interested I ...

genessa comments on Jun 16, 2019:

i had a poltergeist once where i lived at the time. there is no such thing as a poltergeist but whatever caused the phenomenon hasn't got a name because it hasn't yet got an explanation, so calling it a poltergeist is all i can do apart from admitting it wasn't an actual spirit from a dead person but rather a phenomenon that i cannot explain. g

If religion didn't exist, would opposition to abortion or LGBT rights even be a primary poitical ...

genessa comments on Jun 16, 2019:

yes of course it would. men would still want to control women. men don't control women because of religion. religion is just one of their tools. g

New report finds many non-believers still believe in the supernatural - Big Think

genessa comments on Jun 16, 2019:

lol yep! we all indulge in magical thinking. i enjoy it, myself. i have found that when the old toilet in my house doesn't flush, singing to it makes it flush. my singing can't POSSIBLY effect old plumbing (or anything but the mood of any inadvertent listeners) but there you go. so i sing to the damned toilet. it's magical thinking and it can't possibly work but i enjoy it so i do it. g

I tried this once, did not care for it. 😖

genessa comments on Jun 15, 2019:

not a pop fan. g

Is it just me or is it those who refuse to except the world for what it is that seek out religion?

genessa comments on Jun 15, 2019:

some do. it's accept, by the way, not except. different words, different meanings. i'd say it would be more accurate to say that people who seek out religions refuse to accept the world, rather than saying that those who refuse to accept the world seek out religion. some seek other things instead. g

Is there Left and Right inside Democrats as well & what is the general position of Democrats Party,...

genessa comments on Jun 15, 2019:

i don't agree with everyone who has responded. i think most democrats are farther left than nondemocrats and even some democrats suspect. are they as leftwing as i am? hardly anyone is lol. but they are more liberal than they look, and some of that is because some democrats bravely ran and won in red states, but are still stuck representing their constituents. being voted out would be disastrous for those constituents, who (from their habitual voting records and public attitudes do NOT always or even usually vote in their own best interest). such democrats have to compromise more than democrats who come from liberal states. that doesn't make the former less liberal; it makes them more cautious. i am not talking about someone like joe manchin, who really is center-right, if not worse. i am talking about someone like ex-senator claire mccaskill, who is a wonderful person and had to balance where she came from with what she believed, not as a cop-out but in order to keep doing good. as for the majority of democratic public servants, they are definitely not ANYTHING right, center or otherwise. the majority of democratic voters nationwide are left of center to varying degrees. don't be fooled by how the elections come out either: rightwingers have gerrymandered many states to death. there are states where the voters repeatedly vote for democrats and end up with republicans due to gerrymandering. the fact that democrats get into congress at all, not to mention took over the house this past election, is a tribute to how much farther left the people are than they appear to be. g

Bob Dylan was a great songwriter. Can't stand his singing voice.

genessa comments on Jun 15, 2019:

lol i love his early voice, which was no more in-tune than his later voice, after the accident (that is when it deepened) but had a fresh quality. post-accident bob is lower-pitched, maybe even less nasal -- and i like it less. but he never was about vocal talent, right? so one does look past all that. g

Supreme Court denies Flint officials' request to block lawsuit over water crisis

genessa comments on Jun 15, 2019:

i whitelisted nbc and it still blocks me, so please tell me the date on this article. i hope it's brand new! that would be very good news indeed! g

[agnostic.com] Scammer and not a very clever one. Asking to message women in open chat. Usual ...

genessa comments on Jun 15, 2019:

i guess he got gone :-)) g

Poor Melania, she made her bed and now she has to lie in it, with a midget that likes golden ...

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

i feel approximately zero sympathy for melania. you get what you're bought for. g

If his fans riot ...

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

they would have to agree on a place to hold their riot wouldn't they? do they know anywhere beyond their own back yards apart from the local bar? g

tRump spent about 1 million dollars on Facebook ads wishing himself happy birthday. Ill celebrate ...

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

you would waste valuable urine that way? g

My Pillow: my mother had bought one of these last year and I recently tried it, and it's awesome. ...

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

i was going to ask about your mother's awareness of that, but your editing answered, and that is a relief. i wouldn't buy one for the same reasons you state. i don't know about using one; i mean, he gets no support or money from you if you use it. if it reminds you of him and thus repulses you, then yeah, you can't, right? otherwise, sew a donkey patch on it and sweet dreams! g

So many choices, so little time! :D

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

this chart is moderately humorous but since when do jews not like hummus? g

WHO NEEDS GOD? -- Does religion appeal primarily to broken people? Could the argument be made ...

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

religion is too widespread for us to generalize about broken people. i know a lot of broken atheists too. in addition, not all religions are the same and thus while the appeal of having a deity on which to rely to a greater or lesser degree is the same, the details are not, and the details are important too. furthermore, not everyone, even within the same religion, is equally religious, or interprets that religion the same way. so there is no way to generalize about any of it. i do not see jimmy carter as broken, ignorant, lonely, insecure, depressed or any of the rest, and he is a deeply religious man. g

What's a simple thing you did for someone that thrilled them?

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

i picked some low-hanging peonies from our front garden, put them in a bottle of water and sneaked them into richard's room so he could enjoy them. g

[dailykos.com] Joe Biden is a relic from the past and this one exchange with a 13 year old girl ...

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

i will post positive comments. i am not going to post negative comments because i saw how in 1980 a negative comment by ted kennedy was used against jimmy carter the night before the election in 1980. it was outrageous and i was outraged. if we don't like a particular democratic candidate there are two good things we can do. one is to vote for the person we think would make the best president. the other is to be active in promoting that choice of ours. there is no harm in comparing candidates (e.g., i like this person's plan for health care better for that person's) or argue against someone's declaring one candidate more electable than another (the candidates are equally electable if we honor the results of the primaries and all vote for the eventual nominee; anyone who isn't electable to the presidency won't become the nominee anyway) but slamming a candidate, knowing that candidate could become the nominee and need our support, even our grudging support, is counterproductive. g

Atheist media?

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

ricky gervais is always a joy. oddly, i don't like his tv series at all, but i like him, himself, and his standup work. g

Though Atheism is not a religion, which one of them are more generous? :)

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

we are to judge by one guy's one-time experience? how many people of each religion passed by that day? how many of them had any money on them? it's ridiculous. g

A hypothetical moral dilemma: Dan melody are dating, Dan ask Melody" are you on birth control?"...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

yes of course. what if she were on birth control pills only in order not to get pregnant? yes, okay, we know she's not on them, but he didn't know that when he made the decision not to tell her about the vasectomy, so as far as he knew, she was taking a pill that, while extremely helpful to many women not only to avoid pregnancy but to ease dysmenorrhea and regulate periods, also has its serious physical dangers. he let her take it when she might not have had to. the fact that it turns out she wasn't taking it is irrelevant. you haven't asked whether she should have told him she wasn't taking the pill. one lie doesn't justify another. g

I ran across a more-twisted-than-usual, Right Wing, batshit crazy website where the members want ...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

apart from the fact that jfk jr died two decades ago, if he were alive he would be horrified by trump's very existence within the political scene; i think the idea of trump as a dogcatcher would have horrified him. but you know, if they're going to pick dead people for trump's running mate, maybe they could choose frederick douglass. trump thinks douglass is going places.... g

Now, this is a nice religion. It protects women, and doesn't allow men to "break their bones". ...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

yes islam is horrible, isn't it? i mean, it's not as if christians beat their children and marry 12-year-olds. oh wait, only SOME christians do? only SOME christian pastors advocate this? but if one imama says it, i guess that means ALL muslims believe this, right? g

mckinney1 What do you think? Has written 3 times about nothing and wants to google mail already. ...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

nothing that suspicious in his profile, and we can't see what he has written to you. some of his posts seem really inane; that is typical of scammers but not in and of itself an indication of a scammer; sometimes people just ARE inane. however, if he is already wanting to communicate offsite and you haven't encouraged him, that IS suspicious. have you told him point blank you're not interested? g

