Here's why religious, anti-religious, non spiritual, and all things deistic will never work on this

Short answer: We will never personally agree to TRULY respecting each others' answers.

We all have predispositions, and for the sake of the thread I won't impart mine on any of you. But these predispositions can do many things to you. You may subscribe to them for life.. You may reject them altogether. You might bastardize your born religion for something that suits you more personally.. There is an eternal string of what-ifs that could happen based on how you were predisposed to think. Whether nature or nurture, you form your own opinions.. hopefully. The bottom line is, that regardless of whether you are a staunch supporter and/or believer of any of the above, you will subconsciously wish for the others to realize your own understanding and subscribe to it.. But why?

Because it makes you feel good. Like you're not crazy. Like you're not insane for reading some stories out of a book, or for believing in life after death on some magical level.

Bottom line is: None of us are crazy. We combine our predispositions to life experience. We all form our own trail. We all love, fight, feel in our own ways. Why automatically feel sorrow for someone who doesn't follow your ideals?

Religion is not up for debate anymore, in my book. It is ethereal, it is more personal and private than your social security number. It tells you who you are, not anyone else. To allow others into your faith distorts it, in my opinion.

I find it so interesting that people are willing to share the most important thing in their entire lives on a public board and yet are not willing to even share their first names. This is not the message that religion is supposed to convey.

I have to agree SC. When I logged in this morning to BTS, I couldn't believe that there were 18 threads in the recent discussions section about religion. I literally wanted to - and the whole "if you don't want to talk about it, don't open the thread" doesn't work when like 50% of the threads are religion based. That doesn't leave a whole lot of options.

It's fine if discussing religion is your thing, but 18 threads? The religious zealots and the ultra athiests will NEVER agree. Even when they agree to disagree, they don't really agree to disagree.

I do wonder WHY WHY WHY we have to have so many threads about religion. Haven't we already said everything there is to say on EACH SIDE of the table? Can't we just have like ONE HUGE RELIGION MEGA THREAD where both sides can duke it out without contaminating the rest of the board?

Edited to add: Sorry SC, I realized my response sort of derailed what you said. You were saying that the opposites on ATS will never agree and I was saying that I'm tired of seeing 1,000,000,000 threads on the same thing. Hopefully they sort of go hand in hand.

And edited for typos typos and more typos
[edit on 1/10/09 by Morbo the Annihilator]

[edit on 1/10/09 by Morbo the Annihilator]

[edit on 1/10/09 by Morbo the Annihilator]

you generalize.
I'm making a goofy face in my avatar..........totally a trusting avatar i'd never look like that unless the goofmeter was hitting high.

ya know, no man can know the rules of the universe. We are a macro species, now more than ever. I think it's just time to chill.

reply to post by Morbo the Annihilator


You tend to post responses that I might not entirely agree with, but am in no way in a position to argue. This is the dynamic I see as ideal.

I love my belief and you love yours. What gives me the right to question something so sacred? If you mentioned your wife I'd never be such a scumbag to bring her into it right? So why is religion such an easy target?

The more we seek to get others to see the world eye to eye, the less evolved we become. Developed human beings do not let the rest of humanity define their future.

Originally posted by SantaClaus
reply to post by Morbo the Annihilator

 

You tend to post responses that I might not entirely agree with, but am in no way in a position to argue. This is the dynamic I see as ideal.

I love my belief and you love yours. What gives me the right to question something so sacred? If you mentioned your wife I'd never be such a scumbag to bring her into it right? So why is religion such an easy target?

The more we seek to get others to see the world eye to eye, the less evolved we become. Developed human beings do not let the rest of humanity define their future.

Wow, apparently we really don't see eye to eye. We posted in a few of the same threads today and I thought for the most part we agreed. Okay, my bad.

Um, secondly, I'm female. And I've mentioned my husband several times on these threads and have no problem defending him if necessary. That's fine by me.

Thirdly, I generally don't attack those that are religious unless they start "dooming" and judging me, and, well, then I feel I have the right to defend myself.

And I still would like the opposites to agree a little more. Religious opposition has been responsible for murder for so many millenia.

[edit on 1/10/09 by Morbo the Annihilator]

reply to post by Morbo the Annihilator


Well I sincerely apologize that I assumed or theoreticized your gender as male. (BY THE WAY, MORBO IS A MALE).

Generally. I don't understand your response. I feel like I was agreeing with you. Not in terms of belief but understanding.

