genessa's Profile

I was a member of this site a year or so ago. I stopped participation in social media when I decided...

genessa comments on Jul 9, 2019:

what a great and encouraging post! mazel tov :-)) g

Sassy! Saw your post in the General forum about concentration camps. What would you consider the...

genessa comments on Jul 8, 2019:

i'll answer (i am sure sassy will too). the alternative would be what we USED to do, which had a 90 percent success rate (success being that the asylum-seekers showed up for their hearings): ankle bracelets. they have broken no law; why take away their children, and why detain them, never mind in such horrible conditions? oh wait... trump's private prison operating friends are making a hell of a profit from this. THAT's why. as for people who cross the border illegally, barely represented in these concentration camps, since we have had negative immigration with mexico for a couple/few years now, that's a misdemeanor. do we incarcerate people who park illegally? do we imprison their children? g

Heaven and Hell are a state of minds.

genessa comments on Jul 8, 2019:

you can call those states of mind those words, or you can eschew religious lingo altogether and call them something else. i don't find this assertion any more useful than saying "god is love" or "god is everywhere" in an attempt to redefine and even recycle religious lingo. it's not necessary, it confuses some folks and it's not even especially original. a tree is a tree and a bad situation is a bad situation. they don't have to be god and hell. those words already have meanings. g

Permethrin spray repels and kills ticks, mosquitoes and 39 other biting insects

genessa comments on Jul 7, 2019:

my cat minky was poisoned with pymethrin, a synthetic version is permethrin, by a stupid pca (she almost poisoned my fiance too). she sprayed it on FOOD. minky died. the characteristics of both substances are the same. i would NEVER use this stuff! i loved minky! g

I'm looking for songs which have a saxophone line. Do you know some interesting ones? Until now I ...

genessa comments on Jul 7, 2019:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrpjD20bIyA g

The more I date the more I am disappointed. And the more I am disappointed the more I learn I must ...

genessa comments on Jul 7, 2019:

maybe the trick isn't to keep looking for someone, but instead to keep being the best you that you can be so someone who is looking for someone finds YOU. be that someone. g

What is the DMZ, and why is this a good thing? The only thing I could find is that that has to do ...

genessa comments on Jul 6, 2019:

the dmz is the demilitarized zone, which allowed troops from both north and south korea (and china, and the united states) to withdraw in relative safety from the korean police action (which never officially ended; there was an armistice and that's all). it did its job. do we need it now? i have no idea. i don't know what port forwarding is, but it doesn't sound like anything related to the korean "war" (which as i say, is still on -- but we seem to be on the wrong side now!) g

If he doesn't call back, I caught him cheating.

genessa comments on Jul 6, 2019:

are you sure nancy is his wife? some people do include their pets in their messages! g

Religious indoctrination in public schools. I do support religious teaching is public schools ...

genessa comments on Jul 6, 2019:

there is a difference between teaching ABOUT religion, which is a thing that exists and has a profound effect on history and society, and teaching a religion, as if its tenets are facts. there are classes here and there called (something like) comparative religion. there are also classes that teach religion as fact. the latter is indoctrination. the former is education. they must not be confused. g

For many of us who are seniors now, this shows the tools of society and how we were brainwashed into...

genessa comments on Jul 5, 2019:

sorry but not all of us were brainwashed. my first career goal, age maybe four or so, was to be an "indian." i didn't know it wasn't a job description and that i could never be one. that's just what i wanted to be. my dad was against the vietnam war before most people knew what was even happening there; i was a peacenick as a teen. i still am. g

Why would a man write to me for another guy? A scam?

genessa comments on Jul 5, 2019:

the man has no friend. he would be writing on his own behalf; the idea is to lure you offsite so he can scam you without being censured by the site. you did the right thing, gave the right answer. g

Raised religious? How did you come to realize that what you were taught as a child was not true?...