Is anyone else bored to death with the entire atheist theist debate? I've been hearing it since I ...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

most folks are not woke. i never had that debate in my early life. i've been an atheist since age 15 (yeah, i know, a late bloomer) but it was never a topic for debate; no one was interested. i wasn't in a religious family and didn't hang out in a religious community. i had been taking shit for being jewish since, well, birth i guess, and that shit continued throughout most of my life (which isn't quite over yet). so bored? not especially. fascinated? not especially. i'm not worried about it. let people believe what they believe, as long as they leave me the hell alone and honor the separation of church and state. unfortunately, neither is happening. g

Michele Bachmann has made it clear she thinks it's the end of time, Jesus will come back soon. ...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

she is no longer in power. she is irrelevant. g

The brain washing continues. I saw this posted in Facebook by a Trump fan and I had to laugh. ...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

i cannot swear that this is photoshopped but i can swear that it likely is. a point where a new hand could be photoshop-grafted onto trump's arm is conveniently and blurrily blocked, making the adjustment easy. i blew the picture up in windows paint and the line of trump's face looks odd, as if cut out and pasted in. it's subtle; i can't swear to it. i'm not good enough. g

Remember this or do you still use them?

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

i don't even wear shoes! g

[jta.org] When young Israelis move to Germany or Austria it's a hard pill for their families to ...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

germany is one of the most anti-antisemitic countries around right now, despite a neonazi element. it certainly has the best holocaust history education (whereas when i lived in japan, 20th-century history simply was not taught in school at any level). austria is having nazi troubles right now; i wouldn't go there. i'm pretty pissed off at switzerland. i am afraid i don't know much about poland's current situation so i can't speak for or against visiting it. i do NOT believe in letting the "sins of the father" be visited upon the offspring; realizing that a country has evolved is not the same as forgiving and forgetting. g

[agnostic.com] Kingwood He says he is religious but leaning towards agnosticism. Willing to...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

i responded to his lone post in which he shares a video from someone who can't spell "atheist." i don't know that he's necessarily a troll or scammer but he doesn't leave a good impression. g

How any woman can continue to embrace Christianity is beyond me. This concept is totally Biblical. ...

genessa comments on Jun 12, 2019:

not all christians believe this. i know people who self-identify as christian and do not buy into any of that crap. evangelicals buy it; some others buy it; it's written in; not everything written in is accepted by everyone who finds some value in his or her religion. those who do just make me shake my head. you can't argue with such people. they're brainwashed. g

I am a science teacher in an inner city school. My students don't listen and don't care. Their ...

genessa comments on Jun 12, 2019:

no. keep believing as you have believed. the ones who seem not to care are not all the same. some really don't care. some do but are afraid to show they do. some do but are afraid of succeeding lest they be pulled down too. and some just don't know what to do so they go along with the crowd. education HAS to be available to all, or, for one important thing, we will start judging, without really KNOWING, who deserves it and who doesn't. when i was in high school, back in the stone age, black kids were slow-tracked, regardless of their interest or ability. i have a friend, not from my high school (i didn't know her until decades later) who told me that her guidance counselor advised her not to go to college, since she was only going to grow up to be a maid. how can we decide who wants to learn, who can learn, who deserves to learn, if such errors can be made, not only can be made but are made as a matter of course? how about dealing with behavior problems by giving kids the behavioral help they need instead of just deciding that education is not for everyone? g

Trump invokes executive privilege ahead of House Oversight contempt vote for Barr, Ross [cnn.com]

genessa comments on Jun 12, 2019:

he can invoke all he wants. a court will overturn his invocation and no spirits will appear. g

