Atheism being accepted as “Today’s Religion” over all religions?

reply to post by Jesuslives4u

Have a man of God with the Holy Spirit lay hands on you - if that has happened and you don't have the Holy Spirit with either that person who laid hands on you either does not have the Holy Spirit with him or your evil and wicked ways are unacceptable and the Holy Spirit will NOT come.

Huh. Well, I didn't want it that badly anyway.

reply to post by Jesuslives4u


I'm not aware of any conspiracy where atheists are concerned.

So I think it can be safely concluded that the world is not in danger of being usurped or commandeered by Atheism Inc.

Jesuslives4u
Your hearts have hardened and you speak wicked and vile things about things you know nothing of.
It is clear God has not shown you the truth. May God have mercy on your soul.

From this post

Okay ... keeping in mind that the moderators are closely watching this thread .... I'll say carefully say this ....

Christians .. it is our job to 'be Jesus' to people. Leave the judgements to God. That's HIS job. Not ours. Jesus Himself went out of his way to spend time with 'sinners' and to have GOOD conversations with all of us. (and we are ALL sinners). Mark 2:13-17. We should do the same. Judge not lest ye' be judged. Spiritual pride and arrogance ... the devil loves it.

As far as 'is atheism a religion' ... as I said way back on page 2 (I think it was page 2)... it depends on the person and how they treat their atheism. Broad brushing all atheists one way or another doesn't work. When in doubt, check the definition of 'religion'. You will see that everyone acts differently in regards to their atheism. Some treat it as a religion. Some do not.

Merriam Webster Dictionary Definition of Religion

a : the state of a religious
b : the service and worship of God or the supernatural
: commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
archaic : scrupulous conformity : conscientiousness
: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

The only part of atheism that could possibly fit into the 'religion' part is the archaic meaning - A cause, principle or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith. But at the same time atheism is kind of a lack of faith .. and it doesn't have a system of beliefs or a cause. So it really doesn't fit unless the person becomes a militant atheist and tries to spread atheism ... then you are into a different situation.

reply to post by FlyersFan


Given how we establish our opinions, I don't think "faith" plays a very big role in it.

reply to post by graphuto


Another cool Christian I could have a pint with

Bang on pal thing is most religious do not listen to God they listen to men tell other men about God when they have no idea because their version of God is nothing more than a hand me down story about other men, nowt to do with God.
Religion splits up God into different versions when many already know that you don't need the dogma, man made rules etc because we feel Her already.
Just figure it out yourself because it is a personal relationship with you and God not anyone elses relationship but your own.
We all know when we do something good and do something bad it is in us but religion can make a man/woman do evil things and use some one else's version of God to justify it.

Man I missed the insults flying around lol.
Keep it up Jesus4u (good God pet hate of mine using 4 as for and u as you...like a #ty phone shop grrr) entertaining you sure are.

Also forgive me because I have been on the holy water

reply to post by boymonkey74


You didn't miss anything worth participating in or observing. Trust me, I was here for most of it.

reply to post by FlyersFan


Cool post as usual

I think Jesus If he lived (doesn't matter really) had a cool message and like you say you follow by his example but can I ask you If a person is a good person mostly in his/her life but doesn't bow down to Jesus/Allah/Ralph Waldo Picklechips/ Buddha ect and so on and there is a Christian God and Heaven will he let them into heaven because they have been good people?.
Also is Ghandi in heaven?
Like I said been on the shandys

So I guess this is the end of the "hate on atheists" party. Darn, and I was just getting started, too.

AfterInfinity
Given how we establish our opinions, I don't think "faith" plays a very big role in it.

Exactly.

The 'question' in the opening post is easily answered by looking at the definition of religion.
From what I can see, nearly all atheists do NOT fit into their atheism being a religion.
The only remote possibility would be militant atheists MAYBE fitting the 'archaic' meaning of
the behavior aspect. But even that's a stretch, I would think.

I'd say that, looking upon the definition of 'religion' .... the question in the opening post
has been answered and this thread is now finished. Nothing to discuss - IMHO.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


My work here is done, anyway...although I always have "more to say." No reason we can't carry on, though - now that the rules are established.

I think many, many, many religious people feel threatened by 'atheists' and 'agnostics.' For obvious reasons.

It's kinda funny - reminds me of say, language barriers. For example with 'shop talk/jargon' (my kid, for example, went into journalism grad school after getting her engineering degree - specialty in explaining science for the 'lay reader's comprehension'. She wanted to bridge the gap between the "I know this stuff and use words too specialized for regular folks to understand" and the "I don't know what they're talking about, so I won't read/listen/care." - or the alternative: s/he must be right, and I'm stupid.)

Also with everyday conversational languages - I am fully bilingual in Spanish - and can easily converse with anyone else who speaks it. Yet, there are multiple different 'cultures' and 'ethnicities' among Spanish-speakers. They all speak slightly differently: Puerto Ricans and Cubans and Mexicans and Panamanians and Hondurans and El Savadorans and Spaniards and Argentinians (I used to be assumed to be Argentinian - being fair/blue eyed - but my Spanish belied my native tongue! Not bad, eh???)

Likewise, with Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Baha'i...and among Christians themselves. But they ALL seem to take umbrage to agnostics and atheists. I wouldn't be surprised if they all banded together to fight the "evil atheists and wishy-washy agnostics" (in fact, they do, sometimes, right here).

I think when it is discovered that the latter are not "idiots", but articulate, well-meaning, thoughtful, philosophical, and have come to their conclusions through hard work and introspection, it frightens those who can't understand how it can be - because they can't imagine anything but their own mindset being legitimate.

Not "true" - legitimate.

Goes back to Empathy. Which; see other thread about Six Habits of Highly Empathic People.

reply to post by wildtimes


I think we're all on basically the same chapter, if not the same page, here. There's really nothing to argue or debate. The whole contention rested with a member who is apparently no longer participating at the moment. The momentum vanished with their departure from the discussion.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


Okay then - see you at the next party!

Oh, and btw, the major exception to my above 'assessment': The Pope. He seems cool with everybody.