Wycombe MP expects to vote against gay marriage proposal (From Bucks Free Press)
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Wycombe MP expects to vote against gay marriage proposal
7:50am Friday 21st December 2012 in News By Rebecca Cain
Steve Baker
WYCOMBE MP Steve Baker said he expects to vote against the Government's gay marriage proposal, but said he believes as a Christian the church needs to address the issue in today's society.
This month the government announced its gay marriage plans and said the Church of England and Church in Wales would be banned in law from holding same-sex marriage.
Whilst other religious groups can 'opt in' and the plans would be due to be introduced before the next election.
The government said The Church of England and The Church in Wales expressed strong opposition to the plans.
Steve Baker, MP for Wycombe, said he is expecting to vote against the proposal and he believes the government should reduce legislation rather than increase it.
He said: "Firstly it is a mess. This is the wrong way of improving tolerance in society."
And secondly, he said, it will infringe on people's freedom of speech, conscience and religion.
Mr Baker said it should be a matter for the church to decide, adding: "I do not think anybody should be forced to approve of a gay marriage, I don't think anyone should be forced to conduct one or be forced to have one in their church."
But he said he has been disappointed by the views of some.
Mr Baker, who is a Christian, said: "Some of what's been said by fellow Christians seems quite heartbreaking. Many Christians seem determined to jump with both feet on the land mine with this. Our religion is one of universal acceptance and love and we as a church, apart from politics, need to work out what our response is to homosexuality in the 21st century.
"In the meantime there must be genuine tolerance- that tolerance begins with irreconcilable differences of opinion and it should end with a refusal to use the law to enforce one particular point of view. I want to live in a genuinely tolerant society where people can go their own way who are not doing anybody any harm."
He noted that there was a difference in attitude between members of the older generation - who were more likely to be against gay marriage - and younger people, who were more likely to accept it.
He said as civil partnerships have just been introduced it would have been better to leave the marriage issue for another 10 years when culturally, he believes, peoplewould have been more willing to support it.
Mr Baker said: "We seem to have begun to accept the liberal elite enforcing their views on everyone else. That is not tolerant. That is intolerant."
He added: "The law has to leave plenty of space for a private sphere where people can lead their life as they see fit as long as they do no harm. Marriage is part of that private sphere."
Reverend Peter Simpson, of Penn Free Methodist Church, who is openly against gay marriage wrote to the Free Press this week expressing his opposition.
He said: "By promoting same sex marriage all three main parties are rejecting the Bible’s teaching that homosexuality is sinful. By what authority do they claim to be wiser than God? They have no foundation for their position other than the currently prevailing winds."
A bill is expected at the end of January, when MPs will then vote.
Comments are closed on this article.
Comments (94)
8:04am Fri 21 Dec 12
craig239 says...
8:36am Fri 21 Dec 12
demoness the second says...
8:47am Fri 21 Dec 12
craig239 says...
8:59am Fri 21 Dec 12
yog says...
Where in the bill does it force churches to carry out a same sex marriage?
9:03am Fri 21 Dec 12
A VOTER says...
I think it does more harm if a government stands in the way of any such union of two people.
I'm heterosexual, but I wouldn't want to inhibit anyone from being with the person they want to be with, and wish to make that union a recognised and legal union.
9:18am Fri 21 Dec 12
geoffW says...
10:07am Fri 21 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
10:55am Fri 21 Dec 12
BOOKERite says...
11:37am Fri 21 Dec 12
Bill Taxpayer says...
Hilarious!
11:37am Fri 21 Dec 12
craig239 says...
12:55pm Fri 21 Dec 12
sai-diva says...
Craig, the government did re write the bible, with the help of King James.
1:42pm Fri 21 Dec 12
ImpeturbableLawrence says...
3:00pm Fri 21 Dec 12
demoness the second says...
7:02pm Fri 21 Dec 12
J B Blackett says...
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So why have it incorporated into some kind of religious ceremony anyway. There are still lots of human some proclivities / variations excluded anyway by all religions . Either legally , socially or by default
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Marriage can be all a bit of a struggle anyway , without causing more stress.
by exacerbating things by apparently obliging participants to add some form of ethereal religious ritual to the wedding event.
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If you want a religion , invent your own with your own rules and don't just do what your parents for cultural / historic / inertial reasons.
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If there is a God , do you think He/She cares what religion you and your partner(s) belong to when you are socially / spiritually / materially / physically and emotionally amalgamated ?
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If God does actually care which religion or cult you belong to if/when you get married in an institution (or not) - there is going to be an awful lot of very disappointed people when they eventually pass over into the next life.
