11. Goes back aways. Asking for Clownshack about Zoroastrianism.

Thanks, AI:

No, there is no historical or textual evidence to suggest that Zoroaster (Zarathustra) was a pedophile.

The accusation does not appear in academic scholarship or traditional religious texts. The rumor occasionally surfaces on internet forums due to people misidentifying historical figures or confusing the marriage customs of various ancient Middle Eastern religions.

Zoroaster's Marriages and Family
According to primary Zoroastrian texts like the Gathas (the holy hymns attributed directly to him) and later historical accounts, Zoroaster led a conventional domestic life for his era:

Adult Consensual Marriage: He married three times. His third wife, Hvvi, was the daughter of Frashaoshtra, a vizier and close adult political ally of Zoroaster.
Adult Children: He fathered six children (three sons and three daughters).
Family Alliances: His youngest daughter, Pouruchista, is explicitly mentioned in the Gathas as marrying Jamaspa, another prominent adult adviser to the king. The text describes her choice and marriage in terms that imply maturity and conscious choice rather than child marriage.

Legal and Historical Context
Zoroaster lived in Bronze or Iron Age Central Asia (estimates range from 1500 BCE to 1000 BCE). While centuries-later Sasanian Zoroastrian legal codes (from the 3rd to 7th centuries CE) allowed for young marriage ages based on ancient Persian societal norms, there is absolutely no record indicating Zoroaster himself engaged in relationships with children.

The characterization of Zoroaster in his own writings and by historians is that of a religious philosopher, reformer, and family man whose life focused strictly on the theological struggle between good (Asha) and evil (Druj).
+++
Go you wacky Zarathustrans!

Eve was just one day old when Adam banged her.
#12 | Posted by pumpkinhead

And what language was she using when she said, "Later"?

"Makes me a good Christian."
No...it just makes me a Christian.
#18 | Posted by BillJohnson

You're right. I shouldn't have added the modifier. Apologies.

People sometimes self-identify as something that seems the complete opposite of who they are.

It's been said for years that far more US politicians are atheists than would ever admit it. Which as far as I know has always been zero.

Same way all of the pastors I've known would never let their real feelings be known from the pulpit. They like their jobs too much.

And please save me your pity if I've known the wrong kind of pastors. Honest theologians have 100 questions for every good answer, too.

I am aware this will be difficult for some atheists and far-left individuals as soon as they hear any sort of defense of Christians. I will repost something I wrote earlier on this subject.
#1 | Posted by BillJohnson

Bill: My beliefs would qualify me as an atheist to you. Certainly far left. I'll defend Christianity and most other religions all day long. Just don't buy into them.

I'll especially defend religion's mystical branches; I won't abide religion's top-down cults, nor scriptural interpretations that allow only one view -- or that look down on others for not adhering to the same interpretation.

From your own posting, it seems to me that you're of the stripe that says, "I've said the sinner's prayer. I'm going to heaven. Makes me a good Christian."

Good luck with that.

Bill, what do you know about Islam? Did your wife take a class? Or is it the news you've seen in your life?

How will atheist parents react if their children start coming home from school praising Islamic beliefs or bringing Islamic religious practices into their homes?

These days, in certain parts of the country, like the South, probably relieved they didn't bring home the teacher's version of Christianity.

At present, Islam is often far more assertive than modern Christianity about maintaining visible religious practices and seeking accommodations for them in public life.
BillJ

By your own words, you were indoctrinated by your parents, your wife has reinforced that faith, and you've been exposed to other faiths and nothing has made you question what you were indoctrinated to believe.

What's more, you don't like Catholicism and are scared ------- of Islam, so you set up defenses to make sure neither intrudes on your way of life.

Sounds to me like your problem is really with Christians who aren't enough like Mommy and Daddy and Mrs. Mommy. Present-day Christians just aren't fighting hard enough. Need to be more . . . manly, muscular. Like Jesus was(n't). Uh-member him?

