Rinarium

Good only wins when good people make it so. I don't believe in "God", certainly not the deity celebrated by the evangelicals. How could an omnipotent, compassionate God watch idly during a war? How could an omnipotent, compassionate God watch idly as 7.5m families and 12m single adults fell into poverty? Sure, since 76m families and 48m single adults got out of poverty, it's an overall net positive, but what compassionate God values that?  " What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. " (Matt 18:12-13 NASB)  Therefore we must admit that such a compassionate deity cannot be some omnipotent clockwork-maker, that our actions are required to enact the Will - and our inaction enable

Giving a 'free pass' for violent behavior to any person who hasn't been hurtful to you shows a lack of empathy that is dangerous to the operation of a fair society based in justice and order. It's a mindset based in privilege and power and does not acknowledge the reality of the experience of your peers. It's so very easy to say, "Well, it would have worked if you had tried harder," isn't it? Unfortunately, that dismissive trope is not based in the real world. Life isn't fair. So it's our responsibility, if we are to be the honorable citizens of a free country, to try and make it as fair and just as possible, to base our society on the values of equity and human rights rather than self-service and exploitation. Our very freedom and democracy are currently being emperiled by an overbearing, spy-police state. And people defend arming the police with military weapons against you, against your countrymen, because they feel threatened? A

Fun fact: 30-40% of all "cases" presented to forensic anthropologists are actually animal bones. Laymen are apparently just THAT bad at recognizing differences in bone structure. I hope you get a chance to interact or at least listen to real people affected by racism and misogyny in this country. Developing and defending against strawman arguments about 'white guilt' is blocking your ability to apply logic to real-world, modern problems. You're too smart for that. Take a break, and listen to what actual indigenous folk have to say. Scarecrows being sock-puppeted by bad faith actors are not a useful measure of your compatriots' experiences. I recommend some podcasts: "All My Relations" by Matika Wilbur and Adrienne Keene; "Existential" by coreyleak... these hosts have other POC podcasters on from time to time so you can easily branch out from there. there's a difference between peer-reviewed, well-designed experiments that co