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He/She could , in that case , be very very angry with you - and you will be really really for it and be accordingly punished - and for all eternity - Allegedly.
8:42pm Fri 21 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
I have been running a business since 1987 and the only problems and bad debts I've encountered are directly attributable to clients who call themselves Christians.
This world would be a better place without ANY religion.
I pray at the Church of Google because everything it stands for can be proven!
10:04pm Fri 21 Dec 12
Peter Cyprus says...
10:12pm Fri 21 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
Why shouldn't they?
10:20pm Fri 21 Dec 12
Peter Cyprus says...
10:34pm Fri 21 Dec 12
Peter Cyprus says...
10:41pm Fri 21 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
We are all human beings and are entitled to be treated in the same way to act otherwise is to discriminate which is an offence in the UK
10:58pm Fri 21 Dec 12
Peter Cyprus says...
12:12am Sat 22 Dec 12
tom.marlow2 says...
12:36am Sat 22 Dec 12
demoness the second says...
Much prefer a civil ceremony which actually means something.
6:16am Sat 22 Dec 12
craig239 says...
Much prefer a civil ceremony which actually means something"
Your lack of understanding is not a great surprise based on your polarised view
9:28am Sat 22 Dec 12
bluebanana says...
9:29am Sat 22 Dec 12
esilvester says...
10:09am Sat 22 Dec 12
The Erastus Piggott Poem says...
10:37am Sat 22 Dec 12
Edgar Brooks says...
I find your assertion that only Christians are bad debtors patently ludicrous; quite frankly, if a business asked for my religion before accepting my custom, I'd walk straight out, and never return. I've had messages from Nigerians, claiming to be Christians, and promising me loads of money, if I'll just let them have my bank details; strangely enough I don't believe them, and, if you want to continue to be a success in business, I'd advise against believing everything you're told.
This world would actually be a better place if those, who profess to believe in their particular god, were to obey the teachings of that deity, instead of twisting the philosophies to suit themselves, and stop behaving in the conceited, self-serving, selfish ways of so many so-called humans.
10:39am Sat 22 Dec 12
downleylocal says...
If Steve Baker votes against this he will be an another anti-gay bigot, that's all.
10:40am Sat 22 Dec 12
Edgar Brooks says...
11:12am Sat 22 Dec 12
Peter Cyprus says...
11:21am Sat 22 Dec 12
demoness the second says...
I was born and raised very High Church so actually I do have quite a bit of knowledge of the workings of the C of E.
It is not God who created divisions but man and man's interpretation of the word of God.
Which is why I completely reject organised religion. Made and created by man - no thanks.
11:25am Sat 22 Dec 12
sai-diva says...
11:29am Sat 22 Dec 12
sai-diva says...
11:33am Sat 22 Dec 12
sai-diva says...
Why not ask some of the other church leaders, maybe the one that heads the huge church in the centre of town, rather than the leader of a small 'sect'?
11:45am Sat 22 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
That was the point I was trying to make earlier.
11:45am Sat 22 Dec 12
Edgar Brooks says...
If everything written in the Old Testament is nonsense, or outrageous, why should a professional, like yourself, quote something you know to be false?
The only double standards, that I see, come from a group of people who deny the teachings of the Church, but want that same Church to "bless" their union, apparently for some spurious respectability that the service would impart.
As for "latent homosexual tendencies" (what a wonderful load of twaddle that expression is,) on the rare occasions that the subject has arisen, among my heterosexual friends (male and female,) the overriding reaction has been an expression of revulsion against the physical act, not those who indulge in it.
11:50am Sat 22 Dec 12
Peter Cyprus says...
11:51am Sat 22 Dec 12
Edgar Brooks says...
11:52am Sat 22 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
82.5% of the population in Uganda are Christians.
2:11pm Sat 22 Dec 12
J B Blackett says...
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But only if threatened with excruciating public torture, mutilation and some sort of nasty humiliating and painful death followed by even further mutilation. The historic way of persuading hapless helpless non-believing naive folk to 'believe'.
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You know it worked that way in the past and so it still works like that today. That goes for all cults - whether you're gay or not.
3:14pm Sat 22 Dec 12
Francis Harris says...
4:16pm Sat 22 Dec 12
sai-diva says...
I too am truely grateful that those who seem to know what god thinks are prepared to enlihten us lesser people.
So please tell me who are these people who deny the teachings of the 'accept all'' christian christian church. Those who seek equality.
I'm also glad that when you discuss this with you heterosexual friends that you are all educated and informed enough to be able to dismiss the idea of latent homosexuality, what a clever bunch you must be, plenty of PHD's amongst you is there?
