Re: Religion Randomness
Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2019 12:27 pm
I come here to post this and you ruined it. Ruined!
That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons bring us some web forums whereupon we can gather
http://www.octopusoverlords.com/forum/
Several attendees at a government meeting open to the public in Alaska walked out in protest after an opening prayer praised Satan.
The Associated Press reports the prayer, where a woman declared “Hail Satan,” was given by Satanic Temple member Iris Fontana, who won the right to open the meeting with an invocation of her choice.
“That which will not bend, must break, and that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared as demise. It is done, hail Satan,” Fontana said to open the meeting, according to local radio station KSRM
The controversial prayer Tuesday night started the meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough and prompted several attendees to exit.
A protest outside the borough’s administration building ensued, drawing 40 or so people.
They don't actually worship Satan. From the Satanic Temple's FAQ page (Church of Satan is similar):
DO YOU WORSHIP SATAN?
No, nor do we believe in the existence of Satan or the supernatural. The Satanic Temple believes that religion can, and should, be divorced from superstition. As such, we do not promote a belief in a personal Satan. To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions. Satanists should actively work to hone critical thinking and exercise reasonable agnosticism in all things. Our beliefs must be malleable to the best current scientific understandings of the material world — never the reverse.
It's what I do.
I see what you did there.
Here's a handy-dandy comparison chart. It's from Satanic Temple so there's obviously some bias involved, but it covers the main differences and similarities pretty well.
What Aliera Healthcare was peddling was not insurance, but rather connection to a Christian health care cost-sharing ministry, an obscure but growing type of coverage based on the biblical principle that the like-minded should help each other in times of need. Members contribute monthly into an Aliera-administered fund to help pay their future medical bills.
It sure sounded like insurance to Martinez. Or close enough. And, as a Christian, he figured any company marketing faith should be more trustworthy. He signed up in April 2018 and began paying Aliera thousands of dollars. The only problem: The plan turned out to be worthless. He now owes $129,000 in medical bills currently in collections.
As similar cases have surfaced across the country, regulators in several states, including Texas, are taking action against Aliera, accusing the 4-year-old company of fraudulently selling insurance without a license — a charge Aliera denies. But the story runs deeper, emerging as a tangled tale of broken deals, politics, religion, prison and, of course, money. And it is unfolding at a time when the nation’s health insurance regulations are steadily unspooling...
...Aliera, however, is under no legal obligation to pay claims. In fact, authorities allege just 20 cents out of every dollar collected in member fees appear to go to medical bills. That’s the exact opposite of Affordable Care Act rules that generally require insurers devote 80 percent of what they collect in premiums to covering health care costs.
Texas insurance authorities also say that Aliera’s affiliated health-sharing ministry, Trinity HealthShare, fails to comply with state rules on such groups and operates as a “shell that was created to disguise Aliera and its control by Aliera.”...
...The concept of health care cost-sharing ministries is often likened to an old-time Amish barn-raising, with people of faith helping each other in times of trouble. But in fact, the groups have become big business and increasingly under scrutiny.
Because they are mostly unregulated, no one knows for sure how many exist in this country, where they are or how many members they have. A decade ago, overall membership in health-share ministries was thought to be around 200,000. Now, it is estimated at more than 1 million.
Health policy experts believe what propelled the rapid growth is a special carve out in the Affordable Care Act that exempted members from the law’s requirement to carry traditional health insurance or face a penalty. Lawmakers agreed to the exemption after the groups argued it was a matter of religious freedom.
A Tasmanian family has been ordered to pay more than $2 million to the Australian Taxation Office after failing to pay income tax on the grounds it "goes against God's will".
Christian missionaries Fanny Alida Beerepoot and Rembertus Cornelis Beerepoot faced the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Wednesday after they both failed to pay an estimated $930,000 in income tax and other charges in 2017.
Solicitor Stephen Linden told the court the pair had been served two notices of their debt and had failed to lodge their tax returns.
