All that repression. Gotta go somewhere. If not porn, then meth-fueled binges with prostitutes like Ted Haggard. Or opting for anal sex so that fundy girls can still delude themselves into thinking they're virgins. The lesser of evils and all that.

"bemoaner Charles M. Blow" - funny!

Got to love the irony here.

Bible thumping gay bashers touting morailty are looking to swing

Wouldnt it be funny if there were a god and heaven were a non stop orgy?

With all due respect to the sport of bashing Christians, this is some pretty spurious bullshit. On what grounds could they possibly presume to know the political leanings of random porn-surfers?

I notice Virginia (#10 in the nation) is supposed to be one of their slam-dunk examples of conservative porn using states. Boy, Virgina sure is a really, really RED state, what with our democratic governor, two democratic senators and and 6 of 11 democratic representatives.

But naturally, the only possible conclusion is that conservative Christians are surfing porn all day.

They may be surfing more but they feel more guilty about it...

Did anyone actually look at the study? Tenuous at best. The numbers are in many cases so low as to be statistically meaningless. Their definitions of red states are, um, interesting. It is impossible to know who is doing the porn surfing. Lack of porn stores might explain the higher internet use (I bought my vibrator via internet, down here in red state tx. God really doesn't care about sex toys, it was just easier). And who cares if people look at porn? It's better than sleeping around and sharing disease.

Personally, I don't care for porn. It creates unrealistic expectations of sex and women's bodies. And men who learn their "skills" from typical porn suck in bed. There's a lot of retraining to be done. Porn is predicated on what looks good to men, not what feels good to women, in general. Plus the numbers tying rapists/sexual assaultists and porn are not tenuous. It may not be a causal relationship, but there is a relationship.

God actually is pro-sex in it's intended arena. The bible has some quite graphic passages. He wants married couples to be satisfied in this area together. Not that the bible ever actually says one must be married for sex. It says no adultery and any number of other restrictions, but not post-marriage only.

I notice Virginia (#10 in the nation)...

Remember, these stats can lie, significantly.

At one point, early in the internet, something like 75% of spam cam from the great state of Virginia. The error in the stats was that everyone who was using AOL dialed their local Point Of Presence (POP) that was located in the switching station down the street. But they were actually going to Virginia over the data lines. So all the spammers were using the free AOL disks, and going out creating SPAM accounts and mailing from Virginia.

Even now, with broadband, you can be switched all over the surrounding 4-7 states depending on the bandwidth provider and the load on any given day.

"It says no adultery and any number of other restrictions, but not post-marriage only. " No that depends on the definition of adultery which varies by denomination. This may or may not apply to you depending. In certain denominations adultery is defines as sex with any one not your wife/husband. Also in strict Catholicism sex after divorce is also adultery, as divorce is forbidden. These would be the more conservative variants though.

figures don't lie, but liars figure.

This is the very best of "social science" which is really neither.

It's more "We don't like group x, so let's find some trait of theirs that we can make up some scientific-sounding shit to show what hypocrites they are."

sounds like a study of the victorian era, hmmm... also sounds like maybe these guys aint gettin' any... so they have to help themselves out.

I like the conclusion, so I'm sure it's settled science, just like anthropogenic global warming.

I agree with all the folks above who think this study was flimsy & probably fixed to bash red-staters & Christians.

A while back, stripclublist compiled a listing of strip clubs per capita for all 50 states. There's an interesting discussion of it here:

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=61715.0

Yes I know, the study was about online porn, but strip clubs are still part of the sinful adult entertainment industry. Note that some of the reddest red states are near the top of the list, & some of the bluest blue states are at the bottom. Why does Dick Cheney's Wyoming have more than 3 times as many strip clubs per capita as Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts? My guess is that the frontier mentality has a lot to do with it. Whiskey, wild horses, & wild women went together very well in the Old West, and they still do, to at least some extent. The higher than average male/female ratio in Wyoming probably also weighs into the picture, along with who knows how many other factors.

