What ever happened to CONSTRUCTIVE debates?

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Do feathers and scales affect the bones of animals, allowing them to say that dinosaurs had scales and not feathers? Or is there some sort of evidence that leads one to believe that they have scales?

seriously? shit now i know who i want to marry me! (yes i mean perform the ceremony) so how did you get ordained?

I did it a few years ago, just to piss people off. legal in all but 2 states and my home state of utah being one of them.my name and address.utah my zip code United states is an ordained member of the clergy of The Church of Spiritual Humanism Date of Ordination: November 28, 2004 Ordained by R. A. Zorger, President****************************************************** CONGRATULATIONS AND WELCOME! The Church of Spiritual Humanism is happy to inform you that your ordination request has been reviewed and approved, and you are now an officially ordained clergy member. We are now offering our members ordination certificates, clergy wallet ID cards, blank certificates for various ceremonies, and "The Officiate's Manual" which contains lots of useful information for new clergy members. Many clergy members find these items useful when performing their religious services. There are three different packages to choose from. You are now entitled to all privileges and courtesies normally offered to ordained members of the clergy. The record of your ordination has been entered into the official permanent records of the Church of Spiritual Humanism. Ordinations by the Church of Spiritual Humanism are for life, and are awarded completely free and without monetary charge. Please print or otherwise preserve this notice for your records. As an ordained member of the clergy, you are hereby authorized by the CSH to officiate religious rites and ceremonies, including marriage, baby naming, funeral services, invocations, and holiday ceremonies, as permitted and subject to the laws and regulations of your country, state, and municipality. It is important that before you officiate any civil ceremony (such as marriages), you know and comply with all laws governing your locality. The Church of Spiritual Humanism promotes religion based on reason. As a member of the CSH clergy it is your charge to strive to base your actions on, and influence others to be motivated by, deliberation and reason and not the irrational, emotional, or subjective. Furthermore your responsibilities are to peacefully follow the proper course of action, and to avoid infringing on the rights of others. You alone are responsible for your actions as a member of the clergy.

Just because someones gonna hit me up over being ordained and not believing in god Ill add this to it all:From the official church web sites FAQ'sIs this a Christian church?The Church of Spiritual Humanism is a humanist church, and does not endorse christian theology. Christians are welcome to join but the tenets of the church are not based on the christian belief system. Our central tenant is that Religion must be based on Reason. The church will only endorse beliefs for with evidence verifiable by the scientific method. Since belief in gods is still a matter of faith rather than science we do not yet endorse it. If verifiable evidence of the supernatural is discovered the church be happy to adopt it into our religious system. BTW now it appears not onyl am I not ok in utah, but canada and the UK say fuck you to me as well as does the city of las vegasAnd jsut for Eddie, and Roc:Does the Church endorse same sex marriages?The Church of Spiritual Humanism recognizes and affirms the right of consenting adults to enter into and celebrate a committed union with each other regardless of their orientation or gender. If marriage is a legal option for a same gender couple our ordained clergy are fully authorized to perform a ceremony sanctified by the church for them. Even if such ceremonies are not legal in certain jurisdictions our clergy will not be penalized by the Church for performing them.

i got a question for ya, hopefully ending the hijacking of bobs nice thread (sorry bob) do you, or anyone know where i can find basically a transcript of something a secular-marriage-ceremony-performing-person would say? as in the " We are gathered here today" to " you may now kiss the bride" ?

I had a secular cerimony. Basically you say anything you want. Our guy prattled on a bit about marrage and love and such. He included that standard bits like "by the power invested in me" and such.
Even a religious ceremony contains stuff the minister makes up himself. Whatever makes the couple happy basically

oh, like Bob has never hijacked a thread pffft

Originally Posted By: bobalicious

What if we set up our "rules of engagement" as to make the debate purely educational and so people can feel safe to join in. All information backed up by citation and evidence, and that includes critical comments. Opinions are welcome, but should be relevant and non inflammatory.

