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Cake day: 2024年1月1日

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  • I grew up in the Assemblies of God denomination. When I graduated from high school, I left home to go to college, expanded my horizons, and ultimately ended up deconstructing my religious beliefs. I have considered myself to be an atheist for more than 20 years, but I still have strong ethical beliefs that basically parallel the Christian teachings of empathy for the marginalized and the disadvantaged.

    For the past 8 years, I’ve watched my “decent Christian” family slide further and further into Trumpism. They are unrecognizable as the people who taught me the value of Christlike behavior.

    Most days, I feel like I’m a better Christian than they are. I’ve wondered for a long time how the same people who instilled those values in me have been led so far astray.

    I recognize in hindsight that they were motivated by fear of God rather than love for their fellow humans. Fox News and Trump have preyed on that fear and gradually expanded it until it has turned to hatred of anyone who doesn’t look or vote like them.









  • I would like to know what source you have for claiming that pedophiles are “born the way they are.”

    We understand some of the genetic and intrauterine developmental reasons for homosexuality, being trans, etc. That has scientific backing, and our understanding continues to grow and expand.

    Lumping child predators in with consenting adults smacks of the evangelical slippery slope argument against all forms of what they consider to be “sexual deviance.” I’m not buying it.


  • There are multiple references to this in the Bible. This is the most uplifting one I found.

    Psalm 90

    10 Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

    11 If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.

    12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

    13 Relent, LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.

    14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.









  • All true. But because teaching is historically “women’s work,” it is undervalued and underpaid.

    Most teachers I know have at least Master’s degrees, yet we’re paid less than B.A.s start at in many fields. I took a 20k/year pay cut when I became a teacher, despite having received a Master’s degree before entering the field.

    Until we value teaching as much as we value other types of work, we’re not going to attract large numbers of qualified people, whether they’re men or women.