Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on civil rights (including First Amendment), consumer law litigation and appellate practice. At this website often writes about censorship, corporate news media corruption and cognitive science. He is also a working musician, artist and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his two daughters.
• Mark Tiedemann
I know the rhetoric as well, you do not have to give me a lesson on words, I have had biology. I know that gravity is just a theory as well. You are not informing me of anything new. I am educated, contrary to popular belief on this site. Of course we see micro, variation in species, but macro does not happen because there have not been billions of years. Plus the fossil records would prove the changes and they do not. Also in nature, mutations lead to destruction (for example cancer) so mutation is not for good but for destruction. In fact mutations came as a result of sin. Everything was made perfect and then sin came on the scene. Looking at the current world and saying that is how it was made is like walking in a junkyard and saying that is how the cars were made, just is not true and it shows a lack of understanding.
I was waiting for the character attacks and name calling, very common among liberals and free thinkers. If you cannot beat the argument try to smear the one with the argument. I am not a hater. As I have already written, the only thing that I hate is sin because God hates it and it destroys people. I love everybody, even homosexuals (even though I do not love their sin). Get your facts straight again, as usual. The homosexual agenda is much worse than targeting me, they target my kids and the next generation. They are looking to the future, wake up and smell the roses. They do not want to just influence one person they want to deceive an entire generation, example sex ed in school promotes homosexuality, reach an entire generation and deceive the world!!!
p.s.
Not accepting someone's sinful behavior does not mean not loving them. I do not agree with illegal drugs but that does not mean that I hate those who use illegal drugs, again your argument is weak, false, and misleading.
Erik, You misunderstood me. I did not say the bible claims man as the endpoint of evolution. The bible make no mention of evolution whatsoever. I stated that the church (Roman Catholic) did so.
As you seem to be focused on the idea that abortion is the only form of birth control, I pointed out that most birth control is preventative.
Of the many homosexuals that I have known over the years, none of them (including two teachers) have ever made any attempt to convert anyone else to homosexuality. If fact, the homosexuals that I've know throughout the years believe they are born that way, and it is not possible to convert between either preference.
On sex ed, the topic of the article: While pre-adolescent children have no interest in sexual intercourse, they do have a curious nature. They may want to know where babies come from, or why boys are different from girls. By the time they hit puberty, they know what those parts are for and they need to know about the social responsibility that come with parenthood, and to be educated in the available options to avoid becoming parents before they are ready or the responsibility. Then they will tend to try the various urban legends for preventing pregnancy, such as intercourse in certain positions, on certain phases of the moon, just before the girl's menstruation, tight underwear or diet coke as a contraceptive. all of which don't work. With the sex ed, however, many girls opt for abstinence.
DrDino is hilarious. Except that they are serious (Poe's Law). Those questions Erik links to are all answered over and over on any site (or in any classroom) that explains evolution, chemistry, quantum physics, cosmology or whichever topic is relevant to the question at hand. It is quite a varied list, but they are mostly trivial questions that simply require a basic understanding of the field at hand to answer.
Like: 3) and 4) that together ask how did the elements form? Look up what a quark is (and how we know), and understand know how they act under pressure and how they clump when the pressure is suddenly released in the halo of a supernova (and how we know). Let the unstable isotopes decay for about 5 billion years, and you get exactly the elements and isotopes that we find here in the solar system.
Simple.
Re: Brainwashing. Wow, a beautiful example of quote mining. Hardly a sentence can be found that reaches its natural end. Very clever propaganda.
I watched the "brainwashing" video. The clip shows a gay/lesbian pride day filmed at a private religious school run by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Gol-durned religious extremists, brainwashing our kids with their tolerance and consensual decision-making processes!
Erik wrote: I know that gravity is just a theory as well. You are not informing me of anything new.
And yet your statements that Evolution is "just a theory" is the very stuff of misunderstanding.
Sometimes you have to simply call something what it is. You say the fossil record does not prove changes over time? That's simply wrong. As to mutation being solely for destruction, you have that partly right. Most mutation does result in destruction. It's the one-off that adds a benefit that is responsible for evolution, and there is ample proof of that, should you choose (a) to look and (b) judge what you see objectively.
Gays are not targeting your children. That's paranoia. And if you aren't a hater, you're about one step away with that kind of attitude.
Vicki
I am so glad that you wrote this, you are using a great propaganda tactic. Race is not a choice while homosexuality is. Race is not destructive while homosexuality is. You are comparing apples with oranges and by doing that trying to deceive people.
