Time to regulate Bible and samurai sword ownership

[antikristuseke]

Originally Posted by TarJak

Banning nutjobs would be easier.

Not really, we have been at it for centuries without much success.

[Castout]

You know I grew up in a country which taught tolerance among different faiths.

As a believer in God I can accept people from other faiths fairly well especially when theirs is a monotheistic one.

I don't even in the slightest hate atheists.

But what I don't get is that many atheists seem to share a passion of hating anything religious. I mean they don't have tolerance towards anything religious.

I for one think even atheism is just another belief but this will anger too many atheists.

Tolerance is not taught in schools abroad? and taken as a value? Or is it because atheism attracts too many fundamentalists and view anything religious as hostile? Could it be guilt masquerading as aggression? or fear? or pas disappointment that resulted in blaming God? For one if one day I found that God didn't exist I'd just happily stop believing simple and square.

I may draw flaks from this post but at least I expressed myself on the way this thread has been used.

[Armistead]

About 400 AD, the Romans realized they couldn't defeat the Christian movement, so rather than fight em, join them. Before this the church as a whole didn't believe in hell or torture. As the church and government joined they needed tools to control the masses, thus the tools of fear and guilt became common doctrine. Along comes men peod like Dante and whips hellfire and torture into doctrine. The church now backed by the government became agents of torture, after all, if God could torture for eternity, why not man in his name. Sadly torture in God's name became a mainstay until secular law put it aside in most parts of the world. I myself couldn't accept a God that would torture the mass of his creation for eternity. As bad as Hitler is, man has made God a worse monster.

Nothing can be worse that a man claiming God with a bible in one hand and a sword in the other, just ask the indians...

One thing I fear is all these that say they want God back in government. Could it be they want to bring back the fear and guilt tactics of the past.

I think some would if they could. This is what most atheist fear. I don't declare myself to be one, but I certainly understand their fear.

[August]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

I'd say get rid of the Bible. It's by far the deadlier weapon.

Bibles don't kill people.
People kill people.

[Armistead]

People don't kill people, you could put two people beside each other without a brain and they would do nothing.

Belief systems kill, hate, racism, greed, religion.

You think radical muslims just kill people for the heck of it.

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by TarJak

Banning nutjobs would be easier.

Nope, banning the source would be more efficient and easier on the long run.

[the_tyrant]

Trade your bibles in for porn!

[August]

Originally Posted by Armistead

People don't kill people, you could put two people beside each other without a brain and they would do nothing.

Belief systems kill, hate, racism, greed, religion.

You think radical muslims just kill people for the heck of it.

People kill other people without a reason all the time. Religion might provide a handy excuse but if that weren't available any other excuse would do just as well.

As the song says: "I once killed a man in Reno just to watch him die".

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by August

As the song says: "I once killed a man in Reno just to watch him die".

Heretic! Burn him! You twisted the words of my prophet, Holy Johnny! The sacred record says "I shot a man in Reno".

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by Castout

You know I grew up in a country which taught tolerance among different faiths.

As a believer in God I can accept people from other faiths fairly well especially when theirs is a monotheistic one.

I don't even in the slightest hate atheists.

But what I don't get is that many atheists seem to share a passion of hating anything religious. I mean they don't have tolerance towards anything religious.

I for one think even atheism is just another belief but this will anger too many atheists.

Tolerance is not taught in schools abroad? and taken as a value? Or is it because atheism attracts too many fundamentalists and view anything religious as hostile? Could it be guilt masquerading as aggression? or fear? or pas disappointment that resulted in blaming God? For one if one day I found that God didn't exist I'd just happily stop believing simple and square.

Short answer: disrespect/animosity could root in 100's of years of oppression and persecution of atheists...

longer:
Ok, first of all I speak for no group, only for myself as an individual. I am an agnostic, most of my friends are non-believers, but I have friends of nearly any belief - except maybe the antique Greek Gods I respect their faith but I make jokes about their beliefs as I make jokes about nearly anything.
The problems I have are msotly with organized religion, here are some points:

- a special treatment of religions: blasphemy laws are bs, why should religion have more rights than for example a musician, a comic book character or a tree? When I pee on a tree I could maybe hunted by people who worship trees...

- derivating from this point is my 2nd point: secularism is mostly just a word - in most of the states of the world! We need a strict seperation of church and state everywhere.

- I can only tolerate individuals, no group gets my special respect. Why should I respect a religion, for example, which states that atheists are lower than animals? Lower because animals cannot believe, but humans can.

- I can not tolerate anyone who wants to tell me how to think, what to think

- I have a deep contempt for anyone who wants to take away my freedom, in whatever name

- interpretation of the writings; by this I mean the fact that you can read nearly anything out of the books - especially when taken out of a conrtext. Like my plowshares example said, you can use the bible as a root for pacifistic behaviour, the guy mentioned in the op used it for an agressive one. The explanation monopole is mostly in the hands of the church, and by this again in the hands of an elite, using it for their "right" way of thinking and acting - of course depending on the cultural, political and sociological context.

so I am cool with you , your beliefes don't mind me, just don't try to take my freedom away!

