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Mad For God: When Christians Attack

Christians

There are close to two billion Christians in the world. With a statistical base that large there are surely going to be Christians who believe that they are five-headed octopoid canaries from Strontium-Six, appointed by God to kill anybody who so much as whispers "Rosebud."

But I don't see how that makes Christians any more violent or crazy than any other group of similar size.

But having said that here is my own favorite "Mad Christians" story, which hit the news approximately 30 years ago. Police in a Midwestern US city were called to a house by neighbors complaining of gunfire erupting from inside. Upon entering the house the cops discovered that a man and his wife had been fighting their own private war, firing revolvers at each other from behind various pieces of furniture, declaring temporary truces for only long enough to reload before blasting each other again.

The walls were pocked with bullet holes. The window panes had all been shot out. The furniture was quickly being turned into kindling.

But the two people doing the shooting were both entirely unharmed.

What was the argument about?

Over which of them had lead to most souls to Jesus!
 
"The pastor of a charismatic Christian church attended by the Plano mother on trial, accused of fatally cutting off the arms of her 10-month-old daughter, told jurors Wednesday that mental illness is really demon possession that cannot be cured with psychiatry or medicine."
This fellow seems remarkably out-of-synch with contemporary Christianity, including the Pentecostal wing which he supposedly represents. Pentecostalism and medicine are by no means in conflict.

Yes, "the Devil hates holy water." But there's increasing evidence that he's not real fond of Prozac and Zoloft either.
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Re: Christians

OldTimeRadio said:
There are close to two billion Christians in the world. With a statistical base that large there are surely going to be Christians who believe that they are five-headed octopoid canaries from Strontium-Six, appointed by God to kill anybody who so much as whispers "Rosebud."

But I don't see how that makes Christians any more violent or crazy than any other group of similar size.
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I don't think anyone is arguing that they are.
 
Re: Christians

Mighty_Emperor said:
"I don't think anyone is arguing that they are."
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No, but I surely don't see any similar topics for deranged grocers, deranged plumbers, deranged librarians, or deranged Rotary and Kiwanis members. <g>
 
Re: Christians

OldTimeRadio said:
Mighty_Emperor said:
"I don't think anyone is arguing that they are."
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No, but I surely don't see any similar topics for deranged grocers, deranged plumbers, deranged librarians, or deranged Rotary and Kiwanis members. <g>
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Feel free to start some.

Hope you can find enough stories to fill them, though.

'Deranged librarian slaughters five over overdue book!'

'Plumber uses family's pet poodle as loo brush'

I'm sure the stories are out there. :)
 
Re: Christians

OldTimeRadio said:
Mighty_Emperor said:
"I don't think anyone is arguing that they are."
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No, but I surely don't see any similar topics for deranged grocers, deranged plumbers, deranged librarians, or deranged Rotary and Kiwanis members. <g>
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If there were enough of them to support a thread then go for it. There isa thread on native American witch killers but that doesn't imply that Native Americans killed more witches than anyone else.

Its an artfeact of a number of things - the thread span off from Occult Deaths because there were enough reports to warrant its own thread. This itself is due to the fact that we largely rely on English language news reports and the predominant religion is Christianity so it will clearly figure highly in religious inspired madness/violence (although see my link above to Buddhists kicking the tar out of each other) and also means that it is largely American Christains featured here - I'm sure similar madnes inspires Mexican or German Christians we just don't get to hear about it. It in no way can be construed to imply that somehow American Christains are somehow madder than other Christians or other religious folks or people in general.

It does flag up an interesting reporting bias in Forteana in general - there are some researchers doing valiant work getting foreign language reports into the English speaking arena, This actually has some important implications for our interpretations of Forteana but that's probably a matter for another thread ;)
 
There might be enough stories to start a thread about people who go 'postal' - US postal workers who suddenly go mad and kill people for no apparent reason whatsoever. There have been lots of news stories over the years - one happened quite recently.
 
Mythopoeika said:
There might be enough stories to start a thread about people who go 'postal' - US postal workers who suddenly go mad and kill people for no apparent reason whatsoever. There have been lots of news stories over the years - one happened quite recently.
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Quite possibly - rummage the info out and post it in the re-org thread and we'll take a look.
 
I don't quite understand the panic.

I've just watched a young Christian Creationist on the Trinity Broadcasting Network prove that Evolution is a lie by showing a video of him working with a baby orangutan who was obviously smarter, better adapted and more honest than he was.
 
