Religion

[slysje]

good idea! but of course Jesus had the advantage of superstition.

BTW Im not saying Jesus didnt excist. Im just saying he isnt the son of God and didnt rise from the dead. No offense

[swiss tony]

I, personally, have a lot to thank Jesus for. Making me an atheist, for one thing!

[slysje]

Originally Posted by swiss tony

I, personally, have a lot to thank Jesus for. Making me an atheist, for one thing!

Amen to that brother:p

[Bizarre]

In fairness, it was going to a Catholic school that made me atheist. They tried to be liberal and told us alternative theories to religion. All that did was make me go "Hang on, these make MUCH more sense!"

Every atheist goes through an angry faze, angry that they were duped for so long. I've gotten over that and people rarely mention religon to me if I don't to them. I agree, it does a lot of damage but it can be overcome. Saying that people are blind to it doesn't help and will only make them cling to it more. I think that it has been very damaging throughout history but frankly, I am more concerned about the tabloid and mainstream media warping people's minds than I am about religion doing the same.

Being an angry atheist helps no-one. You're either going to have your words fall on deaf ears or preach to the choir.

Then again, maybe my apathy is worse. I sometimes think it is.

[Diabolical]

I worship the Christian Devil.

[Fearonsarms]

A mate of mine thinks I belong to a horror cult. I suppose in a way that's true.

[TheWickerFan]

Originally Posted by Fearonsarms

A mate of mine thinks I belong to a horror cult. I suppose in a way that's true.

I wonder who the God of the horror cult is? Satan or Bruce Campbell?

[Diabolical]

Fuk Bruce Cambell. Hahah

[BookZombie]

See, this to me (and I don't say this specifically to offend, I'm just trying to explain my point of view) is kind of stepping a little bit closer to being fanatical about your religion...because there's places of worship, and then there's not.

No there is not places of worship and then there is not. You do not stop believing in your religion once you are out of your Church, your Mosque or your Ritual chamber and so on, for a religious person our faith is not something we do, it is something we are, it is a part of everyday life as well as times set aside for worship. Please tell me what is fanatical about this.

Choosing to make the entire open world a place of worship exposes other people to your religious practices without their choice or consent - and I don't think it's respectful of other people who simply choose to either

I do not like football, should I demand that everyone who have this interest refrain from talking about it, reading about it, or having football themed music on their cell phone as it might expose others like me who do not like fotball to it without our consent?

Incidentally your argument here is exactly the same argument that gay people often face, do not kiss or hold hands in public you might expose someone to gayness without their consent. Here is the thing, as long as people are not harming anyone, is nothing nagging people and are not loud and obnoxious people should be allowed to do whatever they please in public, that be kissing their same sex partner, recite a table prayer or watch a football match on their tablet PC.

a: Not follow religion
b: Have religion, but not feel the need to have others observe them.

And how do it harm these people to see me whisper a grace over my hamburger and chocolate milkshake at Burger King?

Of course, if you're part of a larger culture who does this as the "normal" thing, the statements above may not apply - some cultures where people are quite devout, will have this done as part of majority...in which case, I don't think you'd find any/many people to dispute you, as it's more of an appropriate forum where expressing your religious moxy is more widely acceptable.

So what you are saying is that one should never behave in a way which is contrary to the norm of one's culture in public? Goths are horrible people? What about the women in Iran who wears as little head covering as they can get away with and fight for their civil rights, that is against the social norm, or for that matter male nurses in Western hospitals also against the social norm. Or is it just when it comes to religion one should follow social norms?

Here, and I'm certain among many multicultural societies, the "normal" thing to do if one is religious is either stick to places of worship or the home.

There are many people who are quite secular about their religion, they go to Church every Sunday and do not give a shit the rest of the week, however there is allot of people to where religion is a part of our lives and is not something just practiced at sites of worship. I will not hide my religion in shame because some Atheist might be offended at seeing me pray for my food or meditate on the buss.

Nobody is denying you your religion...I mean people may question your productivity if you're spending all day having your God time etc...but, but I honestly think that when you're living among a culture that this is not considered "normal" it's actually a bit disrespectful to conduct yourself in that manner. Not to mention a little strange.

First off all I am not saying one is in a meditation position preying all day. Some religions have daily practice which can be disruptive to a normal job, like Muslim prayer time, other religions daily practice might be a muttered grace, or a whispered thank you to the God's when something favorable happens, it takes seconds and do not impair productivity. It is not disrespectful to show that one is religious nor is it disrespectful to behave, dress or be in a manner which do not conform to social norms. It is not disrespectful to be strange.

As I said, there's places of worship, there's home, then there's everywhere else. Honestly, I'll say it however offensive it sounds...seeing people pray, kneel down, sing, or any such other display of worship in public...to me is like a guy walking around with a tennis racquet in full gear, swinging it around like he's still in the game, or a person walking along at a fast pace with their hands out in front of them like they're holding a steering wheel. That and, a little bit of "Yeah this is MY thing, just TRY to say anything about it so I can act all offended".

First of all if a guy walk around with his arms around him like if he is still steering his car, do it harm you in any way? If that is how this man prefer to walk how is that any of your business? No one have denied you the right to think religious displays in public strange, however from that to wanting to deny people the right to do these things that do not harm anyone else just because your view of the world do not include the supernatural or anything Spiritual is as bad as Christians or Muslims trying to prevent people from being Atheist.

That said, don't even get me started on people who actually seek out others to join their religion in any way shape or form.

I do not have a problem with it, every so often we have a Jehovah's Witness or other on the door, I say no thank you and they leave, and are usually more polite than other door to door salesmen. Off course there are aggressive converters and they are idiots and are a pest and it is not acceptable but if someone try to give me information about their religion I am not offended.

For that matter, I also find schools that devote any time whatsoever to religion to be absolutely wrong, no matter who, no matter what.

I do not think schools should try to raise children into any religion, however to not mention it at all would mean allot of world history having to be skipped over. School should not be a way to learn about religion, but to be so afraid of religion that it is not even mentioned is equally wrong. Religion have played an important part in world history for good and for bad and this should not be forgotten.

A person should have freedom to seek out information on their own on any given religion...it should not be thrust upon them like a campaigner looking for votes, and I do not think children should be bought up "in a religion", ever.

I agree, however if the parents is religious then it might be difficult not to have any influence on the child in this regard. If I had a child then I would teach them about many religions, and also about science and let them choose when they wanted to choose.

I believe in choice, exploration, and education.

So do I.

[BookZombie]

While I don't think there will be absolute world peace if you eliminated religion, I suspect that a lot of the ugliness between many countries would disappear. India and Pakistan, Israel and Palestine, Ireland and England; maybe they would manage to find other things to fight about, but then again, maybe not.

One problem I have with Atheists is that they go and say religions make no sense and religious people do not think, and then they turn around and do not think themselves. It is popular to give religion the blame for every war. However think for a moment, do you really think for example with the unrest in the Middle East that religion have anything to do with it? Religion is the banner, it is the rallying point, however the reason for the war is two peoples both wanting the same piece of land.

If you look at religious wars from the Crusades to the present you see the same. Religion is the rallying point, and allot of shit have been done in the name of religion to be sure, however to think that the wars will all go away if there where no religion is naive. Religion is not the cause of these wars, various far more practical reasons are, social injustice, greed, the desire for power and so on and so on. If there where no religion the wars would still be fought, just under new banners. Just look at various Communist nations where religion is often forbidden, the same shit, the same wars just a new banner. Religion is not the big bad, people are.