Hey Andrew…ask the relatives of Jim Jones or The Two about the fate of their thousand or so loved ones who lived out their separatist lives (until they decided to leave).  They all went to the next plane, alright, either by being poisened or being shot, having refused to commint suicide. No buddy, there is something twisted there.  Creating pretend utiopias is an old idea that hasn’t worked yet and no amount of moolah will make it happen. Read more about it in Mother Jones this month.

I guess Ms. Grice we’re using much the same lens to view this world…

“Believers” seem to live life in a kind of psychotic fantasyland - most of them don’t go around hearing voices or seeing visions or appearing to be disconnected from reality, yet, in an instant, they can switch to “believer” mode, and genuinely believe there is this God, who “lives in heaven” and all that that entails.

These folks who are about to build and move into “Pizza Villa” seem to me to want to live an “Ozzie & Harriet/Leave It To Beaver/Father Knows Best” fantasy/fictional lifestyle… where only the “good” live and only good things happen. It’s like an entire community in denial but when everyone’s doing it, it’s NORMAL!

But I guess that’s why there are churches in the first place. It “feels good” for “birds of a feather” to congregate together to reinforce a set of beliefs. It doesn’t seem to matter what those beliefs are - how far from sanity or reason, the essential part is that they all believe the SAME thing.

Beats me where the “need” to be part of the “group think” comes from… I’m just so grateful I escaped the infection.

Hey there, Andrew, in #4534…

I didn’t suggest they be prevented from building their oasis of onanism and I certainly didn’t suggest they not be tolerated.

I’m prepared to tolerate them and their nutty notions. They can spend their entire lives on their knees praying to a non-existent “Harvey, The Invisible Rabbit” if they wish. They can spout their beliefs until they turn blue for all I care. It’s no skin off my nose.

My point is… THEY WOULD NOT TOLERATE ME OPENING A TOPLESS BAR or GAY DANCE CLUB or any other establishment that didn’t fit in with their notions of “appropriate” in the neighborhood. Their understanding of “to tolerate” means that they and their ideas and practises be not only “allowed” but “accepted” and “supported,” but THEY DON’T HAVE TO OFFER THE SAME CONSIDERATION TO OTHERS. That, my friend, is the hypocrisy that infests so many of the faithful and devout and it’s that character flaw that disgusts the rest of us so much.

My understanding of “to tolerate” is more along the lines of “live and let live.” I mind my business and they mind theirs. Simple. But it doesn’t mean I must “respect” their beliefs and/or practises.

I personally have no use whatsoever for what these folk are planning… I think they’re demonstrating with their actions a fundamentally INTOLERANT mindset, to say nothing of being narrow-minded and elitist… but they can go right ahead and build, move in and play “Christianity” to their hearts’ content. (Wouldn’t surprise me though that as soon as they get the operation going they apply for “tax exempt” status… arguing they’re now a “church” - they may believe in fairy tales but they’re not completely stupid!)

I sure don’t have to shut up about my views about their beliefs and behaviors just as they don’t have to shut up about my blasphemous, hedonistic atheism. They, or you, can blather on about us Godless heathens until you feel yourselves shake all over in ecstacy!

I TOLERATE them. It’s they who cannot tolerate the rest of the world. It’s they who are running and hiding. It’s they who want separation (apartheid) from the non-believers. It’s they who want the sandbox to be operated THEIR WAY with only “approved” sand and pails and shovels… and when the world won’t play the game their way, then they pick up their toys, circle the wagons, and pout.

All I’m doing is poking fun at their nutty notions. But it seems these days that ALL devoutly religious people have very thin skins when it comes to being made fun of. You’d think they’d be a little less uptight what with their absolute belief in their direct line to their Gods and solid, paid-up entrance tickets into the hereafter to support them!

R.A.Earl, you’re right on the money. Make a decent pizza first. This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Wait a minute; I did read somewhere that a group of Christian Conservatives want to move to South Carolina, so they can tip the political scale to create the kind of world they want to live in like this idiot wants to do in Florida. A town where the kids can play ball in the park and ride their bikes without fear. Didn’t anyone ever tell these fools that “Leave It To Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” was T.V. and that world never exsisted? And why is it that the first thing these kind of people want to control is anything to do with sex? If you want an environment where people can leave their doors unlocked, eleminate drugs and poverty, and instill a scence of hope in those who don’t have as much as others. Even on “Leave It To Beaver” there was an episode where Beavers bike was stolen, and it had nothing to do with June having an abortion, Ward buying a condom, or Eddie Haskel sneaking a peek at a Playboy magazine.

How typical: to tolerate only those who agree with you (that is, don’t have conservative values). God forbid if anyone holds such “hypocritical, apartheid notions” and even dares to talk about them publicly or live them out. So you can spread your views and this guy can’t?
The first thing I noticed when checking out this “truthdig” is the conservative-phobia. Oh well, go ahead and pretend to be tolerant. But will you have guts to admit that this “tolerance” is no tolerance at all?

Oh why not?

I hope they put up a nice big wall, with armed guards at the corners as they do around other prisons, to ensure none of the RESIDENTS escapes to pollute the rest of the country with their apartheid notions.

The icing on the cake would be to have the Pope arrive to cut the ribbon on opening day and to bless the whole hypocritical cesspool. I hope lightning hits the cross just at that moment!