Hurtful, angry, spiteful, people!(religious fanaticism)

-------------------Disclaimer---------------------
First let it be known.. I have no problem with moderate church going folks of all religions! I belive everyone has a right to find God in their own way.
Those who don't belive in a God, are welcome to belive what they wish!

We live in a time where groups of people still feel that the Bible is the absolute WORD of God.. And do not feel this book was written by men..

Granted you have every right to belive what you wish.. Yet why are these same people SOO hurtful and angry to anyone that doesnt belive in their ways?
I have tried to meet these people half way. But with no luck.. When will the time come that we can move on as a people together?

Why must they hold so many people back with such small ideas. That become such BIG deals..

Why can not people that belive in this stuff have love in their hearts for others. presay nothing BUT hate and fear!

They claim we all are born with sin.. And we are all sinners! All that fire and brimstone stuff.. Going to hell if you don't see it their way!!!
Some belive a person can not just be a "good" person.. And that its selfish to serve yourself and not serve GOD. Why is it that people can not just be good people, unless they belive in the absolute word of the bible, or God?

There are so many different names for God.. Yet each one lays claim to being correct. While the other group will burn in hell.. As its okay to have faith and belive.. Yet extreamists push it and people get hurt, and even DIE!

Why must I burn in hell forever just because I won't hate someone else for feeling another way than me?

I don't hate people who feel the bible is the absolute word of God.. Lord knows I have tried everything in my power to befriend them.. To help them.
And to show them how much hate they spread in this world..

They do not care! They only see what they have been taught since a young age.. And nothing will stand in their way..
They proclaim a WAR on those who do not belive..
They feel they are Warriors for GOD.. They want a WAR with those who do not belive as they belive..

Someday a time will come when we can shed such old ways..
A day will come when all those filled with such HATE will come to an end..

While I do not see this happening in my lifetime.. I hope that someday my grandchildren can just be who they are without being hurt and picked on by such Bullies!

Look at the past.. And how much has changed.. A black man now stands in office.. Working for the white devil! While things change.. Nothing changes all that much..
And evil still rules this world.. The good guys are the ones who wear black.
While the evils of this world run amuck!

And how many extream groups of absolute words of God types do we have?

Well theres more than just 1 group of these folks.

So since we have more than 1 group of people who belive their book was written by God itself.. Why would God write up so many different books?

Is God like some trickster God? An Evil spiteful God? Who loves to see its childrens fight and kill eachother?

No, I don't think thats what God wanted.. Yet its not Gods job to come here and figure this out.. This is a huge universe.. And we are not Gods only children.. God wanted us to figure this out for ourselfs..

And the time is comming soon.. When we must stand up to these bullies..
And say enough is enough..

While I would not empose my faith upon them.. I would not strike them down and tell them they must belive in my GOD..

However I would make a stand.. And tell them.. The time has come.. And you have hurt and killed so many people that the world has lost count..

Its time we stick up for ourselfs.. And stop these bullies from killing and hurting us all! So that we can move on as a human race!!

yet my problem is this.. I do not want to kill anyone.. Nor hurt anyone to get my point across..
How do you fight evil?
How do you fight something without attacking it.. Or hurting the people being blinded by such maddness?

I am open to suggestions.. As if you go to attack groups of people.. You inturn become as bad as them..
If you tell them what they should belive.. You become the very thing you set out to defeat..

And its how we have been trapped in this loop for so freakin long!

How do we end their rain of maddness.. How do we stand up to a bully.. Without punching him in the face..Without doing the very things the bullies did to us..

How do you beat the bully without becomming the bully?


I told myself I would stay out of these threads.. And all religion based stuff.. But Its been on my mind the last few months.. If you got this far into the thread thanks for listening.. I just wanted to get this stuff off my chest and into writting..
Peace and Love to all!

IMPORTANT THREAD ANNOUCMENT
Edit-- Before my edit button wears out I want to post one rule in this thread.. Please all moderate members please follow this golden rule..
If a person comes in and posts in an angry or spiteful way.. DO not reply to that person! Allow them to expose their true nature! And only reply to those who want to talk about this in a civil manner!
I repeat! DO not feed trolls in this thread.. Or you will become one yourself!
Its called Gandi Tech.. And its the only way to deal with Fanaticism!