Why do so many men think sarcastic humor is positive?

genessa comments on Jun 12, 2019:

real sarcasm IS funny. some people, not only men, think flinging any old insult is successful sarcasm. they associate being mean with being clever. they're mistaken. g

People inspire you or drain you. Choose wisely. Agree/isagree?

genessa comments on Jun 12, 2019:

well... not so cut and dried, and with most people one can also choose a level of involvement, and choose whether or not to be drained -- one can also find inspiration in unexpected places. it's not either or, and it's not constant, either: one person can both drain and inspire. another person can do neither but have other value. also, not every person needs to be judged by what that person can do directly for us. g

I never heard of this, did you?

genessa comments on Jun 11, 2019:

lol no but i think it's a red foxx joke. i don't think it's real. g

Trump Joke of the Day Albert Einstein dies and goes to heaven. At the Pearly Gates, Saint Peter ...

genessa comments on Jun 11, 2019:

i heard this from a london taxi driver in the 1990s. it was a dan quayle joke back then. g

LOL... NO BALLS DEMOCRATS CNN reached out to 41 freshmen Democrats who flipped Republican seats ...

genessa comments on Jun 11, 2019:

i read that article too. you left some really important things out. 1. all the democrats contacted were in red states and had flipped their seats from red to blue. they have constituencies that want them to be cautious. they DO represent their constituencies, right? 2. there are 235 democrats in the house. why reach out only to 41 in red states? maybe cnn already knew what kind of story it wanted to write! 3. when did cnn reach out? how much time did it give the reps to answer? the article doesn't say. is answering cnn the TOP priority any given representative has on his or her plate? 4. is it just POSSIBLE that someone could have a reason for not being in favor of immediate impeachment hearings, or being undecided, or not wanting to tell cnn until s/he HAS decided, and that reason might not be evil, cowardly or otherwise negative? is this even possible? could someone actually disagree about the efficacy of such a thing and still be working on a way to oust or otherwise defeat trump and the republicussians? or is everyone who doesn't do what you want when you want it automatically either a wimp or a villain? we've had this discussion before. i write this for the benefit of other readers. i know you think you know all the facts and are not open to the possibility that someone else's mindset has the least bit of value, and if that sounds like a personal attack, pardon me, it is not. it is merely an observation. g

Agnostics??

genessa comments on Jun 11, 2019:

a whole lot. i don't think we've been counted, though. a good number of us, including me, are NOT agnostics. i myself am an atheist. g

weird phenomenon: used to be, if i clicked MY GROUPS i would be taken to a list of new posts ...

genessa comments on Jun 10, 2019:

it's IN my groups, not my groups. and the posts on the left used to be just posts in my groups. g

It's interesting to me that many "New Atheists" are happy to disregard the majoritarian authority of...

genessa comments on Jun 10, 2019:

if there are some exceptions, why are you taking an exception to the exception you mentioned? why are politics not an exception? the very WORD "politics" implies majoritarianism. g

Latest poll from Iowa primary voters: 01. Warren and Buttigieg are gathering strength, 02. ...

genessa comments on Jun 10, 2019:

voters are not worried about biden's age. they are worried about his lack of progressiveness. i do not hate him. he's nowhere near the top of my list but i like him, personally. if he wins the nomination he has my vote. think about it! think about the alternative, and NO, you're not being ethical and sticking to your principles if you stay home or vote indie because something about "lesser of two evils" offends you; think about four more years of trump and the fact that we have concentration camps in this country! no matter WHAT you think of biden you can't POSSIBLY think there would be concentration camps under his administration! meanwhile, warren is at the top of my list and she will almost certainly get my vote in the primary. and whoever wins the primary, be it warren, mayor pete, biden or a used piece of toilet paper, gets my vote in the general. (it's also too early to be looking at polls. before any debates, polls are just measuring name-recognition.) g

