"Muslims can't ever convert. He's lying."

Wouldn't you have to, oh, BELIVE in a religion to assert that someone cannot convert from it?

The Obama-is-Muslim stuff is nonsense, but if one WERE a Muslim, one would believe that there is no out-conversion, only apostasy, which is punishable by death, in Islamic theory.

Jews similarly consider someone born Jewish (to a mother who is halachically Jewish herself) to be a Jew forever. You can convert out, but we'll just consider you mistaken. The obligations and privileges of being part of the Jewish people apply whether you ever accept them on yourself or not. We do not, however, kill people who convert to another religion, not even in theory.

Clearly, however, if you don't believe in a religion and weren't born into it, you don't have to take what that religion says as truth. Hence, I blithely go on, working to earn my own way into heaven, so to speak, in the Jewish manner, while the Southern Baptist neighbors I grew up with are all convinced I'm going to hell, no matter what I do.

Obama doesn't have the chip, but McCain does! Manchurian Candidate!!!

:: runs & hides. ::

ION pledge drives in the morning should be illegal. They do not wake you up. Yup, running late.

while the Southern Baptist neighbors I grew up with are all convinced I'm going to hell, no matter what I do.

well, I mean, you all killed Jesus, why wouldn't you go to hell? ;) (tongue firmly in cheek) FTR, I am southern baptist, and refuse to believe that good people who don't happen to believe exactly the same thing I do are going to hell. The God I believe in wouldn't do that.

wow, is everyone out enjoying that 70º sunny weather or something? Its really quiet in here.

I am in my windowless office. My DH, on the other hand, is at a press conference for Mazda, where they all get to check out some new car AND ride go karts at a track.

if I actually heard people sayif I actually heard people saying these things my head would explode

My head must be made of unexplodium. I hear it too damned often.

But it's not like anyone thinks Utah is a state in play, electorially speaking. The big question here is "Since McCain is a traitorous liberal AntiChrist who is only using the Republican label as a cowardly shield, who should True American, God Wrote Our Constitution Amen Conservatives (tm) vote for now that Brother Romney is out? Ultra-Religious Huckabee, even though he thinks Mormons are cultists, or Enlightened Master Ron Paul, even though no one else in the country takes him seriously?"

My whole family seems to believe the whole Obama≠Christian thing. I keep saying, "I'm not voting for Iman (sp?) or Pope or Deacon. I'm voting for President. I didn't see a whole rush to convert to Catholicism when Kennedy was elected President. So WHO CARES". But that's just the liberal/Prius driving/recycle containers guy in me.

Apparently, I will be subsisting on cat purrs today. I am hungry but nothing we have to eat here appeals to me enough to make me lift a finger to make it. And the last thing I want to do right now is get dressed and go out in the world.

I am southern baptist, and refuse to believe that good people who don't happen to believe exactly the same thing I do are going to hell. The God I believe in wouldn't do that.

Bears repeating (except for the part where I myself am not any kind of Baptist). Good people are good people, period. The heaven I imagine is full of people who cheerfully joke that they're obviously going to hell; they're believing or not believing what seems most honest and truthful to them, and they're doing it while being good and wise and kind and funny, and any God who'd turn them away is not any God I'd recognize.

ION, Scrappy's DH is riding go karts for his job? That has got to be the most awesome Wednesday at the office ever.

JZ is very wise.

The whole believe exactly as I believe or face the fire thing is why I have issues with most organized religion. Well, there are added reasons, but that is a biggy.