I would hope that someone would report me to the hockey association and my coaching privilages revoked.......
What happend to this fella?
The fourth of July was renamed Eric Dammann Day and every year the good people of Hasbrouck Heights celebrate the moment Ben was beaten back onto God's grace.
Or maybe he was reprimanded and no longer works with youths. Or maybe he made up the whole story.
I don't know and neither do you but it doesn't matter. It's silly for some posters here to judge the entire Christian faith of innumerable amount of denominations and social upbringings based on a 60 second rant by Eric Dammann.
The fourth of July was renamed Eric Dammann Day and every year the good people of Hasbrouck Heights celebrate the moment Ben was beaten back onto God's grace.
Or maybe he was reprimanded and no longer works with youths. Or maybe he made up the whole story.
I don't know and neither do you but it doesn't matter. It's silly for some posters here to judge the entire Christian faith of innumerable amount of denominations and social upbringings based on a 60 second rant by Eric Dammann.
Especially as the Christian faith has no history of this type of thing.......
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Captain James P. DeCOSTE, CD, 18 Sep 1993
The fourth of July was renamed Eric Dammann Day and every year the good people of Hasbrouck Heights celebrate the moment Ben was beaten back onto God's grace.
Or maybe he was reprimanded and no longer works with youths. Or maybe he made up the whole story.
I don't know and neither do you but it doesn't matter. It's silly for some posters here to judge the entire Christian faith of innumerable amount of denominations and social upbringings based on a 60 second rant by Eric Dammann.
Are we allowed to judge religious institutions as a whole based on thousands of years of violence against others, persecution of non-believers, backwards thinking and systematically holding back humanity?
Because the fact is that this guy is pretty much the emodiment of all of those things. And he's a tame example.
The fact that he can even remotely justify what he is saying by presenting it in a pro-religious context is a problem.
I hate the argument that people will find a way to kill each other with or without religion. So what? Many are using it as an excuse and are being led to believe that they are actually doing good in the name of whoever. I could just as easily argue that people will find a way to help each other with or without religion.
"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." ~ Steven Weinberg
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The fourth of July was renamed Eric Dammann Day and every year the good people of Hasbrouck Heights celebrate the moment Ben was beaten back onto God's grace.
Or maybe he was reprimanded and no longer works with youths. Or maybe he made up the whole story.
I don't know and neither do you but it doesn't matter. It's silly for some posters here to judge the entire Christian faith of innumerable amount of denominations and social upbringings based on a 60 second rant by Eric Dammann.
I see your point but did he not punch the kid because he wasn't taking god seriously? I find it easy to judge the entire Christian faith on counts like this because they simply find every non-christian inferior to them, whether they express it in their smug 'i feel sorry for you then' tone or in this case physically against a child out of all people.
I hate the argument that people will find a way to kill each other with or without religion. So what? Many are using it as an excuse and are being led to believe that they are actually doing good in the name of whoever. I could just as easily argue that people will find a way to help each other with or without religion.
Eric Dammann, some no-name pastor from some no-name sect of Christianity from some no-name district of New Jersey is the embodiment of thousands of years of violence and human suppression?
Look, I agree with you a hundred percent. You do not have to be religious to be a good person (hell, I'm not even a religious person). However, any sweeping generalization, negative or positive, that you might believe to be true for a group of people that consists of 3/4 of the entire human population is pretty laughable. Not everyone is going to behave or act the same way when we talk about those kinds of numbers.
People turn violent over a myriad of things like money or nationalism or even mundane stuff like sports. Does that mean we should be abolishing those things too?
Eric Dammann does not represent your average Christian. Eric Dammann probably doesn't even represent everyone sitting in his congregation. He is just some misguided tool with anger issues.
Not so "no-name" anymore, considering his vid went viral (gawds they need a different word for that). He's probably wishing no one knew his name. And so, likely, are the churches he is/was associated with.
Eric Dammann, some no-name pastor from some no-name sect of Christianity from some no-name district of New Jersey is the embodiment of thousands of years of violence and human suppression?
What I said: "Are we allowed to judge religious institutions as a whole based on thousands of years of violence against others, persecution of non-believers, backwards thinking and systematically holding back humanity?
Because the fact is that this guy is pretty much the emodiment of all of those things. And he's a tame example."
Did he not use violence against others, persecuted a non-believer, promoted backwards thinking and helped to hold back humanity by spouting out AGAINST an educated/inquisitive child? That's what I meant. He embodies all those things.
I'll admit the quote is a sweeping generalization and I probably shouldn't have included it. But the fact is that this guy, as warped as his view may be, is considered a leader in his religion and his community. And we can try and write it off as "welll he's just a crazy guy who happens to be a pastor" but this guy holds influence over people. Others listen to him and employ what he has to say. Why? Purely because he's at the front of their church, telling them that this is what God wants. If there is even one person who goes home and follows his advice, humanity is made worse for it, and this is my problem with religion overall.