It Makes you wonder just what it is that attracts women to the horrible, fat, piggy eyed, ...

genessa comments on Jun 10, 2019:

money g

So, God is in control. He has a plan for your life. I hear that a lot. But when something awful ...

genessa comments on Jun 10, 2019:

so we know there is no GOOD god. we can't know if there are ANY gods. however, we also can't know whether there are bridge trolls, a tooth fairy, leprechauns or unicorns, but we can realize how unlikely their existence is, to the degree that some of us can confidently say there aren't any gods. if you're not convinced, you can say there probably aren't. it won't make any difference in the long run. so any complicated response to the thing you hear a lot will turn out to be some kind of explanation that will be rejected at any rate, assuming it's even understood. perhaps "which god?" would give the erstwhile reassurer pause. yes, that's blowing them off. sometimes that's okay. or perhaps "sorry, i don't hold any gods" is better. it depends on who is trying to reassure you. you might decide the whole thing isn't worth your time, just that once. but if you decide you have the time and energy for a debate, some of what i said above might be useful. g

Getting the most out of Agnostic.com

genessa comments on Jun 10, 2019:

getting the most out of ag dot com requires putting the most in. follow the good advice in items 1-4 of WonderWartHog99 below. realize that the rest of the advice is a joke and laugh but don't do it. g

Pennsylvania swing voters are sticking with Trump in 2020 [axios.com] Wow. Just, wow.

genessa comments on Jun 10, 2019:

that's not what attendees at town halls are indicating. quite frankly, polls are mostly shit. g

I have tried a couple of other date sites and so many profiles start out with must love Jesus, or ...

genessa comments on Jun 10, 2019:

the thing about ag dot com is it has its dating-site side but it also is a community, and the community is the best thing that could happen to a dating site. talking about what you want in a mate just leads to people trying to be what you want, and your trying to be what they want. talking about everything else in the world, from politics to music to whatever, lets you actually get to know other people a bit and maybe form a bond more naturally. instead of instant gratification followed by inevitable disappointment, you get something more realistic: the maturing of relationships, whether or not one of them also becomes a romantic partnership. g

Can an atheist be a hippy?

genessa comments on Jun 9, 2019:

why would the two in any way, shape or form be mutually exclusive? g

Just curious. Who would not have joined this forum if it was called atheist.com?

genessa comments on Jun 9, 2019:

me. but the name is taken. g

I am playing around with a subject for an upcoming video. I would like to know how you would answer ...

genessa comments on Jun 9, 2019:

you're asking atheists this? a personal relationship with god is like... wait, it's hard to type with this strait-jacket on. g

We need a house leader with the balls to start a mass impeachment proceeding for about half of the ...

genessa comments on Jun 9, 2019:

1. nancy pelosi has more balls, in the venacular, than the entire republican party. 2. balls are tender and vulnerable. we need a nice strong flexible vagina as speaker. oh wait, we have one. that's a good thing. pelosi is no wimp and she is doing her job. and yes, the republicans in congress, particularly the senate, should all be impeached. do you know how that works? do you know how any legal action, to which impeachment is not exactly equal but is in fact similar in many ways, works? one builds a case, and one doesn't necessarily yap about it while doing so. g

How have you handled last-minute birthday notice?

genessa comments on Jun 9, 2019:

haha i have not been in that situation. i'm not perfect but pretty damned good at birthdays. i am crap at remembering where i am supposed to be when, though. g

[act.credoaction.com] Please sign this petition to drop Laura Ingraham's hateful show from Fox ...

genessa comments on Jun 9, 2019:

with all due respect, signing a petition, or presenting a petition, to drop a fascist from a fascist network is a bit futile. the petition should be to drop fox news from existence. g

Questions. If I entered this site and were an interplanetary guest knowing nothing about ...