As I said before and will say again, “I love all people, but I hate sin, as God commands”. Sin is an action, a choice, homosexuality is an action, a choice. I do not hate homosexuals but I do hate the sin of homosexuality, please learn the difference.
Erik wrote: "Race is not a choice while homosexuality is. Race is not destructive while homosexuality is."
Once more, one must call something for what it is. That is just simply wrong. Neurobiologists have pretty much established that key differences in the brain mark homosexual vs heterosexual proclivities—which, as I said before, is why no one had to tell you to like girls, just as no one has to tell gays to be gay. They are what they are. Live with it.
As to the destructiveness, that is historically a result of oppression—study your social history. You can make the same claim based on race, that being a minority is destructive. But only because the society in which a minority tries to exist pushes the minority into corners wherein what we might consider normal behavioral modes can't function.
As usual with the hyper-religiously inclined, you tend to put the cart before the horse. It's a blame game you're indulging. Anyone who doesn't fit into what you've accepted as the way things must be is at fault.
As to the hating sin but not the sinner thing, how often do you have conversations, lunch, dinner, any meaningful contact with gays? especially since your so bent on protecting your children from their evil influence? Your love is an abstraction, like people who profess to love humankind while misanthropically despising most individuals.
Erik:
I just want to start off by saying that using the Bible as a justification for your views involves the use of circular logic for one must first believe in the legitimacy of the Bible in order to believe in the truth of its words.
That being said, the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution mandates a "wall" between the Church and the State. If you don't like it, gtfo.
• Mark Tiedemann
So according to your ideas, murders should not be punished because that is just the way that they are (the way that their brains work).
Look at the numbers my friend. Look and see who is at the most risk of being infected with HIV/AIDS. I know the numbers because I have done the research. It is evident in black and white from the APA.
As I have said many many times, I have gay friends, both current and former. I do not hate homosexuals but I do hate their sin. I do not hate heterosexuals but I do hate their sin.
Erik,
That's specious and you know it. Consensual sex has nothing in common with murder.
As to the AIDS epidemic, you're being provincial. In Russia and a good deal of the former East Bloc, it is IV drug use that is the main vector. In Africa and a good deal of Asia, it is almost entirely a heterosexual disease. It does not discriminate.
Condoms may not be 100% effective, but even at 95% effectiveness it seems worth the effort to educate everyone in their use. If you could reduce the transmission vectors of, say, TB by 95%, would you refuse to do it? Of course not. HIV is a disease and how it is spread should matter only in addressing its treatment. Since telling people not to have sex clearly does not work, then you do what does—educate them.
• Matthew Conway Says:
I am not using the Bible for my argument. I am sharing the Bible’s argument!!! Plus, would you agree that using the Bible against the Bible is circular? Please do not have a double standard.
Read carefully my friend, The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the United States Bill of Rights that expressly prohibits the United States Congress from making laws "respecting an establishment of religion" or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, laws that infringe the freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to peaceably assemble, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
I do not see separation of church and state. I see that the state cannot control the church.
I know that you have this “new interp.” of the Constitution (garbage, ie the new interp). I know that you guys read into what is not there and you are doing it here too!!!
the last quote was from wikipedia
• Mark Tiedemann
Giving someone AIDS is giving them a death sentence!!! Why promote a lifestyle that puts people at a higher risk of getting AIDS? Also, speaking of heteros, if 2 people choose to have immoral sex and a child is conceived with AIDS, now you have an innocent victim!!!
I know that you want to avoid the facts but facts are facts so let’s say things like they are. I think that there is hope for people with AIDS. They need Jesus Christ too. They can be forgiven (even thought they still have to deal with the consequences of their actions, ie AIDS).
Should we promote IV drug use in a safer way? Of course not, so why would we promote “safer” sex that still puts you at risk of getting AIDS? Your argument falls apart when analyzed. I lived in the Eastern Bloc and I have seen what is happening there. Why add to the death and destruction by promoting immorality to compound what is already going on?
AIDS is a disease that comes from immorality (hetero and homo). I never said that it was not. Immorality is wrong and I am against every form of it. Please read what I write and do not assume so much!!!
Finally, you admit that condoms are not 100% effective. Now we can communicate. Admitting the reality of things is a beginning. TB is an airborne disease not an STD so do not confuse people with comparing apples with oranges. Somewhere between 30% and 92% are not good odds and those are the odds of condoms protecting you from some STD’s. Other STD’s, condoms do not protect against at all, study the subject!!