Atheism

[nismogt_rfreak]

I told one of my friends I was an atheist today and he looked at me weird and said ""Your going to be screwed the day you come face to face with God". Why do so many christians view atheists as heathens or satan worshipers?

[MonsterBengt]

Because they are not christians, but ignorant fascists who cannot accept that other people don't think like them.

[nismogt_rfreak]

I'm an ignorant facist because I don't beleive in a religion and/or god?

[nismogt_rfreak]

Sorry, I read that wrong. Disregard my last.

[TexasF355F1]

Originally Posted by MonsterBengt

Because they are not christians, but ignorant fascists who cannot accept that other people don't think like them.

True.

And your friend wants to think that he's better than you.

But don't let that little stint twist your mind. Far less christians think that way than you may think. Or maybe more think that way than I think

[nismogt_rfreak]

Well knowing my friend, I know he was saying it out of concern, but still.

[liquidPunk]

yeah, ive actually gotten into a few debates over that same sort of thing, and with ministers and their families.. and yikes, those people go tso pissed off at me, becasue i wanst angry for them having an opinioon, nor was a swayed by the "you need to beleive to go to heaven"

[Jay!]

Tell him he's going to be screwed when he comes face-to-face with Zeus.

[liquidPunk]

Thats pretty funny and actually a good point. Obviously nobody can prove that their religion is correct... but I figure if there is a god, he will care less about who I worshiped and more about how i lived and helped/ hurt mankind and the rest of the earth.

most religions seem way to conveinent to be all true to me.

[turtlecrxsi]

Originally Posted by liquidPunk

most religions seem way to conveinent to be all true to me.

That is a very interesting statement... quotable almost. My wife would be impressed... she's agnostic or something... and I'm a non-practicing Roman Catholic... yep, another religious travesty...

[BLU CIVIC]

religions are broken down into one aspect...either you're a believer or not...I myself am a believer of God and you may not...like most things in this world, people cannot accept anyone who goes aginst the grain...i may not agree with you, but like it says in the bible...do not hate the person, but hate their ways...most people try and push their opnion on someone making the more resentful and that leads to posting threads like this

but many “Christians” don’t view atheists as heathens or satan worshipers…it’s just that with our belief, true or not, we know what the verdict will be on the dy of judgement

[beef_bourito]

Originally Posted by BLU CIVIC

religions are broken down into one aspect...either you're a believer or not...I myself am a believer of God and you may not...like most things in this world, people cannot accept anyone who goes aginst the grain...i may not agree with you, but like it says in the bible...do not hate the person, but hate their ways...most people try and push their opnion on someone making the more resentful and that leads to posting threads like this

but many “Christians” don’t view atheists as heathens or satan worshipers…it’s just that with our belief, true or not, we know what the verdict will be on the dy of judgement

i WAS a catholic, not anymore. anyways, i have nothing against anyone's beliefs, i prefer to talk about religion rather than debate it. i like listening to what people believe in because i really can't change what they believe.

but if christians are right, then on judgement day people who don't believe will go to hell. jesus said it himself in the bible, that the only way to heaven is through him. so he's right if his religion is correct, and you said he was probably saying it out of concern rather than out of ingorance, anger, whatever, so he doesn't think you're a satan worshiper. in fact i don't really know of anyone who worships satan, and most people i know would accept other people's beliefs, otherwise they're not loving their neighbour as themselves so they're commiting a sin. my point is that if someone is truly christian, they shouldn't put you down for what you believe in because that in itself is against the religion.

[liquidPunk]

Originally Posted by turtlecrxsi

That is a very interesting statement... quotable almost. My wife would be impressed... she's agnostic or something... and I'm a non-practicing Roman Catholic... yep, another religious travesty...

Well thanks man, I read it off a fortune cookie! haha

seriously, im full of useless quotes to start riots by! and that goes for supporters and attackers of said quote

Im talking about this on AIM right now, how the younger generation has felt less of a need for religion and this seems to be having an adverse effect on the morals of society overall

[beef_bourito]

my morals haven't changed much since i left the church. i don't think the same way about sex, the church was the only thing stopping me from having sex before marriage, or about drugs and drinking, but in terms of stealing, treating others, killing, that kind of thing, i still think the same way. i don't think religion is the big thing here, i think it's the parents that aren't teaching their kids good morals. parents are too lenient and the future society is going to pay the price. i know my parents were too easy on me, i realize that i got away with more than i should have, luckily it didn't fuck me up, but i know alot of people that are messed up because they weren't raised right. religion just gives a reason to be good, parents should teach kids to be good regardless of religion.

[Jay!]

In the course of human history, there have been - oh, let's say for the sake of this discussion - five thousand (nice round number) deities that have been "revealed," "created," "discovered," "invented," or however else man finds a deity.

This would mean, that for the world's three major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, that all of the followers of these believe only in Yahweh, God (plus also Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, which may technically challenege the definition of monotheism, but we can skip that for now), and Allah, respectively.

Setting aside the issue of whether or not Yahweh, the Christian Trinity and Allah are or are not refereing to the same deity(s), every believer that adheres to monotheism, is in fact also an atheist with regard to the other 4,999 gods that anyone has ever believed in.

Turns out that most major religions have a "this is the one true religion" clause in them somewhere. So, once you commit yourself to one, you can use that belief to dismiss all others out-of-hand.

The thing is, almost no one ever really rationally compares one religious worldview to another, without the bias that comes from already believing in one, which tends to contain the "everything else is wrong" clause I just mentioned.

---

This is all just my wordy version of a much simpler quote:

"We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."
- Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion