Scandinavia...

[_Chap]

I find this comment incredibly instructive. Though I'd imagine you have no idea why.

(etc. ... it's a really cool way of replying to a point when you can't think of anything to say ... thanks, Hoops!)

It was an aside, nothing more. Did your comment need comment? And not relevant to this topic.

My point is, of course, that you frequently post pseudo-responses to substantive points, amounting to no more than saying.

"You think you're so clever. But it's really me that's clever, and you're really dumb."

[_Hoops]

My point is, of course, that you frequently post pseudo-responses to substantive points, amounting to no more than saying.

"You think you're so clever. But it's really me that's clever, and you're really dumb."

How is anything about basketball a substantive point? It's not. It has nothing to do with this topic.

And I got your point the first time. Did you get mine?

[_Hoops]

And .... I think I do. I'm at least more confident than you are.

Then please tell us.

[_Jersey Girl]

I'm sure that the OP holds some incredibly deep point that whooshes right over my head. Either that or the OP is pointless.

In any case, I am sure that the problem lies with me.

[_Chap]

I'm sure that the OP holds some incredibly deep point that whooshes right over my head. Either that or the OP is pointless.

In any case, I am sure that the problem lies with me.

The poster of the OP may of course explain, if he feels like it.

But I take the point as being that for many people in some parts of the world, the religious-based nature of much of US public discourse on social and political issues seems irrelevant and a little bizarre.

To take the example in the OP: the couple depicted there react to the person yelling at them that 'God hates fags', not by saying, 'No, God loves them as much as he loves everybody else', but by saying 'What relevance does this thing 'God' you seem so obsessed with have to any discussion about what we should or should not do?'. And in parts of Europe that would be a quite common attitude.

I know that because God told me. (I am hoping that will be more acceptable as a reason than saying I have been to Europe, or anything liberal and elitist like that.)

[_Spurven Ten Sing]

My point was not that deep. Maybe that despite rock bottom marriage rates, gay rights, and a nearly atheistic/agnostic society, we are the richest countries in the world with the highest standard of living.

Maybe that the US is backwards.

It is....

[Guest]

My point was not that deep. Maybe that despite rock bottom marriage rates, gay rights, and a nearly atheistic/agnostic society, we are the richest countries in the world with the highest standard of living.

Maybe that the US is backwards.

It is....

No, Satan is rewarding you, and God is testing the US because they are his chosen people.

(If only Droopy was here in our hour of need to explain that living standards are much higher in Mississippi than they are in any Scandinavian country. If I recall rightly, that was one of his finest posts.)

[_Spurven Ten Sing]

My point was not that deep. Maybe that despite rock bottom marriage rates, gay rights, and a nearly atheistic/agnostic society, we are the richest countries in the world with the highest standard of living.

Maybe that the US is backwards.

It is....

No, Satan is rewarding you, and God is testing the US because they are his chosen people.

I'm so jealous of Americans. I hope to put on 100 kilos and start blaming Mexico for my lazy ass.

[_Jersey Girl]

My point was not that deep. Maybe that despite rock bottom marriage rates, gay rights, and a nearly atheistic/agnostic society, we are the richest countries in the world with the highest standard of living.

Maybe that the US is backwards.

It is....

Again, I am sure the problem lies with me.

What is the relevance of marriage rates, gay rights and a nearly atheistic/agnostic society and material wealth?

Is material wealth the almighty indicator of superiority? If the US abandon's it's religious bent, all of a sudden the US will gain material wealth?

What? What the hell?

What has material wealth got to do with anything?

Not seeing the connection, if there is one.

[_Jersey Girl]

Thanks STS, for splitting my head in two. Thanks a lot.

Is it your position that the measuring stick of a successful country for the atheist is material wealth?

Is money the god of atheists?