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Because religion, at its heart, is about belief. As a former non believer I can tell you categorically that non believers do not understand religion on a level that is necessary to discuss it knowledgeably.
It is a bit like getting advice on sex from a virgin.
Point not proven, at all. You have no basis beyond ipse dixit to declare the atheist who examined a religion and rejected it, did not do so because he examined it more thoroughly than you did.
Moreover, if you were a "nonbeliever" (a hopelessly unworkable term but we'll mirror it for now) and then progressed to "believer" --- how do you know you won't further progress back to "nonbeliever" given further wisdom?
A virgin by definition has no sex experience. That analogy fails.
He can examine it as long as he likes, doesn't mean he understands how it works for people that actually believe. There is plenty of evidence that religion makes a difference in people's lives. Denying that makes you a person that ignores reality in favor of personal beliefs, AKA a closed mind.
A person who does not belief has no experience with religion, all they have is book knowledge, not experience. I read a lot about sex before I ever had it. Trust me, book knowledge does not cover sex even slightly. The same applies to religion, and nothing you can say will change that.
Matthew 6:5-6New International Version (NIV)
Prayer
5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
I love telling Christian's what's in their Bible.
Newsflash: There is a difference between saying grace over food and what that verse is talking about. I would explain it to you, but you already have all the answers because you are a close minded bigot who never listens to anyone but people that reinforce your own bigotry. I feel pity for idiots like you.
Spoken like a true Christian! ROFL!
Just a news flash, if you followed the link in the OP you would know that the restaurant was asked that question, and that they had no problem with giving the discount to Muslims, or any other religion, because the idea is to foster gratitude, not religion. ...
Here's a news flash backatcha: I read the linked story in the OP of Unkotare's thread -- you know, the one that was merged with your thread. It said nothing about Mary's response to the flack that arose from the story going viral. The reply you quoted was posted prior to the merger.
As I've now stated in this thread, I have no problem with the practice, as long as it's applied equitably.
How can such a policy be applied to atheists? An atheist doesn't pray, and in fact finds the practice repugnant and offensive.
By applying this practice to all religions, the owners of this discriminatory diner have announced to the wyrld that they hate enlightened atheists, such as mysylf, and the substantially less-enlightened agnostics who still cling to the irrational belief that there might be some all-knowing, omniscient being out there. They deserve to be shut down, in place of the bigoted bakery that hates Homosexual-Americans.
I don't think this is necessarily true.How can such a policy be applied to atheists? An atheist doesn't pray, and in fact finds the practice repugnant and offensive.
I'm an atheist, and I don't find prayer offensive or repugnant. I might find it silly and maybe even sometimes awkward but offensive? Nah, they do what they do and I do what I do, whatever.
I guess that makes you a fake atheist--a fathiest, to coin a term.
This restaurant doesn't advertise this discount; are they not therefore charging everybody they don't see praying 15% more than those they do?
It isn't "giving your own money away" anyway. It's on the bill; they haven't been paid yet.
On the contrary it's the same thing expressed in reverse. See above.
*sigh* Just how many years did you spend on the short bus, anyway?
There are laws against hidden charges. There are no laws against "hidden discounts". Even you should be able to figure out why that is, and extrapolate the difference from there.
As for "haven't been paid yet", what's that got to do with anything? Confusing money and currency is only one step above choosing a nickel over a dime because it's bigger. Just because they haven't received the currency for the bill doesn't mean they aren't giving their money - expressed in this case as the product they're selling for less than they could have gotten - away.
It must really suck being a leftist. I don't think I could stand being that obtuse.
None of which addresses my argument, but I accept your concession since I know you need to change that diaper.
This post is just ... bizarre. ...
Oh, I agree wholeheartedly! That post (#124) IS bizarre. I'll go ahead and give you credit for admitting it upfront, though.
What, you've never stopped for a meal while passing through or visiting another major metropolitan area in your own home state?
First, had you bothered to break down and read the first fucking post I made in this thread (post 3 here), you would have seen where I said I do exactly that, which is how I know Mary and her restaurant.
It was literally the second sentence I posted in this thread, dude. Read much?
And second, Asheville and Winston Salem are 145 miles apart, not a "reasonable driving distance". Much as I love Mary's, I don't jump in the car and drive two hours for breakfast. If I lived in Asheville (which I once did) it would be even further.
...As for "out-of-staters", Virginia is closer than Asheville. So is South Carolina. ...
...And third, there is no "satanist religion". That's a joke, and you're the butt. ...
...Oh. I see, you read it on the internets therefore it's real.
...Paganism has nothing to do with "Satan".
Satan is a Christian invention.