Pietro_Mercurios said:
I don't quite understand the panic.

I've just watched a young Christian Creationist on the Trinity Broadcasting Network prove that Evolution is a lie by showing a video of him working with a baby orangutan who was obviously smarter, better adapted and more honest than he was.
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Is the Christian Creationist the new hate figure? They seem to get a pinada's worth of stick around these parts.
 
ghostdog19 said:
Pietro_Mercurios said:
I don't quite understand the panic.

I've just watched a young Christian Creationist on the Trinity Broadcasting Network prove that Evolution is a lie by showing a video of him working with a baby orangutan who was obviously smarter, better adapted and more honest than he was.
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Is the Christian Creationist the new hate figure? They seem to get a pinada's worth of stick around these parts.
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Yep. It's the deceit and the vapid rhetoric in place of any kind of science, or facts, that really swings that stick. ;)
 
Pietro_Mercurios said:
ghostdog19 said:
Pietro_Mercurios said:
I don't quite understand the panic.

I've just watched a young Christian Creationist on the Trinity Broadcasting Network prove that Evolution is a lie by showing a video of him working with a baby orangutan who was obviously smarter, better adapted and more honest than he was.
Click to expand...
Is the Christian Creationist the new hate figure? They seem to get a pinada's worth of stick around these parts.
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Yep. It's the deceit and the vapid rhetoric that really swings that stick. ;)
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Interesting. Really wish I knew what you meant.

Sounds like they've made a lot of people angry. Which surprises me. Perhaps because of the school issue?
 
I've just watched a young Christian Creationist on the Trinity Broadcasting Network prove that Evolution is a lie by showing a video of him working with a baby orangutan who was obviously smarter, better adapted and more honest than he was.
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Does this also mean, then, than man is patently not the pinnacle of God's creation, but the monkey is? Is the dominion of man about to be supplanted by that of the Orang-Utan?
 
Does this also mean, then, than man is patently not the pinnacle of God's creation, but the monkey is? Is the dominion of man about to be supplanted by that of the Orang-Utan?
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Would you notice the difference?

And maybe Orang-Utan's don't suffer from "original sin" like we do? (You know: However idealistic and well-meaning we are, we humans always manage to fuck things up. See: all ideologies ranging from left to right - and their consequences.)

BTW: Did someone already mention the burning of the library of Alexandria? Christians destroyed classical culture in those times and then the muslims saved it for us ... for which we thanked them by beating their brains out during the crusades. (Note: I'm a Catholic myself - mea culpa.)
 
uair01 said:
And maybe Orang-Utan's don't suffer from "original sin" like we do?
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Are you suggesting there's only one Orang-Utan in existence?
 
ghostdog19 said:
uair01 said:
And maybe Orang-Utan's don't suffer from "original sin" like we do?
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Are you suggesting there's only one Orang-Utan in existence?
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I think its more along the lines of apes not creating mythologies that enslave and use people to cater to their own nefarious deeds.
 
tonyblair11 said:
ghostdog19 said:
uair01 said:
And maybe Orang-Utan's don't suffer from "original sin" like we do?
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Are you suggesting there's only one Orang-Utan in existence?
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I think its more along the lines of apes not creating mythologies that enslave and use people to cater to their own nefarious deeds.
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You evidently haven't seen that cautionary tale known to man as "Planet of the Apes"

;)

Actually, apes are capable of manipulating social situations as well as acting accordingly thanks to observational conditioning which is essentially how apes learn (kinesthetic learners). They may well have their own version of 'original sin' for all we know :lol:
 
Yep there has been a lot of work done on Machiavellian Intelligence in apes and monkeys see e.g.:

Machiavellian Intelligence: Social Expertise and the Evolution of Intellect in Monkeys, Apes and Humans Bk.1
Richard Byrne (Editor), Andrew Whiten (Editor)
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0198521758/
 
Every time this thread bobs back up near the top, I wonder..do the Board rules permit a colum titled, say..."When Fundamentalist Islamic-types Attack?", where one could have some fun listing the various bombings, beheadings, tortures, beatings of women, surpression of women, artist-killings, free-speech stiflings, etc, carried out by those professing to be acting within the tenets of Islam?

Not assuming such a thread WOULDN'T be permitted...but just curious.

Wondering.

Shadow
 
ShadowPrime said:
Every time this thread bobs back up near the top, I wonder..do the Board rules permit a colum titled, say..."When Fundamentalist Islamic-types Attack?", where one could have some fun listing the various bombings, beheadings, tortures, beatings of women, surpression of women, artist-killings, free-speech stiflings, etc, carried out by those professing to be acting within the tenets of Islam?

