Are You Showing Support for Black Lives Matter in Second Life?

[Luna Bliss]

3 minutes ago, FairreLilette said:

16 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

I have no need to discuss it more, but it is extremely relevant to the racism we see in America today, as there are so many damb evangelicals in the US that don't operate with love in mind and view poverty as a moral failing.  But most importantly, if Pence comes into power should our orange one croak, this is going to be VERY relevant to how races and other factions are treated.

I think roots of discrimination stem in part from "the churches", however, it is not an easy topic to discuss.  Not an easy topic at all but I think there are also roots of ignorance which spring forth from churches.   How to overcome it all.  I don't know but we have broke free in many ways, thankfully.  I still feel the churches have a stronghold on me personally and I want to live freer beyond it as I don't subscribe to their doctrines but they want to shove it down our throats whenever they get an opportunity to try.  

And then there's the strong faith that so many people of color have, and their involvement in churches.  It's a complicated world, and not easy to sort out. If we could all just come together!  Years ago a Black friend in my Yoga ashram took me to her brother's church and I got to witness a very inspiring worship service up close, kind of like this one:

 

[Luna Bliss]

6 minutes ago, Gatogateau said:

46 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

blah

I don't see your comments, will never see your comments unless: someone I read quotes them :::me shakes tiny furry paw at them for doing so::: or this stupid software burps, as it does frequently.

Stop talking to me. Yes, I see the irony. Don't care. Leave me alone. Point your screachings elsewhere. You have plenty of targets. I don't care if the words you utter are so brilliant as to be suitable for typing over a wondrous jpg and posting on Facebook. 

Several of us have asked you to go away from us. Take a hint. Or do you just enjoy being a stirrer and a BullyBee <--- because by your own definition that is what you are doing. (rhetorical and won't see the answer unless ^^^ as above.)

Such hate, Gatcat.

[Selene Gregoire]

1 hour ago, Sylvia Tamalyn said:

Because some people seem permanently incapable of staying on topic and not derailing threads.

[Aethelwine]

8 minutes ago, FairreLilette said:

Ok, sorry I got that one wrong.  The Episcopalian church is the only church to have left The Church of England.  However, then all American churches are still basically Anglican then.  

 

There are no Church of England churches outside of the UK. There are Anglican Churches, that are a broad collection with a wide variety of views that get together every now and then to make non-binding agreements. The churches in the Anglican collective include the Episcopalian church in the USA. In the USA the Episcopalian church is Anglican and just the 14th largest church.

Here is the list from wikipedia:

Denomination	Membership	Congregations
Catholic Church in the United States	71,000,000[124][125]	17,156[126]
Southern Baptist Convention	14,813,234[127]	47,456[127]
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.	7,500,000[128]	21,145 [129]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints	6,721,032[130]	14,459[74]
United Methodist Church	6,671,825[131]	31,609[131]
Church of God in Christ	5,499,875[132][133]	12,000[134]
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America	3,363,281[135]	9,091[135]
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.	3,106,000	12,336[129]
African Methodist Episcopal Church	2,510,000	7,000[136]
Baptist General Convention of Texas	2,079,385	5,309[129]
Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod	1,968,641	6,046[137]
Assemblies of God USA	1,818,941[138]	13,023[139]
Episcopal Church (United States)	1,676,349	6,423[140]
Progressive National Baptist Convention	1,500,000[141]	1,200 [129]
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church	1,432,795	3,226[142]
Presbyterian Church (USA)	1,352,678[143]	9,161[143]
Churches of Christ	1,352,462	14,175[144]
Pentecostal Assemblies of the World	1,300,000[145]	1,750[146]
Jehovah's Witness	1,237,054	12,594[147]
Baptist Bible Fellowship International	1,200,000	4,500[148]
American Baptist Churches USA	1,186,416	5,123[129]
Seventh-day Adventist Church	1,166,672	5,134[149]
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)	1,076,254	6,060[150]

[FairreLilette]

6 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

And then there's the strong faith that so many people of color have, and their involvement in churches.  It's a complicated world, and not easy to sort out. If we could all just come together!  Years ago a Black friend in my Yoga ashram took me to her brother's church and I got to witness a very inspiring worship service up close, kind of like this one:

 

I had a friend who took me to visit many churches.  It's not all bad; but it's got it problems.  I believe Christ set me free and Jesus said "it is finished".  I don't need all their repentance nonsense if I remain in love.

However, we cannot deny the church does influence our politics and those governing over us.  It's ridiculous how it permeates our politics and judicial system with swearing on The Bible, etc.  