genessa comments on Jun 9, 2019:

why in the world would you get christianity as hailing from north america? it didn't originate there and it didn't first flourish there. it was in full bloom all over europe and south america by the time it got to north america. as for judging other religions, why do you think anyone here thinks christianity is the only religion? that's a pretty strange assumption. i'm jewish (and an atheist), myself. who here has said anything bad about dreamtime or buddhism or the druids or even zeus? (okay i have mentioned zeus from time to time.) your question makes assumptions based on facts not in evidence. g

In you mind, what are you first? Where would your ultimate affinity lie? An atheist/agnostic, ...

genessa comments on Jun 9, 2019:

it's circumstantial. i don't live by a label. i have several from which i can choose, which do not conflict with one another and sometimes do or don't have anything to do with one another, depending on what is needed. i'm just me. g

My wife is Chinese and studied all religious writings in International Literature Class. All ...

genessa comments on Jun 9, 2019:

i did not address the meat of your post, but corrected you on one point, because it was the one point on which an atheist or agnostic reading what you wrote might actually be convinced if they knew no better. the rest is fantasy. i am sure you're sincere and do not know it is fantasy; hallucinations can be very convincing... but generally only to the person who did the hallucinating. one thing is pretty certain: we are not all eternal, except in the memories of those whose lives we have touched. love is good. doing the right thing (whatever we may agree that is) is good. i've had dreams about my dead mom too; they were interesting and i like meeting her in my dreams, but i know that my dreams were dreams. mom's body is in the ground. there is nothing else of my mom that exists except for how she touched other people, including me. she isn't in heaven (or hell). there is no such place and there is no such thing as a "soul." none of this invalidates your experience; you really did have an interesting hallucination and it really did affect your life. that's fine. g

Religion in a relationship

genessa comments on Jun 9, 2019:

i am an atheist. my guy has a vague belief in a vague undefined god (when i ask him he gets mad but the last time i insisted and he thought for a minute and then confessed he believed in a god who created evolution.) we're both jewish -- yes, i still self-identify that way. funny thing about judaism -- they don't kick you out for not believing. the only thing that makes you an apostate from judaism is taking on another god. anyway, he hates my ag dot com tee shirt but it's not a dealbreaker. we've been together for 18 of the 19 years we've known each other and our commitment is for life, whatever we have left to us (we're both old farts). it's not a problem. if he gets too pissy about it i give him my best two words: "talking snake." that shuts him up. i imagine it would be different for a couple half of which was an evangelical christian. but i would never have dated one of those to begin with! g

As an atheist and raising my sons as such I found the philosophy Stoicism a fantastic alternative to...

genessa comments on Jun 9, 2019:

nope. i don't want to be an ic or an ist... atheist just describes my not believing in any gods and has no other attached philosophy. not so, stoicism. sometimes, not often, i am asked for my philosophy of life. i don't see why i should have to have one. can i not meet life's challenges (and joys) as i find them? i have a memory. i can learn what's poisonous, figuratively as well as literally, and what's beneficial, likewise. i think more or less logically, as limited by my species and how much sleep i've gotten (or not). i don't need to be recalculating constantly, not consciously anyway. g

Reddit - atheism - My boyfriend is a Christian and I'm agnostic. We tried to have a conversation ...

genessa comments on Jun 8, 2019:

she keeps saying she respects his beliefs. does she respect his belief that she is "spiritually dead" and somehow in the wrong for being an agnostic? i'd be pissed off. she also said he respects her belief, or lack thereof. he quite obviously does not. g

Separating Facts About Clergy Abuse From Fiction

genessa comments on Jun 8, 2019:

two and three are true. four is blatantly untrue. one is iffy; there have been individual cases in the clergy of all religions because the clergy are human, and humans do strange things, but catholic clerics are infamous and the massive coverup certainly speaks to the extent to which the problem is rampant specifically in that church. it isn't rampant among jewish clerics, and yes, there have been rabbis guilty of sexual abuse of children, just as there are people who aren't clerics of ANY religion guilty of that. too many christians, not necessarily clerics (and not necessarily catholic), have used their religion as the excuse for their offenses. no jewish laymen have done this. it's not built into the system. in the catholic church it appears to be built in, regardless of the above so-called facts. g

