It didn't work out that way for Christopher Hitchens.

Exactly D. One can waive one's constitutional right such as the assistance of counsel, but the privilege lies exclusively with the accused. However, regarding opinion and constitutional rights, one reason that our Constitution includes a Bill of Rights was because British soldiers and constabulary had sometimes been arbitrary when performing their policing function. In other words, sometimes British soldiers succumbed to their passions when it came to law enforcement. Given that the Founding Fathers were creating a brand new government, delegates such as George Mason of Virginia were concerned that the new government could succumb to its passions and prey upon citizens. That's why he opined that a list of rights should be added to the Constitution.

Wow, Bill Maher really gave it to that weasel.

His opinion has changed since then, I assure you.

You don't know that. Dont pretend you do

Again, don't make the mistake of assuming that, because you don't know, nobody does.

Oh yeah? What makes you so sure you know? Seriously, I admit I don't know what happens to us after we die. But why get on a damn high horse and preach to "know the way"? Faith is one thing but the only people who really if there is an afterlife can't come back to tell us or if the true religion is whatever one we've made up in our 100,000 year existence. Fact is you can't know and no one does.

Whoa, back up. Who's preaching about "knowing the way" here? I haven't gone into any detail about anything because it wouldn't do any good here. I'm simply saying that, just because you don't know, doesn't mean nobody does. And saying that isn't getting on a "high horse."

"The nonspeculative nature of the Christian faith makes it unpalatable to many whose lives are thoroughly grounded in philosophical conjecture."

My apologies if I seemed too hostile. You seemed to imply that you knew what happened after we die. It you look at the book of Mormon thread you'll see a point I made about Mormonism being a hard religion to swallow for most people. Christianity is like that for a lot of people as well. Doesn't mean they're wrong it's just what they believe. I think that bothers a lot of Evangelicals and conservative Christians, especially ones I've been around

And like I pointed out in the other thread, Evangelicals and Christians get no pass from me for having a hard time believing in the Book of Mormon. Atheists and agnostics? OK. But other Christians? Nope. Not when you consider they believe any number of things in the Bible that could be argued to be just as unfathomable.

Sort of hard to argue with that. Christianity is a unique religion in that there are so many different offshoots all proclaiming to be the right one. Each has it's own set of beliefs. And to me, the parting of the red sea, the virgin Mary with no sperm and egg, is just as impossible as what Joseph Smith did. You tell me how an uneducated farmer wrote a book in two months and was able to read languages that didn't even exist when the plates were written. It's either a divince source or it's crap, and I'm inclined to go with the latter. But again my opinion, not trying to shit on what you believe

For the record, the specific engravings on the plates, which were translated into the Book of Mormon, were in what was called "Reformed Egyptian." They were Egyptian characters that were uniquely altered by the people who kept the records. And Egyptian certainly did exist at the time the plates were made.

Why is everyone on here talking about Mormons? Muslims set off the bombs, and were plotting Canadian bombings. Did I miss something in news on Mormons?

Ivy it should be noted no non-Mormon scholar acknowledges the existence of "reformed Egyptian" or the script within the golden plates as a language. It also should be noticed that the angel took the plates back after joesph was done translating them. Interesting coincidence as we now cannot confirm they ever existed. Also the 11 Mormon witnesses were all close friends, family or financial backers to Joseph Smith, during a time when these people believed heavily in the supernatural (magic and witches for ex.) which we now know there is no such thing.

Well, there was this.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57581090/mormon-bishop-with-samurai-sword-runs-off-attacker/


But I see your point. We got off track. Apologies all around.

Yeah same. Ivy we could take this debate to a private PM

I disagree with you on that. But I wont debate you on why, to each his own.

I thought those magic golden plates disappeared. And why woud they be written in any iteration of Egyptian?

Anyway, returning to the discussion about the Boston bombing, Chechen terrorists in America was the last thing I was expecting. It's like Cosa Nostra moving to Siberia or Nigerian gangs in Antarctica.

Networks reported that both brothers received public assistance. Younger one may have gotten college tuition assistance. Meanwhile, mother says "America took my boys from me."

Those parents are something else. I see the father is coming over here. Could a book deal be far behind?

I love the video of her with the black dress and the drab headscarf. Meanwhile, one of the reasons she fled the US was because she was accused of stealing almost $2,000 worth of dresses from Lord and Taylor. Gee, I didn't realize they had a babushka department at Lord and Taylor.

I read on MSN today that the mother is on the US terror database list.

So was Ted Kennedy and David Nelson.