They both offended each other, and  it sounds like the victim was just explaining his POV. There isn't anything wrong with that. This is the U.S. after all. The zealot was entitled to his own POV for the same reasons.  The zealot was NOT entitled to punish ANYONE for having a contrary opinion. He should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law so he doesn't do this to some little old lady who just happens to not like proselytizing.

So here are some of the so-called 'lessons' which can be drawn from the story and what you take from it depends on what's going on in your own life (and head) at the time:

1) Never talk about religion.

2) Never talk about religion to a zealot.

3) Never defend yourself if you have a point of view contrary to a zealot - after all, they're always right and you're always wrong. IOW, you don't have the RIGHT to a contrary opinion.

4) Zealots are irrational and violent.

5) Zealots need to be locked up and heavily medicated.

6) Christianity is for kooks.

7) If you're not a christian, you deserve a kick in the gonads.

8) Bibles should not be allowed at the workplace.

9) If you're going to get violent, make sure your supervisor and union boss aren't in the immediate vicinity.

10) Public proselytizing should be illegal.

11) Freedom of religion is an illusion in America.

12) Religion is the source of evil in unstable people.

13) Unstable religious people tend to be zealots.

14) Stay away from zealots of any kind. They are always trouble.

I'm sure you all can think of more "lessons". I think it's safe to say that the lesson a person takes from it is only good for themselves. Personally, I hope he gets fired.

So essentially your saying that the only difference between you & a neo-Nazi is the religion of the folks you hate?

It should be interesting to see how KPaul handles this, considering the fact that if we replaced your use of the word "Christians" with "Jews" or "Blacks" you'd be perma-banned from the forum for spewing vile hate-speech.

"TIO - Take it Outside"

If anyone is spewing hatred, it's you with your first sentence above. Classic.  By your own rationale, you should be banned.

I did not personalize any of the examples I gave, so they were not geared toward you.  Instead I was illustrating that MANY lessons could be drawn here, both pro and con either side.  Some of this is actually applicable to what's going on in Iran right now, and I had that in mind.  I don't hate christians or christianity. I don't hate muslims or Islam. I don't hate Hindus or Native Americans, or any of their religions.  I think they're all classrooms for human understanding and they all have their strong and weak points.

I dislike zealots of any stripe, including neo-Nazis because they are all mindless hate-spewing zombies. Zealotry of any kind is totally anti-American.  Here we are, facing an Independence Day celebration.........many many brave men and women have fought and died for our right to choose our own religion and our own way of life. To justify a zealot putting an independent thinker into the hospital just because he didn't want someone preaching to him is indefensible under the Constitution and makes a mockery of our sons' and daughters' sacrifice. 

Kpaul won't comment on this thread unless you go over the top, Richard.  He believes posters should be able to handle themselves like adults, and that's just what I'm doing. These threads are for discussion. You have a right to your opinion.  I have a right to mine.  This forum exists to express them both, and like I said before whatever conclusion (aka "lesson") you draw from it is entirely your own.

Your bigotry against Christians was obvious in your previous post, trying to spin it now as if you were refering to "zealot's of all religions" isn't going to work & is just a lame attempt at damage control.

And if KPaul believes that it is "OK" to offend Christians on his forums but not the other aforementioned groups, well then I am sure all of the Christian members on this forum will take notice.

Your failure to understand is your own fault, not mine. Read back over what I wrote. I said those were all conclusions which COULD be drawn. They are by no means the only conclusions. The conclusions which I stated evolved from the content of the story which was specifically about christian zealotry.  If the story were about two muslims, then you could substitute 'Islam' and 'Koran' at the appropriate places for the so-called lessons.  

You will also note that I said 'so-called' lessons in my original post.  To anyone else, that would be a red flag.  It would indicate that I didn't necessarily subscribe to ANY of the conclusions, personally.  There is no 'lame attempt at damage control' because I don't believe there was any damage.  If you feel you were damaged by my comments, then you damaged yourself because none of them were pointed at you.