The fact that there are more strip clubs (and quite possibly more porn surfers) in Texas than in California does not in any way imply that those Texans who appreciate naked womanflesh are all guilt-ridden, bible-thumping hypocrites. It's grossly dishonest of Blow to suggest that it does.

Imagine being a kid named Charles M. Blow.

"Hey, anyone seen Chucky Blow?"

"Yah, I saw Chucky Blow in the men's room..."

If a state is a certain color on a map, every single person within that state thinks the same way and believes the same things. It's like science and stuff.

'Why does Dick Cheney's Wyoming have more than three times as many strip clubs per capita as Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts's?'

Uhm....
Massachusetts is a very small [land- wise] state. If they tried to cram the number of strip clubs that there are in Wyoming into such a small area, it would get a bit ridiculous.

Wyoming has more strip clubs because no one's gonna drive 150+ miles to see naked titties :)

Um sexydork, it says per capita - meaning per person not overall

This suggests that Massacusets has more strip joint overall

And that suggests that people are indeed driving greater distances to enjoy the sins of the flesh

And while we're on the subject of sin I have another question for the followers of hercules, I mean jesus.

Everyone sins
Anyine who sins is barred from hevean
The only way into heaven is by grace.

Why do you worship a being wh has rigged a game you can not win?

I mean seriously, do you thank the guy who scammed you at three card monte?

Why would you want to spend an eterinty in the presseance of a being who made sure there was no way into hevean unless you groveled and begged?

And how narcisistic ould such a being be?

Looj, you just don't get it. It's like a kid hating their parent because there are rules. No one can act well enough to make their parent love them in spite of the absurd amount of scutwork parenting is. We love our kids because they are our kids. Same thing.

Nothing would ever make me stop loving god and thanking him for creation. There's an insane amount of goodness and beauty in this world. You don't get that. That's fine. If I'm wrong, no biggie. If you are, then I pray for you, but I imagine you don't have much to look forward to. I can't imagine you are that much more satisfied with your deity-free existence than I am with mine, to make an eternity of less-than-heaven worth it.

I remember when I was 6 or so, telling my mom it would be better if death was just the end, because then we didn't have to worry about being good. It was a childish thought, one I'm happy to have outgrown. Why do you find it so hard to believe in God in SPITE of all the human errors in religion? What on earth ISN'T ripe with human error? Is it so much more probable that the universe exploded out of nothing, and then the trillions upon trillions upon trillions upon trillions of things that had to happen for humans to evolve-any one of which is unlikely-just "happened" to happen, in order?

Oh, and no amount of groveling or begging gets you there either. You go there by the grace of god, which you have acknowledged or not. period. There are no guarantees.

Let's imagine that you live in Happyville, a small community in which most of the inhabitants are upstanding and honest. But, unfortunately, within this community exists a neighborhood that is characterized by high levels of violence and theft.

A researcher comes buy one day and tallies up all the murders, rapes, and robberies and concludes that Happyville is an extraordinarily violent community. The researcher could never imagine an individual walking down the street without being mugged or murdered. You, dear reader, a satisfied resident of Happyville, know that isn't true. You lived in that community for years without being harmed. You know the truth--all the crime emanates from that one bad neighborhood and it tends to be concentrated within that community.

Yet, you would never know that from the research.

Maybe the researcher and all those that were quick to trumpet this story should have read this first.

O Come All ye Faithful in rural Alabama -- this church wants you to have sex "God's Way" (with the supreme being on top?):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090311/ap_on_re_us/church_great_sex;_ylt=ArqvNTP2srw9TU9ysdKTukhvzwcF

Cool link Gog. More people need to realize that !) they DO need to talk to their kids about sex and 2) sex is not "wrong", just meant for certain situations. I think it's fabulous!