genessa comments on Jul 3, 2019:

my observation is that a lot of people who escape religious thinking go through the phase of "if god is all-powerful why does evil exist" and similar thinking, which in and of itself isn't about evidence that there is no god, only evidence that there is no good god or no all-powerful god. HOWEVER, that seems to be a good steppingstone to realizing there is no evidence for the existence of any gods at all, and a necessary step for many. i was not raised religious and the god in whom i vaguely and casually believed wasn't a very active god at all, he was more like an invisible friend, a pretty quiet one at that. so i didn't expect anything from him other than just an eye and an ear. it wasn't particularly traumatic to discover he was like the invisible rabbit i had as a toddler. i understand that this is not everyone's experience. being jewish, i also didn't have to dump jesus too; he was already a nonentity. i had it easy in that regard! g

I am a 100% skeptic about all things supernatural! Do any of you hold on to any supernatural ...

genessa comments on Jul 3, 2019:

never had to let them go because i never believed in any of them, but i LIKED astrology. liking and believing are not the same. i still like tarot, and no, it's not magic; it's just an intuitive tool, at least the way i use it. pretty cards, too. ghosts? i actually encountered a poltergeist and i STILL don't believe in them. i just don't have another name to call what i encountered. g

Have you ever had popcorn for dinner?

genessa comments on Jul 3, 2019:

i had it for breakfast once. g

Sealioning (also spelled sea-lioning and sea lioning) is a type of trolling or harassment which ...

genessa comments on Jul 2, 2019:

i see it all the time here and on facebook. if i hung out elsewhere i am sure i'd see it there too. it's rampant. g

if there is not God, I would like to know where did everything come from? it's a very simple ...

genessa comments on Jul 2, 2019:

oh, haha, my response will go unread by this questioner. apparently this person is not available, which means he was removed or banned or some such thing. he sounded like a troll. i guess he WAS one. emphasis on past tense. g

if there is not God, I would like to know where did everything come from? it's a very simple ...

genessa comments on Jul 2, 2019:

if there IS a god then where did god come from? do you have access to a library? there are lots of books in the science section to explain how much we do and do not know about where matter came from. remember, though, that just because we don't know everything doesn't mean there's a god. g

Dating a Christian?

genessa comments on Jul 2, 2019:

i never dated much but i never knowingly dated a christian. i've dated nonjews. i can't even imagine having a serious relationship with a true believer. that would be like... dating a republican or something! g

Trump Lashes Out at New York AG’s Probe Into His Businesses: My Kids Are ‘Spending a Fortune on ...

genessa comments on Jul 1, 2019:

awww his kids are paying lawyers? do we BELIEVE this? or do they take after their dad and not PAY their lawyers (or any of their other bills)? g

A current snapshot of Jewish views towards the importance of Israel as well as the handling of the ...

genessa comments on Jul 1, 2019:

i am a zionist. what does that mean? does it mean israel above all else? no. does it mean screw the palestinians? no. does it mean a one-state solution? no. it means israel has a right to exist. that's ALL zionism means. the word is used to mean all that other crap. it doesn't mean that at all. i am in favor of a two-state solution. the palestinian people, regardless of their cruel leaders, regardless of israel's current dictator and horrible policies, deserve a home of their own. but so does israel and the palestinian leadership has never changed its tune from not only intending to sink israel into the sea but to sink jews all over the world into the sea. that doesn't change my stance; i still am in favor of a two-state solution. but israel has a right to exist too. i hope it votes out the asshole in charge. i do not think bibi won the last election honestly and i think he's a criminal. (remind you of anyone?) but that doesn't mean the country should not exist, any more than trump's horror means america should not exist. it just means, just as trump must go, bibi must go. g

How do you respond when somebody you have never met in person and only exchanged a sentence or two ...

genessa comments on Jul 1, 2019:

i tend not to trust them. why did they even think to say it unless they thought you doubted them, or might doubt them? because they're about to try to con you in some way! g

DMary. Usual looking for a man worldwide, inane google translate posts. Keep watching but a bit ...

genessa comments on Jul 1, 2019:

she just went "not available" as was looking! g

Survey: As many Americans claim no religion as there are evangelicals, Catholics - CNN

genessa comments on Jul 1, 2019:

... keeping in mind that claiming no religion is not the same as disbelieving in any deities. g

Yesterday, while cooling my heels in the ER. I saw this guy wheeled in. The nurse asked me if I ...

genessa comments on Jun 29, 2019:

yes i know what "the man" is and my response is still "let's elect 'the woman.'" g

just saw a security video where a person was beaten without mercy. where was your god I heard myself...

genessa comments on Jun 29, 2019:

cruelty doesn't prove there is no god, nor is it even evidence there is no god. it is evidence there is no good or just god. of course there are no gods at all, but that's a different story. g

Have you had intense friendships that dissolved once you get home?

genessa comments on Jun 28, 2019:

i don't get out much :-(( g

Ok. Anybody besides me are fed up with the amount of time before new episodes! Whats the hold up??...

genessa comments on Jun 28, 2019:

yes it's frustrating but we've known about this and expected it for half a year at least. it's not a surprise. g

Christianity is a fraud religion since it is based on two events that never happened; a virgin birth...

genessa comments on Jun 28, 2019:

so other religions are NOT fraudulent because all of THEIR stories are true? really? g

Ohio de-funds Planned Parenthood. These fools have no idea that PP is where the women get birth ...

genessa comments on Jun 27, 2019:

yes, they know. they're anti-woman. they know and they're glad to stop women from getting birth control and basic health care. g

WE ALL WORSHIP one GOD, It's called the GOVERNMENT! Some say, you can not be an anarchist without...

genessa comments on Jun 27, 2019:

we all worship the government? what universe do you inhabit? i don't even want to read the rest when it starts with such a ridiculous and false assertion. g

God created nature or are we an evolution of bio organisms first? I recently learn Survival is ...

genessa comments on Jun 27, 2019:

i am not the king of anything, being a woman. i am not the queen of anything, not being a royalist and not caring to rule over anyone. god isn't love; god is just a fictional character, or a series of fictional characters. these characters don't concern me. my domain is my body and it extends outward to wherever i am welcome. i am not worried about what anyone's conception of god is; my conception of that word is that it described any number of nonexistent, unimportant things. i spend almost no time at all thinking about it; it isn't worth my time or energy. evolution continues to operate without us. you have a personal solution but i fail to see what problem you're trying to solve. as for your claim that the medical profession is the leading cause of death, most people in the world have never met a doctor and they persist in dying anyway, usually younger than we would consider to be normal here in the western world. i'd be long dead were it not for the medical profession, so i am evidence to the contrary of your assertion. i am not alone in that. g

DEMOCRATIC DEBATE Just a placeholder for discussion: I felt Warren was short-changed on ...

genessa comments on Jun 27, 2019:

she had the third most time of anyone (npr came out with a chart). g

Watching the first Dem debate. We seem to be living in the society of The Hunger Games as it reminds...

genessa comments on Jun 26, 2019:

i did not see it as a game show at all, not even remotely. it didn't seem at all fake. why did it seem fake to you? we'll see how biden et al comport themselves tomorrow. but i like warren (and others) very much. g

As an Atheist who just turned 40 and is single I am now for the first time really grappling with my ...

genessa comments on Jun 26, 2019:

i have no gods and no human children, and my furbabies are preceding me into nonexistence. i am a writer but i am not well known, and my novel may never be finished or published. so much for that kind of immortality. i may have to give up on feeling immortal. i mean... we're not. we just aren't. g

How do you teach your teenagers ethics and values?

genessa comments on Jun 26, 2019:

my oldest cat is over 17 and dying of cancer. i am trying to teach her not to lie in the little box looking as if she is going to die right away, but rather to eat and survive longer. but if i had human teens, i would not even THINK about religion as a possible way to teach "morals." what has religion got to do with morals, apart from PRETENDING that whatever its rules might be are moral and everyone else's religion's rules are not? rational values are being good because we're human, not being good because skydaddy will spank. you are their best resource; they don't need a guidebook or a rulebook. they need logic and compassion. lead by example, answer and ASK questions. g