As for your comment,

(1) This is not a website for christians only.  Kpaul's AFP site is inclusive of any and all other religions, including Wiccan witches, and is therefore NOT exclusively christian. I'm sure he's aware of how much advertising and readership he might lose if his site narrowed its tolerance to an exclusively christian clientele.

(2) No one is trying to offend christians.  Even real christians are offended by the zealotry of other so-called christians. One of our members even had the courage to say so in this thread, and I'm sure that many more privately agree and don't want to be your target so they won't mention it on here.

(3)  You have managed to miss all the points entirely, so far.  This isn't about christianity, per se.  In fact, only 3 of the 14 so-called lessons mentioned anything specifically christian, referring to the content of the original story. It's about intolerance and violence and you have provided a graphic in-house example of intolerance with your posts.   It is also about lessons which can be drawn from a story, and how a person can individualize the meaning without it being applicable to everyone at large.  Apparently you didn't get that either.

(4) I'm sure KPaul will notice that your aggressive posturing is not only aimed at me, but now includes him, too - and he didn't even do anything to deserve it.  Another example of intolerance and how it spreads.

Yea keep spinning Bard, but like I said, if you had said that about Jews or Blacks you'd already be outa here.

There are times in a person’s life when he/she just can’t get out of his/her own way.  There are times when ya know ya shouldn’t be going where you’re about to go, BUT YA GO THERE ANYWAY.  This is obviously one of those times for me.  When the thread began, I found it interesting because I had a shared experience with Palehorse and what he was experiencing (i.e. the closing of a workplace).  As an aside to Palehorse, I DID mix posts before I made my original comment, but my response was still what I wanted to say.  Some time later, I saw that the topic was going in a direction that was obviously perilous.  Thus my tongue in cheek comment:

Now, against my better judgment, the posting spirits are pressuring me to comment.  When I read one of Bard’s posts on this topic, I (and I ain’t the only one) reacted quite negatively to several of the comments.  It was all I could do not to immediately respond with the fire I was feeling.  But, as usual I fought the urge and reread the post.  What I saw were conflicting comments.  The comments seemed to take BOTH sides of an argument.  At that point I ASSUMED that BARD was trying to make some sort of point.  It doesn’t matter to me what that point is/was.

The problem I saw at that juncture was that people were going to react vehemently to the comments and begin to lose perspective.  Whenever religion, race or politics is the underlying subject matter, the conversation is bound to get off track.  Folks, we are supposed to be DISCUSSING here.  If we can’t do that without veiled, implied, back-and-forth threats, THIS AIN’T the topic to be involved in.  With that said, I will once again retire from this topic and try VERY hard NOT to return.         

http://www.andersonfreepress.net/anderson-forums/tio-take-it-outside/160...

If you read the above link and first posting, you'll see that when the topic concerns religion and zealotry, Bard and I appear to be on the same frequency. I see nothing wrong in Bard's perspectives as posted herein, and in fact agree with them on the majority of points.

It is interesting that even Christians find themselves divided somewhat within the area this topic seems to have morphed to, however, the "thug" in all of this claims to be a devout Christian and isn't shy about it; in fact my reference to him as a "religious zealot" should have been a clue surrounding his typical actions. Subtle, but none the less there.  

The incident I related, for me personally, exemplified the fact that this man is a hypocrite. If you'd have heard the stream of expletives spewing from his mouth as he dropped kicked the victim's seeds, you'd have blushed. And all the victim did was express his opinion in a calm and normal tone of voice. It was the zealot that took things to an inappropriate level. 

Finally, you'll be happy to note that the victim did not require surgery, and the perp was eventually arrested and charged with assault and aggravated battery. He was also charged with resisting arrest when he fought the officers sent to arrest him.  

Yup, that was very obvious in your first "crazy Christian goes for the nutz!" post.