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I am religious and believe in free will

70 (27.6%)

I am religious and do not believe in free will

10 (3.9%)

I am not religious and believe in free will

113 (44.5%)

I am not religious and do not believe in free will

61 (24%)

Total Members Voted: 249

[smjjames]

Sorry to inject other politics in here, but uh, could someone tell me if this quote by this guy is some kind of threat or does it mean something else I'm not getting? http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/trump-pastor-bernie-sanders-jesus-220724

""Bernie Sanders who doesn't believe in God. How in the world are we going to let Bernie? I mean really? Listen, Bernie gotta get saved. He gotta meet Jesus. He gotta have a coming to Jesus meeting," Burns said before Trump and Christie sat down for their question-and-answer session."

To someone (me) who isn't religious at all (I think I might be classified as aetheist), it certainly sounds like a threat, but uh, I'm asking in here because it might not be and I'm slightly confused because of the whole political injection. Well, the 'gotta meet Jesus' and 'have a coming to jesus meeting' parts sound like a threat.

Edit: Just to make it clear, I'm not trying to bash anybodys religion, I'm just wanting to understand what the guy meant by the 'having a coming to jesus meeting' bit.

[Arx]

That's almost certainly not a threat. Just something about how Sanders should convert.

[Egan_BW]

I think he means that he wants to convert bernie.
Which is about the same as wanting to kill him, yeah.

[penguinofhonor]

As an atheist, I don't really think it sounds like a threat. "Meeting Jesus" is a common metaphor for when someone has a single event that causes them to rethink their life and serve the Lord. Perhaps it involves witnessing a miracle, hearing the voice of god, or feeling like their prayers were answered. It's a very common Christian narrative that echoes Bible stories like Saul/Paul.

I think it's generally used more in sects that emphasize committing yourself to the Church as an adult, like Baptists, where I assume more people would credit their faith to a life event they've had (as opposed to being because of their family or religious education).

[TheBiggerFish]

I think he means that he wants to convert bernie.

[Loud Whispers]

Sikhs carry kirpans for this

[Orange Wizard]

Theeeere's a title

[Arx]

Theeeere's a title

While we're on the topic, I misread the title as Railgun and Spirituality last night.

[TheBiggerFish]

What is a kirpan?

[Orange Wizard]

It's a fancy knife that Sikhs carry as one of their items of faith. There are five in total. Another's the turban, I think.

[TempAcc]

Fun fact: Sikh martial arts says that the blades kept on the turban (at least the main trishula-eske one) aren't meant to be removed from it, but rather to be used along with the turban to injure the opponent by moving your head around.

Yea, Sikhs are pretty badass.

[Harry Baldman]

Turban's not one of the items if I understand correctly, it's just a practical necessity because one of the five articles is uncut hair, and you gotta keep that mane somewhere. Fortunately, another article of faith is a wooden comb used for both keeping your hair together and combing it when required.

[Descan]

Looking into it, it's:
Kesh: uncut hair
Kangha: a wooden comb
Kara: a metal bracelet
Kachera: a specific style of cotton undergarments
Kirpan: a strapped curved sword

... Which means Mormons aren't the only religious group who have magic underpants.

[Frumple]

That's almost certainly not a threat. Just something about how Sanders should convert.

Well, not an explicit one, anyway. It's... fairly common to have a bit of an "Or else." tinge to those kind of statements, at least from what I've seen. I've definitely heard that sort of statement predicate some pretty serious social approbation (as in, people leaving the area because of it _{the lucky bastards}) before. More than once

Maybe not something that's commonly a threat, but definitely something that's commonly hostile, I guess you could put it. Often not really so much about conversion as signaling to like minded folks that the target is an acceptable one.

[penguinofhonor]

I looked it up earlier and that was my exact reaction to the underwear.