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Why are some people...

joG said:
Of course they should. Tell them. ;)
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We do, they get offended that anyone would dare point out their stupidity. They claim they are being oppressed and discriminated against.
 
zyzygy said:
Many children have imaginary friends. It doesn't mean that they are stupid.
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But those children outgrow it. The religious don't. God is an imaginary friend for adults who ought to know better.
 
Cephus said:
We do, they get offended that anyone would dare point out their stupidity. They claim they are being oppressed and discriminated against.
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What stupidity?
 
Cephus said:
But those children outgrow it. The religious don't. God is an imaginary friend for adults who ought to know better.
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Know better than to be what?
 
Cephus said:
We do, they get offended that anyone would dare point out their stupidity. They claim they are being oppressed and discriminated against.
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What stupidity are we talking about? I'm waiting.
 
Cephus said:
But those children outgrow it. The religious don't. God is an imaginary friend for adults who ought to know better.
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I'm waiting. Know better than to be what?
 
joG said:
Lots of people get tired of being called stupid.
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Perhaps then they should not be shunning intelligence and education.
 
stonewall50 said:
Oh. I thought we were talking about religion. Or were you unaware that those 2 are different? ;)
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They're not appreciably different, except in the eyes of the deluded.
 
stonewall50 said:
Maybe because your atheism isnt who you are? What if I insulted your family? How you were raised? Your way of life? What you believe in?

Yea. You go ahead and preach that "thicker skin" bull****. You only say that because you don't understand faith. If you did, you would understand that insulting someone's religion is insulting ALL of that at once. Anyone who thinks that is ok...is an asshole.
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Okay if you can't seem to grow a thicker skin, which seems odd because li'l ol' me has a thick enough skin you could insult me or my family or how I was raised, and it wouldn't phase me a bit. On some of it, I might even agree, who knows. But you can't insult me with lies, and I'm not afraid of the truth.

If insulting what you believe and it effects you negatively, then I question the depth of your belief. It must be shallow and shakeable. Actually that's good news for us atheists, and gives us hope. So please keep being offended so we know that your beliefs are weak and trembling at any mention of discourse.
 
zyzygy said:
Many children have imaginary friends. It doesn't mean that they are stupid.
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Perhaps but adults with imaginary friends are either stupid or mentally ill. I hope you aren't suggesting that we should all revert to children so we can accept an imaginary skydaddy on faith. .... Actually, I guess when really looking at it, that is what believers want, to the point the Texas RNC even put in the planks the desire to keep Texans stupid.
 
Cephus said:
They're not appreciably different, except in the eyes of the deluded.
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The only people who would actually believe that kind of thinking are just so angry at religion that they let it override logic, reason, and of course...a good education.

Superstition:
superstition : Concise Dictionary of Social and Cultural Anthropology : Blackwell Reference Online

Pretty simple really. Not a hard concept to understand. I suppose those who have never actually TAKEN a cultural anthropology course would not understand it. Of course some people would probably deliberately misunderstand the definition so they could shoehorn in their bigotry and condescension for a belief structure they simply don't understand. :)

Religion:
Content Pages of the Encyclopedia of Religion and Social Science
Anthropology of Religion: Overview of Religion

See it is pretty basic if you don't have an agenda to cram in. Religion is overarching. It can have many superstitious practices. Superstition can be religious in nature. But they aren't the same. But I am thinking you just didn't understand the difference. There is no way you could be deliberately misunderstanding the difference to shoehorn in some kind of agenda. So let me explain it the way I was explaining it to the world history class I had to teach (10th graders):

You can be religious and not superstitious. You can be superstitious and not religious. You can be superstitious and religious. They aren't mutually exclusive.
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That was fun. :peace
 
Summerwind said:
Okay if you can't seem to grow a thicker skin, which seems odd because li'l ol' me has a thick enough skin you could insult me or my family or how I was raised, and it wouldn't phase me a bit. On some of it, I might even agree, who knows. But you can't insult me with lies, and I'm not afraid of the truth.
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What do I know? Maybe your family just isn't important to you? I wasn't really saying I was offended by anything you say. I was simply explaining why insulting someone's religion would piss them off. Don't worry. Petty childish bigotry (you know like homophobia or racism)...doesn't actually hurt me. Haters gonna hate. Especially if they are miserable :cool:

If insulting what you believe and it effects you negatively, then I question the depth of your belief. It must be shallow and shakeable.
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As I pointed out MANY times to cephus...the insulting only makes my faith stronger and makes me pity the insulter more. There was something in the Bible about how fools scoff at the wise. I don't really remember the quote that well. I am not the BEST of Christians. I admit that freely. I pray I can be better, but perhaps the world needs a "whiskey priest" now and then?

Actually that's good news for us atheists, and gives us hope.
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You find hope in people losing meaning in their life that was once incredibility important? That seems pretty harsh really. Perhaps it has something to do with misery loving company?

So please keep being offended so we know that your beliefs are weak and trembling at any mention of discourse.
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I never said I was offended. My faith is completely unshakeable. I would die before I give it up. I know that that kind of strength scares people. That is ok. :2wave:
 
Summerwind said:
Perhaps then they should not be shunning intelligence and education.
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Are you suggesting have religion means someone is shunning intelligence and education?
 
stonewall50 said:
You find hope in people losing meaning in their life that was once incredibility important? That seems pretty harsh really. Perhaps it has something to do with misery loving company?
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Yes, I do because when people quit putting belief in nonsense, they have to start dealing with reality which is that we are responsible for the quality of ourselves, we are responsible quality for our communities, and we are responsible for the quality of our planet.
 
