I posted from the Thousand Islands of Canada but I'm not the center of the universe, there are many places where just the slightest hint of blasphemy will get you beaten or killed. While there are more secular regions there are still plenty of people who will smile to your face but still think that you are:
a) less trustworthy and honest than a believer
b) less likely to act in a civil manner or have a strong ethical character and show kindness to others
c) more likely to have a criminal mind and be willing to commit a crime
d) less likely to frequent your business or offer you kindness

They are definitely more likely if they are believers to talk a pile of shit about you behind your back and while I don't really care what they think or say I do think it is wise to be aware of it in the event that they decide to take active steps based upon their misguided ideas and opinions.

@SnowyOwl I think a lot of this stems from self-doubt. They follow a line that helps them cope and shun or actively battle those that question those beliefs.

I'll be long dead before the US catches up with Europe.

Current political moves by the far right and their immoral minority backers may move the post back a century or more.

You know Bill, I would like to agree with you because that's a prettier future than the one I am concerned is already on its way and picking up speed. A really severe economic recession would quite easily tip people into supporting a theological system of far right ideology, that's usually how the formula plays out.

I'm not able to view your post because it is probably in the Trump Pinata group, where Hippie Chick, the moderator, barred me a while back, not for anything I said in there, but because she blocked me personally over an argument somewhere else on Agnostic. How petty to bar me from the whole group just because she is the group's moderator and had trouble with me somewhere else. What about the other members there who might enjoy my comments there? I doubt she consulted any of them, because it's all about her....

@TomMcGiverin Hmmm, the post I refer to in the above comment is in News & Links. I don't know why you can't see it. Strange!

Here is the text:
On the PBS Newshour tonight, New York Times columnist David Brooks opined that for Republicans, being anti-gun legislation is not a matter for debate. Rather, like belief in Trump's big lie that the 2020 election was stolen, being against gun control is a Republican talisman, a tribal marker, what T.S Elliot called an "objective correlative."

If Brooks is correct in his analysis, when Republicans say they oppose legislation that would limit access to guns, they are merely signalling their membership in a tribe. And their desire to remain in the tribe, and fear of being ostracized by their tribe, is greater than any desire to be logical, or reasonable, or to protect school children from losers wielding military weapons.

If this is true, then we are truly in a dark place. This is how Nazi ideology swept through Germany in the 1930s.

There's also video which you can find if you google Brooks and Capehart youtube 6/3/22

@Flyingsaucesir Many times during the last 6 years we have seen the attempts to normalize horrible behavior.

@silverotter11 Done Cheato's entire life has been about normalizing bad behavior.

@silverotter11, @Flyingsaucesir like demonising Russia having fomented & paid for the proxy war.

@FrayedBear Hey, if Putin doesn't like having to face well-armed Ukrainians defending their country, then there is a very simple solution. He can leave Ukraine.

@Flyingsaucesir like I've already asked - if your sister\ mother\ daughter is being raped or abused by someone are you going to turn your back & walk away?

@FrayedBear First, it's not a valid analogy. Second, we already know the real reason why Putin invaded Ukraine. He wants that land, because it is some of the most productive farm land in the world. So he invents a fake casus belli, and a fake history of Ukraine, and then he starts bombing Russian-speaking and Ukrainian-speaking civilians alike.

Putin is not going to get away with it. By now he knows that he's lost. It's only a matter of time before his war machine breaks down. If he has a shred of honor left he should take his little ivory-handled pistol, put it in his mouth, and blow his brains out. He's a dead man walking anyway. Why does he have to drag the whole country down with him? Do the honorable thing Vlad. Eat your gun.

Lucky you! I lived in a town even smaller than that and it had even more churches and only two bars, a very bad cultural ratio in my book. Unlike yours, most of the people there were very negatively judgmental towards those who were different or new in town. I think I was somewhat notorious for not attending any church there.

@TomMcGiverin Been there done that-small town life can suck for those not of the flock.

@Betty
You're so lucky

@TimeOutForMe Thank you, I know I am and I don't take it for granted.