Not assuming such a thread WOULDN'T be permitted...but just curious.

Wondering.

Shadow
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Why don't you start one? :confused:

Nonplussed.
 
ghost dog:

Oh, I don;t know...maybe not in the mood to incur some sort of penalty for being non-PC? Maybe? Just to find out.

But perhaps I will. Certainly .... plenty... of DAILY material to choose from. If one was so inclined.

Shadow
 
christians + muslims = same thing + different words



UNC Students to Protest Campus Attack
Suspect makes court appearance Monday
WTVD Eyewitness News and The Associated Pres

(03/05/06 -- CHAPEL HILL) - Some UNC-Chapel Hill students are planning to protest Friday's attack on campus that investigators say might have been an act of terrorism.
Also on abc11tv.com:
Send us news tips | Desktop Alert | ABC11 AccuWeather | Pinpoint Traffic Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, 22, is charged with nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to cause bodily injury. Police say he drove an SUV through a crowd of students gathered at The Pit. Six people were treated at the hospital for minor injuries. Three others refused treatment at the scene.

Derek Poarch, chief of the university's police department, confirmed Saturday that Taheri-azar, a native of Iran, told investigators he wanted to "avenge the deaths or murders of Muslims around the world."

Chopper 11 shows the accident scene near The Pit at UNC-CH.
A group of UNC students plans to rally at The Pit from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday to protest the attack. They will hand out small American flags. Speakers are scheduled to condemn religious violence. College Republicans, Americans for an Informed Democracy and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies are the main sponsors of the event.

Taheri-azar is being held on a $5.5 million bond at the state's Central Prison in nearby Raleigh. He was scheduled to make a first appearance in Orange County district court on Monday. Poarch would not say if Taheri-azar had an attorney.

Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar
Poarch said Taheri-azar, who called police to surrender and then awaited officers on a street two miles from campus, is cooperating with investigators. The FBI has also interviewed Taheri-azar, but Poarch said he did not know if federal charges would be forthcoming.

Taheri-azar told police Friday they would find things inside his apartment in nearby Carrboro that would shed light on his motives, Poarch said. That led authorities to ask the State Bureau of Investigation to search the apartment with a bomb squad, but Poarch said they didn't find anything dangerous.

Poarch declined to offer any additional details about what police found inside the apartment, but said Taheri-azar's roommates have been very cooperative and are not suspects in the case.

"There is no indication whatsoever that he acted in any way other than alone," Poarch said.

Taheri-azar graduated from North Carolina in December after studying psychology and philosophy.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?secti ... id=3958312


Why isn't this a hate crime??
 
ShadowPrime said:
ghost dog:

Oh, I don;t know...maybe not in the mood to incur some sort of penalty for being non-PC? Maybe? Just to find out.

But perhaps I will. Certainly .... plenty... of DAILY material to choose from. If one was so inclined.

Shadow
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Why Islam? Why not buddists? Islam's, personally speaking, as much a no brainer as this 'hey look, another crazy Christian' thread, which, lets face it, has more of an athiest bent to it if you read it properly (I think you're possibly shoe-horning in too much meaning). Islam and Christianity is essentially the same thing, bar which prophet you believe in. So both are given to blood and wars as much as each other.

What about a belief that promotes pacifism etc. Sure there's less than 'plenty' of DAILY material to choose from there, but heck of a damn sight more interest and meaning.
 
Why Islam? Why not buddists? Islam's, personally speaking, as much a no brainer as this 'hey look, another crazy Christian' thread, which, lets face it, has more of an athiest bent to it if you read it properly (I think you're possibly shoe-horning in too much meaning). Islam and Christianity is essentially the same thing, bar which prophet you believe in. So both are given to blood and wars as much as each other.
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Well the oft-quoted issue with Islam is that it hasn't had an Enlightenment as such and so it is more prone to violence in the same way as Christian states were several hundred years ago. This is a bit of a simplistic argument IMHO, but the fact remains that militant Christianity does seem to be confined to the Bible Belt of the USA.
 
I don't believe any of the major religions are in any way correct, however I do have more knowledge about the Christian way and if I was to be kidnapped by some fundamentalists I choose the Christians every time.
Do you think deep down the bible belt Christians feel pain from knowing that Jesus was a RADICAL LIBERAL. ;)
 
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