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Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
I decided to start this thread because threads by both sides appear to get derailed now and again by head butting. I've seen complaints about it from theists, and I've seen it happen in a few atheist threads.
I figure, if something heats up in a thread and pulls away from the original post, people can move the argument over here. This can be a catch-all for all the heated off-topic religious topics that crop up.
If this is a bad idea, mods, feel free to delete the thread, but I personally think that having somewhere to blow off steam and posture if necessary might keep the other threads less hostile.
Worth a shot anyway.
Right! Who's got a beef? Put em up!
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
I am an atheist. I believe in no god, nor the soul, and I am a very ethical person... A god being has no part in my choice to act in this manner. It is what is the right thing to do, which I know due to my emotions, and not because the sky fairy is watching me.
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
I don't understand how you are saying I'm demonizing someone's faith.
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
It is what is the right thing to do, which I know due to my emotions, and not because the sky fairy is watching me.
Originally posted by TheB1ueSoldier
Sounds an awful lot like "Do unto others what you would have them do unto you," doesn't it? Isn't it strange how a quote from The Sermon on the Mount ended up in an atheistic household?
"This is the sum of duty; do naught unto others what you would not have them do unto you." — Mahabharata (5:15:17) (c. 500 B.C.E.)
"What you do not wish upon yourself, extend not to others." — Confucius (ca. 551 - 479 B.C.E.)
Wikipedia
Originally posted by TheDuckster
Here's my loose assumption of Atheists: "When you're dead.. that's it..no more..game over. No hell, no heaven.
Originally posted by TheB1ueSoldier
When I was a child, my family was atheistic. But whenever I did something bad, for example taking my sister's doll to play with, my mother would always say "Don't do that, that's wrong.
Originally posted by TheB1ueSoldier
Religion set the standards for morality. If you look at the morals of America compared to the morals of Japan or India, they are very very different. And the differences are clearly outlined and mirrored by their religion.
For the believer, what is right and wrong is very simple: whatever God says is right is right, and whatever God says is wrong is wrong. And the scriptures or the prophets can tell you what God says. So, the believer does not steal simply because it is a sin; he does not lie because it is a sin; he does not work on the Sabbath because it is a sin; he does not eat pork because it is a sin, etc. There is no examining why some of these things are bad or wrong, they just are, because someone in authority says so. Unfortunately, this sometimes results in treating all wrongs as equal: it is a sin to drink a glass of wine; it is also a sin to kill someone. This results from the fact that such morality simply means: Obey. The believer has no need to ask for reasons; in fact, the believer is usually discouraged from asking such questions, because that would sound as though the believer is questioning divine authority.
...
Truly moral behavior is reasoned behavior. Whatever the beneficent result of an act may be, the act itself cannot be considered truly moral if the motive or the intention is not fundamentally moral. If I give a beggar a dollar for the sole reason that God has promised to reward me personally a thousandfold for such acts, my gift to the beggar was not, in my view, a moral act, but a completely selfish one.
...
For example, they have determined that the very young child is by nature empathetic, and feels the emotions of another child who is hurt or sad. It seems to be instinctive. The child then develops under the influence of the kind of environment it has, whether filled with conflict or with love. It learns by imitating what it sees.
ABRAHAM: married his sister (Gen 12:13), lied and denied her
twice to save himself (Gen 12:11-19, 20:2-5), seduced her
handmaid (Gen 16:1-4), drove one child and its mother into
the desert to starve (Gen 21:14), drove out his other
children and their mothers (Gen 25:6), was willing to but-
cher his other child to please God (Gen 22). He was counted
righteous because he believed (Gen 15:6).
Assaulting someones belief system will not make them give up thier belief if the beliefs are truly and faithfully held, in most cases it will harden their belief and make them less prone to accept other outside ideas.
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
Slug away, dbrandt, at whosoever you wisheth to slug.
I haven't seen yet where this has happened in this thread.
If anything, this thread has been pretty much courteous to all who post.
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
DSC, your comment about the West being a Christian construct isn't exactly true. A great deal of the West is moving towards complete secularism. Most of Europe thinks we're nuts to have Evangelicals in the White House. It's just America that is in this state. And I find it abhorrent.
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
I do think that references to god should be left out of state affairs. Not everyone has the same god. Is a naturalized Hindu any less equal than any other American? Why is their god not on the money? Why do we not say, "One nation, under Vishnu ..."?
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
Religion is personal. And it's OK by me if people want to be religious even though I personally think it's a delusion. However, the Christian Right are threatening my unbelief by trying to put prayer in schools, and trying to get intelligent design taught next to evolution, and by claiming that only a man and a woman can marry because it's god's law, ad nauseum. There are certain ethics that do have a place in society's rules, such as not killing each other. But when religious extremists stick their noses into the personal affairs of adults of sound minds and say they can't do something because the extremists find it offensive, I find THAT to be offensive.
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
As an atheist in this country I feel very threatened by the religious moralizing of people all around me. I've been attacked on this board just for arguing against the god concept in a very rational tone -- I never start the name calling, but I get called names quite a lot. I also get censored -- leave this thread! Nobody wants to hear your view and lack of belief, etc.
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
It's this inability and unwillingness to allow for any point of view other than the Christian one that offends me and makes me question why people believe this stuff that I personally find to be nonsensical and superstitious.
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
The separation of church and state has become extremely blurred of late, because of the actions of the Christian Right, and it threatens my Constitutional right to be free of religion. Evangelicals are all for the freedom of religion, so long as it is THEIR religion. Those of us who want to be free from religion are told to butt out, and shut up.
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
So, yeah, I have a big problem with Christianity in general. I do have Christian friends, I've even got some on my Friends list here. Why? Because they are open minded, don't tell me I'm going to hell, listen to what I have to say about my non-belief and accept it without trying to change me or call me names. When I speak ill of Christians, I don't mean all of them. In my experience, however, the open minded, accepting Christians are the exception to the rule.
Originally posted by aarbrock
I will probably only get back on this board to see what kind of comments I get back, but more than likely, I won't reply.