ABC's take on Atheism

[Cygnus]

Its funny how Christians wear their religion on their sleeves, but if an Atheist dares to do the same he is chastized. Especially when it comes to the mass media, who are only out to make money, and to do so they cater to whatever majority there is. Or the majority they create.

Millions of Americans, sitting glassy-eyed in front of a TV and laughing at someone who is different than them. There's America for you.

 

[7stringless]

Religion = blind submission to authority. Your morals are given to you in exchange for your freedom. But then again....what is freedom to most people......How about something completely unattainable. You know......the prize always just out of reach. Because living life just isn't enough sometimes.......I guess......

I can't quote which news program I was watching but it was primarily an atheist roast on an american station and one statement came up that seriously burned my balls......"Where does an atheist get his/her morals if not from the bible." These deep seeded beliefs that we are all born sinners and incapable of abiding by the general standards of morality without guidance from a higher power are instilled for the purpose of controlling the population with fear of false consequence. Instead of potentially catching up to that dangling carrot in front of you, you can expect to live an eternity having that carrot reamed in and out of your asshole!!! So be good.......



.....or else!!!

 

[TreWatson]

Its funny how Christians wear their religion on their sleeves, but if an Atheist dares to do the same he is chastized. Especially when it comes to the mass media, who are only out to make money, and to do so they cater to whatever majority there is. Or the majority they create.

Millions of Americans, sitting glassy-eyed in front of a TV and laughing at someone who is different than them. There's America for you.

I have no problem with anyone who is openly one religion or lifestyle, or even evangelizes it, but the issue i see with most Atheists is that a lot in my community ( I'm being specific because this isn't the case everywhere) and on about 85% of the websites I'm on are people who are atheist for the sake of attacking christians or any other Theistic Religion.

or worse, kids being atheist because their Parents are christian.

nothing wrong with atheism, but I feel like it should be an informed decision, much like any religion should be.

 

[Toshiro]

Those atheist "groups" are too much like going to a fucking church. Might as well sign up for mass.

I don't believe in god(s), therefore I don't give a fuck if you do or don't. Little kids believe in Santa, it's not my place to worry about them.

As for ABC, I try not to watch network TV, it rots the mind.

 

[TreWatson]

Those atheist "groups" are too much like going to a fucking church. Might as well sign up for mass.

I don't believe in god(s), therefore I don't give a fuck if you do or don't. Little kids believe in Santa, it's not my place to worry about them.

As for ABC, I try not to watch network TV, it rots the mind.

cable is worse

 

[Toshiro]

cable is worse

I could count on one hand the number of shows I watch on TV, and most are on "educational" channels.

 

[TreWatson]

I could count on one hand the number of shows I watch on TV, and most are on "educational" channels.

i watch a lot of spike.

y'know, stuff i dont have to think about.

totally brainless

 

[Daggorath]

Alot of religious people are not open to listening to what atheists have to say because they are scared that they might talk sense. When you've spent your whole life devoted to something, you must fear that it will all be shown to be hoccum - and you've wasted the one life you have. It takes alot of bollocks to come out in a religious community/family and admit that things just don't add up anymore.

 

[Konfyouzd]

Alot of religious people are not open to listening to what atheists have to say because they are scared that they might talk sense. When you've spent your whole life devoted to something, you must fear that it will all be shown to be hoccum - and you've wasted the one life you have. It takes alot of bollocks to come out in a religious community/family and admit that things just don't add up anymore.

I'm not sure I agree. I think many religious folks avoid atheists for the same reason atheists avoid religious folks. They're not in the mood for the inevitable headache brought on by another stalemate...

 

[TreWatson]

I'm not sure I agree. I think many religious folks avoid atheists for the same reason atheists avoid religious folks. They're not in the mood for the inevitable headache brought on by another stalemate...

I'm inclined to agree here.

it's not that i don't get what you're saying daggorath, but the way you worded that kinda comes off like Religious folk are totally incapable of sense and that when an atheist says something plausible, it is sense/fact.

or at least that's how it came off to me.

for the record I'm neither. I'm just happy to sit on the sidelines with my own opinions and agenda and watch the madness when both sides KNOW they're right, rather than just thinking it and respectfully disagreeing with someone else.