All statements must be facts (which obviously discounts any discussion on the existence of God/gods). We can talk about science, politics, climate change (or lack there of), we can even talk about religion if you wish, as long as we keep to things that can be facts (aka, the controversy of whether Matthew was actually written by Matthew).

I definitely get what you're saying, and I think it's great. The only thing I would disagree with is your statement that all statements must be fact. If you look at some of the greatest dialogs of all time, going back to Socrates, they weren't just a series of factual statements. There were a lot of speculations bantered about. But there has to be rules. But I don't think the rules around discourse should be scientific rules. That would be boring and cold. I think they should be rules of logic and fair play. And I also echo what Scotty was saying. The message board where I've seen good dialog on a regular basis are the ones where most of the folk seem to hold themselves to a pretty high standard as far as how they treat each other.

All that being said, I'm still wondering if that could ever happen here. Maybe the nature/purpose of the board would even preempt that.

That won't ever happen here for the fact that, this board does attract teens and kids, which is great, that's why its here. For a board where you can have an amazing *discussion* to go to Hypography, or some of the like.

Also, When steve was here, he was always logical, and factual, but argumentative or... debate prone to the point that people were thrown off about it, because a lot of the time people don't want to discuss something.

NPDA Rules of Debating

Quote:

C. Format of the debate
First Proposition Constructive: 7 minutes
First Opposition Constructive: 8 minutes
Second Proposition Constructive: 8 minutes
Second Opposition Constructive: 8 minutes
Opposition Rebuttal: 4 minutes
Proposition Rebuttal: 5 minutes

let's give it a go :smile:

Darn, I was too late to argue against that idea.

Originally Posted By: Java_AddictAlso, When steve was here, he was always logical, and factual, but argumentative or... debate prone to the point that people were thrown off about it, because a lot of the time people don't want to discuss something. While he was full of info, he argued for the sake of arguing...not informing. He'd want you to try and prove the sun was yellow and the earth was round before he'd accept your argument...which is something I don't think I ever saw him do.I like what Scotty said. As for knowing the mind of God, there are those of us who accept the Bible as evidence of God's thinking. So, for those of us who do, we do know something about what God thinks. But it's easy to reject the Bible unless you have faith...or perhaps are more interested in doing what you want to instead of what God thinks is right. But without some direction given from a higher authority, we're wandering around like a bunch of children with no direction but our own base desires. Can you imagine what would happen to kids if they were allowed to do whatever they wanted to, all the time?

I was never allowed, I just did it. The great part of that is that I know what my kids are thinking before they think it and cut it off before they gather all the supplies, they dont get shit past me, I already did it all, fuck I invented the shit they are thinking up now!

Originally Posted By: GrvtykllrI was never allowed, I just did it. And if you knew then what you know now, would you have done something different? Regrets? I know I've got some.

If I knew then what I learned form doing it, I wouldnt of gotten caught, I have no regrets about it aside from all the drugs I got into, well the drugs, and the getting caught part of many of my escapades.

yes cold factual debate would be boring, the problem is,some people like to present their opinions and speculations as fact and then bitching ensues...

Quote: While he was full of info, he argued for the sake of arguingthat's called debating. When I was debating in school, my teachers would nearly always pit me against my own beliefs. That iss the art! Learing enough facts about an opposing opinion to be able to present it yourself.  Quote:we do know something about what God thinks how the hell can you think that you know anything about god as you see her as an all knowing, all seeing, omnipotent critter?That's like saying that the bacteria on the flea on the dog knows what the dog's master is thinking.or, you could just accept that god is an idea created by man. i.e. god exsists in you

Quote: about god as you see her as an all knowing, all seeing, omnipotent critter?that's cold-blooded

how so hon?all knowing, all seeing omnipotence or my description thereof?

the critter part. isn't that usually meant to describe a bug or insect. I call my little brother a critter.

Dictionary.com Definition Crittercrit·terPronunciation[krit-er]–noun Dialect.1. a domesticated animal.2. any creature. But you're right, when used casually it sometimes means a bug or insect or something less than human.