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Comments
I have met a lot of biggoted atheists. Some are very homophobic, others are very intolerent of Christianity, another believes all immigrants should be sent to Africa, all the troops pulled out of Iraq and to have the army around the borders of Africa shooting anybody who tries to escape.
I've met some very intolerent atheists as regards their opinion on Muslims, another guy was laughing because he believed he had 'one over' on a Christian girl in work because God is apparently 'bullshit' because nobody can prove he exists and that makes her somehow a bit dumb and closed minded (although I pointed out that nobody can prove God doesn't exist either).
I know people who believe same sex couples shouldn't be allowed to show affection in public, I've met left wingers who believe that people should be put in jail for exercising their freedom of speech (double standards in the case of Nick Griffin).
Yes there are fundementalist Christians, Muslims and so on... But before criticising the human rights abuses of religions remind yourself of what Mao's China did to Tibet, or the Soviet Gulags, both secular.
Well it would depend on where you grew up. Most of the racist people I have met have been white because I grew up in a white working man's town. There is no harm in pointing out that people other than those who are white are racist but I do see your point, somebody will take it to heart.
It's not that I'm taking a stab at atheists at all, it's just that I've met so many bigotted atheists and somebody brought the topic up, so I thought I'd share my experience.
It gets my attention though, that you'd be wound up by MoonRats comment on atheists, when you have so many times said yourself that one atheist doesn't speak for another or the whole group - as opposed to religions, where it's natural to assume people from the same religion would think alike. :chin:
A racist is a racist and a homophobe is a homophobe. If they happen to be atheists as well, so be it. But that is a footnote really. Their bigotry is not fomented, promoted or associated in any way whatsoever with their atheism.
It's a bit like me saying all left handed people are bigoted because I've come across a few of them that were.
Maybe that's how you interpretted it, not how I'd interpret it. I was reacting to this quote...
I guess I was just pointing out -very inarticulately- that you had the same reaction about a blanket statement being said about atheism than religious people have when they feel they are being all tarred with the same brush. Not pleasant is it?
I didn't intend on sounding like I hate atheists, or disrespect their belief or wish to tar them all the same (a human is a human to me)... But to highlight the point that there are shits everywhere and that I've met a lot of bigotted atheists and that it isn't confined to religion.
AAaaaarggghhhhhh!!!!!!
:no:
:mad:
Do you believe EVERYTHING then?
because you can't 'prove' any negative........
What have my beliefs got to do with anything?
I just had to point out the stupidity of the 'you can't disprove god exists' bollocks line.......
The fact is that a lot of people feel 'touched by God' at one point in their life. You cannot prove that it wasn't God who touched them, nor can you prove it that it was.
A lot of people do not believe in God because science has yet to prove that God exists. Once people believed the earth is flat, yet then it was found that the world isn't flat at all. Science and discovery may prove that there is a God or higher being one day, it just hasn't so far.
What I was pointing out was that my friend was looking down on somebody because what they believed didn't conform with science, but then science is ever evolving and one day science may prove that a higher deity does exist.
Think about it. Should it change how one behaves, what one does in life?
Well if someone proved he existed and that living in sin is going to have you burning in hell for infinity I suspect there might be a sudden rise in marriage applications
Unless he tells us himself, if we only were to prove somehow the existence of a superior being, we still don't know anything about it. For all we know this being seeded life in the Universe and let it flourish without any rules. For all we know the seven-headed, green skinned God worshipped by the inhabitants of the second planet orbiting around Alpha Centauri is the true one.
There have been and still are hundreds if not thousands of religions and beliefs in this planet alone. But none of them has the upper hand to prove their god is the true one.
And in any case, if there is a God, and if he is really a perfect being, that must mean he's altruist. And no altruist being would dream of sending good people to eternal damnation simply for failing to worship him. Moreover, people should be good because it is the right thing to do, not because of fear of retribution.
Therefore, people should just lead good lives, because it is right to do so, and if at the end of their lives it turns out there is a superior being and he is an all-knowing, omnipotent being of infinite goodness and wisdom like all the religions more or less claim, then they can rest assured they will be rewarded regardless of whether they have observed any silly rules regarding worshipping, visiting holy sites or refraining from eating certain food.
But if I knew God existed (rather than having faith he does so) and he was putting demands on me, say for example he interrupted all TV programmes saying that those who don't go to church next Sunday are going to burn in fire and brimstone for all eternity, you would have to be either a bit stupid or a masochist not to be down church on the Sunday
I simply cannot believe any God would be prepared to send people to hell for some of the acts warned against in the various Holy Books around, so He'd have to tell me Himself for me to actually believe it.
So far He's been rather mute on the subject so I guess he doesn't really mind...
And on top of that, "sin" is a product of many things you cannot influence and control, meaning that if you grow up in an atheist family, you must be condemned to hell. There are so many factors and it's quite absurd if one tries to argue that you "should" become religious and that every individual has a choice. Not everyone does, and not always is religion illuminated to everyone.
A mere wrong social circle can affect your religious status. And for that, you go to hell. Logical.
By society's eyes that is an act of terrorism, but through the eyes of an activist it could be seen as an act of virtue.
Agreed. It's a debate.
The answer, however, isn't then to abandon all critcal thought and just flip open the ol' reference book and look up what is and isn't allowed.
Think about it, if morality is not absolute then neither is justice.