I've seen nearly as many atheist arguments blown to bits by religious scholars ( read: not clergymen, just people who actually study what they read) as i have Theistic viewpoints trumped by common sense and science.

I constantly say this to the kids i taught in sunday school who argue this who are like 16-17: (mom teaches sunday school, and i don't mind going and teaching bible stories and whatnot when she's out)

much of the bible is figurative.

taking the literal and explaining it, doesn't necessarily trump the figurative.

now the people who argue over this going in circles because of 2 things that are from 2 different worlds.

"i have a theory that we can;t test on the macro scale, but it makes sense, so it must be right"

"magical sky wizard, i win"

makes no sense, and because they were never meant to fight each other, it goes on forever.

it's like trying to say your dog is strong, but I say my pokemon could kill your dog.

we'll never really know, will we?

Science + religion =/= the end of the world.

 

[techcoreriffman]

Me being in a very religious (read: CATHOLIC AS HELL) family, it's very difficult for me to express myself the way I would like to. My mom is still fixed on "You're only saying that you're agnostic for attention. We raised you too well to be anything but Catholic" after almost a year. It's also very hard to even attempt to explain to her why I feel this way. She just uses the "God is only testing you card" for every question I have for her. "Why, if God is so good and perfect, is there war, famine, hatred, racism, indecensy, bigotry and disease?" "God is only testing you, sweety." "What about the people that all these things have murdered? Was God testing them too? Did they fail his test, and that's his punishment?!" "I don't know, he works in mysterious ways" That shit goes on for hours.

 

[TreWatson]

do this, and see if it doesn't make her re-think this:

"mom, my religious choice is deeply personal and important to me. I love you, but you're forcing something your beliefs on me."

and if she tries to push it, you can always just inform her that you can fake christian, but you're going to believe what you choose in the end, so it's pretty pointless.

also, to the whole " why does x, y, and z that's bad exist?"

God is Right and Just, God's not some magical tooth fairy or santa claus.

just like you, you should do what's RIGHT, it may not always bethe GOOD thing to do.

it's simple Justice stuff.

if someone does bad, you stop them and use force if you have to. is it good? not really. is it right? yeah.

 

[techcoreriffman]

I've tried doing stuff like that. It doesn't work. She still thinks that I'm just doing it for attention, because I'm also "too smart to not be Catholic." And all this other bullshit. She still makes me go to church, pray the rosary and all this other stuff and expects me to be happy. When I object and say that it makes me uncomfortable she tells me to be quiet and enjoy worshipping "our true God". My dad has even argued with her about how I can be whatever the hell I feel like and she shouldn't push it and she tells him that "I'll go to hell if he keeps talking like that". I can't wait to get away from her.

 

[TreWatson]

I've tried doing stuff like that. It doesn't work. She still thinks that I'm just doing it for attention, because I'm also "too smart to not be Catholic." And all this other bullshit. She still makes me go to church, pray the rosary and all this other stuff and expects me to be happy. When I object and say that it makes me uncomfortable she tells me to be quiet and enjoy worshipping "our true God". My dad has even argued with her about how I can be whatever the hell I feel like and she shouldn't push it and she tells him that "I'll go to hell if he keeps talking like that". I can't wait to get away from her.

just chill out dude.

honestly, it's not that big a deal.

our old lead vocalist is a strict (and vocal) atheist and still prayed with us out of RESPECT. he doesn;t believei n god, But he understands that for other families prayer is a big bonding thing.

so if anything, just do it to humor your mom, because she IS your mom and at least deserves a little respect.

if you're phoning it in or not, i really doubt mama will care. haha, and if she can tell, then i dunno what else to tell you. i considered the God thing a fairytale from age 15-18, until i sat and looked stuff up. and mom's a strict christian, i just kept it up because i'm going to be respectful ( and keep the heat off my back)

now that i'm 21, mom doesn't care. I still go to church, but it's in case people behind the scenes need my help wit shit.

its not a huge deal homie. fake it for mom, but believe what you believe.

you won't melt if you say a few prayers you don't even attach any meaning to. lol

 

[eegor]

The problem I see most of the time is the desire for everyone to feel the need to change each other. And yes, I see how the following post can be viewed as exactly that, but that's not what I'm going for. I consider myself a Christian, so I'll start out with my view of other Christians. I am not at all the prime example of the Christian faith, and I'm not trying to pass judgement, just make an observation.