Gandhi, on the other hand, taught to peacefully confront the problematic people and let them show their true colors or character, and then publicize their actions. I call this Gandhi Tech. Gandhi's methods were to help all humans equally

[edit on 12-7-2009 by zysin5]

It's not peoples BELIEFS that I hate, it is purely the ACT of believing that I hate.

A mind enmeshed in belief is like a bird in a cage, a large plump bird - that I would like to shoot with a 12 gauge - then eat.

[edit on 12-7-2009 by Amagnon]

I share your frustration

Fundies give me the **its

Where do they get off?

One person from a forum I was on recently (Aussie) is actually literally waiting for the day we (non believers) will all be annihilated- she took great joy in this and she's no Robinson Crusoe

Very sad- religion brings out the worst in people- jmo

reply to post by Amagnon

Originally posted by Amagnon
A mind enmeshed in belief is like a bird in a cage, a large plump bird - that I would like to shoot with a 12 gauge - then eat.

Not really the kind of reply I was hoping for.. But ummm I guess to each their own..
See everyone is more than welcome to their faiths or beliefs, its those Fantics and extreamists Im talking about..
And killing them with a 12 gauge, feeds into their whole mind control..
And makes you just as bad as them..

Originally posted by lifecitizen
I share your frustration

Fundies give me the **its

Where do they get off?

One person from a forum I was on recently (Aussie) is actually literally waiting for the day we (non believers) will all be annihilated- she took great joy in this and she's no Robinson Crusoe

Very sad- religion brings out the worst in people- jmo

Now thats a much better answer! Thanks for taking the time to hear me out, and sharing your own personal account with a Fanatic..
Yes there are many who would see people like you and me nuked off the face of this EArth.. And fullfill all their fire and brimestone predictions!!
Scary indeed!

My question is.. How do you deal with them? Ignore them? I wish it was that easy..

[edit on 12-7-2009 by zysin5]

Originally posted by zysin5
Why must I burn in hell forever just because I won't hate someone else for feeling another way than me?

That's what I take issue with the most when it comes to religion. When some religious make-believer tells me that if I don't join their little clan then my head will be chopped off or I'll be sent to hell, I take that as a threat and will cap the sucka for such a threat! Imagine if some other kind of salesman came knocking on your door selling something and threatening a beheading or that that their omnipotent leader will send you to hell if you don't buy into whatever it is they are selling. I wouldn't have much of a problem with religion if they knocked it off with all those threats. Religion is evil and dangerous so long as their selling spiel contains words of threats if you don't see things their way.

No, I don't think thats what God wanted.. Yet its not Gods job to come here and figure this out.. This is a huge universe.. And we are not Gods only children.. God wanted us to figure this out for ourselfs..

Those are a lot of assumptions being made about any possible god that nobody can prove even exists, and without any evidence of what any god would want from us, or what any gods job is.

Organized religion should be made illegal. They should be shut down for false advertising claims and their threat filled propaganda.

Well, they are hard to ignore and I actually said much the same thing to someone here the other day- some days I can laugh them off, other days they can make my blood boil-

The ones that make the news really annoy me- like that preacher in Kansas somewhere who proclaimed to the world that Australia's tragic bushfires earlier this year where nearly 200 people died, burnt to death- were due to fact that some abortion law was passed- how dare he say that- people died and it was a very sad time for all Australians not just the ones that were directly involved- to be fair some Aussie preacher said the same thing and my response to both of them is the same- show some compassion losers and keep your callous comments to yourself.

Originally posted by Divinorumus
Those are a lot of assumptions being made about any possible god that nobody can prove even exists, and without any evidence of what any god would want from us, or what any gods job is.

They should be shut down for false advertising claims and their threat filled propaganda.

I agree with just about everything you say Divinorumus..
The only reason I make any assumptions in here is to be fair to those moderate faith goers.. Im not here to dis-proove God..
While I have my own personal faith.. It has nothing to do with making others belive what I have to say is true..

Im a druid.. So I just go about my days as a normal person.. Faith for me is not at the top of the list.. So I was just trying to be fair here to others, and not totally stamp out their belife systems..