Summerwind said:
Yes, I do because when people quit putting belief in nonsense, they have to start dealing with reality which is that we are responsible for the quality of ourselves, we are responsible quality for our communities, and we are responsible for the quality of our planet.
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Funny. I agree with the bold. And you wanna know a secret?

I am a Christian.

Funny how you basically just ASSUME that what YOU believe religious people think is ACTUALLY what they think. Maybe this is a hard concept? Maybe faith scares you? Fear is certainly a legitimate reason to dislike something. But just so you know:

none of what you said requires someone to give up faith. In fact...FAITH may actually make that stuff easier for someone to do. And please don't try and argue with that FACT. You would be trying to pigeon hole the ENTIRE religious world and their views. That wouldn't be logical or reasonable. You wouldn't want to seem illogical and unreasonable.

PS

I feel like I said a lot more. No comment on all that?
 
stonewall50 said:
Funny. I agree with the bold. And you wanna know a secret?

I am a Christian.

Funny how you basically just ASSUME that what YOU believe religious people think is ACTUALLY what they think. Maybe this is a hard concept? Maybe faith scares you? Fear is certainly a legitimate reason to dislike something. But just so you know:

none of what you said requires someone to give up faith. In fact...FAITH may actually make that stuff easier for someone to do. And please don't try and argue with that FACT. You would be trying to pigeon hole the ENTIRE religious world and their views. That wouldn't be logical or reasonable. You wouldn't want to seem illogical and unreasonable.

PS

I feel like I said a lot more. No comment on all that?
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I don't care if someone who has to believe in a skydaddy to have honor and integrity thinks I'm illogical and unreasonable, since caring about your opinion would by default make me illogical and unreasonable.
 
Summerwind said:
I don't care if someone who has to believe in a skydaddy to have honor and integrity thinks I'm illogical and unreasonable, since caring about your opinion would by default make me illogical and unreasonable.
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That had nothing to do with what I think of you. I don't really FEEL anything towards you, so it doesn't really matter to me if you care what I say or not. These are simple observations I am making. You stated this:

quit putting belief in nonsense, have to start dealing with reality which is that we are responsible for the quality of ourselves, we are responsible quality for our communities, and we are responsible for the quality of our planet.
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Suggesting that people people cannot do this WITH religion. That is FACTUALLY wrong. It is illogical. It is also unreasonable. Those are FACTS. Not opinions. IF that upsets you...you aren't upset with the way I think about you. You are upset with reality. Not the sky daddy. You are upset with your own logic and reason. And that, friend, isn't my problem. That is for you to deal with.
 
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stonewall50 said:
That had nothing to do with what I think of you. I don't really FEEL anything towards you, so it doesn't really matter to me if you care what I say or not. These are simple observations I am making. You stated this:

quit putting belief in nonsense, have to start dealing with reality which is that we are responsible for the quality of ourselves, we are responsible quality for our communities, and we are responsible for the quality of our planet.
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Suggesting that people people cannot do this WITH religion. That is FACTUALLY wrong. It is illogical. It is also unreasonable. Those are FACTS. Not opinions. IF that upsets you...you aren't upset with the way I think about you. You are upset with reality. Not the sky daddy. You are upset with your own logic and reason. And that, friend, isn't my problem. That is for you to deal with.
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I agree that there are those that claim a belief but at the same time recognize that there is no active god in their lives or in the world, and therefore take it upon themselves to make a difference. I've never considered people who only halfway believe in a god (ie don't follow the bible to the letter) as being the same as they are disregarding 90% of what their doctrines tell them, which in today's society includes most claiming Christianity. Again, that gives me hope. So no I don't lump everyone who claims faith together.
 
Summerwind said:
I agree that there are those that claim a belief but at the same time recognize that there is no active god in their lives or in the world, and therefore take it upon themselves to make a difference. I've never considered people who only halfway believe in a god (ie don't follow the bible to the letter) as being the same as they are disregarding 90% of what their doctrines tell them, which in today's society includes most claiming Christianity. Again, that gives me hope. So no I don't lump everyone who claims faith together.
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Well that is good and logical. But you should probably not try and use YOUR definition of what is Christian. Not so much because it is "wrong," but because there are literally thousands of denominations of Christians (41,000) with a variety of views. And if you take certain churches (Like the Baptist church [I am not a member...but I do pick on them a little]), even in the SAME denomination they have varied views from church to church and person to person.

I am PC USA. We just allowed gay marriage in our Church. There are 3 books for PC USA. The Book of Confessions, Order, and the Bible. These dictate core concepts. There is debate on topics in the church. The meaning of passages. What translations mean. That kind of thing. And it changes. It is an attempt to correct a lot of the problems that are still hold overs from pre reformation times, and even during the reformation times.

I hope that makes sense. I am trying to caution you against lumping all Christians under and "assigned" view and then saying the rest are NOT Christians. That kind of thinking is what causes genocides. THOSE guys are believers. Those guys believe something basically the same, but slightly different so they NON believers and must die.

Maybe to be a little LESS "ad aburdum" would be for me to compare it to someone trying to assign what is a TRUE American or Patriot vs what isn't.
 
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