...and atheism is not just another belief, it is the lack of belief

[DarkFish]

Originally Posted by Castout

As a believer in God I can accept people from other faiths fairly well especially when theirs is a monotheistic one.

Well there you are doing exactly what you accuse atheists of: being less respectful towards differing belief systems. Towards my belief system (Germanic Paganism). Yet I don't give a damn. So why do you christians often do? TBH, I barely hear any atheists complaining about christians, while I quite often hear you christians complain about atheists.

I don't even in the slightest hate atheists.

And only few atheists hate religious people. At most, they hate the religion, not the people.

But what I don't get is that many atheists seem to share a passion of hating anything religious. I mean they don't have tolerance towards anything religious.

And with good reason. I hate your god. Yes, I hate him with a passion. For all that has been done in his name. For the way he screwed up the life of my people for centuries.

As the Frisian king Radboud once said, I'd rather spend eternity in hell with my friends, than in heaven with my enemies.
And like this king, I will not be a traitor to my people. A traitor to my belief. A traitor to what I feel is right. And if that costs me eternity in hell, so be it.

If your god chooses to judge people on their beliefs rather than on their deeds (and for what I know of the bible, he does), he's not worth being called a god. He'd just be another selfish megalomanic massmurderer. Hitler or Stalin, anyone?

Tolerance is not taught in schools abroad? and taken as a value? Or is it because atheism attracts too many fundamentalists and view anything religious as hostile? Could it be guilt masquerading as aggression? or fear? or pas disappointment that resulted in blaming God? For one if one day I found that God didn't exist I'd just happily stop believing simple and square.

Like the tolerance your god teaches? Don't you think it's slightly hypocritical that a christian like you accuses other "beliefs" of having no tolerance?

Unfortunately the aforementioned king Radboud was unsuccessful in his attempts to prevent christianism from infecting Frisia. But the Pagans combated christianism in a civil way. Nothing like the violence with which christians often attacked other beliefs.

You've suppressed people for ages. So if you christians feel attacked by atheists, it's only what you rightfully deserve.

Heilir Æsir! Heilar Asýnjur!

[Armistead]

I spent a lot of time and hours studying issues of faith. I was brought up in a Ind. Bapt. Church and of course taught never to question God or baptist doctrine. I spent 3 years in a Bap. college. In my third year studying greek, all sorts of question arose. At that time I didn't put my faith aside, but put my beliefs aside and studied with an open mind. Much of what I believed came apart.

When you study any religion you must study it based on historic and cultural perspective. You must simply use their lingo, understand their words and how they're used in their culture. Sadly, anyone can clearly see
mans hands on all doctrine in one fashion or another, why we have so many denominations and thousands of different doctrines....all claiming to be right of course.

I honestly don't know how any man could be sure of any church doctrine because it's changed so many times for so many reasons to suit the greed of man.

I sat in several atheist groups meetings. The fact is most are sincere. Most want to see the real teachings of Christ even though they may not believe in him, help others, care for the suffering, the poor, the ill.

Whatever God is or isn't, all I can say is I simply don't know. I'm more agnostic now, but if God exist I would expect him to honor my search for him and where it led me.

[Growler]

Humanism, ftw.

As an atheist, I don't hate religion or faith; I hate what people do to each other because of, or for them.

A Holy War is a contradiction in terms in almost every modern faith, yet radicals in every camp can find some justification for the wholesale subjugation or slaughter of non-believers. (Notice: I used the word radicals for a reason.)

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by Castout

But what I don't get is that many atheists seem to share a passion of hating anything religious. I mean they don't have tolerance towards anything religious.

I'm not an athiest (more of an spiritual agnostic), but i do understand why atheists don't have a tolerance for anything religious, because i've experienced some (ok, alot) of what gets them all fired up.

In a word,

Ramrodding.

Christians, Evangelicals in specific, love to force their ideals upon others. It's as if they're lifes philophsy is, "my way is the right way". From my experience, theirs is a faith that preach's tolerance, and yet has none. This constant ramrodding and hypocracy gets people at varying degrees of anger. Some people become so angry infact, that they end up doing exactly that which they loath - forcing their ideals upon others. So this see-saw battle of atheists and christans ensues.

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

I'm not an athiest (more of an spiritual agnostic), but i do understand why atheists don't have a tolerance for anything religious, because i've experienced some (ok, alot) of what gets them all fired up.

In a word,

Ramrodding.

Christians, Evangelicals in specific, love to force their ideals upon others. It's as if they're lifes philophsy is, "my way is the right way". From my experience, theirs is a faith that preach's tolerance, and yet has none. This constant ramrodding and hypocracy gets people at varying degrees of anger. Some people become so angry infact, that they end up doing exactly that which they loath - forcing their ideals upon others. So this see-saw battle of atheists and christans ensues.

My thougths exactly! The hypocracy and the interest in ones wallet is what gets. Before I hijack my own thread, I worked around mentally ill people that were hyper religious, and it can be a scary combination. I don't have a problem with religious people (grew up around it), but when it dominates every fasit (sp?) of your life, you need to chill out.