Posted by Miserable, a resident of the Downtown neighborhood, on Aug 5, 2009 at 12:56 pm

These conservatives are just plain miserable people and the election is an excure for them to point their fingers outward. Many are religious zelots and that what they do best anyways.

Posted by US Pride, a resident of another community, on Aug 5, 2009 at 1:50 pm

I agree, conservatives are out of wack! I tend to be conservative but these days they are too much to bear... BUT... I don't want to have social welfare where my tax dollars gets to spent on people who don't care about earning a living!

Posted by Question for Miserable, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Aug 5, 2009 at 2:37 pm

Miserable,

Wow - those words of yours aren't subjective, are they? "Always stick to the facts" doesn't really work for you?

Let's parse.

Please define your perception and working definition of a "religious zelot".

Are you accusing a specific religion, group of church goers, a local cult, or is it possible that you are demonstrating that favorite liberal technique of using broad sweeping generalizations to hype a point with emotion that you can't make with logic?

Got it.

Posted by Got IT, a resident of the Canyon Creek neighborhood, on Aug 5, 2009 at 2:50 pm

"or is it possible that you are demonstrating that favorite liberal technique of using broad sweeping generalizations to hype a point with emotion that you can't make with logic"

Your words:

"BROAD SWEEPING GENERALIZATIONS"

Got IT?

GEEZ!

Posted by Question for Miserable, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Aug 5, 2009 at 2:58 pm

Wow - I am impressed, Got IT, by your astounding level of logic and factual claims.

Your Words: "GEEZ"

Thanks for sharing your intellectual insights.

Profound, truly profound.

Posted by What?, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Aug 5, 2009 at 3:51 pm

How NOT to becaome a Religious Zealot:

Be accepting that every religion has some good to it. Learn to see other religions for their good rather than their bad qualities. In other words, don't make personal accusations or threats... practice kindness one to another (including those who are spiteful toward you).

Do not dismiss the beliefs of other faiths automatically. Try and learn what other religions have to say. Relate this to your own beliefs. Examine yourself to see whether your vengeance interferes in the work of the Lord ("as much as possible be at peace...").

Remain open to life. Do not be fanatical about forcing your beliefs on others when interacting with them and do not create overlays of judgment on what others do colored by your religious values. Be passionate about your belief, but causing others to confess or convert by force will not change anger or fear to love or kindness.

Make friends outside your church, mosque, synagogue, etc. This will help you see things from a different point of view.

Read other Holy Books other than your own. This will better help you understand other religions and hear what they have to say.

It is also possible to be an atheistic zealot. If you are an atheist, respect other people's faiths. Do not look down your nose on believers and "feel sorry for the deluded fools." Do not try to tear people away from the church. Churches are rarely a bad thing.

It is possible to fill the imploding soul by not becoming a self-absorbed fatalist, with cold self-consuming, self-searching thoughts.

You could yet reverse the vacuous black-hole, the cratering soul of walking death, by finding the life-giving source. The infilling fountain of your loving, creative God.

Remember that tolerance means civility and respect for other beliefs but this does not imply equal validity. Who would agree that a kind morality is equivalent to a brutal morality?

Posted by Cholo, a resident of Livermore, on Aug 5, 2009 at 8:50 pm

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