Breaking News - Allegedly 10 people killed at office of satirical magazine in Paris

I'm not laughing at her. Sounds a game lass.

Unfortunately I didn't hear the whole item - seems she had married and once phoned the Samaritans in despair.

I reckon by 95 most people are not sexually active but retain their orientation.

So the pope was joking? Bad joke.

He was simply being light-hearted. That's not bad. No one can be serious all the time.

Time to lighten up a bit soon?

No he wasn't joking soon he was making his point in a light hearted way as jingl said. But he was making a point never-the-less.

I think Anya is spot on.

soon I don't think the Pope was joking - rather making the point that he understood the anger of those who feel insulted but that he would have reacted in a different way and merely punched the offender.

Christians are not doctrinally pacifist are they?

Violence is never a joke. Sorry.

Newsflash! The pope didn't actually hit anyone.

Didn't Jesus use violence against the traders in the temple?

I think only on the tables.

ANGST,

"An acute but nonspecific sense of anxiety & remorse."

Good word IMO

[

Ah yes. It is from 'anxiety'. Thanks Nonu.

I suspect you would find that the word "anxiety" and the word "angst" (German Angst) both have the same root Latin anxietas rather than coming * from* each other.

There you are soon! You needed to know that didn't you?

And still they write! Possibly the best one yet! Such clarity! by Dan Hodges.

The essence: it's not about free speech but about living in a secular society.

"Does what you are arguing for impinge upon my right to live in a secular society? Is the basis for your offence rational thought, or religious doctrine? If it’s the former, we have to find some form of compromise. But if it’s the latter, then I’m sorry, but that’s tough.
If you don’t like images of the Prophet Muhammad, fine. Don’t draw them. But don’t tell me I can’t draw them. If you don’t want to marry someone of the same sex, don’t. But don’t try and tell me who I can and can’t marry. If you don’t think shops should open on a Sunday, don’t go to the shops. But don’t tell me I have to sit at home and make peace with your god.
This is the line that needs to be drawn. Not around free speech, but around our right to have our own set of beliefs, rather than have them imposed as part of a de-facto theocracy.
This is the deal. Jews, Christians, Hindus, Muslims. Welcome. You are free to practice your faith amongst us. But never forget this. It is your faith, not mine. And if you can’t accept that, then in the immortal words of the mayor of Rotterdam, you can “f––– off”."

" You are free to practice your faith amongst us. But never forget this. It is your faith, not mine. " But that doesn't give him the right to cause offence and hurt by mocking the other people's religion.

As for that last line, speaks volumes.

The mayor of Rotterdam is a Muslim.

He was basically telling fundamentalists that if you don't like the freedoms of the country that you've chosen to come to, then you can f*ck off!

Is there a mechanism for demoting – or should that be unfrocking – the Pope?

But riverwalk, as I said upthread, they can pack their bags and go forth and multilply, but where in the world is free of western influence and interference (whether for ideological or financial reasons)?

We want them to leave us with our freedoms in our country, but we are not happy to leave them with their barbarism in theirs.

I am of course not saying that their way is right, but that they cannot just vanish over the horizon and wallow in their barbarism safe from our interference.

So what is the answer?

And people like that Dan Hodges have picked up on it and use it in the wrong way.

jings, I find it amusing that you of all people (she of several sods off and similar phrases on GN) are getting prissy about other people's language on this thread. Seems rather two-faced to me. Just saying

Jing. 18.57
.Iit does indeed, kinda sad really, have to feel for them!!

Suppose how folk are brought up, conditions them.

I'm not interpeting the fuck off attitude with the Enoch Powell attitude of "send them home to their own countries". Perhaps I should be but I'm not. I'm interpreting that fuck off with the comment higher up Hodges' article saying that it's just tough if jihadists don't like Western values; they'll just have to lump it because we aren't giving them up in spite of their violence and barbarism.

When I have said things in the past on this forum, it has been because some posters were really horrible. In fact, verging on the attempt to bully. Recognise any of that?

Thank God Gransnet has changed since then.