Or alternatively, those who shout loudest.......
I've said it before, if it's male homosexuality that you object to, and the act of anal sex repulses you, I would remind you that it is not only men that indulge in that act, do you want to legislate against heterosexuals that indulge as well?
4:19pm Sat 22 Dec 12
sai-diva says...
4:22pm Sat 22 Dec 12
sai-diva says...
4:39pm Sat 22 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
By Archbishop Rowan Williams
Christian life is lived in relationship with God through Jesus Christ and, in common with other Christians, seeking to deepen that relationship and to follow the way that Jesus taught.
Central to that relationship is knowing we can trust God. Saint Paul says at the end of the eighth chapter of his letter to the Church in Rome, 'if God is for us, who can be against us?' And this is the heart of faith.
How do we know that 'God is for us'? Because Jesus Christ, the one human being who is completely in tune with God - with what God wants and what God is doing - has carried the burden of our human betrayals of God and running away from goodness. He has let himself be betrayed and rejected, executed in a humiliating and agonising way, and yet has not turned his back on us. Death did not succeed in silencing him or removing him from the world. He is alive; and that means that his love is alive, having survived the worst we can do.
Ends
So, can someone tell me how you can have a relationship with a "human being", born out of a virgin; which seems to suggest he might be of alien parentage and is dead - if you can't see him and touch him he must be dead.
4:39pm Sat 22 Dec 12
J B Blackett says...
7:12pm Sat 22 Dec 12
Edgar Brooks says...
And how, precisely, do you know "what Jesus would do?" Were you there? Have you asked him? No, as usual you presume to have all the answers, even when you don't, can't, or (more often) won't understand the question.
7:20pm Sat 22 Dec 12
Edgar Brooks says...
Doesn't make the miracle any less for those believers, but it does rather cut the ground from the hysterical cynics.
7:46pm Sat 22 Dec 12
Edgar Brooks says...
And, of course, you have to throw in the usual petty, childish insults about me and my friends; water off a duck's back, my friend. As for those who shout loudest, I can't remember ever seeing a march, with the participants yelling, "Proud to be Christian."
Try to remember, too, that the Christian religion starts with the first words of Matthew, so continually spouting the Old Testament, as a justification for your hatred of Christians, is a touch misguided.
8:01pm Sat 22 Dec 12
J B Blackett says...
8:21pm Sat 22 Dec 12
craig239 says...
Its all about Love. But if the church does not want to marry you because of everything it believes in (right or wrong) who are you to say ignore your beliefs just do it.
Its not been a major thing for gays for 2000 years but now it is. Funny but if they are really inlove why do they need a church.Stand under the stars and shout how much you are in love.
9:05pm Sat 22 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
Unfortunately, the Church, Christians, don't want change, they're afraid to embrace change, so female vicars, female bishops and gay marriage are cast aside on the basis of their own beliefs.
As I've said before, to discriminate is illegal in the UK so why does the church think its above the law.
If the church doesn't change it's attitude it'll drown and it'll pull our monarchy down with it - maybe that won't be a bad thing?
9:46pm Sat 22 Dec 12
craig239 says...
All saints Marlow in last 12 months 2 gay Vicars.You don't know what your talking about.
Don t say the Church doesn t change
Its another question whether they should have been there
9:52pm Sat 22 Dec 12
J B Blackett says...
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So civilizations , empires , dominant cultures , dictatorships , vast social , religious and political movements - they all wax and wane and then fall back into the dust of history leaving just a few mouldering remnants and mystical traces here and there.
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Just like sandcastles built on the seashore. A lot of effort but Nature claims it all back in the end.
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And so with institutions - however all-powerful , invincible , immovable and unchanging they regard themselves. Their contradictions , illogicalities and self-destructive tendencies are already there - right at their beginnings and origins.
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All history shows and proves this - with no exceptions.
9:53pm Sat 22 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
It's hypocrisy
10:23pm Sat 22 Dec 12
J B Blackett says...
.
10:28pm Sat 22 Dec 12
Edgar Brooks says...
10:30pm Sat 22 Dec 12
Edgar Brooks says...
10:32pm Sat 22 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
10:38pm Sat 22 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
10:48pm Sat 22 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
"What a thoroughly nasty piece of work you are"
Aren't Christians supposed to love thy neighbour and turn the other cheek?
******
I once took a church going Christian to a business meeting where we happened to park in a muddy area. On leaving the car I slipped over; did he offer his hand to help me to my feet - did he hell!
12:08am Sun 23 Dec 12
demoness the second says...
I truly believe that only believers should marry in church -how could you swear to be true to your intended in front of a being you do not believe in?
