• Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    So when corrupt preachers rake in tens to hundreds of millions it’s tax-exempt because it’s not a business, but when a pastor actually cares for the needy like their book says to, that’s a crime because it IS a business?

    Fuck that worst of both worlds nonsense! 🤬

    • doingless@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I work in a religious nonprofit that hosts a bunch of community service orgs including two churches, a teen volunteerism org, a food ministry that distributed 10 mil pounds of food thru the pandemic, a music nonprofit, an acting/drama nonprofit and more. We’ve been getting our ass ridden so hard by local zoning and fire stuff. About to drop $20k plus on a compliant oven hood for a simple oven like you have in you kitchen. I took a cut in pay last year because of this bullshit.

      • Pratai@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        As a REAL atheist, I’d like to take the opportunity to tell you to sit down and shut up. You’re embarrassing us.

        To everyone else: I offer an apology. Real atheism isn’t about angsty childish complaints and smug insults. Nor is it about becoming the very thing you claim to hate- a judgmental arrogant asshole.

        Actual atheism is simply the decision to not believe in any deities. Live and let live.

        • nixcamic@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Honestly the r/atheism type angry mocking atheists sure seem to have an axe to grind with someone they say doesn’t exist.

          Like, most people aren’t going into religion with ill intentions, and god doesn’t exist, who you mad at bro?

          • Pratai@lemmy.ca
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            10 months ago

            Not mad at anyone. Just thought I’d offer up an explanation to those that think all atheists are angsty teenagers that do nothing outside of spewing contempt and insults at people. You see, I don’t like it when people go out of their way to make my personal beliefs and choices look bad.

            I think everyone should be doing this instead of remaining silent and allowing the minority of a thing to dictate its public perception.

            Like how I believe that the majority of Christians are good people. They just don’t stand up against the ones that aren’t.

          • thedevisinthedetails@programming.dev
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            10 months ago

            You got confused. You’re an anti-theist as in against theism. Atheism simply means without theism. Anyways happy I could clear that up for you. Try to be nicer in the future.

          • Pratai@lemmy.ca
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            10 months ago

            You poor angry little child. There are plenty true atheists. You’re just not among them.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        The book is a bunch of non-sensical, contradictory fairy tales written and rewritten by a million dudes, a thousand times over, to manipulate others.

        True, but one of the few things it isn’t unclear or downright self-contradictory about is that the main dude said to help the poor and otherwise marginalised people.

        I love it when people pretend to know what “the book” says better than Christians

        As an atheist who’s actually read the damn thing rather than just gotten the perspectives of conservative preachers and politicians, I’m not pretending. I do in fact know better than some so-called Christians what their stupid book says.

        I also follow the more empathetic parts of it better than anyone on the “Christian Right”

      • BorgDrone@lemmy.one
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        10 months ago

        I love it when people pretend to know what “the book” says better than Christians (or anyone else for that matter).

        There’s no pretending. Most christians have never actually read it, and a lot of atheists are atheists exactly because they have.

  • Everythingispenguins@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I just fucking hate this shit, Life is fucking hard. Why go out of your way to make it harder. The D.A. is going to argue some B.S. about how the zoning laws are there to protect people. Fire hazard shit. Ignoring the fact that the pastor was putting people at a very small risk to protect them from a very large risk.

    • Jajcus@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      Bad zoning laws are bad. And these laws are really bad (forcibly separating ‘business’ and residential are makes no sense to me) , but completely deregulating that (like allowing residential building directly adjacent to a dangerous chemical plant or in a flood zone) would be as bad.

  • ericbomb@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Hopefully freedom of religion does something helpful, as the Bible says 40,000 times to home the homeless and feed the hungry.

    • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      Sounds to me like the pastor got that message. Nobody in the city’s government cares about that, but he got it.

      Good on the pastor for doing what he did. Anyone who speaks out about it, or endorses the charges laid against him should be ashamed. Honestly, you’re going to condemn someone to die because of what? Because they’re poor? Homeless? Does that mean we should treat them like they’re not worthy of life?

      Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. (Not you OP, I’m sure you’re cool)

    • ArmokGoB@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 months ago

      Unfortunately (in this case), freedom of religion, in the US, only protects your right to practice your religion free from persecution. You can’t break the law and then justify it by saying it was a form of religious expression.

      • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Laws aren’t just because they’re laws. The police could have simply practiced their right to discretion and ignored the zoning law for the duration of the blizzard.

        • ArmokGoB@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          10 months ago

          The police are too busy firing less-lethal weapons at peaceful protesters to do anything that would benefit society. They were within the law, doing what they did. I’m not saying I support it.

      • HorseWithNoName@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        Scientology seems to get away with it fairly often. And all those holy roller type christian churches bringing conservative politics into their services despite their tax exempt status. But this is where we draw the line - keeping people from dying of hypothermia.

  • BWchief117@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    God that website though… eventually scrolled to a point it threw two interactive ads back to back, filling the screen, preventing me from scrolling. And all the ads were the same, like I saw it already, GOT IT, leave it alone

    • TurtleJoe@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Go into settings on your app, set to open links in external browser. Assuming your primary browser is Firefox with ublock on, you shouldn’t have a problem.

      Even opening with my Lemmy app’s internal browser, there were two easily closable pop-ups, and the embedded ads in the article didn’t even load.

  • nixcamic@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    This title is horribly ambiguous. I thought the pastor was charging money to let people shelter in the church. Instead he was being a good human and allowing people to shelter in the church for free and was charged by the city.

    • NovaPrime@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      The D.A. is the one to blame. Sure the zoning laws are shit, but the D.A. has discretion about which cases to bring and pursue. They could easily just move the fuck along like they do with any number of other cases they do in the year, but having worked with a number of these dipsticks in a previous life, I can guarantee you they saw it as an easy win and didn’t expect to get the attention they did. D.A.s are just as bad as police officers when it comes to selective enforcement and application of the law and should be scrutinized much more closely during local elections.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        D.A.s are just as bad as police officers when it comes to selective enforcement and application of the law

        That’s because they ARE cops. They weren’t originally supposed to be, but they do the exact same thing as cops do: put as many people behind bars or to death as they possibly can regardless of whether or not they’re guilty.

        Just like cops will get funding based on their “solve rate” whether or not they actually got the real culprit every or even MOST times, DAs run for re-election based on their conviction rate, no matter how many miscarriages of justice are counted amongst those "wins’

      • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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        10 months ago

        You probably also had people call to complain about the church “ruining the character of the neighborhood” by doing this.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Odds that the DA who decided to charge the pastor is a shitheel republiQan: 99.999%.

    Let’s check the board . . .

      • Byter@lemmy.one
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        10 months ago

        That’s the Milwaukee DA. The story leads with Milwaukee but the Ohio pastor being cited was actually in Ohio, specifically Williams County. The DA there is, in fact, a Republican. Though not necessarily a “RepubliQan” as stated.

        Katherine J. Zartman ®

        • Optional@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          A fair point - the Milwaukee journal sentinel article talks about people freezing in Milwaukee and then jumps to Ohio. I didn’t catch the jump and, honestly it’s a little weird. Still, my bad. Thank you all for pointing it out.

      • HopingForBetter@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        What’s your point? The laws suck ass, don’t align with the purported intentions of the religion backing said laws and legislators, and in fact, according to the religion the people inacting the laws are on their way to hell. So, are you also having a nice try? Caring for people is definitely not something to outlaw, and those that do are always on the wrong side of history; no debate.

        • Guest_User@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Lol what? Did I mention anything about the law? No. Just commented on their assumption about the DA being a republican. Calm down lol

  • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    This is a non-sequiter, given that Milwaukee is nearly 300 miles and three states away from Ohio. It’s like, ‘eat your vegetables, people are starving in China.’

    • nixcamic@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      It’s a Milwaukee based newspaper. They’re trying to tie something happening in their city into the story, pretty standard for local journalism.