- Joined
- Jul 17, 2020
- Messages
- 35,149
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- Location
- Springfield MO
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Liberal
In the relatively short time that I have been here, I have noticed that the great majority of the atheists don't spend much time at all bashing religion. Yes, they (we) will sometimes make pointed remarks regarding the existence of god, per se, but mostly overlook participating in discussions in which religion is the primary topic.
Religionists, on the other hand, get almost hateful in the manner in which they go after one another as regards particular religions, particular beliefs, and Bible interpretation. Which religion is true? What particular beliefs make one a Christian? How is this passage or that passage on the Bible correctly interpreted? All that the atheists do is sit back and shake their head that there could be so many differences among those who all label themselves as "Christian".
As for religion in general, I have no big problem with it. If it provides a moral basis for people who participate, so much the better. If it provides charity to fellow humans, good for them. Who knows, I might even be willing to participate in a religion if it didn't have "God" as its center and I didn't have to get up on Sunday morning to go to church. Like Buddhism, for example. But there are not many Buddhists where I live, so just living an ethical life based on Humanist principles is good enough at the present time.
Now if religion is used as an instrument of hate, then it should indeed be condemned. I'm talking about the manner in which Islam is practiced in the Middle East at this point, but it could apply to any act of violence committed against another human being based on religion.
So Protestants don't think that Catholics represent true Christianity and vice-verse, and lots of Protestant sects have big differences in many areas from other Protestant Sects, and there is the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church, and Shiites and Sunni Moslems who hate one another to the point of waging war and killing one another, and Orthodox and Hasidic and "regular" Jews, plus all those other various religions like Hindu and Baha'i and Eastern Religions such as Tao, etc. I swear, it's enough to make your head spin. Or at least to wonder why God can't somehow allow people to come together of fighting over him with both words and sometimes fists and armament.
Religionists, on the other hand, get almost hateful in the manner in which they go after one another as regards particular religions, particular beliefs, and Bible interpretation. Which religion is true? What particular beliefs make one a Christian? How is this passage or that passage on the Bible correctly interpreted? All that the atheists do is sit back and shake their head that there could be so many differences among those who all label themselves as "Christian".
As for religion in general, I have no big problem with it. If it provides a moral basis for people who participate, so much the better. If it provides charity to fellow humans, good for them. Who knows, I might even be willing to participate in a religion if it didn't have "God" as its center and I didn't have to get up on Sunday morning to go to church. Like Buddhism, for example. But there are not many Buddhists where I live, so just living an ethical life based on Humanist principles is good enough at the present time.
Now if religion is used as an instrument of hate, then it should indeed be condemned. I'm talking about the manner in which Islam is practiced in the Middle East at this point, but it could apply to any act of violence committed against another human being based on religion.
So Protestants don't think that Catholics represent true Christianity and vice-verse, and lots of Protestant sects have big differences in many areas from other Protestant Sects, and there is the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church, and Shiites and Sunni Moslems who hate one another to the point of waging war and killing one another, and Orthodox and Hasidic and "regular" Jews, plus all those other various religions like Hindu and Baha'i and Eastern Religions such as Tao, etc. I swear, it's enough to make your head spin. Or at least to wonder why God can't somehow allow people to come together of fighting over him with both words and sometimes fists and armament.