I gotta love Bob Dylan's line "money don't talk, it swears".  Yeah sure, that money swears to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but...yeah sure.  

Edited June 5, 2020 by FairreLilette

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

I'm gonna request that the mods change this to the ALL CHURCHES MATTER thread. 

FFS. 

[Aethelwine]

Interesting article from the BBC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52932611

George Floyd: Videos of police brutality during protests shock US

The Buffalo video shows a 75-year-old man approach police officers enforcing a curfew. They then move forward, pushing him back and causing him to fall over and hit his head.

As he lies on the ground, blood is seen pouring from his ear.

The man was taken away in an ambulance and was later found to have suffered a severe head injury.

An initial statement from Buffalo Police Department said the man had "tripped" and fallen during a "skirmish involving protesters", compounding outrage at the incident on social media.

Police spokesman Jeff Rinaldo later attributed the statement to officers not directly involved in the incident, adding that when the video had emerged the two policemen who pushed the demonstrator had been suspended without pay.

[Selene Gregoire]

1 hour ago, Sylvia Tamalyn said:

Meanwhile, Trump hopes George Floyd is happy about the economy.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-george-floyd-press-conference-today-job-numbers-a9551426.html?fbclid=IwAR0hFvy4RtloA4jVOB-8JxWlaosZ8X1YcAORo8SE5VRuK5oBn18CAE8DMNI

[FairreLilette]

5 minutes ago, Aethelwine said:

There are no Church of England churches outside of the UK. There are Anglican Churches, that are a broad collection with a wide variety of views that get together every now and then to make non-binding agreements. The churches in the Anglican collective include the Episcopalian church in the USA. In the USA the Episcopalian church is Anglican and just the 14th largest church.

Here is the list from wikipedia:

Denomination	Membership	Congregations
Catholic Church in the United States	71,000,000[124][125]	17,156[126]
Southern Baptist Convention	14,813,234[127]	47,456[127]
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.	7,500,000[128]	21,145 [129]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints	6,721,032[130]	14,459[74]
United Methodist Church	6,671,825[131]	31,609[131]
Church of God in Christ	5,499,875[132][133]	12,000[134]
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America	3,363,281[135]	9,091[135]
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.	3,106,000	12,336[129]
African Methodist Episcopal Church	2,510,000	7,000[136]
Baptist General Convention of Texas	2,079,385	5,309[129]
Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod	1,968,641	6,046[137]
Assemblies of God USA	1,818,941[138]	13,023[139]
Episcopal Church (United States)	1,676,349	6,423[140]
Progressive National Baptist Convention	1,500,000[141]	1,200 [129]
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church	1,432,795	3,226[142]
Presbyterian Church (USA)	1,352,678[143]	9,161[143]
Churches of Christ	1,352,462	14,175[144]
Pentecostal Assemblies of the World	1,300,000[145]	1,750[146]
Jehovah's Witness	1,237,054	12,594[147]
Baptist Bible Fellowship International	1,200,000	4,500[148]
American Baptist Churches USA	1,186,416	5,123[129]
Seventh-day Adventist Church	1,166,672	5,134[149]
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)	1,076,254	6,060[150]

People can look it up on the internet themselves because it's involved.  

[Cindy Evanier]

1 minute ago, Aethelwine said:

Interesting article from the BBC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52932611

George Floyd: Videos of police brutality during protests shock US

The Buffalo video shows a 75-year-old man approach police officers enforcing a curfew. They then move forward, pushing him back and causing him to fall over and hit his head.

As he lies on the ground, blood is seen pouring from his ear.

The man was taken away in an ambulance and was later found to have suffered a severe head injury.

An initial statement from Buffalo Police Department said the man had "tripped" and fallen during a "skirmish involving protesters", compounding outrage at the incident on social media.

Police spokesman Jeff Rinaldo later attributed the statement to officers not directly involved in the incident, adding that when the video had emerged the two policemen who pushed the demonstrator had been suspended without pay.

I watched that video earlier this morning 😡

[Selene Gregoire]

53 minutes ago, AyelaNewLife said:

I'm answering this for your benefit Luna.

The Church of England is potentially unique among the major branches of the Christian faith. It was founded at the height of the Reformation, when the political power of the Catholic Church was torn asunder by a mass movement that emphasised faith over structure. Yet unlike almost all other denominations that sprung up at this time, the Anglican Church was not formed around a theological idea or difference. Instead, it was a petty dispute between King Henry VIII and the Pope (with a side order of a large unpaid tax bill that needed paying) that led to us breaking free of Rome and forming our own church.

What followed was a few decades of struggle over the direction the Church should take - cling to Catholicism in all but name, or strike out to a more puritanical form of Protestantism? Several generations followed of swinging back and forth with the changing of the monarch, with a divided population so used to practising their faith at least in part in secret, yet always under the umbrella of the same Church. What emerged was a broad, permissive organisation which encompasses a vast range of beliefs and views.  When later waves of reformation swept the nation, these breakaways were just allowed to happen and co-exist in peace, and in many ways lived cooperatively. 

This means we avoided organisation vs organisation conflict. We avoided the dictation of theology by the state church, which took the rest of Europe two more centuries to fully break, and we avoided the senseless slaughter of conflicts such as the French Wars of Religion or the Thirty Years War. And it laid the groundwork for the symbiotic relationship between Church and State that exists here, rather than the parasitic one infecting much of the USA.

If it sounds like I'm describing a completely different organisation to the one you quoted, then I'll leave you to decide which one of us is grounded in reality.

(I could also talk at length about how this period resulted in enclaves of extremists of all colours fleeing to the colonies, and how that legacy of an uncompromising, puritanical outlook on religious or moral differences is still eating away at America to this day in a way that does not occur in Europe, but I'm wary of opening that can of worms... whoops, too late.)

Funny that. It's precisely what I was taught in Theology I in a Catholic high school. And I've never been Catholic, just attended the school. In the US.

Edited June 5, 2020 by Selene Gregoire

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

1 minute ago, Cindy Evanier said:

I watched that video earlier this morning 😡

And the thing that really sucks (among all the sucky things about it) is that if there had been no video, the cops would have gotten away with it.

[LittleMe Jewell]

6 minutes ago, Aethelwine said:

Police spokesman Jeff Rinaldo later attributed the statement to officers not directly involved in the incident, adding that when the video had emerged the two policemen who pushed the demonstrator had been suspended without pay.

Herein is much of the problem.  The majority of the police forces use body cams, but I truly believe that they aren't actually monitored by anyone (or by anyone that cares) and thus nothing ever happens until some public video brings an issue to light.

Edited June 5, 2020 by LittleMe Jewell

[Lyssa Greymoon]

Just now, Sylvia Tamalyn said:

And the thing that really sucks (among all the sucky things about it) is that if there had been no video, the cops would have gotten away with it.

I'll bet they get away with it anyway. Every cop in the country knows everything they do is on film, likely from more than one camera and they don't care.

[Beth Macbain]

18 minutes ago, Gatogateau said:

THIS was brilliant! For some reason though "Amish" just killed me with laughter. So glad I saw this today.

Did you see the video? They were actually Mennonite, but it's understandable to get them confused if you don't live around either.

[Selene Gregoire]

38 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

I love this! It even makes me want to see the movie!

(I have no idea what the movie is...)

Marvel Comics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avengers_(2012_film)

That's just one of the movies. There are several others, all well worth watching, imo.

Recommended watching order:

• Captain America: The First Avenger (takes place during WWII)
• Captain Marvel (takes place in 1995)
• Iron Man (takes place in 2010)
• Iron Man 2 (takes place after Iron Man)
• The Incredible Hulk (time unspecified, pre-Avengers)
• Thor (takes place six months before Avengers)
• The Avengers (takes place in 2012)
• Iron Man 3 (takes place six months after The Avengers)
• Thor: Dark World (post-Avengers, pre-Ultron)
• Captain America: Winter Soldier (post-Avengers, pre-Ultron)
• Guardians of the Galaxy (sometime in 2014)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (after Guardians)
• Avengers: Age of Ultron (takes place in 2015)
• Ant-Man (takes place in 2015)
• Captain America: Civil War (post-Ultron, pre-Infinity War)
• Spider-Man: Homecoming (post-Civil War, pre-Infinity War)
• Doctor Strange (takes place in 2016)
• Black Panther (takes place in 2017)
• Thor: Ragnarok (post-Ultron, pre-Infinity War)
• Avengers: Infinity War (takes place in 2017)
• Ant-Man and The Wasp (ambiguous, but fits nicely between IW and Endgame)
• Avengers: Endgame (starts in 2017, finishes in 2022)
• Spider-Man: Far From Home (post-Endgame)

[Aethelwine]

The story of David McAtee, shot in Louisville a tragedy of stupid policing.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/05/david-mcatee-louisville-protests-family

[Gatogateau]

1 minute ago, Beth Macbain said:

Did you see the video? They were actually Mennonite, but it's understandable to get them confused if you don't live around either.

