I urge anyone and everyone to pass this on.
Kennedy's address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association nearly half a century ago on September 12, 1960 at the Rice Hotel in Houston, TX (this link includes the television broadcast and the transcription) is more enlightened than anything coming from any source anywhere in the United States whose specific purpose is not secular in nature. It completely takes my break away.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Friday, July 04, 2008
www.fostl.com
I'M BEGINNING TO WRITE A NEW SEGMENT ON THE www.fostl.com WEBSITE TITLED, ODDLY ENOUGH, "BEGINNINGS" TO INTRODUCE NEW FREETHINKERS INTO THE FOLD. PLEASE READ ALONG AND COMMENT (MY VERY FEW READERS) AS YOUR THOUGHTS MIGHT HELP ME TO SHAPE THIS SECTION.
AS YOU KNOW IT'S OKAY AND CERTAINLY PREFERRABLE NOT TO BELIEVE, BUT IT'S NOT ALWAY EASY IN OUR SOCIETY TO TRUST OUR SKEPTICISM. HOPEFULLY THIS WILL BE A GOOD GUIDE. HERE'S MY BEGINNING...
When I was young, I was surrounded by Christians. I didn't know why I didn't believe. I thougth there must be something wrong with me. I thougth I wanted to be a Christian because I wanted to be a good person. This was odd, however, since I already was a good person. In fact some of my friends did really awful things at times, things I would never do to myself or to others, and they were Christians. I also never bought the concept of hell. Eternal torment. Eternal torment for killing, I maybe sort of could get, but for simply not buying a bridge some guy was trying to sell me? There were too many questions. Too many inconsistencies. And the rationalizing asside, I still couldn't believe even thought I kept trying.
Well, maybe you're feeling some of these things. Maybe entirely different things. It doesn't necessarily matter how or why you've gotten to this point, you're here and you're reading these words. I plan to do my best to set this up as guide for people searching. I'll tell you at the outset that I most definitely don't have all the answers, but I'm going to do what I can to provide some insight into my long, arduous, sometimes painful and often humorous journey. Hopefully it will help you to miss a bit of the anguish and enjoy a bit more of the insight.
I'll work with as much structure as possible, but much of this will be stream of consciousness, gaining more form (revision by arduous revision) as I go along. Please check back often and please visit my blog if you will, as I'll mirror this discussion there, so you might comment or as questions to help form this into something useful for you, me and future visitors to the site.
Thanks. I'll begin typing again tomorrow and everyday I'm able thereafter!
AS YOU KNOW IT'S OKAY AND CERTAINLY PREFERRABLE NOT TO BELIEVE, BUT IT'S NOT ALWAY EASY IN OUR SOCIETY TO TRUST OUR SKEPTICISM. HOPEFULLY THIS WILL BE A GOOD GUIDE. HERE'S MY BEGINNING...
When I was young, I was surrounded by Christians. I didn't know why I didn't believe. I thougth there must be something wrong with me. I thougth I wanted to be a Christian because I wanted to be a good person. This was odd, however, since I already was a good person. In fact some of my friends did really awful things at times, things I would never do to myself or to others, and they were Christians. I also never bought the concept of hell. Eternal torment. Eternal torment for killing, I maybe sort of could get, but for simply not buying a bridge some guy was trying to sell me? There were too many questions. Too many inconsistencies. And the rationalizing asside, I still couldn't believe even thought I kept trying.
Well, maybe you're feeling some of these things. Maybe entirely different things. It doesn't necessarily matter how or why you've gotten to this point, you're here and you're reading these words. I plan to do my best to set this up as guide for people searching. I'll tell you at the outset that I most definitely don't have all the answers, but I'm going to do what I can to provide some insight into my long, arduous, sometimes painful and often humorous journey. Hopefully it will help you to miss a bit of the anguish and enjoy a bit more of the insight.
I'll work with as much structure as possible, but much of this will be stream of consciousness, gaining more form (revision by arduous revision) as I go along. Please check back often and please visit my blog if you will, as I'll mirror this discussion there, so you might comment or as questions to help form this into something useful for you, me and future visitors to the site.
Thanks. I'll begin typing again tomorrow and everyday I'm able thereafter!
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