I have noticed during my relatively short tenure here at ATS we have what could be considered a pretty decent cross section of our world in general. We have people of every race, ideological stance, religion, belief structure, political party, etc. Within these categories we have people that represent both the positive and negative sides of each.

We discuss wars, poverty, environmental concerns, alien abductions, government conspiracies, paranormal activity, and religion.

We have all met people that are perfect reflections of our own views as well as people that are our polar opposites.

We have met people who we can strive to be like, as well as the type of people we try to distance ourselves from.

We meet people who are intelligent, thoughtful, and insightful.

We also meet people who are ignorant, bigoted, and close minded.

In the end we are what the world is: conflicted, multi-faceted, horrific, and sometimes idyllic.

It's all about perspective, and everyone is entitled to their own.

Which brings me to the subject at hand. I have noticed that many people including myself have been unhappy with the recent wave of religious intolerance at ATS. Many of us are guilty of feeding into the frenzy, and at certain points, I have been guilty of it myself. Sometimes when we have an issue with someone instead of dealing with the problem or issue at hand we use what we know about the person to take the cheapest shots possible. It is time for us as a community to say enough is enough.

I have seen topics that have been quite prevalent and controversial come and go at ATS. When I started visiting ATS on a regular basis it seemed like everyone was battling about reptilians. Do they exist? Do they not exist? Are the people who people who believe in them delusional? Everyone had their own opinions, and everyone was battling. At times it got quite heated and sometimes vicious. Along the way other topics seemed to take the spotlight, andget everyone riled up, and to a certain extent that is healthy. It challenges us to see thing from someone else's perspective. It helps to push us out of our respective comfort zones and maybe, just maybe learn something about each other.

Now what I've seen is threads whose entire purpose seems to be to tick off the religious opposition. Most of the time it's atheists vs. Christians, but I have seen others. IMO religion is one of the most personal, important things to a person and faith in whatever religion that may be is something that should be respected. The religious arguments I have seen as of late have been nothing but destructive. It has become a constant contest to see what group can one up the other. When you push your religious beliefs or lack there of it only makes the other party more close minded to your point of view than they already may have been.

It's easier to destroy than to create. It's time for us to say that we will represent our respective religions in a "lead by example" kind of way. It's time to store the verbal battle maces back into the metaphorical closet. It's time to ask open and honest questions about what each other believes. It's time to discuss possible conspiracies in religions without condemning the religion being discussed. It's time for us to say that though we have people here who believe in Christ, Buddha, Allah, Amaterasu, Osiris (eh he he), and many many other gods, goddesses/spiritual paths that we will give them the respect that fellowhuman beings deserve. That we will allow whatever higher being exists to judge us, and not spend our time judging each other. It's time to understand that even if we don't believe in any god or religion that it is ok for others to believe in whatever their heart tells them to believe, whether it makes sense or not.

This thread is an opportunity for everyone of all belief structures to come together in a spirit of reconciliation. Ideally it will be somewhere where people can discuss religion and our differences in a civil, respectful, non-judgmental manner. It can be a place to apologize to each other, to find common ground outside of religion, to learn what makes each other tick. A place to say it's ok that everyone is different, and we can learn something from each other. Maybe we can't, even united, change the state of the world, our respective countries, states, counties, or even cities, but we can come together and say that we have had enough of the religious and ideological bigotry here at ATS. That we can put aside some of the religious ignorance and discuss some of the other conspiracies and problems facing us as people.

Unfortunately I need to be away from my computer for the next couple hours, but please do not let that hinder any discussion. I will be back later.

Make this thread something we can all be proud of.

I really don't think you are approaching this issue, which I do think is an issue, with unbiasedness and objectivity. The religious on ATS are plenty guilty, as much if not more, of intolerance and judging others. They just pass it off as "judging the sin and not the sinner".

If you don't see that I can link plenty of threads were this is more then evident.

[edit on 033131p://14u03 by Lucid Lunacy]

Originally posted by jimbo999
but it's rarely if ever used for anything more than a pulpit for boring diatribes on scripture and biblical quotes

That's the bulk of what I observe from my experience on ATS, and I have been reading ATS for 4-5 years.

In addition to that, the bulk of those scriptures and biblical quotes aren't to further the thread topic but to condemn and judge imho.

Originally posted by Osiris1953
We also meet people who are ignorant, bigoted, and close minded.

Those are terms frequently used by people here when someone holds a different viewpoint then their own. Automatically they are idiots or bigots. Sometimes it's true ... but many times it's not.

Originally posted by jimbo999
This particular forum has long ago become little more than a soapbox for religious fundementalists, bible-thumpers, and sermonisers,

Amen! (sorry, couldn't resist that one!).

Edited to add - lots of folks don't want to be educated. They want to remain in their bigotry. There isn't anything that can be done about those people.



[edit on 5/14/2008 by FlyersFan]

And I would like to add that I am God-believing and I have read the Bible (Torah and NT)... so I am not biased or partial to the Atheist perspective when I say that the Bible Thumpers in my eyes are equally (if not more) contributors to this issue.

Just my imho, and observations,

Is there a conspiracy?? I am certain of it. Each side wants to convert the other!!