12:51am Sun 23 Dec 12
craig239 says...
I only said it is another question should they have been there. I have not answered it so I can't be arguing against myself.
As for why did Danny leave so soon I'm not sure what your definition of so soon is. I only knew him for a year before he went back home to Spain to start Los Olivos
Mike you stated that the Church needs to change I would argue that it is you that needs to change. Open your eyes and see what is around you.
For someone who seems to know something about the goings on at All saints maybe you knew our female vicar Elizabeth (ref your previous comment female vicars)
1:09am Sun 23 Dec 12
craig239 says...
Its like walking into an Italian and demanding they serve Indian food. You have to read whats on the menu!!
7:53am Sun 23 Dec 12
demoness the second says...
9:21am Sun 23 Dec 12
Edgar Brooks says...
9:24am Sun 23 Dec 12
Edgar Brooks says...
9:51am Sun 23 Dec 12
tom.marlow2 says...
Perhaps I have got it wrong. Many of the participants in Stanley Spencer's portrayal of the resurrection in Cookham churchyard don't look to pleased about it.
10:29am Sun 23 Dec 12
Dr James says...
"One up the b+m no harm done"
2:28pm Sun 23 Dec 12
educationbod says...
" the ressurected jesus will be forced to marry a man" us radio dj
" We'll be marrying animals next" ( thats his councillor buddy in
wycombe)
"we'll have to revise sex education to teach aout gay sex " yes because
thats all marriage is about really. Thats his buddy david davies, who
can't open his mouth without vomiting rubbish.
" gay marriage caused the conneticut shooting" thats! just not even
worth commenting on..
" less heterosexuals will get married as a result" ....oh pls..(another tory mp)
Why do they have to reduce government to a size thats just
big enough to fit in our homes.
If he thinks what he says isn't damaging, think about the hate crimes
that occur whenever stuff like this is uttered in the press, if
tolerance wont be improved in our society its because politicians
perpetuate intolerance.!!!!!!
And i'm not a hater of the church, i believe in God and he's shaking his head at the politicians today....
3:30pm Sun 23 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
"And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;"
Furthermore it begs the question, what words were used to describe:
A. A girl who was still intact?
B. A woman who had been with more than one man?
4:47pm Sun 23 Dec 12
J B Blackett says...
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Neither is Sex.
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That would overpopulate the place on an exponential scale , as nobody ever dies who gets there (or is even sent to Hell for everlasting torture).
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On second thoughts - if you go to Hell , perhaps you have to get married to someone you detested in real life and have sex continually with them for ever and ever. That would be Hell
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And if you go to Heaven you would be forcibly sterilized or castrated and would thus thenceforth be 'excused duties'.
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Or - looking on the bright side - perhaps (prior to entry to Heaven or Hell ) all genitalia is removed and nobody is obliged /forced/allowed to indulge.
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And then eternal Peace will reign - except in Hell which will still unfortunately resound to loud piercing screams and heart-rending groans of agony.
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Take your pick.
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So , Sorry there is no choice in the afterlife ; your destiny is at this very moment now in your own hands. Live and choose wisely.
4:58pm Sun 23 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
5:38pm Sun 23 Dec 12
J B Blackett says...
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Don't force / tell other people what's going to happen to them.
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If you choose to be forever 'dead' , that's your choice and that's perhaps what will happen to you.
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Otherwise you are being just like all those dictatorial preachers and dogmatic religious zealots , nuts , 'scholarly' know-alls and bigots who tell people how to think and live.
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You believe what you want to believe and let me believe what I want to believe. And let all those close-minded zealots flaunt their ancients books and texts about and say The Truth in all in there too. Someone told them to say that - probably going back generations on generations and centuries on centuries. And there are lots of creeds and books to choose from as you know. Whole piles of it
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Do you really want to know the Real Truth ?
....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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The Real Truth is that nobody knows. That's the frustrating dilemma of being a human on this planet.
6:26pm Sun 23 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
..........if it exists.
6:58pm Sun 23 Dec 12
tom.marlow2 says...
7:53pm Sun 23 Dec 12
Edgar Brooks says...
Like your perverted cheerleader, Sai-Diva, you cannot understand that the Christian religion can forgive the sinner, but not the sin. If, like Kenneth Williams, you feel homosexual urges, but don't indulge, no true Christian will ever despise you, but that doesn't sit well with your rabid desire to portray them as wild-eyed death-dealing extremists, does it?
If anal sex is not unnatural, perhaps you can tell us how many children have been born as a result of it? Are you a product of it? Somehow I doubt it.
