Is Ubuntu Christian Edition Needed?

You are simply choosing to insult people for no good reason.

Ah, so my beliefs are an insult to anybody of Christian faith and I have to self-sensor so no Christian will feel uncomfortable by being confronted with a person not following Christian dogma.

As far as I can see I defended the existence of the Christian fork of Ubuntu, even if my personal beliefs label the thing as a superfluous curiosity aimed at a belief-system I don't subscribe to. Which is exactly what I stated in my thread starter.

FL/OSS has that embedded freedom to use the software for whatever purpose you see fit. Including starting distributions that might seem redundant.

Hmmm. Let's see. Yeah, I guess it's pretty bad to share your beliefs with others, set up clinics, schools, and all of that other bad stuff. That Mother Theresa and Biship TuTu were pretty folks.

Glossing over the nastier stuff, aren't we? Before white men came to colonize and save the "savages", they were doing quite alright in their environments. It was after whites destroyed their culture, that they needed our help as a crutch to survive. Help we give, partially motivated out of guilt for the tremendous wrongs done.

And yes, I've found out that sharing your beliefs with others is bad, when you are outnumbered by those who try to fight your beliefs. I should have the freedom to have a different belief and not have to hide it, even if some groups feel uncomfortable about that.

Guess not. Might makes right.

Sorry, now you've got me doing it. It's just so hard to take you seriously on an intellectual basis when you say such silly things.

Label me the lunatic, if it makes you feel better and makes it easier for you to dismiss me as a thing not worth your time. There might have been a time that I might have cared about what others thought of me, but since I've realized we are all bungling, bald apes (including myself) it doesn't carry that much weight anymore...

News flash: We don't care. You are free to believe whatever you want. You are even free to be as insulting as you please, and to call each and every one of us tiny little minds -- which is what you meant.

Wrong. What I meant was exactly what I said. God is too vast to be captured into what Christianity tells us what it is. I believe that to be true for every man made religion. I don't have the arrogance to believe that I, as a severely limited being (read human), can grasp what God is, let alone what the motives of such a being are.

The problem is not me believing that Christianity in its current form can't capture the nature of all things existing. The problem is Christians so convinced that what they believe is so absolutely, beyond any doubt right, that they feel personally attacked when they encounter a dissenting view.

You feel grand because of your belief and anybody daring to say Christianity is limited, is being attacked, because to you someone saying Christianity is limited is saying that you are.

I never said Christians are of tiny little minds, that is what your mind translated it into. It was what compelled you to cross swords with me, over a mere statement. I'm always game to poke with daggers and chop with swords. Even if I know the reason to do so is bogus. Call it one of my flaws.

The reason you (and others) reached an elevated pressure level, is that you read more into my statement than there really was.

Maybe you are a tiny mind, but if that is the case, I'm one-hundred percent certain that it is not because you are a Christian.

Well, Mr. Parris, I can agree not to agree on a lot of stuff. I'm not even thinking the actual things discussed here are a matter of real importance.

The thing that I find funny in a sad way, is that I still see a thread dominated by people slamming me for not believing what Christians believe and substituting anything I said (which overall hasn't been much) with their own fears, ideas, expectations and knee-jerk reactions.

Well, I'll admit that telling you what I believe (which should be a right) and how that relates to all of organized, existing religions up till now, was mildly intended to ruffle up some feathers. I have an interest in seeing how open minded the people I share this planet with are. I haven't met a lot of people who can ponder over a wide range of concepts freely and still feel comfortable with their own and others ideas.

Most telling and saddening thing is that nobody here can live with the idea, that I believe to work within a construct that is more wide ranging than the construct of Christianity and that therefore I personally can't work within the perceived limitations of this religion. No, I get 101 "lessons" about the core tenets of the Christian religion, as if I don't know them and therefore are misled to believe that something else could exist, which must be "corrected".

The thing irking me is that it becomes clear that people can only profess to believe what the majority believes too, if they want to be left alone. Anything else will meet hostile resistance.

If I really thought being of Christian faith is ridiculous and I was bent on doing harm to Christianity, I would have screamed bloody murder about Ubuntu CE. I didn't. I defended the existence of UCE. That is a tiny thing totally overlooked here, because a lot of people were very busy pounding on the thing that did perceived harm to their own insecure ego's.

I do understand the uproar about the Danish caricatures about Muslim extremists a little better now though.

I have this gut feeling that a lot of people will still try to "burn me at the stake" for stating that I consider Christianity to be a tiny mold, which it is from my perspective. It shouldn't have mattered, whether I am wrong or not. People should be free to believe whatever they want and be free to express that.

Instead of trying to diminish me, someone could have explained why s/he thinks Christianity is a very wide and deep construct (which in its own right it is), but nobody chose to do that. Somehow there needs to be some sort of vindication, essentially over a petty thing.

I'll stop expecting that people can follow my motivations and I'll try to focus on simpler day to day things. I wasn't attacking Christianity. I have no need to do so. I was probing the level of tolerance.

I don't mind being called on what I believe. What did poke my dark side was the hysterical reaction to something that should be of no importance to any Christian. If you are confident and comfortable about your own beliefs, no general statement (right or wrong) would stir such overblown reactions. Which is true. You yourself, Mr. Parris, have proven this. You didn't go on a crusade and I think that is because you are comfortable and confident in your faith.

I will leave this thread for what it is, with this very lengthy post. I do feel a little guilty over that, but I had to state my position.

R_A_Trip:

> The thing that I find funny in a sad way, is that I still see a thread dominated by people slamming me for not believing what Christians believe and substituting anything I said (which overall hasn't been much) with their own fears, ideas, expectations and knee-jerk reactions.

Dino has been your primary debating partner, and he's done none of those things. He's reacted to having himself and numerous others gratuitiously insulted.

> Well, I'll admit that telling you what I believe (which should be a right) and how that relates to all of organized, existing religions up till now, was mildly intended to ruffle up some feathers.

Well, you got exactly what you wanted then. Why are you upset?

> I have an interest in seeing how open minded the people I share this planet with are.

No one here has tried to convert you. No one has tried to have you thrown in jail because of your beliefs. No one here has even called for your removal from the fora. They've merely disagreed with you. What exactly is it you consider to be "open minded"?

> I haven't met a lot of people who can ponder over a wide range of concepts freely and still feel comfortable with their own and others ideas.

And yet, as far as I can tell, that is exactly the type of people you're dealing with here.

> Most telling and saddening thing is that nobody here can live with the idea, that I believe to work within a construct that is more wide ranging than the construct of Christianity and that therefore I personally can't work within the perceived limitations of this religion.

Perfect terminology. The "preceived" limitations are exactly what you're dealing with, not the reality. But, believe it or not, I do accept that Christianity isn't for you.

> No, I get 101 "lessons" about the core tenets of the Christian religion, as if I don't know them and therefore are misled to believe that something else could exist, which must be "corrected".

I assume that was aimed at me.

You're posts to this point have given no indication that you understand or even know the core tenants of Christianity. Why should I or anyone else assume you do? You appear to be casually assuming that no one here understands or is capable of understanding your beliefs.

> The thing irking me is that it becomes clear that people can only profess to believe what the majority believes too, if they want to be left alone. Anything else will meet hostile resistance.

People are people. This has largely been true througout history in all locations. LXer is actually a lot more tolerant and open than most places. Assuming that this is only true because you insulted Christians is a mistake. If you had made equivilant comments about the Prophet in a Muslim environment, you life would now be at risk.

> If I really thought being of Christian faith is ridiculous and I was bent on doing harm to Christianity, I would have screamed bloody murder about Ubuntu CE. I didn't.

No, you called Christianity tiny, to start with, and continued in that vein later.

> I defended the existence of UCE. That is a tiny thing totally overlooked here, because a lot of people were very busy pounding on the thing that did perceived harm to their own insecure ego's.

Yes, you did, and it has been largely overlooked in the resulting hubub. For that understanding of the nature of FOSS, and statement of it, you should be commended. I apologize for not doing so in my post.

However, if you think your posts have done harm to my "insecure" ego, you don't know me very well. :)

> I do understand the uproar about the Danish caricatures about Muslim extremists a little better now though.

From that simple statement, I doubt that you do. As noted above, an equivilant post in a Muslim setting puts your life at risk. That's rather different that what's been going on here.

> I have this gut feeling that a lot of people will still try to "burn me at the stake" for stating that I consider Christianity to be a tiny mold, which it is from my perspective.

I don't see that anyone here has tried to do so. Point out that they think you are mistaken, yes, but no more than that. And, as noted above, from my perspective, your perspective is wrong.

> It shouldn't have mattered, whether I am wrong or not.

And it point of fact, it doesn't. When it comes to religion, whether we are wrong or not will be demonstrated to us all too soon.

> People should be free to believe whatever they want and be free to express that.

And no one has denied you that freedom, in spite of it skirting the TOS of LXer.

> Instead of trying to diminish me, someone could have explained why s/he thinks Christianity is a very wide and deep construct (which in its own right it is), but nobody chose to do that.

Hmm, I thought that was exactly what I tried to do. Apparently you think I failed to do so. Oh well, one can but try.

> I wasn't attacking Christianity. I have no need to do so. I was probing the level of tolerance.

No, you were attacking Christians in general, whether you acknowledge it or not.

> If you are confident and comfortable about your own beliefs, no general statement (right or wrong) would stir such overblown reactions.

Your opinions about Christianity aren't important to me, but your statements about the nature of Christianity were demonstrably incorrect. I noted this, and pointed out where they were wrong. I don't consider that an overblown reaction.

Anyway, that's more than enough on this subject from me. I'll drop the matter unless you wish to continue it in personal email. I'm sure we're straining DC's patience.