The Most Godless City in America

Started by SGOS, March 25, 2015, 09:18:07 AM

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Solitary

PHOENIX? I feel a lot better now, I guess it is just the Mormon's in control of the government that are bat shit crazy.    :biggrin2: Solitary
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.

SGOS

Quote from: Solitary on March 25, 2015, 12:21:11 PM
PHOENIX? I feel a lot better now, I guess it is just the Mormon's in control of the government that are bat shit crazy.    :biggrin2: Solitary
That kind of surprised me too.

Brian37

GEEEEEE OOOOOOOO PEEEEEEE

It is harder for that party to fuck over skeptics. Easier to fuck over people who are not as educated.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers." Obama
Poetry By Brian37 Like my poetry on Facebook Under BrianJames Rational Poet and also at twitter under Brianrrs37

Aroura33

#18
As an Oregonian, yay for Portland!

I lived in Portland for well over a decade, live about an hour south of there now. 

Portland is great, and has a lot of things going for it, but it is full of fruitcakes.  Not the edible kind, generally speaking. 
If you are tech savvy, it is a great place to get a good job (well, the suburbs of it anyway), but a HUGE number of the religiously unafilliated will be spiritual people who believe in magic crystal healing, positively charged water, and a load of other woo that would drive most of you up a wall. Many Portlanders simply turned away from religion into some new age quackery.

My dad is a great example of a true Portlander.  He's in his 60's, and lives communally with a group of other middle aged and up folks.  Has his own bedroom, but they share the rest of the house.  Since he's now retired, he spends much of his free time volunteering.  He works at KBOO, a "free" radio station that is like NPR on steroids, he does the news for them twice a week now, and also helps with their data files.
Then he volunteers at the Audubon society once a week, then at the Farmers Market downtown each weekend.  There he counts tokens and gleans for the soup kitchen downtown, which he delivers a carload of food to every week.
My dad is not "crunchy", but he is adamant about buying local.  He is not poverty level, but still dumpster dives to find treasures other people throw out.   He either has a coffee or a water bottle on him at ALL TIMES!
He is a self admitted atheist,, but half of his aging friends are potheads with some very strange personality traits (one lives two fully separate lives, one as a character she invented for her radio show), and the other half are new age spiritualists.

Portland is full of crazy.  It's often a good kind of crazy.  You'd have to really know the underbelly to see it though.

Still, if I have to live in a big city again, it will be either Portland or Seattle.  You can keep the rest of the country, the great NW is too full of both weird and awesome for me to leave. :)
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.  LLAP"
Leonard Nimoy

Mike Cl

Quote from: Aroura33 on March 25, 2015, 01:26:49 PM
As an Oregonian, yay for Portland!

I lived in Portland for well over a decade, live about an hour south of there now. 

Portland is great, and has a lot of things going for it, but it is full of fruitcakes.  Not the edible kind, generally speaking. 
If you are tech savvy, it is a great place to get a good job (well, the suburbs of it anyway), but a HUGE number of the religiously unafilliated will be spiritual people who believe in magic crystal healing, positively charged water, and a load of other woo that would drive most of you up a wall. Many Portlanders simply turned away from religion into some new age quackery.

My dad is a great example of a true Portlander.  He's in his 60's, and lives communally with a group of other middle aged and up folks.  Has his own bedroom, but they share the rest of the house.  Since he's now retired, he spends much of his free time volunteering.  He works at KBOO, a "free" radio station that is like NPR on steroids, he does the news for them twice a week now, and also helps with their data files.
Then he volunteers at the Audubon society once a week, then at the Farmers Market downtown each weekend.  There he counts tokens and gleans for the soup kitchen downtown, which he delivers a carload of food to every week.
My dad is not "crunchy", but he is adamant about buying local.  He is not poverty level, but still dumpster dives to find treasures other people throw out.   He either has a coffee or a water bottle on him at ALL TIMES!
He is a self admitted atheist,, but half of his aging friends are potheads with some very strange personality traits (one lives two fully separate lives, one as a character she invented for her radio show), and the other half are new age spiritualists.

Portland is full of crazy.  It's often a good kind of crazy.  You'd have to really know the underbelly to see it though.

Still, if I have to live in a big city again, it will be either Portland or Seattle.  You can keep the rest of the country, the great NW is too full of both weird and awesome for me to leave. :)
I am a trapped Oregonian--trapped in California.  Looked into moving to Cottage Grove or Eugene when I retired, but the crash did that idea in.  The property values where I lived dropped almost 75%.  It is only a little better now.  Anyway, I do find Oregon full of 'weird'--most of it good.  It has been a progressive state in my lifetime.  Hope it stays that way.  The Safari Park in Roseburg is great fun--if that matters. :)
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Mike Cl

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

trdsf

Portland also made this guy mayor, which factoid I just love:

"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Aroura33

Quote from: Mike Cl on March 25, 2015, 02:42:51 PM
I am a trapped Oregonian--trapped in California.  Looked into moving to Cottage Grove or Eugene when I retired, but the crash did that idea in.  The property values where I lived dropped almost 75%.  It is only a little better now.  Anyway, I do find Oregon full of 'weird'--most of it good.  It has been a progressive state in my lifetime.  Hope it stays that way.  The Safari Park in Roseburg is great fun--if that matters. :)
Funny, we are going to the Safari in May. My daughter earned a 2 person overnight stay there, where we'll get to see nocturnal animals and sleep on site somewhere.  I'm so excited to go!