I suggest that you should then go and listen to a church-held wedding service, in which you will hear the priest tell you that "marriage is given as the foundation of family life
in which children are born and nurtured."
And that is why the church says that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, and why all your twists, turns, and convoluted thinking can never alter that. To hear you sneering at, and decrying, the Christian religion, then demand that you should be allowed to get married in a building in which that religion is practiced, is a clasic example of the worst of double standards.
7:59pm Sun 23 Dec 12
ImpeturbableLawrence says...
Why only 'so-called' - what are they really - humanoids?
8:08pm Sun 23 Dec 12
demoness the second says...
What about married men and women who practice anal sex?
Surely that is just as bad... or is it just men practising it that is wrong?
If that what you feel then I am afraid it is you who are responsible for double standards.
8:30pm Sun 23 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
According to your interpretation, sexual intercourse should only take place between a man who is married to a woman for the purpose of procreation. What a boring life you must lead.
It therefore follows that adoption of a child by a heterosexual couple is sinful because the child is not a result of their loins?
So a heterosexual couple who perform oral or anal sex are committing a sin just the same as a male homosexual couple?
Lesbians cannot indulge in anal sex so where do they stand - or are you still living back in Victorian times where gay women simply didnt exist?
8:31pm Sun 23 Dec 12
educationbod says...
"marriage is given as the foundation of family life in which children are born and nurtured."
really? because all other types of families are irrelevant i take it.... thats what your saying... all single mothers from IVF or adoption take note of this idiot..
and thank you so much..... for leaving your arguement wide open to attack.....i love it when idiots give me this much space.
natural ?
really.?.. if homosexuality wasn't natural and a common occurence why does it appear in over 450 species on the planet...... homophobia appears in only one....
you think were redefining marriage
you lot seem to ahve been redefining it for centuries....
perhaps we should wind back 30 years and see if the church had objections to inter-racial marriage...
if as the bible says homosexuality is an abomination.. it more or less of an abomination than say perhaps that seafood salad your going to have for your starter in about 48 hrs..... are there degrees of abomination.?.... i don't know YOU TELL ME.. ?
if 'religion is constantly telling everyone else that who were are is wrong.. that only serves to perpetuate hatred and violence..... thats not very christian now IS IT ?
8:36pm Sun 23 Dec 12
demoness the second says...
Does that mean they are not allowed to have sex?
8:52pm Sun 23 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
8:52pm Sun 23 Dec 12
J B Blackett says...
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Especially with rancid butter with little bits of burnt toast in it.
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Merry Christmas
9:12pm Sun 23 Dec 12
J B Blackett says...
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And all the followers thereof have been brought up / raised / taught / indoctrinated / inherited / forced / pretended or whatever to believe what's written in these very ancient Book(s)
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Adherents are obliged to seem to believe what's written in these vast tomes - otherwise their peers / fellow believers will regard them as 'Not True Believers'.
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And that is also Not Allowed. Oh No - because thinking otherwise is extremely naughty and deserves not very nice punishment / torture for all eternity.
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It's all in the Book(s) if you care to read them.
11:59am Mon 24 Dec 12
sai-diva says...
'Go and wash your mouth out''..... price less!
11:59am Mon 24 Dec 12
sai-diva says...
'Go and wash your mouth out''..... price less!
12:25pm Mon 24 Dec 12
sai-diva says...
Oh so a group of men who determine what makes a christian then?
Of course I don't know what jesus would do, I don't have the answer but then neither do you, unless you profess to know the word of god.
I do not twist your words, this is called a ''discussion'' something those who 'believe' have trouble doing.
You say
''I can't remember ever seeing a march, with the participants yelling, "Proud to be Christian."
Really? do you never watch TV,Proud to be christian may not be being shouted but plenty of parades of christians all over the place, from adverts on buses, to the house of lords to the very unpleasant Westboro baptists.
Can you please point out where i have insuted you? Again I feel it is the other way around, but I get used to it.
I don't hate christianity, how can you hate any philosophy that preaches we should all love our neighbours? It's some christians interpretation of that instruction that bothers me.
12:49pm Mon 24 Dec 12
J B Blackett says...
12:53pm Mon 24 Dec 12
Mike Henson says...
Utopia is a world without religion.
1:12pm Mon 24 Dec 12
J B Blackett says...
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However everything ( meaning Everything) is permitted in Hell - apparently.
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It's all foretold and explained in great detail in The Book(s) - but only for the edification and reassurance of the believers , you understand.
2:31pm Mon 24 Dec 12
sai-diva says...
10:10am Tue 25 Dec 12
Edgar Brooks says...
And just think, without religion you couldn't get "married" in church, which makes your whole argument worthless.