[. . .] In the West, we have these various words: pagan, Christian, and atheist. In the eyes of some Christians, all who do not worship their God are pagans and outsiders. This is an indication of the weight that Christians give to the refusal to believe their doctrine. An interesting fact is that the term 'atheist' was first used by 'pagans' to describe Christians. Because adherents of the old religion were very pious, if someone refused to make even a tiny offering to the Gods, they were called atheists because the Christians did not believe in the Gods of the ancestral tradition. [2]
One thing is quite certain. The first use of the word pagan in antiquity referred to worshipers of the ancient Gods, the Hellenic Gods in particular, of the Roman Empire. Jonathan Kirsch in his book God Against The Gods says
" 'Pagan' is a word invented by early Christians to describe anyone who refused to recognize the Only True God, and no self-respecting pagan ever described himself as one." [3]
Therefore, our tradition has more "claim," so to speak, to this term than any religion or sect, whether the word is desirable or not. According to Robin Lane Fox in Pagans and Christians, it was the Christians who first used the term to refer to the adherents of the old tradition:
"Pagani were civilians who had not enlisted through baptism as soldiers (Latin: milites) of Christ against the powers of Satan." [4]
The word pagan comes from the Latin paganus. [1] According to Pierre Chuvin:
"A paganus is the inhabitant of a pagus, a country district, a man whose roots, unlike a soldier's, are where he lives." [5]
Further, Chuvin goes on to say that pagans are those who
"preserved their local customs, whereas the alieni, the 'people from elsewhere,' were increasingly Christian." [6]
So, from Chuvin's idea, we see another dimension, not unlike the idea of ethnic, rather than a condescending concept. Yet he states that the use of the term is consistently pejorative. [1] [ ][emphasis Capstones]
it's the height of ignorance to first invent your own devil and then hang it on those competitors who threaten you. Nothing new here; that's what Christianism did by inventing Saul Alinksy in the first place. Uh, I mean Lucifer. Whatever. That's still got absolutely nothing to do with anything here.
Again, "Satan" is a Christianism invention; pagans don't believe in it. "Satanism" is satire based on that silliness, and you're apparently too shallow to process it .
Mary (the proprietor here) is herself one of those pagans -- except you're still in the wrong city altogether. WS is further from Asheville that Philadelphia is from Washington DC. How many Philadelphians do you know that traipse down to DC just for breakfast? Do you imagine Asheville has no restaurants?
--- a phrase YOU brought in, a metaphorical phrase anyway, in reference to another unrelated city that's nowhere near this restaurant, and now when you've been called on geographical head-up-the-ass ignorance you're spinning like a Maytag on Monday .
A friend and I once got in a car in western NC and drove to the ocean. It took us literally all day. Even where I live I'm further west than Cleveland. So the fact that two places both exist in North Cackalackee doesn't in any way mean they're in "reasonable traveling distance" of each other. Dumbass.
And fourth, the restaurant and its staff are more pagan than anything else, which means they would welcome anything. They're certainly not conventional types....
What? Now you want to discuss the topic? I can't keep up...
Nah since I used the commonly accepted definition of one who doesn't believe in God., not whatever personal pet definition of the serial victim types where one is also required to be offended if others do.I guess that makes you a fake atheist--a fathiest, to coin a term.
...I have no problem with the practice, as long as it's applied equitably.
How can such a policy be applied to atheists? An atheist doesn't pray, and in fact finds the practice repugnant and offensive. ...
Just make sure the waitstaff is watching. Not to "game the system", but to legitimately fulfill one or more of its creator's stated purposes! Remember, according to the diner's owner, it's about the appearance of quiet respectfulness, not religion.laugh might spot you while your head's bowed, you could always have some t-shirts made up with enormous Darwin fish logos, front and back.
Religion haters are too stoopid and blinded with hate to just go in there and fake a fuckin' prayer for the discount!
I never expected my favorite breakfast restaurant to show up on USMB. Thanks for posting it. Haven't been there in several weeks.
As they say there: "Mary's --- you've had worse things in your mouth"
Oh yeah, historically far more violence has come from the non-religious.It's a wonder liberal atheists haven't burned the place to the ground by now.
There's a difference between taking someone's money, and giving your own money away.
Which is not to say that they can't charge for anything they want, so long as it's posted and people are aware of incurring that charge beforehand. I believe it's actually illegal in every state to charge people for something you didn't tell them you were going to charge for ahead of time.
This restaurant doesn't advertise this discount; are they not therefore charging everybody they don't see praying 15% more than those they do?
It isn't "giving your own money away" anyway. It's on the bill; they haven't been paid yet.
That would not be the same circumstance at all, but I suppose I would simply not take my business to that restaurant.
On the contrary it's the same thing expressed in reverse. See above.
*sigh* Just how many years did you spend on the short bus, anyway?
There are laws against hidden charges. There are no laws against "hidden discounts".
Amen.If you are praying to receive a discount on your breakfast you are doing it for the wrong reasons.
I wonder if they'd be nice enough to give that discount to someone praying to satan. If not, that would be an establishment discriminating against a religious belief.
As two studies involving patients in hospitals being prayed for (and not), demonstrated that those being prayed for by their church, had a poorer outcome than those who didn't have a church praying for them and thus demonstrating that prayer simply doesn't work, maybe the discount should be for those who don't pray, since it just takes up more table time at the restaurant.
Oh yeah, historically far more violence has come from the non-religious.It's a wonder liberal atheists haven't burned the place to the ground by now.
The Restaurant may have their heart in a good place with this gesture of theirs, but it truly is not what God teaches us about prayer being done in private, and they are encouraging others to pray "for money" and for "show", whether they realize this or not.
Which goes AGAINST God's instructions in the Bible.
That's just my opinion on it...
Otherwise, I am fine and dandy with this restaurant's decision to do this, whether a promotional gimmick or true felt good gesture....it's up to them, not me to decide for them.
