Political correctness

It seems that we have to admit, for the sake of political correctness: All beliefs are equal. At least when these beliefs have a spiritual basis. One is free to argue non-spiritual beliefs like global warming, but it's crucial to remember that spiritual beliefs must be regarded as possibly true. Therefore, if someone believes out of sheer stupidity or gullibility that the moon is made of green cheese, you may criticize this belief up to the point of outright stating "You are wrong, sir, the moon does, in fact, NOT consist of green cheese; here's the evidence that it's made of rock". No harm done; it is merely a belief, an opinion, not a religious world view.

But if this "moon = green cheese" belief has a spiritual basis, it has to be respected. I mean, one risks destroying a person's entire world view, throwing him into a deep spiritual crisis, deeply hurting his religious feelings, taking away his chance of an eternal afterlife on a beautiful, paradisiac disk of cheese. That's not political correct anymore; it's narrow-minded and dogmatic, a reprehensible attempt to convert this gullible moron to your belief.
Yes, that's right: your point of view has turned into a mere belief, the moment as someone claimed "The moon is made of green cheese, BECAUSE THE MAN IN THE MOON SAYS SO!" The fact that the moon consists of rock is no longer a fact. The truth is now a faith, equal to the religious moon=cheese belief.

In order to act civilized and political correct, we have to consider that Armstrong didn't look close enough, or didn't tell the truth. That our governments and the NASA lie to us. Or - if the amount of evidence for the "moon=rock" theory is so overwhelming that it can no longer be challenged - that the moon is somehow supernatural and can be made of rock and cheese at the same time. Supernatural, that's the "Get out of reality" card in the game called First Life.
Supernatural can be defined as "transcends the natural, the known and provable, exists on some plane beyond reality and can therefore be everything nonexistent that the vivid imagination of mankind can possibly come up with on drug trips, in fever dreams or in states of delusion". Nothing is impossible for the supernatural. It adds some spice to your life, gives you more than a sane person could ever expect to (or would want to) get. A GOAL. A PURPOSE. Less reason to live and more reason to die.

The rational thinker who still dares to defend his belief in public, where countless moon=cheese believers may be present, shows a very bad taste. Moon=cheese disciples are free to ring doorbells and introduce their spiritual theories to other gullible minds, but not so the rational defender of the moon=rock theory. While the moon=cheese story undoubtly enriches the spiritual life of others, the moon=rock theory has only one purpose: to destroy spiritual beliefs. Why else would anyone claim that the moon is NOT made of cheese, if not to be negative and destructive, to bereft people of their morals and ethics, their spirituality, the little hope and magic in their otherwise empty lives? One simply doesn't do that. I mean, what's next? Insulting people's beliefs with funny cartoons that show the Man In The Moon eating a steak? How low can it possibly get?

Moon=cheese disciples are far more political correct. They don't hurt anyone's feelings... well, not anymore, 200 years ago they might have hurt a lot more than one's feelings, but one isn't supposed to bring up sins of the past. We moon=rock believers can learn a lot of them, like political correctness in its purest form:
"The moon may be made of rock or cheese or both, feel free to believe whatever you want, you poor soul. If you don't mind your life being empty and pointless, it's your good right to believe that the moon is just a hard, cold and uncaring rock. We don't force our beliefs on pitiful gainsayers like you. Ultimately, it's you who has to deal with the consequences, you deviant. Someday you will be taken up to the moon - you can't deny the possibility, because it's supernatural, unprovable and therefore not disprovable. The Man In The Moon will be quite pissed, no doubt. If you want to spend an eternity of hunger and starvation while we dine on exquisite cheese, that's entirely your choice. You see, the Man In The Moon gave us all free will, so please respect our choice as we respect your sad, wrong and immoral choice".

That's quite nice and moderate, I'd say. You have to consider that it would be their good right, even their responsibility to enforce their beliefs on us as they enforce it on their children, in order to save all moon=rock believers from eternal starvation.
Now, what happens when you dare to publically defend the moon=rock theory? Then you aren't any better than those few moon=cheese extremists who carry hateful transparents in public, signs like "The Man In The Moon hates ham eaters". You don't state an opinion, you're sermonizing, a missionary trying to pass off his personal belief as the only valid one. And yes, it is a belief. How can you not see that? You simply BELIEVE that the moon is not made of cheese, and you BELIEVE that there is no Man In The Moon. Do you KNOW it? Have you been up there? No. See? It's a belief, period. We will pray for your poor, misguided soul.