Who else will be watching the Democratic debates? I think most of us here will vote for whichever ...

genessa comments on Jun 26, 2019:

it JUST began and my favorite so far is speaking -- that's elizabeth warren. i am watching with an open mind but i really like her. and yes i will vote for a used piece of toilet paper as long as it's blue, but i do like warren quite well. g

Please tell me not true.

genessa comments on Jun 26, 2019:

cannot tell you it is untrue because it is true. he actually did say that. and people are defending him. they're not just defending him; they're saying he is jesus returned. we are overrun with morons. g

This is great! I think Mueller wants to keep the report in the public eye. Mueller to testify ...

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

he doesn't want to testify, but he is honoring the subpoena, and there will be two public sessions on the same day and either he or his staff members or both will also testify in closed session after that, also on the same day. i do not take his reluctance as a sign of anything bad about him. he has his reasons. i am glad he will testify. g

The Boomers Are to Blame for Aging America - The Atlantic

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

yes, how dare i be born when i was born and then recklessly keep living even until now. what a terrible thing i've done. i mean, it's not as if i ever was young, and it's not as if people can stay alive for several decades and still have hearts and brains and not be fogies, right? maybe i should just crawl off and die, because i wouldn't want to make an atlantic magazine opinion-holder mad. g

Fuck me jesus! A meme on FB said in 1776 that the British demanded we hand over our firearms. That ...

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

ain't revisionism grand? g

Name Something Christians say when they know they are losing an argument with an atheist.

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

god loves you even if you don't believe in him. god believes in your even if you don't believe in him. i'm not a violent person but those two things definitely make me want to punch someone in the (smug) face. g

[alternet.org] Chuck Todd's terrible interview with fabricator in chief, Trump snapped the rope ...

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

i cannot be disappointed in chuck todd, as i have never liked or trusted him. look, i watch msnbc every weeknight and i love chris hayes, rachel and lawrence, but just because someone works for the same network they do that doesn't mean they're worthy journalists. todd is not. i can't be disappointed in someone from whom i expected nothing good or even decent to begin with. i wish he were not going to be one of the moderators of the upcoming debates but i have no control over that. at least rachel will be there. g

[good.is] Private company profits off of immigrant children in prison at $750/day for substandard...

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

substandard is an understatement. how about "disgusting" instead? g

Is Google indoctrinating us? The attached screen shots are what Google returns today when you start...

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

no. google isn't choosing those things. the frequency with which people search for those things is controlling the choice. yes, people who pay get their listings farther up than those who don't, but not THAT kind of search result. g p.s. i am more worried about what ag dot com does to my words lol. i just had to edit after noticing some of my words got changed!

I'm definitely a skeptic of the Bible, but there is an interesting phenomenon regarding the first 5 ...

genessa comments on Jun 24, 2019:

there is no one "the" bible, capital b or otherwise. there are a gazillion translations. hebrew has vowels; they're very small. every language, including the language of music, is mathematical in its way. why would a language without vowels, if that were true, be hard to put into an agnostic place? are religious sites more receptive to vowelless languages? i don't have any insight into why you would say that. i also have no especial interest in made-up codes and made-up specialness. all the bibles are just books written by people who 1. didn't know a lot about science or nature, 2. didn't know a lot about writing. g

We can all live without God, but what is one thing you can't live without?

genessa comments on Jun 24, 2019:

there is no ONE thing. g

Beaker to replace Sanders. [breakingburgh.com]

genessa comments on Jun 23, 2019:

i don't know. i think oscar the grouch would fit in better with trump's agenda. g

Standing up for atheists, I reported a Christian zealot x-ray tech.

genessa comments on Jun 23, 2019:

good luck! i hope you get the same creep and the manager witnesses that. that would be even better luck than getting a reasonable person, right? g

The reason I am agnostic is because there is no proof that a God told man to compose religious texts...