If he was in any other setting, people would ignore him, call him nuts, and possibly get authorities to deal with him. But because he's the head of a church, people actually pay attention and listen to him. Sure some might think he's out to lunch, but the fact that he is influencing anyone is a problem.
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Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants.
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Originally Posted by Jude
I don't know and neither do you but it doesn't matter. It's silly for some posters here to judge the entire Christian faith of innumerable amount of denominations and social upbringings based on a 60 second rant by Eric Dammann.
It's not fair to judge a billion Muslims on the actions of a lunatic fringe, either, but that doesn't stop anyone. "Why aren't the Muslims doing something about these terrorists?" "Why are Muslims so violent?"
Since there are plenty of self-described Christians making these comments, I can't feel all that much sympathy for the unfair aspersions cast on Christianity by this misguided idiot. It's different when it's your own ox being gored, isn't it?
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Look, I agree that this man should be removed from his current position as a pillar of the community but the preconception that you have is that religion is twisting these individuals instead of these individuals twisting religion to suit their own personal agendas.
People like Eric Dammann can crop up in any facet of society, whether he's a pastor, a scout leader, peewee coach, at work or in your own family unit. Removing religion won't stop these people from being dicks and yes, in some cases the people around them do nothing to stop it for a plethora of reasons.
There is also a lot of assumptions going around that somehow your average religious Joe schmoe isn't just as outraged as your average non-religious Joe-schmoe. The only reason why this video has garnered as much attention as it has is because his conduct is NOT the norm in a church setting. Would you lump the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church with all other Christians?
If you go to any synagogue, church, or mosque here in Calgary, do you honestly believe that they are promoting child abuse, homophobia and creationism ? If they are then I will happily pick up the anti-religion banner and sharpen my pitchfork with the rest of you guys.
If you go to any synagogue, church, or mosque here in Calgary, do you honestly believe that they are promoting child abuse, homophobia and creationism?
I was walking across a bridge when I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. I ran over and said, "Stop! Don't do it!"
"Why shouldn't I?" he asked.
I said, "Well there's so much to live for."
"Like what?"
"Well, are you religious or atheist?"
"Religious."
"Me too! Are you Christian or Jewish?"
"Christian."
"Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?"
"Protestant."
"Me too! Are you Baptist or Episcopalian!"
"Baptist."
"Me too! Are you Baptist Church or God or Reformed Baptist Church of God"
"Reformed Baptist Church of God."
"Reformed Baptist Church of God Reformation of 1893 or Reformed Baptist Church of God Reformation of 1917?"
"Reformed Baptist Church of God Reformation of 1917."
To which I said, "Die, heretic scum!" as I pushed him off the bridge.
Look, I agree that this man should be removed from his current position as a pillar of the community but the preconception that you have is that religion is twisting these individuals instead of these individuals twisting religion to suit their own personal agendas.
People like Eric Dammann can crop up in any facet of society, whether he's a pastor, a scout leader, peewee coach, at work or in your own family unit. Removing religion won't stop these people from being dicks and yes, in some cases the people around them do nothing to stop it for a plethora of reasons.
The issue (for me) is that religion gives a platform for these types of people to spout their BS, AND that, because they spout said BS under the guise of serving a deity, people following the religion can fall under their influence. And as I said before, even if that's one person, it's a detriment to human progress.
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There is also a lot of assumptions going around that somehow your average religious Joe schmoe isn't just as outraged as your average non-religious Joe-schmoe. The only reason why this video has garnered as much attention as it has is because his conduct is NOT the norm in a church setting. Would you lump the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church with all other Christians?
In a way, yes. The top-levels of religions have time and time again either defended or ignored deplorable behaviour in their ranks. The same way that Muslims are being associated with terrorism, the same way Communism is associated with laziness, or capitalism with corruption, or the Oilers with terribleness, Christian's will get associated with their worst aspects as well. Even just living in Calgary gets me associated with being an Oil-pumping anti-environmentalist by many standards. If you don't want the stigma of the club, you can leave the club, or change it. But to stand there while a pastor hits a kid, or a Jihadist takes a life and say "That's not me though!", well, yea it is. You belong to this family or group, You get to be associated with the good and the bad. You can pick and choose what you want to believe of course, but your still unde that umbrella. And until you change, or the umbrella changes, these associations will be made.
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If you go to any synagogue, church, or mosque here in Calgary, do you honestly believe that they are promoting child abuse, homophobia and creationism ? If they are then I will happily pick up the anti-religion banner and sharpen my pitchfork with the rest of you guys.
Yes (if you consider the many cases of child abuse within the churches themselves and the subsequent rug-sweeping by the higher-ups), yes (c'mon really? All Christians may not be homophobic, but Christianity itself is. So is Islam. Or, at least, people use them as a reason to be, which is just as bad and really my whole point.) and yes, creationism is a fundamental of Christianity, whther they want to move the target from Earth to the Universe is irrelavent.
He's probably wishing no one knew his name. And so, likely, are the churches he is/was associated with.