And I DID agree with you all day. I don't know how you perceived differently.

Soooo. again.. understanding is the answer.

ETA: I was asking you what it would feel like to be the person in disagreeance. Not you in particular.

[edit on 10/1/09 by SantaClaus]

Originally you had said:

Originally posted by SantaClaus
reply to post by Morbo the Annihilator

 

You tend to post responses that I might not entirely agree with, but am in no way in a position to argue.

I guess I took this quote and felt it meant you didn't really agree with me. So there was a little confusion I suppose.

Yeah, I know Morbo is male, but he's just my favorite character on Futurama. I was doomed to be confusing the moment I chose him. I just love his irrevrent remarks and couldn't resist.

Anyway, back to the OT, I do believe that true spirituality is personal and private as well, and the minute someone "forces" their religion on you, it ceases to be true spirituality.

I also believe there are far too many threads on religion on ATS and BTS. Nothing new is really gained every time we all beat the same dead horse.

SC- I saw your edit after I posted. As the blind man said, "now I see."

[edit on 1/10/09 by Morbo the Annihilator]

reply to post by Morbo the Annihilator


Well then I apologize for my slightly undefined OP and any part of the misunderstanding that might have made its way into the response.

Your responses, again, rang true to me because of the respect involved. You, in particular, handled yourself more appropriately than I would have in a Christian thread. And I asked myself why that was.

Basically, I am asking why anyone would want to have the same experience. Life is experienced in an amalgam, so why shouldn't eternity?

The only answer is simple ideals. I will never experience the life you have, and I hope you enjoy everlasting life, but why am I any different? Experience is relative.

PS: Morbo is an awesome name to choose and I am sorry I approached you as a man. That's not fair.

reply to post by SantaClaus


For the most part, I can usually tolerate the religious crap. My mother once said of my grandmother "I hate to say it, but she's not going to heaven when she dies." To which I asked, "Even though she gives to the poor, volunteers at the food shelter, and lives a good life?" My mother responded, "As long as she refuses to accept Jesus into her heard, she will go to hell."

Which, among several other reasons, was the reason I find religion abhorrent. But at the same time, it has made me able to tolerate a bunch of religious crap. If my own mother can say such horrible things in the name of her "lord" why would I ever choose that religion as my own?

HOWEVER>>>> I do not tolerate the homosexual slurs. The gloves REALLY come off for that. I lose all sense of control when words such as "queers" and "fa--ots" come out. Oh the bigotry!!

And your response, especially with the "enjoy your everlasting life" rings especially true to me. I've always felt that even if all the hoopla about heaven and hell were true, I'd rather be in hell with all my family and friends are and the wonderful people from ATS! Oh, and Gandhi will be there, right, since he didn't worship the Christan Jesus. I'll enjoy my time with him. Oh, and the Dahli Lhama since his ride to heaven is uncertain. And Stephen Hawking when he dies. It will be quite the party!

reply to post by SantaClaus


And sort of continuing with my last comment, their idea of heaven with angels and Jeebus doesn't sound all that heavenly to me. Even if I just float in the ether for a few centuries, that wouldn't be so bad, really. I guess some will never understand that we don't want to be "saved". Maybe their "heaven" just isn't appealing to everyone. One man's heaven is another man's hell.

I'll share my name. But what's the point? I thought many wanted to create something unique as a username. If someone asked me I would.

Miriam used her real name I suppose as her username.

peace op

Originally posted by Morbo the Annihilator
Originally you had said:

I also believe there are far too many threads on religion on ATS and BTS. Nothing new is really gained every time we all beat the same dead horse.

[edit on 1/10/09 by Morbo the Annihilator]

Agreed...hence why I opened a few Pagan threads. I truly expected nobody to post but here there are some of us out here. Besides, most Christian and atheist threads turn into a battle anyway. Christians attack atheists and atheists call Christians stupid....sad really

-Kyo

reply to post by KyoZero


And why wouldn't a christian/atheist/pagan get incredibly infuriated if anyone questioned them about their belief system?

You're very right it is sad. And quite inappropriately unfair. Because it is not a matter of logic or debate skill, but of self and faith.

reply to post by JesusisTruth


I don't know that you focused on the actual subject of the thread. I appreciate you acknowledging my point that religion is superbly personal, but you didn't choose to really respond to anything else. This is what I find typically. When there is no answer there is no response.

A healthier reaction would be to question me. None of us have answers and the infinite possibility is quite beautiful, albeit daunting for most.