They were labeled as Amish. It made me laugh.

[Luna Bliss]

3 minutes ago, Gatogateau said:

14 minutes ago, FairreLilette said:

People can look it up on the internet themselves because it's involved.  

I know you can't take a hint. You can't take a hint with a 2x4 between the eyes. As others have said, we know better but sometimes...one just has to yell

STFU!!!

THIS IS NOT A THREAD ABOUT YOUR STUPID BELIEFS, YOUR DANGEROUS MISINFORMATION, YOUR JUST PLAIN WRONGNESS ABOUT CHURCHES FFS. START YOUR OWN DAMN THREAD IF YOU WANT TO YAMMER ON MORE ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT.

STFU ABOUT CHURCHES! 

YOU ARE SO FAR OFF TOPIC.

gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

You are becoming abusive.  Going to report you if you keep it up.

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

Just now, Luna Bliss said:

You are becoming abusive.  Going to report you if you keep it up.

She's not wrong though. And while you are reporting, be sure to report the person who is continually going off topic with nonsense about churches. 

[Ceka Cianci]

I think going after churches is an easy blame rather than looking at where the real problems are..

Take a look at a city like Chicago..Because cities are where the largest problems are, where the most good could be done..

Cities will pump money into certain areas while tearing down the inner cities..

I remember in one summer Chicago closing 50 school mostly in the inner city areas.. Closing schools removes after school activities, outside areas to play like parks and courts and pretty much removing anything for kids to keep from being idle.. This in turn leaves them open to little options and  ups the odds of getting absorbed into the gangs..

meanwhile pumping money into the nicer richer areas of the city..

People outside of the inner city areas aren't even aware of what really happens in the inner cities,other than what the media shows,which is always violence and crime and just bad..never any of the good..

In my opinion, it will never go away because it's just too good of a business for the media to keep stoking the fire showing how good it is in this place and just how bad it in over in that place..

you don't have mass shootings in the inner city, they all get clumped together as gangland..

Racism thrives most in our cities and it starts from the top down..

the war between the north and south is long over.. it's thriving and most impactful in areas where the most people are ..

In cities you have Italian areas, Polish areas,China town,white, black and so on..

 

A good perspective of what I'm talking about with the inner city which I call the forgotten city within the city, you can see in a documentary called, More than a bullet which you can find  on youtube pretty easily..

I'd post the video here,but there is a lot of bad language and it would probably be removed anyways..

It might be ok to link it I guess though..

More Than A Bullet

 

I used to live in these areas when i was younger and still went back to visit  before all this social distancing happened..

It's a good documentary that shows where a lot of the problems stem from today and how media isn't helping a bit in making it any better..

 

Edited June 5, 2020 by Ceka Cianci

[Aethelwine]

On 6/3/2020 at 3:30 AM, Aethelwine said:

In solidarity with the protestors, Fridays Tradewinds Cruise will be writing BLM across the Blake Sea.

The cruise runs at 13:00 SLT, from Dex.

Shameless plug, but I have a cruise to run now.

[Gatogateau]

9 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

You are becoming abusive.  Going to report you if you keep it up.

 

8 minutes ago, Sylvia Tamalyn said:

She's not wrong though. And while you are reporting, be sure to report the person who is continually going off topic with nonsense about churches. 

:::shakes tiny furry paw at Sylvia:::

Oh, I'm sure you have already reported it, BullyBee.

Be sure to report the 10,000 other posts telling her in one way or another to STFU and she's so far off topic as to be in orbit.

Edited June 5, 2020 by Gatogateau
comma!!!!

[LittleMe Jewell]

14 minutes ago, Lyssa Greymoon said:

Every cop in the country knows everything they do is on film, likely from more than one camera

This right here shows that either they truly don't give a damn or are extremely stupid or just know that the chances of them getting in trouble are super slim -- or more likely a combination of those.

[Luna Bliss]

2 minutes ago, Gatogateau said:

8 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

You are becoming abusive.  Going to report you if you keep it up.

 

6 minutes ago, Sylvia Tamalyn said:

She's not wrong though. And while you are reporting, be sure to report the person who is continually going off topic with nonsense about churches. 

:::shakes tiny furry paw at Sylvia:::

Oh, I'm sure you have already reported it BullyBee.

Be sure to report the 10,000 other posts telling her in one way or another to STFU and she's so far off topic as to be in orbit.

When you guys want a scapegoat it seems there's nothin' to be done.