Crazy Christian Lady harasses customers and employees

SPC Stewart Smith - Can we agree on a definition of secular?

Secular - denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis.

There is I suppose, a spectrum. On one end there are secular humanist governments such as the United States which are generally tolerant of religion, but reject that it should be foundational to the social contract maintained by the governed. On the other end there are those governments which are anti-theist and/or anti-deist and reject practice of religion or spiritualism and actively oppress and purge the religious (regardless of religion), within their citizenry.

All of those.

Maj John Bell - Yes we can agree on that.

Maj John Bell - Hitler was catholic and endorsed by the catholic church who celebrated his birth every year until his death. Stalin attended seminary in georgia and was a Marxist and communist which is a far cry from secular. Pol pot was raised a strict christian, studied for the ministry, and was a practicing Buddhist. His warped religious idolatry is/was in no way secular. If we had a society that took on the teachings of Spinoza, Confucius, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Payne, and Einstein who fell into ruin due to reason, logic, and philosophy, and science I would be with you then. How do the most secular countries fare in comparison to the most religious?

1SG (Join to see) - First, you are off point. SPC Stewart Smith asserted "Anywhere anytime, in recorded history, wherever christians held power they committed the most heinous atrocities in the name of their religion."

SPC Stewart are mid point in a discussion. My question was not restricted to Nazi Germany, The Communist Soviet Union, or The Khmer Rouge under Cambodia. Let me repeat "

***On one end there are secular humanist governments such as the United States which are generally tolerant of religion, but reject that it should be foundational to the social contract maintained by the governed. On the other end there are those governments which are anti-theist and/or anti-deist and reject practice of religion or spiritualism and actively oppress and purge the religious (regardless of religion), within their citizenry.***

What governments have killed more, less than 300 years of secular governments [THE ENTIRE SPECTRUM from secular humanist to totalitarian despots] or 5000+ years of theocracies?

Are you asserting NAZI Germany under Hitler, The Soviet Union under Stalin, and Cambodia under Pol Pot were theocracies? Or that Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot did what they did in the name of their religion?

Capt Gregory Prickett - "her religious beliefs were directly tied into her mental problems." Which one is it?

_Are you asserting that her mental illness was the proximate cause her acts? Or,
_Are you asserting that her religious belief was the proximate cause her acts? Or,
_Are you asserting that her religious belief was the cause of her mental illness? Or,
_Are you asserting that her mental illness was the cause for her religious beliefs?

If you are not asserting some sort of causal relationship in some unknow chicken or the egg sequence what is the point of "her religious beliefs were directly tied into her mental problems."

Maj John Bell - I was very clear on what I said, but to expand, Yates was suffering from postpartum depression and schizophrenia. In addition, she was in a group that followed an internet fire and brimstone preacher, and the voices told her that she was a failure as a mother and that because of her, the children would go to hell. I'll also note that the Yates were advised not to have more children due to the likelihood of further depression. Again, read the Lancet article.

Capt Gregory Prickett - Ms. Yates also says that cartoon characters told her she was a bad mother. If her reason to kill them was because she was a bad mother and the cartoon characters communicated this to her, was watching cartoons directly tied into her mental problems?

She was raised as a Catholic and her husband was a Methodist. I am not aware of any dogma or doctrine of those two denominations that tell parents to kill their children if they are bad parents.

From the article:

_"This type of rhetoric represents “the dark side of religious pluralism, of religion in general and of Protestantism in particular”, according to Bill Leonard, dean and professor of church history at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. Leonard points out that these views are often held by people with no institutional credentials and little, if any, accountability.”

_"discharged before her [mental health] symptoms resolved, because her insurance company limited the number of days of inpatient care it would pay for."

You are so set on demonizing religion, that any premise no matter how thin will do. Perhaps you should talk to a legislator about automatic "Red Flag" hearings for anyone who follows a religion.

Maj John Bell - your church doesn't require approval from a bishop to hire a preacher, which means you could end up with the same type of nut job in the pulpit.