Florida Pastor Burns Koran; Protests in Afghanistan Lead to Deaths, Including Foreign Workers

[littlelauren86]

Florida pastor oversees Quran burning

Comments

[azetburcaptain]

This pastor is disgusting. He is not a man of God, he is in it for attention and fame and to frighten his constituents. (so he can get more attention and more fame)

[rex_dart]

Contrary to popular belief, religious people do do terrible things for religious reasons. You don't have to have some kind of ~ulterior secular motive to be an asshole in the name of God.

[bestdaywelived]

Love this comment.

[bmh4d0k3n]

<3

[azetburcaptain]

He's selling fear. I don't think that's necessarily secular, but you know what I have noticed? A lot of these types of preachers who are just like him are also rich. I don't think it's a coincidence. He's nothing but a salesman.

[rex_dart]

So preachers are rich. So what? The fact that someone believes in the prosperity gospel does not mean that they aren't motivated by religious conviction. I know people who can't even afford health insurance who believe in the prosperity gospel; people don't stop actually believing just because they become rich. You seem to think that just because something sounds ridiculous to you, and you don't have the cognitive dissonance to believe it, no one else would so they must be pretending. This is not the case.

[azetburcaptain]

Well, I do believe there was stuff in the bible about living a certain way and not being too rich, and being humble. I think people pick and choose, but the Bible does contradict itself in places/there are several translations etc.

But I was thinking he may be a primitive Baptist, and in that case, nothing I could ever say would get to him because he would take the writing in the Bible literally. So that, that would explain his attitude.

[azetburcaptain]

I was wrong to imply this man isn't a real Christian. I've read the threads through and I was mistaken. I apologize for hurting you; I realize that this is a contentious issue and it can lead to much evil thought if we start implying certain people aren't real Christians.

That being said, he is a fucknugget.

[devil_ad_vocate]

He's not a very good salesman. He has his church up for sale on eBay. The thirty members couldn't support it, so he was accepting donations - which still couldn't pay the bills. He didn't give a crap that people might die because of his publicity stunt. He still doesn't.

[azetburcaptain]

This changes some things. He's sill a jerk, but the fact that he has so few members interests me. (similar to Fred Phelps, there are few people in his church) Is this pastor also a "primitive baptist"?

[holdyourdevil]

This, thank you.

[alierakieron]

And those of us who try NOT to be assholes in the name of God are obligated to tell fuckstains like this that they're doin' it wrong and that they need to stop using God as an excuse for their bigotry.

[rex_dart]

Telling people they're assholes is not even remotely the same thing as saying that assholes aren't real Christians and that assholery must be the result of something other than religious conviction.

[alierakieron]

I agree with the first but not the second. This guy isn't an asshole BECAUSE of his religious convictions. He's an asshole who uses his religious convictions as a shield. If he were an atheist, he would find a different excuse, but he'd still be a bigoted asshole.

[rex_dart]

So you're basically saying that religion is incapable of motivating people to do anything bad? In that case, it must also be incapable of motivating people to do anything good, so why bother having one in the first place?

[alierakieron]

I'm saying that for the most part people are who they are, and we choose what drives us very nearly post facto. It's not that religion provides no motivation, because it clearly does. It shapes our actions, but I think the mentality preceeds the framework.