I feel the pushy extreamists and fantics should be shut down permantly yes.
But I do stand for the free religion idea.. I wouldnt want to over step my bounds and Impose my own will..
Otherwise then I end up right back where I started.. I become the bully you see.
So for those telling me what to belive and how to belive it by being a Bully. I think that could change YES!
But I wouldnt want to see religion outlawed totally..
That would make more problems than when you started...
But something must be done to stop all the fanaticism in religion..
And it should start with the people of the churches..

AS I belive strongly the Pope is a an evil man.. Who uses God and faith as a sheild to blind those from his true evil nature..
The Vatican is pure evil IMO.

Originally posted by lifecitizen
Well, they are hard to ignore and I actually said much the same thing to someone here the other day- some days I can laugh them off, other days they can make my blood boil-

show some compassion losers and keep your callous comments to yourself.

Right and Right.. Some days I can blow it off.. Other days like today.. Well you read my post.. heh..

Yes they need to show some real compassion if they are going to claim they are of God.. No to me that only shows they serve a greater evil..

My ways are different.. I dont belive in "angels" and "demons".
But astral beings.. Lower and higher astrals..
But they are pretty much the same thing..
Yet I do not push my feelings onto others... And just as long as people are cool with it.. Im fine with it..
But thats not how this world really works.. And most of us know that..

Its why some people step away from church all together.. They get tired of the lies, and hypocritism.. They get tired of saying a man lives in the clouds without any proof other than a book, and faith..

And thats okay to belive too.. But there are fanatics of every thought pattern..

Yes they need to show some real compassion if they are going to claim they are of God



But God isn't about compassion?

Very petty and cruel Bible God is

He wiped out the entire population remember? (except for the chosen few)

He had no qualms about killing innocent children-

So it's not hard to see where his followers get it from (the hate)

reply to post by Amagnon


The Best Part Of "beLIEve" is the "LIE"
Line 2.... REALLY!?!

A few weeks ago, my son's youth baptist group was meeting at our house. ( don't even start with that. But it's better than the drugs he was doing a few years ago).

Anyway, they were discussing evolution vs creationism.

Of course they were slamming Darwin when I chimed in.

I stated that Darwin could prove the existence of God. I said that evolution is even talked about in the bible.
I started by saying that evolution is a change that an organism goes through when new environmental stresses are applied to it. I said that given that, an organism (whether single cell or a lemur) basically has a genetic choice to make.
Adapt or not adapt.
Basically, FREE WILL.
They have the option of evolving or not. They have the free will to change (to new environmental stresses) or not.

I almost got chased out of my own house.

reply to post by lifecitizen



It shouldn't make your blood boil... it should sadden you that they are stuck in that world with their ... I feel sorry for them.

reply to post by EyesWideShut


Well, yes maybe I should pity them but I'm not that spiritually advanced

Fanatics can be dangerous and to be quite honest alot of their ideals scare me-

I reserve my pity for people stuck in situations beyond their control- like the child in Africa that is starving to death and will most probably die

lol Mike- gawd how do you stand that!

But, I have often thought the same thing- maybe grasping religion through the teenage years might not be such a bad thing- if it keeps kids off the street and out of drugs way- they'll probably ditch it after a while anyway (when they're old enough to realise it's bs)

I wouldn't mind if my kiddo hooked up with religion in his teenage years- though to be honest I doubt that will happen lol

Originally posted by lifecitizen
Yes they need to show some real compassion if they are going to claim they are of God
But God isn't about compassion?
Very petty and cruel Bible God is
He wiped out the entire population remember? (except for the chosen few)
He had no qualms about killing innocent children-
So it's not hard to see where his followers get it from (the hate)

Yeah thats a good point.. The more I start to learn about how cruel and petty some versions of God is.. Its honestly scary!!

Why follow such an evil vile being? Would that not be their version of Satan? And they don't see that..

I can see where many of the followers... People like the West bro. Baptist church.. Fred Phelps and Co. They get all their ideas from that same bible.
Leviticus and all those Crazy scripts... Dangerous indeed..

Originally posted by mikerussellus
I almost got chased out of my own house.

