Sodomy laws have been replaced by hate crime laws. People are arrested for making public statements that correctly classify homosexual practice as perversion. Good is called evil and evil is called good. Gays are proud, of what? Of inserting a reproductive organ into the excretory canal, over and over? That is something to be proud of? And perverts push for laws that would allow men to have sex with boys. I support censorship.

Censorship is necessary in a world where indecent people refuse to respect others, assault and corrupt children, and take delight in evil.

Mike: You can't win with closed-minded octogenarians like Jack. They will never admit error. Oh and Jack, "the circle of the earth" is found in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 22, which predates your 500 BC reference. Not in the Book of Job, but in Isaiah, and not the orb, but the circle. So I got the book wrong, but the concept right. So there, you old coot.;-)

Jack: Atheism is forced on children in school, when the creationist view they receive at home is ridiculed by teachers and by students with teachers' consent; as well as by the force-feeding of evolutionist theory that is erroneously taught as factual. Oh, I forgot, you have not been to school since the early 20th century.

Books or drama as propaganda tools contain particles of powerful lies disguised in clouds of irrelevant truths, artfully designed to convince people of lies that, in practice, perpetuate abomination and atrocity. These book should be burned. (I know...who decides which is which, which truth and which lie? Sometimes that is problematic - but sometimes not.)

What does it mean to you?

Kindness and forgiveness - Archer, i did not know that you were such a creampuff. You must be turning Christian. Praise God. The individual should be forgiving. But the authority exists to maintain order in society, in connection with punishment is sometimes inevitable. To allow room for others to commit error or transgression is common, although some authority invent a transgression in order to punish. I do not pop someone in the nose each time I am offended. Every day we let people "get away with" something, or tolerate offenses. But certain offenses must be answered with force. Often enough, each case is more or less self-evident.

Several laws exist which define which types of speech are not legal or protected, including laws against inciting rebellion or violence. Some types of speech are punishable as hate crimes. Yes, in the United States.

Insightful and eloquent.

Scientists present theories, based on artfult manipulation of scant evidence, as though they were fact, stubbornly maintaining support for in what they had publicly showed such confidence. Then some time later, other scientists present newer theories, based on scant evidence, that replace the older theories, that tend to lose support as older theorists die off. The theories of evolution are just that, multiple, while the "proof" is insufficient. Big Bang? What certainty?

Arguing involves rational explanation of ideas, not merely presentaion of points for approval. Where are your rational explanations, my good atheists? Mostly you just rattle off hate messages, ridicule, contempt, and verborrhea. Your minds are closed. You are unwilling to examine something you have decided to reject, possibly due to the negative experiences you have had in your youth with hypocrites in priests clothing, and so you "know" that God is not a living spirit, because some priest tried or succeeded in abusing you. Right...that is super rational. I am not making light of the abuse and hypocrisy. I have known several people who were abused by priests. I am criticizing you for mistaking the sins of a man with proof of the non-existence of God. It is really too ignorant to excuse.

Key word: national. I take this to mean official or officially sanctioned. I confess it is not clear to me exactly what he meant. But it seems he is distinguishing between state churches and non-state churches.

Not true. All these things existed long before Darwin.

Marx actively promoted atheism, which is a religion. Socialism officially rejects God. Therefore, socialism is a religion.

Dick: Karl Marx wrote: My objective in life is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism. HE ALSO WROTE: The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism. Marx was a sociopath, as are those who follow him. What you call socialism did not invent compassionate sharing with the needy. You are mistaken beyond all recognition.

Use the dictionary. Persecute: to annoy or harass persistently. First persecute, then execute. You could annoy them to death, I guess.

Dick: The quotations you refer to were mostly spoken by men like Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and Castro.

State control has not yet begun to raise its ugly head in the U.S. Just wait a couple of years more, and you will see that today we have it good.

When I responded to an earlier comment, instead of writing "The same God who said 'Thou shalt not kill' went on...," I could have written, "The Law wherein appears the statement 'Thou shalt not kill' went on..." I was making a point regarding a comment written by someone else, not you, who referred to this law. So excuse me for offending your atheist sensitivities. Nevertheless, I do not think you are a reasonable person, and that you demonstrate it all the time.

Mike: You are flipping out. I was simply responding to some things that you wrote. You wrote: Jesus said "But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you," (Luke 6:27) I'm not sure we've evolved to that yet, especially considering the hypocrites in Washington. And I responded with a related quote. I have not told you what is appropriate to discuss on this site, but only respnded to your statements. I think you are losing it if you really believe your last comment. Where do you get all that delerious stuff? Not from the verses I cited.

The same God that said "Thou shalt not kill" went on to give a number of commandments specifically indicating whom to kill under certain circumstances. "Thou shalt not kill" the innocent, but thou shalt kill the guilty of certain crimes, according to God.

Mike: Try reading Romans 13:1-4. Then explain who should forgive and who should punish.

Archer: You obviously prefer to ignore the other definitions. Fortunately, that does not abolish them. Some people still reason.

"[I] never understood [what a republican government was and] I believe no other man ever did or ever will."--John Adams

How do you define or characterize the whole set of processes engaged in by the citizens that move the republic in any direction?