It's pretty theatrical but no real departure from the standard message -- there's a right way (straight married people with God's blessing) and a wrong way (everybody else).

In any case I think he woke up the congregation!

I remember when I was 6 or so, telling my mom it would be better if death was just the end, because then we didn't have to worry about being good. It was a childish thought,

>>But theres the rub momof3, no matter how good you behave you will not attain heaven, and no matter how evil you are you'll still get in if you ask for forgivness durring final judgement.
Hilter, Mao, Stalin, and the piece of shit down the road who molested and strangeld half a dozen 5yr olds all get into heaven according to the bible

Why do you find it so hard to believe in God in SPITE of all the human errors in religion?
>>I am willing to admit to the posibility that some sort of god exists, just not the one you pray to, because he keeps changing his MO and what does or does not constitue a sin. According to the bible he personally killed dozens of people for touching the ark of the covenant - an offense not even covered in the ten commandments or law of moses. But he stands by and does nothing while people murder and torture in his name? Its inconsistant, it illogical, and for a perfect being it is impossible

What on earth ISN'T ripe with human error?
>>Nothing, so given that we have established you belifs are fallible and possibly false, please explian why you feel I should live my life according to your faith?

Is it so much more probable that the universe exploded out of nothing, and then the trillions upon trillions upon trillions upon trillions of things that had to happen for humans to evolve-any one of which is unlikely-just "happened" to happen, in order?

>>Given the size of the universe it would be a statistical imposibility for life not to evolve. There is enough space and matter for every single chain of events to play out in every possible senario, is it really anymore adacious a premise the an immortal magic man who has always existed planed out everything to the last detail? Take a look at human skulls over the last few thousand years, notice the jawbone shrinking as humans discovered fire, agriculture, and animal husbadry? Eating well cooked and prepared food as reduced out need for larger jaw muscles - some people these days are no longer born with wisdom teeth.

Now is that natural selection or is it god magically making our jaws smaller?

lujlp - you better drop this topic before you embarrass yourself.

Jesus himself said "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a man to enter into the kingdom of the Lord".

Stalin, Mao, and Hitler never had a chance.

God doesn't preclude natural selection and evolution. I know my understanding is imperfect and fallible. I don't think a human could ever really understand God, it's like asking a mosquito to understand man. It understands there's something big over there, but that's about it. Living a good life is really much more enjoyable that a bad one. I used to whore around and lie and any number of things. Now I don't. I enjoy life more now. I don't have to worry when the phone rings, if I'm about to be caught in a lie, etc. Just nicer all around.

For some reason people on this thread like to think I'm anti-gays because I don't think they need to be married. I'm not. I think it's a sin , because according to the bible it is. I also know greed and gluttony and any number of other common occurences are also sins, and that I am guilty of plenty. Just because I acknowedge things are sins and people do them, doesn't mean I hate those people. I don't hate myself, and I know I am as in need of god's grace and forgiveness as anyone. So all I can do is try my best.

No need to worry about me brian, by the way how do you suppose I became an atheist? By not reading the bible and refusing to do research?

Ever wonder why Jesus said what you quoted? Because I just answere it, no one is good enough to get into heaven by their own deeds.

Your scripture did nothing other than supposrt my agument.

Heres another scripture for you.

For god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whomsoever should belive in him would not persh but have everlasting life.

Now this scripture tells us that if you belive that christ is gods son and ask him to forgive your sins he will and you get to goto heaven.

So I ask you what kind of idiot in the process of being judged by god and jesus would at that point refuse to belive?

Everyone who wants to gets into heaven, apparently god said so

I don't think a human could ever really understand God,

>> but you vote on things in such a manner that force others to live their lives according to your flawed notions of what god wants

For some reason people on this thread like to think I'm anti-gays because I don't think they need to be married. I'm not. I think it's a sin , because according to the bible it is.

>>and yet just the other day you said everything on earth is rife with human errors, how do you know this attitude twords homosexuals isnt one of them?