Going to a Baptist school and attending a Baptist church for a long time (not anymore, I've changed to a more progressive setting), I've seen quite a bit of judgement and prejudice against athiests, and for that matter other religions. The idea of love and acceptance that we (Christians) tend to brag about tends to be overshadowed by a shroud of hate and hypocracy. I am not exempt. I've seen a war-like mentality against "non-believers" and the like, trying to set out and eliminate the evil. This has given the Christian faith a horrible face and reputation. I've come to see that this mentality is what leads certain religious figures to embark on large, public media campaigns against certain "evils" such as homosexuality and abortion. They've taken teachings and abused them in order to make a name for themselves.

That being said, I think the same is true (to a different degree) among non-religious figures. They believe that God is not real and that religious people are wasting their time. As humans, we have the right to believe whatever we want, and I have no problem with this. I also believe that criticizing and making fun of religion because it's crazy or make-believe is the opposite of what we need to be doing right now. Disagreement fuels progress and innovation, but conflict, ridicule, and alienation stifles it. Religious affiliation, in my opinion, should be seen as no different to voting republican or democrat, spurs or celtics, mac or pc, or any other difference in opinion. It's a choice, just like the majority of other things in this world (excluded are gender, race, birth parents, death, etc.), and just because someone makes one choice based on their preferences and beliefs, it doesn't warrant being attacked by those who disagree.

Basically, I just don't understand why anyone feels the need to attack or ridicule how "wrong" anyone else is about religious beliefs. It doesn't make sense to me. Christianity proclaims love but doesn't act on it. A fatal error. Non-religious belief advocates intelligence and common sense, yet belittles every person of faith due to a few outspoken religious figures. And I don't mean to accuse any single person. The majority of this applies to the more prominent and well-know figures in society and their tactics. I know a ton of Christians who love and accept everyone unconditionally, as well as some of the coolest and non-judgemental athiests anyone could ever meet.

In summary, I believe that belief is subjective. Everyone sees the world differently, and although a lot of people get out of hand with their beliefs, whatever they may be, I just don't understand the judgement that goes on in today's world.

 

[TreWatson]

well said.

 

[CrushingAnvil]

I agree with eegor. If the move to fanaticism in the Christian religion never happened and people really were as great as Jesus was said to be, you could walk right up to a Christian and have a conversation about how they are from the Christian persuasion and how You are an Atheist and it would all be very pleasant. I don't think the hypocrisy and bigottry is going to end any time soon guys.

With all due respect to eegor - One would have liked all of this Religiosity to be dead and gone. If the whole earth consisted of Rationalists, I think we would be a very peaceful race...although without conflict of religion, beliefs, race and politics - Humans wouldn't be the expressive, sentient beings they are today.

 

[TreWatson]

I agree with eegor. If the move to fanaticism in the Christian religion never happened and people really were as great as Jesus was said to be, you could walk right up to a Christian and have a conversation about how they are from the Christian persuasion and how You are an Atheist and it would all be very pleasant. I don't think the hypocrisy and bigottry is going to end any time soon guys.

With all due respect to eegor - One would have liked all of this Religiosity to be dead and gone. If the whole earth consisted of Rationalists, I think we would be a very peaceful race...although without conflict of religion, beliefs, race and politics - Humans wouldn't be the expressive, sentient beings they are today.

So what you're saying is...

...religion is a necessary evil?

 

[Konfyouzd]

I think it's a necessary evil to an extent, but I don't think it's the key to us being expressive sentient beings.

 

[CrushingAnvil]

So what you're saying is...

...religion is a necessary evil?

Kind of...though if we had been rationalists since the first tribe of homo erectus, I don't think we'd have metal