Vernon Dozier ✖

I find it very difficult to take anyone seriously who goes on and on about what "God wants from mankind" or "what God did for mankind" when the very existence of said god is so questionable.

Do you have a testable (i.e. a procedure for critical evaluation; a means of determining the presence, quality, and/or truth) and verifiable baseline for your god?

Wasn't this supposed to be the Tea Party's moment to "win America back"? If Obama is so weak, why can't the GOP field a candidate worthy of beating him? What does this inability to field a strong opponent say about the fundamental dysfunction of the GOP?

If Romney is what the GOP has for a candidate, looks like Obama is here for another 4 years. The GOP only has itself to blame. Where is your candidate?

Many years ago I went through the whole baptism/communion/confirmation routine and earned a nifty certificate for it. Since then, I've totally come to reject anything and everything the Catholic Church represents.

Now that I've come to my senses, I'd like to know if there is a certificate (or something similar) commemorating excommunication from the Catholic Church. I prefer something I could put in an ornately carved and highly polished, wooden, artisan hand-made frame for display in my home. And if there is, how do I go about formally starting the excommunication process?

Hitler, despite popular misconception among Christians, was Catholic with Paganist tendencies. Stalin was an atheist. So, being atheist isn't something they had in common. BUT, both did have mustaches.

In fact, most of the world's major dictators throughout modern history have had mustaches:

Hitler (Nazi Germany)

Stalin (USSR)

Lenin (USSR)

Franco (Spain)

Muammar Gaddafi (Libya)

Meles Zenawi (Ethiopia)

Trujillo (Dominican Republic)

Pinochet (Chile)

Saddam Hussein (Iraq)

Fidel Castro (Cuba)

Mubarak (Egypt)

King Mswati III (Swaziland)

Ataturk (Turkey)

Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini (Iran)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Iran)

Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua)

Ramzan Kadyrov (Chechnya)

Jorge Videla (Argentina)

Pervez Musharraf (Pakistan)

The list could go on and on... And it's worthwhile to note most of these dictators were either Christian or Muslim. Only a few were atheists.

So, isn't fair to say the presence of a mustache is a greater corollary to dictatorship (and subsequently political violence) than atheism ever was?

I don't want to tear the interior protective lining on the manhole I'm working on.

What are some protective strategies I could employ?

Examples of homosexuality in the animal kingdom:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/07...

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2009/06/16...

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20718.aspx

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2...

http://endo.endojournals.org/content/145/2/478.ful...

So, is this a lifestyle choice these animals are consciously choosing to take part in?

I've heard some Christians say they struggle with questions about why "god' allows so much suffering in the world when he has the supposed ability to prevent it, especially where children are concerned.

Gay guys can answer, but I don't swing that way. I mean, I'll be flattered and such, but don't get your hopes up.

If "all things are possible through Christ", doesn't that also concomitantly imply all things are therefore the way they are because of Christ? This includes a world full of base injustices like children going hungry, murder, rape, sexual abuse, lying, cheating stealing, etc.? God made the world and everything in it, correct?