They pity you. How empty your life must be. Do they hurt anyone with their belief? Their children, what an argument. Why should they possibly have human rights and the freedom to chose their own religion? They have to save their eternal souls! Why can't you see that there is no harm in believing, either way? What do you lose by believing that the moon is made of cheese? And consider the possible gain, an afterlife on the moon! Eternal cheese!
If everyone believed the moon was a rock, there would still be wars, world hunger and boring TV programs. And don't preach of the dark ages again, those ham eaters have been burned by mislead extremists. Yes, we still think they're wrong, sinful and condemned to eternal starvation, but we don't burn them anymore. Besides, just look at what your faith has done to the world: Stalin did not believe in the Man In The Moon, and the vast majority of communists think that the moon is made of rock. That's what you get for believing the tr... ehm... rock theory, it turns you into a bloody communist.

There's no morality and no ethics in your belief, all you say is: you won't go to the moon when you die, you can't live up there, it's rock, there's nothing to eat. How does that help anyone? What do you gain by believing this lie? We reported this thread, can a moderator please close this garbage?
Yes, we know this forum is called "Resident Answers", but "Are all moon=cheese believers delusional?" is hardly a question. It has a question mark at the end, many statements come with a question mark. Feel free to discuss politics, pornography or parametrics, but don't insult the vast majority of the population by talking about the moon. Do you really think we are all delusional? Science might prolong your life but it can't save your soul, you know. Leave us be, respect our opinion, just as we respect other opinions when we imprint the minds of our children with "Moon=cheese, other opinions=eternal starvation", when we vote against everything that endangers our beliefs by allowing alternate lifestyles/ideas and force the same laws onto you, when we listen to our pastor telling us that people like you are immoral and ultimately deserve to die.

No sense in arguing about the nature of the moon. "Consider that the moon might be cheese" is politically correct, but "Nonsense, the moon is a rock" is definitely not. That's flaming and trolling and offtopic even if it is the topic, yessireebob. Aside from that, it's been reposted, no matter that it has not been posted in a previous thread. Truth? Truth has nothing to do with this issue, truth is just a river with many side arms. It's all about the political will to find common ground, to either admit that the moon could, at least in theory, be made of cheese, or that the possibility exists that the moon is made of both cheese and rock, on different planes of existence. Supernatural planes of existence of course, something that can't be disproven by simply pointing at reality.

Oh, I almost forgot the question. Have you met any Jesuits in SL lately?

Geez fucking louise, give it a rest.

Where's Kevn?



.

how many posts have to be closed before you realize this isnt the place for it?

/me rubs his eyes

I think I actually want to read AM's post at some point, but certainly not tonight. *copies and saves*

For the sake of political correctness: Get this fucking shit off the Resident Answers forum.

Aleister ... I like you. I patronize your business. I like your posts here, and I mostly agree with you.

But in this case, the others are right... there are many places to have debates over religion, but this isn't one of them. Please, take it to a more appropriate venue.

Yeah, that...

You know it doesn't surprise me that the Jesuits are the ones who are coming into SL. They are the front line missionary group of the Catholic Church. They don't normally go door to door like say... an evangelical christian. Because they are in non-christian areas all the time they are typically much more open-minded. Jesuits are also a lot more into science and technology than other orders. Moon landings? They believe that completely. I'd say you'd most likely find a Jesuit learning how to build and script in SL than running around trying to preach to people.

I'm more worked up about Membrane Theory.

i`ll take the extra cheese on my pizza...

but here`s a fun fact to spoil every one`s reading,

did u know all religions out there actually came from 1 and every one adapted it to what they understood/wanted from it?

Aleister,

I don't see why you chose to wage a great Nihlvangelical crusade as the result of the "Misonaries" thread.

You have only shown a good example why we really don't need Missionaries, including Athiest ones, preaching to the Residents of Second Life.

And as far as your Moon Metaphor , it has more holes in it than Swiss Cheese.

After this thread gets closed , perhaps , let it go. At least in this venue.

Blasphemer! All those other prophets were frauds! Only my talking shrubbery was the real thing! How could anyone doubt it? It's so obvious!

And as much as I love these kinds of debates (and agree with the OP), it's really inappropriate for resident answers.

Which part to you agree with precisely? That Athiests should be allowed to tell other people what to believe?

Thats the issue I have.

Not that Anyone is an Athiest

Where can I get some of that moon cheese ??


errr, how about those landbots, Huh?

Global warming is not a belief....wake up son.

Well at least it would be a bit more relevant?

Sorry had to say something read the previous essay as well.

Good Lord, have mercy.

coco

Ibtl

IABTL

IBG (In Befor God)

now just to pick 1 of the dozen...

holy cow that's a lot of words in the OP. Did anyone really read it? Really!?!

A few rules to make your SL experience a lot nicer:

- No talking about RL
- No (RL) politics
- No religion