The US South is subtropical paradise (snowfalls, rainfall, blizzard, season)
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People hate Christians because many (not all) of them are very intolerant towards individuals with different lifestyles and beliefs. They support the suppression of others and treat them as second-class citizens. The irony is they often pull the victim card despite being a powerful majority. Give me a break.
I'm not saying Christians are always the victims, but there's a lot of people who say very negative hurtful things about Christianity, and prejudice against one's faith is a common form of prejudice. People should be free to speak their minds, but it doesn't make it a nice thing to say.
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Originally Posted by irlinit
I don't 'hate' christians, I just do not understand their views, at all.
We live in the 21st century and science has proved so many things, yet some people still believe that a baby magically appeared in a virgin woman's womb 2000 years ago, and grew up to be a miracle worker before magically vanishing up to heaven!
We have failed to advance as a civilization so so so many times in the past because of these ridiculous views. Views that everything should be done the 'Christian' way. Views that homosexual people are sinners. Views that women are inferior to men. The archbishop even has a say in the politics of our country ffs! The list goes on and on. Yes, certain Christians don't agree with some of these ridiculous views, but then that just serves to undermine Christianity as a religion, doesn't it?
I don't necessarily care if people have their own religious views, even if I could not possibly understand how anyone could believe in something so daft, as long as they keep it to themselves and don't try and force others into their views.
This is what I'm talking about. There's plenty of people who would say the same things about disbelief. What makes your opinion more valid than theirs? I know this is off topic, but this kind of stuff just puts a bad taste in my mouth. I want people to get along.
Practising Christians are no longer a majority anywhere in the developed world, save for a few very small countries like Malta and Vatican City.
The majority of Americans identify themselves as Christians. 40% claim to attend church every week. Of course there are gray areas (different sects, conservative, moderate, etc.) and these numbers can be questionable, but the US is a very religious country compared to Europe and even Canada.
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Originally Posted by pdw
I'm not saying Christians are always the victims, but there's a lot of people who say very negative hurtful things about Christianity, and prejudice against one's faith is a common form of prejudice. People should be free to speak their minds, but it doesn't make it a nice thing to say.
And Christians say very negative and hurtful things to homosexuals, atheists, and other groups. Your "live and let live" attitude is great, but many Christians certainly do not follow that motto. They're very zealous and demand others conform to their narrow views and lifestyles, otherwise you're not trustworthy and are condemned to the fringes of society.
As far as I know, practising Christians are no longer a majority anywhere in the developed world, save for a few very small countries like Malta and Vatican City. Most nominal Christians (the majority you're talking about) have a very loose attachment to their faith and certainly don't have the intolerant beliefs you speak of as a result of it.
This is what I'm talking about. There's plenty of people who would say the same things about disbelief. What makes your opinion more valid than theirs? I know this is off topic, but this kind of stuff just puts a bad taste in my mouth. I want people to get along.
Oh so do I. I find that it is often Christians/religious people who actually cause violence, though. You don't see people going around and forcing people to be atheists as much as you see Christians trying to preach their ways though, do you?
I think that it is definitely more valid to hold the belief that religion is a flawed concept. Atheists have used logical thoughts and proof of science to realise that the likelihood of a 'God' existing in the sense that religion puts it is near on impossible.
I personally don't discount the fact that there could be a 'creator' of our universe or something similar to that, but religions that exist today are just absurd and outdated. For a start, they all centre life as revolving around earth, when in reality we are a tiny speck of dust in a universe that contains over 200,000,000,000 galaxies, with each of those containing a further 200,000,000,000 stars on average. Multiply these two numbers together and you realise just how improbable the chances are that we are alone in this universe.
I realise I have gone very far off topic now, sorry
The majority of Americans identify themselves as Christians. 40% claim to attend church every week. Of course there are gray areas (different sects, conservative, moderate, etc.) and these numbers can be questionable, but the US is a very religious country compared to Europe and even Canada.
I don't really know statistics, so I changed my post, but the US is definitely a very secular country when it comes to government.
Quote:
Originally Posted by irlinit
Oh so do I. I find that it is often Christians/religious people who actually cause violence, though. You don't see people going around and forcing people to be atheists as much as you see Christians trying to preach their ways though, do you?
I think that it is definitely more valid to hold the belief that religion is a flawed concept. Atheists have used logical thoughts and proof of science to realise that the likelihood of a 'God' existing in the sense that religion puts it is near on impossible.
I personally don't discount the fact that there could be a 'creator' of our universe or something similar to that, but religions that exist today are just absurd and outdated. For a start, they all centre life as revolving around earth, when in reality we are a tiny speck of dust in a universe that contains over 200,000,000,000 galaxies, with each of those containing a further 200,000,000,000 stars on average. Multiply these two numbers together and you realise just how improbable the chances are that we are alone in this universe.
I realise I have gone very far off topic now, sorry
Forced conversions are very rare, and I have yet to see a Christian advocate for forced conversions. Spreading the gospel should be done in a civil manner, and it usually is. Those instances where it isn't is always condemned by the vast majority of churches.
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Originally Posted by ilovemycomputer90
On paper we're a secular country, but religion is permeated throughout the entire government...from the local councilman up to the president.
Well, politicians should be allowed to be religious, shouldn't they?
