A few questions I have(towards Atheists)

have you ever had a jehovah's witness stalk you? would you even mind? thats what they do. once you give them one second of you time they keep coming back to your house.

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ARE NOT CHRISTIANS. THEY ARE A CULT RELIGION.

ok, but either way they are a religion("cult" just means you have no respect for it as a real religion) based and Christianity and it is still annoying none the less.

To atheists, it's all cults.

To Christians, anything that isn't their particular brand of Christianity is a cult.

To Muslims, Christians are a cult.

The only cult-free people are atheists.

Originally posted by janasstar
WHY ARE YOU ATHEISTS SO FULL OF HATE

We are not full of hate. That is a projection. We question what we find to be superstition, and most of us are calm, rational, if blunt. That is not hate. The hate is in the eye of the beholder.

Jannasstar,

if you are using Firefox, you can simply hold down Ctrl and move your mouse-wheel down to increase the size of all fonts on the page. I hope this helps!



As for whether or not Atheists are full of hate... I myself am Discordian, which is the next best thing to Agnostic... I don't care for hardline rationalism any more than I do blind faith; I believe that there is a deeper order and meaning to the Universe, which science (while well-meaning) has not yet uncovered. This is part faith and part inference based on the miracle of existence itself.

But I do not believe in a literal, anthropomorphic God.

I do not hate, but I do not believe that any human has the power or the right to tell another what the meaning (or origin, for that matter) of life is. I see these acts as immensely hateful, as they deny what I feel to be a basic right of all conscious beings: to decide the experience of life for oneself.

I hold Christianity in high regard for its ability to engender such virtues as love, fidelity, and selflessness; my problems with religion (any religion!) begin only when a believer attempts to force their belief system on myself or someone around me.

Morality is too subjective to be enforced.

Satan worshippers are religious too, but please don't dump them in the Christian campsite, too; just because you can't think of anywhere else to put them.

Could you define atheist?

Is atheist someone who "believes" there is no God?

Or is an atheist someone who hates religion?

Or would you call someone who looks upon religion like most people look on highschool an Atheist?

How about someone who simply "believes" in an impersonal universe, complete with all it's mystical properties?

It seems to me that Atheist is as ambiguous a term as any other religious label. You just can't pin it down.

Originally posted by janasstar
Satan worshippers are religious too, but please don't dump them in the Christian campsite, too; just because you can't think of anywhere else to put them.

But it was Christianity that helped solidify the role of Satan as the bad guy. In the Old Testament, evil was pretty much always the result of people choosing to do bad things on their own. Christianity decided that Satan was responsible. Nobody buys into the whole Christian mythology more than Satan worshippers. In a way, they're the truest and most enthusiastic of all Christians.

In so far as Christians labeling everyone a cult that doesn't have their exact beliefs, is simply untrue. I'm not Lutheran, Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian or various other protestant denominations. But I will agree that they are Christian. The word Christian, means to follow Christ's teachings and to 'try' to be Christ-like. this is not true with cult religions. They cancel out the deity of Christ, or like the Catholic Church, the teachings are way off. For instance. Jesus said to call no earthly man, 'Father.' He didn't mean your dad, either. He made a clear point of not making a special to-do about any of His earthly family members., including His mother. When Jesus taught the disciples to pray, He said to say, "our Father." He didn't say to call him Jehovah, or to go to a man in a booth and shout hail Mary's and count rosary beads. We are also told to pray to the Father in the name of Jesus. No where does it mention prayers to St. Jude or St,Peter,etc. So you see there is a difference in denominations of Christianity and cult religions. You can be religious about anything, without being a Christian. You Atheists are probably religious about being atheists, huh?

Originally posted by Quazga
Could you define atheist?

I think in general, an atheist is someone who, after looking at the available evidence, doesn't find enough proof to say that "God" exists. Of course, it's impossible to prove a negative, and no one can definitively prove that God doesn't exist. So it's more a recognition of an absence of proof, as well as an acknowledgement that all common definitions of God are inherently flawed and contradictory, so it can't even be reasonably discussed or debated.

And certainly not all atheists are anti-religion. In fact, Buddhism is an entire religion of atheists. No God required.

[edit on 9-8-2007 by SuicideVirus]

Attention Suicide Virus:
That has got to be the most stupid thing you have said yet! Christians weren't even in existence when Lucifer became Satan! He brought that down on his own little pointed head! Sorry! WRONG!!!!

Uhmm, I don't think you have ever read the history of the Devil.

The fable that you are referring to has no bearing on when societies began using the image or concept of Satan in their discourse.

Originally posted by Quazga
Could you define atheist?

a·the·ist ( /ˈeɪθiɪst/ )
–noun
a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings.