At present, Mistah Bill, US religious wackos -- particularly those influenced by the Southern Baptist Convention, fundamentalism, and Pentecostalism -- are often far more assertive than everyone else in America about maintaining visible religious practices and seeking accommodations for them in public life, and have gotten elected to enough lofty positions in the US to make a difference for the rest of the country and out of step with the rest of the world.

This has already happened.

But are they bringing better restaurants?

The younger generation sees Democracy as failing them.
4/BBQ

In my family it's capitalism. My Millennials are ready to sharpen the guillotines. Both have worked since they left college, one now in corporate US (I laugh) and one is an English teacher.

They learned this on their own, not that I was Mr. Chamber of Commerce. And they sounded nothing like this 10 years ago.

Molesting his grandson.

Something tells me this wasn't a one-off.

It should be a private matter. None of anyone's business.
#14 | Posted by lfthndthrds

We'll consider the source, from someone who airs his lurid fantasies here at any given time of day, regardless of the thread content.

Next time you get all frothed up, try holding it in.

The email may have sent ICE to a dictionary. For them, it's hazardous-duty pay. Then they got their fee-fees hurt.

Can we send these yahoos to play therapy for a few years, so they can fight it out among themselves? Maybe a decommissioned army base? Give 'em plenty of ammunition. They'll choose up teams soon enough. We can check back on them after a while.

I suppose that would include Wasserman / Schultz too.

29. Looks like my high school yearbook roster. We were pretty well represented.

On Staten Island we also called them "neighbors."

Pedo 47: I'm Very Good at Flagpoles!'

"I taught Ivanka and Tiffany everything they know! And Melania helps with the pole dance, too. Family values! We're trying to pull the pole out of Barron's @$$, but he's still got his life ahead of him to do that. He'll grow out of it, just like his dad did."

I'm not saying Chauvin is innocent, but I am saying the autopsy says he isn't guilty of murder.

#4 | Posted by lfthndthrds

Would you say that what Chauvin did was uncalled for, under the circumstances?

"Toxic views"

Thirty years from now, neighborhoods near enough data centers will be displaying odd rates of childhood diseases or brain defects that "no one could have foreseen."

And, yes, some are close enough in the area where I live in order to, just from an observer's and lay standpoint, have effects.

I grew up on a hill overlooking the world's largest dump. Medical issues there: You can look it up.

In the interesting timing news, they closed the dump when white folks with money started building houses across the highway leading to the Outerbridge Crossing. The dump was easily sniffed in the distance when the wind was right.

Now it's a large and glorious nature reserve, built on top of the ashes of 9/11.

Every day he wakes up, Trump is an embarrassment to the United States by his very nature.

That bust next to his right elbow. Is that where the secret phone to DadVlad resides?

#178 | Posted by Danforth

"Every rule in the Navy handbook is the result of a dead sailor."

-When was "the President is a compulsive liar" era?
Always. At least your lifetime
#148 | POSTED BY EBERLY

FFS, Eberly. I don't know who you're answering, but . . .

AI, via the Office of the US Historian, while it lasts:

While historians and critics note that he faced political fallout from overly optimistic economic forecasts, standard campaign exaggerations, and secrecy surrounding military actions (like the Iran hostage rescue), [Jimmy Carter] was never credibly accused of malicious or deliberate major deception.

Federal law bars felons like him from gun ownership.

#10 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis

But not from being commander in chief. What a wonderful world.

AI doesn't capture these types of "religious" stories.

PS. According to my Russian sister-in-law, we still have three family plots there. The last of the DBT2 family holdings on the island.

That and all the stuff my brother accumulated that his kooky spouse will try to foist off on me eventually. Gets her medical information from the Internet and her news from Moscow via satellite.

Actually, the apartment she is in, either my father or brother has occupied since the mid 80s, and she not too long ago got rent control. Perhaps 1500 per month for life in old Vanderbilt territory?

I should get my name on that lease.

Madbomber-involved threads are always intriguing. And don't mess with Danforth on the rules.

All that said, going up a ways, the Obamas are quite far from populists. Popular, yes. Populists, no.

Data centers are people too.

Private memos get out anyway because people are stupid.

Ergo, data centers are stupid.

Philosophy 000