But I would still rather be somewhere in winter that doesn't have wild temperature swings.
In terms of Spain, it won't really look tropical as most of the country is either Mediterranean or arid.. and it is a lot further north than New Orleans. I am not denying that New Orleans will be warmer on average, it should be for its latitude.. but I would rather be somewhere at 40N in the Med that will more often than not be 15c, sunny and pleasant in January with few temperature swings.. not somewhere at 30N that has ridiculous record lows for its latitude
Yes, North America does have that dubious distinction, but due to the warm averages and very warm summers, the tropical veg recovers quick. But how often are you going to encounter an extreme record low temp? This past winter was brutal in the eastern US, and yet New Orleans got down to 24F on one night in a month that had a -6.4F mean temp anaomaly.
And you seem to love to bang on about how cold the US is for the latitude. New Orleans at the same latitude as Coffs Harbor in Australia has an annual mean of 69.4 vs 66.1 in Coffs. Geraldton on the opposite coast of Australia at 28.8S latitude has an annual mean of 67.8F. NOLA is warmer than both of those on annual means, so if anything Australia is rather cold for the latitude.
Even the along the Gulf Coast isn't exactly 'paradise' during the winter.
New Orleans recorded four days with highs below 40 F/4 C. Eight nights were at or below freezing (not including the handful of nights in the 1-2 C range. January 28, 2014 recorded a high of 48 F/9 C at midnight...the rest of the day was around 32 F/0 C with freezing rain. Granted, January was a very chilly month in New Orleans, but months like this aren't uncommon. New Orleans frequently records highs temperatures in the 30s and 40s. The city averages six freezes per winter.
This article adds perspective. Pretty noteworthy that despite the recent notably cold winter (especially January), the author is like, "it's not that bad"..."at least it didn't get in the teens!" That last line really shows you how awful winters in the southern US can be on occasion. At least it didn't get into the teens. (not his exact words, I'm paraphrasing)
I read that article while I was in New Orleans actually. I emailed Dan last week and asked if he knew or had ever gotten any explanation about why the 1980's were so stupidly cold in the eastern US. That decade broke 100 year old records all over the place.
Here is what he said:
Hey Tom:
I’ve never heard an explanation as to why the 1980s were so cold in New Orleans. The decade of the 60s was also very cold.
But, as you note, these are exceptional periods, not typical. New Orleans typically has a very tropical look to it. It is in hardiness zone 9b, which allows many tropical plants to survive most years. Indeed, the city did not look nearly as tropical during your recent visit as it would have if you had visited at the same time last year. New Orleans experienced very hard freezes down in the mid to low 20s this past winter, and that cold killed back many tropical plants.
Yes, North America does have that dubious distinction, but due to the warm averages and very warm summers, the tropical veg recovers quick. But how often are you going to encounter an extreme record low temp? This past winter was brutal in the eastern US, and yet New Orleans got down to 24F on one night in a month that had a -6.4F mean temp anaomaly.
And you seem to love to bang on about how cold the US is for the latitude. New Orleans at the same latitude as Coffs Harbor in Australia has an annual mean of 69.4 vs 66.1 in Coffs. Geraldton on the opposite coast of Australia at 28.8S latitude has an annual mean of 67.8F. NOLA is warmer than both of those on annual means, so if anything Australia is rather cold for the latitude.
That is true yes, but then everywhere in the southern hemisphere is colder than it would be otherwise for its latitude because of a lack of landmass/ocean influence.
It's not that most places on the eastern side of the US are cold for their latitude, it's more the fact that their winters are colder and a lot more susceptible to cold than most other areas. This is also true for eastern Asia, but I just find it astonishing that places that far south as 30N can reach temperatures so low, when many places in western Europe will have warmer record lows.
Well here in N Florida its usually the cold blasts and fronts from up north that cool us off in the winter. Between cold fronts it actually "tries" to warm up, even in the dead of "winter." Im convinced that if there was a tall mountain range running the length of the panhandle to block out the cold fronts, Florida would be a permanent tropical climate.
No kidding, how many subtropical places have gotten 8.2 inches of snow in one snowfall before?
New Orleans has!
photo from wikipedia
photo from neworleanslocal
photo from wintercenter
The same storm dumped 20 inches of snow in downtown Houston, another city which is supposedly sub tropical.
Has Rome ever gotten snow? Posting way old photos of snowstorms there doesn't change the fact of what actually grows in the city, and what the temps are like on an average basis.
I just proved how much warmer NOLA is compared to Nice.
You Canadians have an obvious climate envy going on, lol, as your whole country is one huge ice box. How is that for generalization?
Remind me where in Canada someone can grow their own citrus in their backyard as they do in that icebox of Houston or New Orleans.
Again, why don't Canadians stay away if the climate is so rubbish. I saw loads of Alberta license plates around Gulf Shores. Stop buying up our real estate down here for your winter getaways.
I stood in line for the St. Charles Line streetcar only to listen to a bunch of Canucks go on about the problems in the US all within earshot of many Americans and they knew it. How rude. Stay in your icebox, or at least be decent guests in a country your visiting and don't insult the hosts standing around you.
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That last line really shows you how awful winters in the southern US can be on occasion. At least it didn't get into the teens. (not his exact words, I'm paraphrasing)
