General Discussion
I just saw this on BBC News website and came on to post it - a few minutes too late.
I am delighted that we live somewhere where one can express one's opinions so freely. Long may it continue.
I was not aware that the Scriptures or Gospels, in the capitalised sense of Old and New Testament, made any specific reference to Christian nations, Armenia being the first to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 301 AD, long after the Bible was written. Mr. Silvester has now corrected my misunderstanding, although I do feel that God might have contented himself with smiting Mr. Cameron and a few cabinet colleagues, rather than afflicting storms and floods upon "large swathes of the nation," no doubt including many Christians.
@Mrs C, i think you will find that god never took out his annoyance on a few individuals, but usually on very large swathes of people. revellation 11:18 - even using his son to do it!
@ MrsC
One person is not the whole of UKIP, as your title leads us to believe.
It is just one persons opinion, and not the party line.
It is probably a complete surprise to you that other people are allowed an opinion that is different from yours or the Tory party.
CARER, as you were one of those to press the 'Like' button on one of the "Islam at it's best" threads, I can safely assume that you don't really get irony do you?
@MrsC
How dare you say that I pressed the like button on the post that you have mentioned.
What proof do you have to back up your FALSE ACCUSATION?
Come on MrsC, show us all what proof you have.
Devon County Council gritters are on high alert after a man in Teignmouth went into a pub and ordered a glass of white wine.
High winds in Bishopsteignton after 2 men were spotted at Jacks Patch heading towards the plants without stopping to look at the ride-on lawnmowers.
A lingering look between 2 men at the Dawlish Leisure Centre gym has sparked concerns from residents living near the brook.
The early sunshine in Starcross has been replaced by cloud after a man spent a suspiciously long time grooming his facial hair.
An area of high pressure centred around dawlish.com will cause severe outbreaks of bold text, capital letters and exclamation marks.
CARER, please forgive me. Like I forgive you for not expressing the same sentiments to the Islamophobes on here on that particular thread.
Perhaps, as just one Gay Man I can offer this reflection:
I believe I have lived through an age of miracle and that this nation should be proud of the grace with which it has moved to a greater understanding that to be Gay is simply a different expression of Love.
I was born in 1964, into a country where to express this love was to risk imprisonment. As an adult I met men who had paid that price. Their lives blighted by imprisonment and ostrachism. I grew up being bullied and the notion was constantly enforced that to be Gay was unfortunate.
As a nation, we've gradually moved through change, often frustratingly slow, to a society that is largely at peace with the notion that two men (or women) should be able to live together without fear of physical battering, window smashing. They should be able to work without fear of losing their jobs or having to put up with hateful bullying, they should be able to serve in the forces if they wish, raise their children in loving homes and now finally marry each other.
This change came about because of brave pioneers who refused to accept being treated as second best. It also required people who weren't Gay to show the warmth of human spirit that enables us to listen to another person's experience and say "That's not my life, but I respect it is yours" When you look at a world in which people still die or are imprisoned for being Gay, I think that Great Britain can be proud of the journey we made over the past 50 years
Life is never perfect, young people are still being bullied for being Gay, suicides still happen, parents worry for their children as to be Gay can sometimes be a hard road. Homophobic beatings and murders still happen, but we are continualy getting there. The simple fact is that for Gays and Lesbians willing to live their lives proudly, it does get better - and we all should be proud to live in a country where this is possible.
Progress has certainly been made for those of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community but if you click on this link http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/gay-marriage-legislation-passed-despite-1903291 and scroll down you will see the names of those MPs who only last year voted against the same sex marriage bill (it includes the name of our own MP by the way).
So it was against her beliefs, whats wrong with that. Do we all have to just accept what the leaders tell us is right or can we make up our (her) own mind on the rights and wrongs of the law that they where being asked to vote on.
I believe it was a free vote so she and over a hundred other MPs voted as their conscience told them to do. I just wonder what she and those others would have done had it been a whipped vote.
I'm just pointing out that although things have changed an awful lot since the 1960s there is still a long way to go.
Lynne
It's unhelpful to look back at past disagreements. The graceful transition that I've seen in society is created by allowing each change to settle. In my experience this usually happens pretty quickly and people are almost surprised to think that these issues were once controversial
I agree with you about issues that were once controversial becoming less so or even indeed not so at all over the passage of time, but surely it is only by looking at the past and the disagreements found there that we can judge what progress (or not) has been made.
Does anyone know if it's Anne Marie Morris' personally held belief or whether she thinks she's representing the views of the majority of the constituency? If I had a belief which was at odds with my duty I would probably abstain.
Hesitant to speak about someone else's opinion
but, when I went to see her I was told she felt it an unnecessary change because of Civil Partnerships and might cause offence to others who felt marriage should be between different genders,
i realise this may now cause some people to write and express agreement / disagreement with that, and potentially lead to another rolling argument between people who will never agree with each other.
That's why I think the best agent for positive change will be to leave those arguments in the past, and just wait to see how quickly this becomes yet another part of the settled landscape of this society. A nation that prides itself on allowing people to live their own lives.