Thanks for sharing that sotry Mike.. Oi! Thats like inviting a vampire into your own home.. hehe.. They can't come in unless you invite them in, and then its too late!!
Yeah you really can not have a civil conversation with most these people..
Honestly there is no getting through to them what so ever!
And Trust me.. I have tried my best..
But I give up.. I thought maybe there was hope for some of these folks.
I do tend to feel pity for them.. But everyone was born with a mind of their own.. IF you can't use it.. Well you end up as an extreamist, or fanatic! Not all, but many of them.. And there are some of them here on ATS/BTS.. just ducking when they start showing up to profess my damning to hell, and how Im going to burn forever!!

[edit on 12-7-2009 by zysin5]

hey that was him! Phelps! I couldn't remember his name- he was the one who came out and said all the people that died in the bushfires deserved it re the abortion law that was passed

He makes my blood boil!

I wish I could have better communications with my family. The discussions at the dinner table that revolve around religion always end with my Mom getting very upset that I will not be with her in the Afterlife because I do not have faith.

This is a really rough scary thing to instill into someone. She literally tells me I will be in Hell for not believing. How do I even respond to that?

There is no middle ground for religion it is my way or the highway.

It is the non-recognition of the probability of being wrong.

Absolutely denying that other religions COULD or MIGHT be right and yours incorrect.

I mean just to believe some of the things religions follow take a hell of an imagination!

I would think someone who pictures a being who follows every second of their life and waits patiently to talk to them would have the mental capacity to see other religions and other ways of thought?

Like I said with an imagination that powerful how could it be so close minded and limited?

I try to think back about when I used to follow religion but I was ALWAYS asking questions about my families religious book.

I was NEVER content for someone to tell me the answer was "Faith" or "The will of God" or "How can we understand God" or it was "God's Plan".

That was never good enough for me and it never WILL be enough for me.

I could not say to my Mom when I got caught burning the neighbors cats whiskers off that it was "God's Plan" I KNEW that answer would not fly.

No WAY could I say "Who are we to question God's Plan for us?" when I got in trouble for melting holes in the deck with a magnifying glass.

reply to post by lifecitizen


Yeah lifecitizen, the Phelps family is the perfect example of extreamist/fanatics!!
I did a big thread about them a couple years back when I first learned about them..
Click at your own risk of being overwhelmed by ignorance!!

But be warned.. Those guys IMO are abusing their children, and in the end.. They where fined like 10 million dollars for the stunts they pulled..

ATleast people fought back aginst these crazies!! But theres countless groups like the Phelps.. And thats what this thread is based upon..

whats up?

glad to see there are other moderates who see it the same way...

I thought about starting a thread with the same theme...But figured it would just start more arguments than it was worth.

Personally, I find those that believe to have a good nature about them. Most are good individuals who have a tradition within their family of belief. While some of it, and its even possible to say alot of it is blind faith, it hurts no one for them to believe what they believe.

A great quote from Thomas Jefferson:

But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

One thing that has become plainly obvious to me though, is when you come to places such as ATS and you encounter someone with extreme beliefs, and you decide you want to reply to that one person, usually another member will jump in and play off the others posts. They seem to like to pander to each other. And if you are having a discussion with one of them, their buddies will come in an star their posts. With moderates like us, we wont go out of our way to jump in on a thread that has alot to do with a religion, because it is not that important to us. Not the case with some of the fundamentalist Christians here on ATS. They like to stick together and make it seem like you are coming from left field.

Its awesome that you seem to see the same thing. star and flag

reply to post by TurkeyBurgers


Hey TurkeyBurgers.. Thanks for sharing that story with us here.. Yeah I know how bad it can be on families when you have members of the family who are soo brain washed that they say mean and hurtful things to the ones they love..

Its sad, and I personally think its down right wrong to say this kind of stuff to young children.. Granted we as adults can handle it and process this information with a sound mind..

Yet most of these people, get them while they are young, and scare them into church or what ever else..

Im sorry you had to go through all that with your family.. But it just goes to show my point in the OP..

I may belive in some off the wall things in my life.. Yet I do keep myself pretty rooted into what is real and what is not..
Sure theres plenty we can not explain.. But this whole extream religion stuff is WAY out there.. And WAY dangerous..

It can destroy family lives.. And some parents will even disown their own children, for not taking the absolute word of GOD...

A learning lesson for those of us who know the dangers of such things.. But when its your own family its harder to deal with..