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[Mr Beerepoot] argued that by being made to pay taxes, their dependence on God was being taken away from them, which was causing Australia to be cursed.
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In 2017, the family had their 2.44-hectare property at Mole Creek in Northern Tasmania seized and later sold for $120,000 by the Meander Valley Council after they refused to pay about $3,000 worth of rates on the property over seven years.
What kind of income do missionaries make that they have ~$930K in income tax?Christian missionaries Fanny Alida Beerepoot and Rembertus Cornelis Beerepoot faced the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Wednesday after they both failed to pay an estimated $930,000 in income tax and other charges in 2017.
The Beerepoot family own the Melita Honey Farm, a popular tourist stop in Chudleigh, northern Tasmania.
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The unpaid rates cover three properties: the honey farm shopfront in Chudleigh, a nearby house and a bed and breakfast at the nearby township of Mole Creek.
The *really* interesting section that I have a question about:Four family members belonging to a Utah polygamist group admitted defrauding the U.S. of $512 million in renewable-fuel tax credits, with the leader saying the mastermind was an Armenian immigrant who owns a small oil and gas empire in Southern California. That businessman now faces trial alone.
The leader, Jacob Kingston, who was the chief executive officer of Washakie Renewable Energy LLC, pleaded guilty July 18 in federal court in Salt Lake City. He said his company falsely claimed that it produced or blended biodiesel fuel to qualify for tax credits. He also admitted laundering more than $100 million in fraud proceeds in Turkey, obstructing justice and tampering with witnesses.
Anyone heard of this "bleeding the beast" religious movement before?“The Order also promotes a practice of ‘bleeding the beast,’ wherein Order members are encouraged to obtain as much money as possible from local, state and federal government agencies for the benefit of the Order, because of the fear that the government will seek to punish them for their way of life,” prosecutors said last month in court papers.
Sounds like just an application of "Starve the Beast," the Reagan/Bush/+ strategy of cutting funding for regulations/enforcement/etc.
Not specifically by that phrase, but there was a wave of arrests in NJ a few years ago in a part of the state where the Orthodox Jewish community has significant numbers. Anyway, there were 26 people arrested for defrauding the government by misrepresenting income levels to collect various forms of public assistance. It was apparently a "thing" for quite some time and I'm not sure what finally prompted this investigation and arrests. Maybe they were looking to make an example of them.
A former pastor who wrote a bestselling book on traditional relationships has confirmed the end of his marriage, apologized for opposing LGBTQ rights and announced he is no longer a Christian.
Joshua Harris' book "I Kissed Dating Goodbye", which railed against sex before marriage and homosexuality, sold over 1 million copies and became a fixture in Christian youth groups after coming out 22 years ago.
But Harris now says the 1997 work "contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry," and that he has "undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus."
Writing on Instagram, he added: "By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian."
"I have lived in repentance for the past several years -- repenting of my self-righteousness, my fear-based approach to life, the teaching of my books, my views of women in the church, and my approach to parenting to name a few," Harris wrote in the post.
"To the LGBTQ+ community, I want to say that I am sorry for the views that I taught in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality. I regret standing against marriage equality, for not affirming you and your place in the church, and for any ways that my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry. I hope you can forgive me," he went on.
This is Adam Fannin of the Stedfast Baptist Church in Florida and he is going to get me (Sarah Silverman) killed.
("Stedfast" is not a typo.)Pyperkub wrote: ↑Tue Aug 13, 2019 6:11 pm An alleged "Pastor" who is in reality a horrifying excuse for a human being.
This is Adam Fannin of the Stedfast Baptist Church in Florida and he is going to get me (Sarah Silverman) killed.