genessa comments on Jun 23, 2019:

it didn't take much complicated logic for me. i was 15, i'd discovered that my folks had been wrong (in innocence, not lying, just wrong) about something i'd bought into, and decided to examine all my beliefs. it was no more difficult than it would've been for a christian child to realize there was no santa claus. it just made no sense to think there was any such thing as a god. i didn't worry about why this or how that. i had no especial expectations of the god in which i vaguely believed. there was no disappointment or anything like that. i just realized it wasn't real, that's all. i knew there was a word for someone like me: atheist. it wasn't like "oh i think i'll be an atheist now." g

What do you think about Deism?

genessa comments on Jun 23, 2019:

i think it's as delusional as anything else that presents deities. since i believe there are no gods, i have no use for any kind of theism, including deism. g

Two Questions??

genessa comments on Jun 22, 2019:

i have one cat buried in the back yard but my elderly pets do insist on sometimes dying in the winter when the ground is frozen, and i don't believe they are in their bodies anymore, or anywhere else but my memory and heart, so cremation is the easiest disposition. i have no idea how i want my own to be handled. i am sure i won't know about it at any rate, when the time comes. g

What is the best knickname for our current President of the United States?

genessa comments on Jun 22, 2019:

for a while i was calling him pri, but it didn't catch on because no one figured out it meant painful rectal itch, which is what he most resembles. g

Is this dress too short?

genessa comments on Jun 22, 2019:

it's cute and you can get away with that length. i couldn't. so... not too short for you! g

Have you ever had anything that could be termed miraculous happen to you? I've had quite a number...

genessa comments on Jun 22, 2019:

magical thinking is fun but sometimes misleading. the human brain is wired to see patterns and that's helpful -- we can't learn without that facility. unfortunately we see them whether they're there or not. so we find meaning where there is meaning and we find it where there is none, too. i guess that's the price we pay for being human. yes, my life has been full of strange stuff. no, i do not believe in (literal) miracles. no matter the degree, weird is just weird (and that's subjective anyway). g

Please tell me he never said this.

genessa comments on Jun 22, 2019:

sorry, can't tell you he didn't say it. he did. he's THAT dumb. g

Ok,,, if I start an atheist "church",,, how many of you will join? No tithes, no ties, no Gods, ...

genessa comments on Jun 22, 2019:

not me. why would i? what would be its purpose? i do not need to join a group that tells me how to believe OR how not to believe. btw, i don't miss churchy rituals because i was raised in a secular jewish family. robes and saints and all that neither hearken back to nor mock anything in my background. it would be annoyingly like a christian thingy. g

As a liberal, what is one thing you think Donald Trump is doing right as President? I found this ...

genessa comments on Jun 21, 2019:

the one thing he is doing right is eating all that horrible junk food. if we're lucky he won't live much longer. g

The baby to not throw out with the bathwater... "Church abolished $4 million of medical debt for ...

genessa comments on Jun 21, 2019:

so why can't the people who are in the church do all of this good stuff unless they're in a church? is church the only way to organize charity? i'm not knocking what they're doing. i just saying one doesn't need religion to do it. (and of course they support missionaries! missionaries are helping them exist!) g

Remember on November 3rd!! And share this everywhere!!

genessa comments on Jun 20, 2019:

it may seem like a no-brainer but just to be clear, that's november 3, 2020. g

Trump admin argues in court: toothbrushes, soap, beds for kids they lock up shouldn’t be required

genessa comments on Jun 20, 2019:

good article; i have two versions of it (not conflicting, just two sources) with the other source quoted in full in the post, in my group "liberals who don't hate each other," which i hope it is okay to mention here. and yes, it is disgusting and they are disgusting. g

[crooksandliars.com] i include the link even though i am pasting the text here not only so you ...

genessa comments on Jun 20, 2019:

newsweek has a take on it too. much of it is exactly the same as the above; there are some additional details. https://www.newsweek.com/migrant-children-border-trump-administration-1445090?fbclid=IwAR0BDHyV_0E_eTpJ4qo8PCy5wuUDe4jRA_-1quLndYIiLi_PW_VtkuaoANA g

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 ...