I'm sorry to hear you were unable to move up here, but perhaps some day!
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.  LLAP"
Leonard Nimoy

Mike Cl

Quote from: Aroura33 on March 28, 2015, 02:33:26 PM
Funny, we are going to the Safari in May. My daughter earned a 2 person overnight stay there, where we'll get to see nocturnal animals and sleep on site somewhere.  I'm so excited to go!

I'm sorry to hear you were unable to move up here, but perhaps some day!
I am so jealous!  Great for your daughter!  We had a great incident the last time my wife and I went.  As we pulled into the lion enclosure, we were treated to quite a show.  Two teenage lions were along the fence, two fully adult lions were following them and about 30 ft from our car.  We watched them intently slowly approach the two youngsters, in a very noisy fashion.  We had the shit scared (almost literally) of us by two huge roars from right beside the rear passenger door of our mini van.  Two lionesses had approached from the rear unnoticed by us until then!  Wow!  What a hugely noisy affair.  We learned later that the two juveniles had acted badly and were being disciplined by the rest of the pack--at least according to the lion keeper.   We need to get back there--my snow leopard sweatshirt in just about in tatters now. 
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Savior2006

#24
Quote from: Aroura33 on March 25, 2015, 01:26:49 PM
As an Oregonian, yay for Portland!
I lived in Portland for well over a decade, live about an hour south of there now. 
Portland is great, and has a lot of things going for it, but it is full of fruitcakes.  Not the edible kind, generally speaking. 
If you are tech savvy, it is a great place to get a good job (well, the suburbs of it anyway), but a HUGE number of the religiously unafilliated will be spiritual people who believe in magic crystal healing, positively charged water, and a load of other woo that would drive most of you up a wall. Many Portlanders simply turned away from religion into some new age quackery.

I'll take that new-age spirituality bullshit over the Big Three anyday. I imagine the former doesn't try to elect people that then pass laws allowing them to discriminate against others.

I've heard that Vermont is actually the state with the least religious people overall. I actually looked it up on Wiki after a Facebook test saying that's the state I would fit in the best. I feel sorry for any people that got Mississippi.
It took science to do what people imagine God can do.
--ApostateLois

"The closer you are to God the further you are from the truth."
--St Giordano

Valigarmander


Aroura33

#26
Quote from: Savior2006 on April 02, 2015, 09:22:34 AM
I'll take that new-age spirituality bullshit over the Big Three anyday. I imagine the former doesn't try to elect people that then pass laws allowing them to discriminate against others.

I've heard that Vermont is actually the state with the least religious people overall. I actually looked it up on Wiki after a Facebook test saying that's the state I would fit in the best. I feel sorry for any people that got Mississippi.
You are correct that new agers aren't getting into government and trying to pass laws based on their beliefs. But you still get a lot of personally pushy people in new age.  Like my little bro-in-law gives us magic healing crystals with wires in them that are supposed to draw out our negative energy, and he will argue the merits of the magic water, too.

I have a host of friends who are new age, and family as well, and I much prefer them to the devoutly religious.  However, new agers aren't much different from the majority of people I know who claim to be religious, but rarely go to church, love science, believe in evolution, and don't hate gay people at all.  I mean, I don't mind anyone who is casual about their religion or belief system.  A Casual Christian is no different than a casual new ager, but both can turn obnoxious when they are hard core.

This thread makes me miss Portland.  I hate the little city we live in now, it is full of creationists and hard core throw back Regan loving conservatives.  My hubby calls it the taint of Oregon, and he isn't far wrong.

I love Oregon, but we are a Schitzo state, our liberals are VERY liberal, our conservatives are VERY conservative, and never the twain shall meet.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.  LLAP"
Leonard Nimoy

PJS

We visited Portland about eight years ago. My wife and I stayed near downtown for over a week and noticed only one church in walking distance. There are eight within two miles of my house. Another interesting observation was seeing only one Bush/Cheney bumper sticker until we drove out of the city. Then we noticed several pick up trucks with those bumper stickers. Very interesting city with good public transportation, great seafood and much entertainment.
The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made. It requires troublesome work to undertake the alternation of old beliefs.
-John Dewey

drunkenshoe

I've visited Portland and Corvalis. Of course, it was just a 2 weeks visit, but I liked people and met none weird stupid questions or seen any religious bullshit during that short time. They showed me a Mormon Temple from afar, it was the first time I have seen a religious structure other than a pagan temple, synagogue, church or a mosque. and I have seen old stuff.

The only thing I noticed was, it is too white.

Also, if I remember correctly the creator of the Spaghetti Monster is from Oregon University, right? 
"science is not about building a body of known 'facts'. ıt is a method for asking awkward questions and subjecting them to a reality-check, thus avoiding the human tendency to believe whatever makes us feel good." - tp