I don't know if I'd broadly call it that because 'evangelicalism' is a huge umbrella in the US. There are definitely some segments that match that cult description. I just don't know if it is a majority or some smaller sliver. That said, they are clearly overlooking everything negative about Trump because he is delivering on their desire to impose their worldview on the populace. That is the scariest part of all this. We have feared a religious theocracy for years and it might be imposed by a guy who is faking it. That isn't going to go well.Holman wrote: ↑Tue Aug 13, 2019 6:46 pm("Stedfast" is not a typo.)Pyperkub wrote: ↑Tue Aug 13, 2019 6:11 pm An alleged "Pastor" who is in reality a horrifying excuse for a human being.
This is Adam Fannin of the Stedfast Baptist Church in Florida and he is going to get me (Sarah Silverman) killed.
I visited their website, where you can watch all the videotaped sermons you can stomach. They hate Catholics and mainstream Protestants as much as they hate Jews, Muslims, and secularists. It's nauseating.
This kind of church convinces me that right-wing Evangelicalism is no longer a part of the historical continuity of Christendom but something closer to an ISIS-style theopolitical cult.
Agree that "evangelicalism" is a somewhat broad category. There are even some left-wing evangelical churches.malchior wrote: ↑Tue Aug 13, 2019 6:55 pm I don't know if I'd broadly call it that because 'evangelicalism' is a huge umbrella in the US. There are definitely some segments that match that cult description. I just don't know if it is a majority or some smaller sliver. That said, they are clearly overlooking everything negative about Trump because he is delivering on their desire to impose their worldview on the populace. That is the scariest part of all this. We have feared a religious theocracy for years and it might be imposed by a guy who is faking it. That isn't going to go well.
On Thursday, Stephen Colbert sat down with Anderon Cooper for a wide-ranging conversation that delved into Colbert’s more somber, serious side. In addition to a lengthy discussion about heresy, a visibly emotional Cooper asked Colbert about a statement he gave to GQ — which itself was lifted from a Tolkien essay: “What punishments of God are not gifts?”
“Do you really believe that?” Cooper asks.
Colbert expounds on the idea by explaining his ideas about grief and suffering, and why he tries not to qualify his gratitude to God. It’s one of the more moving and thoughtful conversations about loss you could ever hope to hear, and it was on CNN of all places.
"You said "what punishment of gods are not gifts. Do you really believe that?" Aanderson Cooper, choking back tears, asks Stephen Colbert, as they discuss grief.
"Yes," replies the comedian. "It's a gift to exist and with existence comes suffering. There's no escaping that."
“If you’re grateful for your life …not everybody is and I’m not always, but it’s the most positive thing to do, then you have to be grateful for all of it. You can’t pick and choose what you’re grateful for,” Colbert says.
Cooper relates by with some wisdom he received from his mother about how you can’t understand happiness without also having some sadness.
“That’s the great gift of the sacrifice of Christ, is that God does it too,” Colbert says. “That you’re really not alone.”
A North Carolina police officer is suing for religious discrimination after he said he was fired for refusing to spend extended time with a woman who isn’t his wife, a practice commonly known as the “Billy Graham Rule.”
Manuel Torres, 51, worked as a deputy for the Lee County Sheriff for five years when his boss asked him to train a female deputy in July 2017. Torres requested a religious accommodation, the suit alleges, saying he “holds the strong and sincere religious belief that the Holy Bible prohibits him, as a married man, from being alone for extended periods with a female who is not his wife.”
Torres, a Baptist who serves as a deacon at his local church, said in the suit that training his colleague would leave the appearance of “sinful conduct.”
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Now a federal court will decide if the case, first reported by the Charlotte Observer, amounts to discrimination. Torres is seeking monetary relief, damages for emotional distress, and compensation for future and lost wages, according to the complaint. The suit appears to be the first time the rule has been brought to court as a religious discrimination matter.
"These books present magic as both good and evil, which is not true, but in fact a clever deception. The curses and spells used in the books are actual curses and spells; which when read by a human being risk conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text," the email states.
My oldest son has been listening to these on Audible. It's starting to explain some of the odd occurrences at our house lately . . . .