That about sums it up. We flat out reject the existence of any kind of divine being or supernatural phenomena. Everything can and will be explained through science. It's not that we're unconvinced or skeptical or whishy-washy about it (we'd be agnostics then). We are 100% certain.

[edit on 9/8/2007 by Thousand]

Quazga, if you are referring to me as the one who hasn't read the history of the devil, then I would have to say you are wrong also. I have definitely read the history of the devil. And he did bring evil down on his own head, by trying to overthrow God. As a result he got himself and 1/3 of the angels kicked out of heaven. Suicide virus wanted to blame the devil's deeds on the Christians. I said, "they were not in existence when Lucifer took his fall." And he did start a plan of evil when he tempted Eve in the garden. God seemed to think it was pretty rotten. The condition that he put mankind in was pretty rotten. What God had to put His Son thru to redeem us, was pretty rotten. Seems like somebody got the cart before the horse to me.
And all these stories I keep hearing about all these horrible Christians trying to ram stuff down ppl's throats, and threaten them with hell fire; I have one question. "What kind of people are y'all hanging around with?" I don't know anyone like that. And I wouldn't associate with anyone like that. I would apologize for them, if I felt that we were talking about true Christians, here. What I'd like to say to the the atheists before they start burning us Christians at the stake, is; "Please separate the tares from the wheat."

I have no hatred towards any religion as i said in my earlier post in this thread (please read). However I have a question towards those that rely on God and the Bible to better themselves... Could you not find it within yourself to better yourself without? I mean do you really NEED to be told how to be a good person? I don't think anyone does. Maybe I am looking at it throught my eyes only and others don't have this ability within them but i'm sure thats not true!

I call myself a Neo-Atheist because unlike the traditional atheist i don't try to make other people believe that there is no God and would be open minded to the idea if there was some evidence. Im not 'Anti-God' or 'non-religious', I have an individual belief which works for me. I just think that more people should look at life that way instead of following the sheeple.

Originally posted by fiftyfifty
I call myself a Neo-Atheist because unlike the traditional atheist i don't try to make other people believe that there is no God and would be open minded to the idea if there was some evidence. Im not 'Anti-God' or 'non-religious', I have an individual belief which works for me. I just think that more people should look at life that way instead of following the sheeple.

I don't think you have to make a new group, "neo-atheist". What you're describing seems like traditional atheism to me. The internet has brought out a lot of "tough guy" atheist who like nothing better than to bash Christianity/Christians hard.

I suppose you get extremism within any group eh? It's a shame cos at the end of the day every single peron on this planet is the same.

I personally don't read the bible to find out how to be a better person. I felt like I've always been a pretty good person. The kind that gives someone my last dollar. that kind of thing. I read the Bible because it is how I get to know God better. It's a funny thing. But before I was saved, the Bible made no sense to me. But after that; whenever I read it. it's like it has come alive. I'm constantly going, "Wow! I never understood that before!" That's why I say, you cannot understand the bible with the carnal mind. It does seem to be contradictory, etc. But once you've had the change. It is totally different. It lines right up and makes perfect sense.

I personally believe that everyone should be able to believe what they like as long as it doesn't affect anyone else.

I also think that sometimes all religious people get lumped together unfairly. Not all religious people want evolution removed from school. Not all religious people disbelieve evolution. As example, the pope has recently come forward to say there is good evidence for evolution.

I think sometimes what happens is when you have religious individuals stating that science (ie evolution) is wrong because it contradicts the word of god. This leads to those same religious people, wanting the science removed from schools , religion installed and taught as fact or at the very least have religion taught side by side with evolution. This is forcing religion down someones throat who doesn't want or accept a belief as fact.

Here are some basic definitions to consider

A BELIEF
Assent to a proposition or affirmation, or the acceptance of a fact, opinion, or assertion as real or true, without immediate personal knowledge; reliance upon word or testimony; partial or full assurance without positive knowledge or absolute certainty; persuasion; conviction; confidence; as, belief of a witness; the belief of our senses

SCIENCE
According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, the definition of science is "knowledge attained through study or practice," or "knowledge covering general truths of the operation of general laws, esp. as obtained and tested through scientific method [and] concerned with the physical world."

What does that really mean? Science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge. This system uses observation and experimentation to describe and explain natural phenomena. The term science also refers to the organized body of knowledge people have gained using that system. Less formally, the word science often describes any systematic field of study or the knowledge gained from it.

TO RECAP

A BELIEF
The willingness to believe in something without the need for proof.

SCIENCE
The willingness to know something based on evidence as proof.


My point is some religious people try to make a BELIEF into SCIENCE and they simply don't mesh.