Do you like wearing tight clothes?

genessa comments on Jun 8, 2019:

i don't even like wearing clothes! but that does look comfy. g

My wife is Chinese and studied all religious writings in International Literature Class. All ...

genessa comments on Jun 8, 2019:

not ALL religions are based on the fear of hell. judaism isn't. g

Everybody is saying so...

genessa comments on Jun 8, 2019:

this is funny. it's something trump could say -- i mean, he said the moon is part of mars, so who knows? however, as far as i can determine, it's not something he actually said. from the responses i see that this is being taken at face value, which means it is not properly presented as the satire it is. if someone has a source for trump's actually saying this, i wouldn't mind seeing it, but if y'all want to spread it around (as it IS funny) i'd comment "it's a joke, folks" or something, just to be sure. g

How do you debunk it when someone claims religion, no matter it's true or false' serves as an ...

genessa comments on Jun 8, 2019:

first they need to give examples, since people making the claim have the burden of proof. of course people making such claims often deny that the burden of proof is on them, since common knowledge is an exception to that rule, and they share common knowledge -- of something that is patently false. you could ask for medical sources that back up their claim. they won't have them. then you can say that anything could serve as the psychological support or placebo, without burdening them with rules of behavior that might be harmful to them, or to others. you might also find a rental copy of "dumbo" and point out that in the end dumbo flies WITHOUT the feather. g

Patricia1199 (Sorry on phone) Very strange dubious questions. Syntax and English is odd. Porn star ...

genessa comments on Jun 8, 2019:

the pic is a little suggestive but unlike most scammers of the sort who use such pictures, she claims to be here for the community. she also has odd posts but they're again not the kind usually made by scammers. female scammers usually post about love at first sight or claim to be looking for a good man who will love her for being independent and at the same time take care of her as if she's a little girl rofl rofl. well okay not everyone is the same, but her being foreign or at least typing as if she is doesn't make her a scammer. she doesn't respond to other people's posts (so far) and that's the oddest thing i can note about her. she's new. she may just be finding her legs here. (or she may be a scammer -- but i don't see evidence yet.) g

It pains me to block ladies. Women need to support each other.

genessa comments on Jun 8, 2019:

alas, ignorance, stupidity and meanness know no gender divide. we SHOULD be supporting one another. as for editing... not only is each of us human and thus fallible and capable of making typos (proofreading fixes that) and not only are some of us literate and able to edit as well as mere proofreading, for those qualities you have mentioned and more, but ag dot com itself has been known to take a bite out of our posts, not by way of censorship but as a technical glitch i don't think even ag dot com yet understands. when i first got here, i found that my posts would end of without the word "to." it was neatly removed from every post, and a couple of spaces remained where it had been, perhaps to show me that i had not typoed. it was just plain weird. then it stopped. that was just plain weird too. i try not to criticize people for what might be a hungry ag dot com or even a mere typo, or even bad writing if it's still SOMEWHAT coherent, but man, when people rant and rave and aren't nice about it and get all personal... gender be damned, they're GONE from MY world! g p.s. i just had to edit this because "bad" writing came out "mad" writing! i considered leaving it. i kind of liked it. however, i really had meant "bad."

Beware of scammers in online dating. My dear fellow dreamers who are brave enough to lay their ...

genessa comments on Jun 8, 2019:

you may want to join this group https://agnostic.com/group/TrollsScammers and if this scammer was on ag dot com, share his name there so others can beware. g

Spirituality in Film & Literature

genessa comments on Jun 7, 2019:

neither. why is that the choice? my reaction is neither of those but a third option: i do NOT wish those most of things were real. i wish they would stop being written into supposedly realistic shows as if they WERE real, as if they were part of my culture (they're not -- tv assumes everyone is specifically christian, too). if it's a fantasy show, that could be different, depending on the assumptions. joan of arcadia was clever and made points that were not sappy religious ones, and the people in the shows, and their problems, were complex and real. touched by an angel (or as i call it, molested by an angel) on the other hand was just crap in every possible way and made assumptions about people's belief systems instead of presenting those elements as part of the fantasy. the angel was fantasy but all the pseudo-religious crap was presented as part of everyday reality and not part of the angel shtick. i ADORE doctor who, and i know there's no tardis, no gallifrey, no doctor, and YES i wish those things were real, but not to the extent that i am going to build a belief system around them lol. g

America's new religion!

genessa comments on Jun 7, 2019:

the only way to have a chance in hell of reaching a dimwit like this is to talk to her on her own terms. this being said, only two words have a chance in hell of reaching her: "golden calf." g

Am I being unreasonable?

genessa comments on Jun 7, 2019:

it is not nice to assume religion, even if not a specific religion, and impose it on a customer. is that a religious institution? is this part of the company's theme or logo? if she added it on her own, even if she put "have a nice day," it could be a violation of what the company thinks it stands for. she doesn't just get to add religion to a company product. so she is wrong in both directions, outward and inward. i think she needs to reread her bible (and i am assuming this would be the jesus bible, with which i am mostly unfamiliar) about praying at home and not making a show of it. g

R.I.P. Dr. John... another great one leaves the stage - I was lucky to see him at his peak. It was ...

genessa comments on Jun 7, 2019:

i didn't hear about it. this is the first i knew. i'm sitting here crying. g

Did you buy something and discover you have it at home?

genessa comments on Jun 7, 2019:

connect four. i thought i had lost my game and i bought a new one, cheaply of course, and came home to find i still had one. g

Speaking to family about religion

genessa comments on Jun 6, 2019:

i was raised in a secular jewish family (although i understand that until i was three we kept kosher; when the last great-grandparent who could care about that died, my mom turned to my dad and said she wasn't doing that anymore. he balked but a few years later he was happily eating mcdonald's cheeseburgers -- something i don't do, and it has nothing to do with religion!). we celebrated the holidays and had a strong cultural jewish identity but never talked about god. i don't remember a single conversation about that personage. when at age 15 i realized there were no gods, it never occurred to me to share this revelation with my folks. it didn't occur to me they're be interested. i told my best friend and found out she was an atheist too, but this was just like finding out we both liked broccoli, you know? many years later, as an adult, having moved to california, i called my folks (i think they were still in maryland but they might have moved to florida by then; i'm not certain) because someone asked me what they believed and i didn't know. my folks were surprised that i was calling long distance to ask such a weird question as "do you believe in god?" my mom said she wasn't sure but she thought she did. my dad said he wasn't sure but he thought he didn't. and that was the end of that! they didn't even ask me what i believed lol! g

How come Japan does so many things better?

genessa comments on Jun 6, 2019:

my cat used to flush the toilet and drink from the spout. he preferred it to his water dish. but japan doesn't do everything better. at least when i lived there (for a decade, but decades ago) consumers would buy a product in a plastic tub, throw the tub away and then go out and buy an empty tub for storing things. when i showed my friends how i reused those cottage cheese tubs and all, they were amazed at my absolute brilliance! they also never thought of making matzaball soup or chili in a rice cooker. g

Listen to the lady, dork

genessa comments on Jun 6, 2019:

... and is also in better physical and mental shape. g

Do you get tired of large packages of food?

genessa comments on Jun 6, 2019:

nope. i'll tell you why i don't. i separate and freeze too, and the effort is well worth it. even if it's ONE thing i repackage smaller. g

Dipshit praises vegas shooter?! Called him a genus and a smart gambler. Can someone please get this ...

genessa comments on Jun 6, 2019:

why can't you copy the link? g