h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"You're saying that it's permissible for me to hold a particular belief in private, but not act on it in public? In what sense, then, can I be said to hold it at all?"

Answer: I don't care.

Analogy: you may choose to believe that all black people are inherently inferior to white people, less intelligent and more prone to being violent thieves. Well, fine, you take that idea if you must. You're an idiot, but there's no law against being an idiot, thank Bod.

BUT... you can't act on that belief in public. You can't deny a black person a job because of your belief. You can't refuse to serve them in a public house you run because of your belief. You can't turn them away from your hotel. If you do, you can, quite rightly, be prosecuted.

You can be said to hold a belief if you *believe* it. If you are prevented from acting on that belief by law, in what sense do you no longer believe it?

SoRB

I have an ethical dilemma.

I live in South Manchester and most of the time I need to get around by public transport.

But a formerly publicly owned bus company is now owned by Stagecoach, a private firm run by a bigoted Scottish christian called Souter.

Every time I travel on one of his buses - and here they run 80% of services - I am putting money in this stunted gnome's pocket to use for vicious anti-gay religious agitation in his native Scotland.

Apart from praying for renationalisation of Manchester buses, what can I do about this?

Fare dodge.

SoRB

Tey had a long section on PM about this.

Various morons outside Parliment and one Christian B&B owner being interviewed by (gay) Edie Mair (which I found quite humourous).

The bigot said that he should still be allowed to turn away gays as it is part of his believes blah blah.

When Edie asked what he would say about a B&B owner turning away a Christian said 'that's against the law'.

Summed him up totally.

If the law does get annulled then we should get the religious descrimination laws over turned for the very same reasons.

I should be allowed to turn away religious people as what they do (believe in imaginary people and force the views of those people onto me) is abhorrent and unnatural. In just the same way as they view homosexuality.

There was a ranting numpty on the radio today from "Christian Voice". What a load of nonsense. He was arguing for programmes to "cure" homosexuals He felt that this does not relate to race discrimination as you can't change the colour of your skin, (could someone please tell that to George Galloway BTW).

Fundamentalists are seriously .. what's the term?....Rhymes with "bucked up" .....

They start on the premise that "My religion tells me to ..." Stop right there. Your religious leader, (God, Christ, Elvis) may have given instructions, but your books are the works of men. The Gospel of Paul was written by someone seriously unsure of his sexuality so I'm told, but his homophobic ramblings are accepted as, well, Gospel.

The Bible was written by religious politicians with an agenda.

(Still waiting to hear how Christians are persecuted )

Ah the Idiot-Savant Stephen Green.

I think even the BNP look down on him.

I really have no idea why the BBC give that individual the oxygen of publicity. Anyone can start a website and get on TV and radio these days if their views are bigotted enough.

HAve a look at its website to see what its all about.

Not sure I want to. I'd feel dirty afterwards.

What really disturbs me is that 'little miss nicky' in her space, says she wants to be a teacher. Okay, so that'll be as you were then, gay kids feeling desperate and suicidal, nothing new in that then.

"The Gospel of Paul was written by someone seriously unsure of his sexuality so I'm told, but his homophobic ramblings are accepted as, well, Gospel."

Pardon? The Gospel of Paul? That's a new one on me.
If you meant one of the Epistles, would you direct me to the relevant passages?

I really don't know the bible*, I was quoting from the female (lesbian) vicar who was debating with a Christian Voice chap on the radio. I may have picked up the details wrong, but she definately stated the bit about Paul being unsure of his sexuality.


*Hence the "so I'm told"

Now let's not let this conversation get silly. Runescribe, you know perfectly well what was meant by 'The Gospel of Saint Paul' and Fanny, I don't think anything Nicky has said suggests she's going to be preaching homophobia to groups of students. Remember she's the only person on this thread defending her position against some fairly vitriolic attacks, let's not make it personal.

Forgive me for not considering a secondhand opinion with no supporting evidence to be very meaningful.

There's much in the Bible about sex, though less than many people seem to think. In both the Testaments, sex between people of the same gender is forbidden, as is sex between unmarried people of opposite genders, and also as lust is forbidden. I don't understand why anyone picks out homosexuality as any more wrong, or considers that homosexuals should be discriminated against.

No, I really don't know what was meant by the Gospel of Paul, that's why I asked!

<>

Aren't you a Christian?

The difference being the supporting evidence - you may not consider it acceptable, but it's certainly better than nothing at all.

What supporting evidence? It's all circumstantial, contradictory and hearsay. Isn't "belief" more important than "evidence"?

Supporting evidence - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainframe.shtml?http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio2_promo.shtml

There is the mere fact of existence. There are the Scriptures. There are the countless experiences of God related by other people. There are my own experiences of Him. All these things are evidence. True, it is not conclusive; it is possible to reject my conclusion without being absurd. But it is sufficient.

'No, I really don't know what was meant by the Gospel of Paul, that's why I asked!'

St Paul's letters, I suspect. St Paul wrote letters ot various churches throughout the roman empire and beyond, letters of encouragement and support, that seem to me to make up quite lot of the new testament and get paul quoted more than jesus.

Sorry, I thought you were being sarcastic.

What am I looking for? The link takes me to a list of shows.