Aww, you guys.
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It seems to me that many of the atheists on here are just here because they hate Christianity.
- Thread starter Reggie Miller
- Start date
Aww, you guys.
Skwim
Veteran Member
metis
aged ecumenical anthropologist
In regards to the OP, there's much I admire about Christianity and some items I detest, but the latter is more due to some within the faith that, as Gandhi said, "elevated the man and forgot his message". But that can also be said of all too many people in probably all religions.
Jesus' message of love and compassion for others, along with justice and fairness towards all, is similar to what we hear being taught in many other faiths. It's very easy to focus only on the differences between the faiths, but doing so only obscures the similarities.
Jesus' message of love and compassion for others, along with justice and fairness towards all, is similar to what we hear being taught in many other faiths. It's very easy to focus only on the differences between the faiths, but doing so only obscures the similarities.
McBell
Unbound
Christianity isn't the problem.
it is SOME Christians.
Akivah
Well-Known Member
It only makes sense. Secularism is a normal part of Judaism and Islam kills off its atheists. The only ones remaining have gotta be (former) Christian.
Satans_Serrated_Edge
Deicidal
Have you considered that of those that do "hate Christianity", a significant portion of those might just do so because of the sort of condescending and dismissive attitude you just displayed?
You guys need better ambassadors.
I don't but they do.
Oh I have to comment on that. I'm an atheist but I have a good Catholic friend. A chaplain. We can sit for hours discussing religion and... well, mostly religion.
The definition of humanism is "a rationalist outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters." And this came from Christianity?
It may be more than just ' some '.- Matthew 7:21-23; Acts of the Apostles 20:29-30
Didn't Jesus have problems with the religious leaders of his day ?
It wasn't the Constitution of the Mosaic Law that was the problem, but false religious teachings - Matthew 15:9
As a new broom sweeps clean, spiritual house cleaning is going to start with the religious house of God.
That mean 'Christendom' ( so-called Christian but mostly in name only ) will be the first to go.
Parchment
Active Member
You call me a fool and complain that I broke a rule.
Not complaining, just putting you in the proper context.
McBell
Unbound
My apologies, I should have specified.
It is my experience that most Christians are not the problem
Eh. Like there is any need for competition...
I don't mind losing at boardgames, Kirran. I don't think I will want to compete on number of temples or anything.
One thing that attracts me in Hinduism is how much room for artistic appreciation and expression it has. A religious person should IMO strive to learn how to balance boldness with full responsibility for one's actions. We are all together in the same boat of uncertainties, and we all therefore need this most precious gift that is the daring of people of good will and honesty.
Eh. Like there is any need for competition...
I don't mind losing at boardgames, Kirran. I don't think I will want to compete on number of temples or anything.
One thing that attracts me in Hinduism is how much room for artistic appreciation and expression it has. A religious person should IMO strive to learn how to balance boldness with full responsibility for one's actions. We are all together in the same boat of uncertainties, and we all therefore need this most precious gift that is the daring of people of good will and honesty.
To be honest I put that in in an attempt to stop it looking I was like 'Oh great, potential convert to one true faith, must bring him to respective place of worship...' Although I suppose I should hope that by now you know that's nowhere near my agenda.
Hinduism definitely has room. It's a broad tradition.
Yes, what you're saying makes sense. I have no disagreements. Spirituality can be a strong catalyst in that regard, in many cases.
Nah, never crossed my mind. You are one of the respectful ones. You perceive people as people, not as increments to a tally.
Sure, but I can say good things about forest fires, too -- even though they do major damage and cause much grief in many nations. But without forest fires, there would be no jack pines. Forest fires are a great way of clearing out the clutter, can help to break down nutrients and minerals in burning plants and other debris such as old logs, leaves and dense undergrowth and restore them to the soil, thus making for a more fertile area.
But do I want one near my home? I don't think so! (Look up Fort McMurray in Canada this year if you want to know why -- though I don't live there, I have friends who do.)
I was born in 1948, and was in high school (in a boy's boarding school run by Quakers, no less) in the first half of the 1960's. Let me tell you something, being gay amongst all those Christian boys was pretty hateful. Christians were not exactly what you might call "nice" to people like me back then. (Not always now, as a matter of fact. How many fundamentalist Christian groups are still trying to "cure" gays? It's like Procrustes trying to cure tallness.)
Yet, there are a lot of good things, too. When the (Protestant) Children's Aid dumped me on the streets at 17, it was a United Church of Canada minister who helped me find my way. (And he did it in spite of my not treating him very well, which I deeply regret to this day, though since he's left us, I can't apologize now.) And yet, Christian missionaries are responsible for a great deal of suffering to peoples of other faiths and cultures around the world.
You see -- I object strongly to the faith-based desire to tear somebody else's culture and beliefs to tatters only to replace it with your own, as if you were omniscient and their beliefs and culture had no value. That's repulsive to me.
Look at the state of science education (especially, as you'll find on this forum) in the United States (or in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, etc. if you prefer to bash Muslims) and especially around the topic of evolution. Both Christians and Muslims are making strong and concerted efforts to dumb down science -- to "make America stupid again," if I may coin a phrase. In a world in which only science is going to help us save ourselves from our own misuses of science, making us ignorant of science is unconscionably stupid.
And IT IS HAPPENING.
Still, it's not Christianity, per se, that I object to. It's the stubborn insistence on the truth of things that are trivially demonstrated to not be true any more. The stubborn holding onto beliefs that make no sense, that demean other humans, that demand the impossible -- along with the threat of eternal punishment for not being able to do the impossible. It's the teaching of children to despise their little schoolmates for not sharing their beliefs (I remember a video on CNN by Christiane Amanpour in which a girl about 8 or 9 is asked what she thinks about her Muslim and Hindu neighbours -- "Oh, they go to Hell," she calmly pronounced.)
And all religions have some measure of those things I dislike. That is in the nature of religion. If you bind yourself to that which you cannot attest, and insist that yours is the only truth, then you have instantly set up the barriers to dialogue and cooperation and love -- even when you think you do it in the name of love.
No.
But your title is worded to express how it seems to you.
That is something about which you'd be right.
But there are some very vocal religion haters here.
It allows mocking it, with no violent retaliation against us wags.
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Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
And your support is tremendously appreciated!
Well, as long as you bring beer and have shrimp on the barbie, everything is cool!
Local tip : we only called them shrimp in the ads so you'd know what we meant. Order prawns when here...or yabbies if you're game to try a more local variant.
Yup. Christianity has many flavours though. I'm not sure I can blame all for the sins, and I'm not sure I can congratulate all on the positives.