Aggressive Atheism

right.
Because an adult who is "mentally handicapped" usually had their brain damaged by being abused/brainwashed as a child. Or they're just retarded.

what i meant was
converting someone into Christianity is still psychological abuse no matter what the age of the person being converted
people take "the great commision" too seriously
in a randomly given week i'll have 2 or 3 seperate people try to convert me, and some of them will fuck off their schedule (and mine) to spend a whole freaking hour trying to "save" me
and if a person dosn't want to be converted, you shouldn't force it on them, i and many other people are perfectly capable of dealing with life as atheists, and then someone comes along and tells them "you're going to hell" and sometimes it's psychologically crippling having people tell you that you're going to be tortured for eternity for the things you do instinctively
 
I know I'm a late comer to this thread, but I only read the first few pages before I HAD to respond.
The thing that the broke the camel's back was realizing that there is a very broad range interpretations people have for what they call "forcing one's beliefs onto others."
I grew up in a religious family and considered myself to be a dedicated Christian for about 28 years before I finally and thoroughly concluded that the beliefs I grew up with were in fact wrong. However, I will not say there is no God. I WILL say that what I was told about God all my life is untrue. Now that I am able to look at this arguement from both sides, having been a fundamentalist, then a more loosened-up sort of believer, to complete agnostic.
I realize now that people who seem to be so "hostile toward religion" often aren't. They simply state what they DO believe and are then accused of hostility.

I might tell a person "So you want to know what I believe? Well, I don't readily believe anything that can't readily be backed up. I believe that if something which is touted as the truth fails to back itself up, but instead offers explanations of exceptions to the rule, then it is not the truth. I don't believe that your religion is true, and I understand you think you need to believe it. I believe you believe it. But if you would simply learn a few things outside of it, you will learn that you DON'T need it. It's wrong. It's dilluded. Even if it isn't outright violent(terrorists, crusades, hara kiri, inquisitions etc.) or physically abusive in any way (circumcision, self flagellation, marks of identification etc) it is still constraining on the mind, and too often abusive emotionally and hostile toward what makes a person who they are."
That would just be me stating what I believe, but I might still get the "why are you so hostile toward religion?" response.

I remember being TORN TO PIECES about women. I would fall in love with a girl and think "What if she wants me to have sex with her? What am I supposed to do then?" LOL :erk: :puke::lol: can you believe that?
I'd hear in my head (not literally of course) "You can't do that! You would so greatly misrepresent your FAITH! It is a sin to even THINK about it!! Were it not for God's Grace in your life, you would be a violent, perverted degenerate!"
I eventually ended up in a relationship in which I did have sex, and boy can I tell you how that fucked with me! Now, I don't give a shit about ANY of that BULLSHIT.

I remember desperated prayers by many many people bearing no fruit. I remember MY prayers bearing no fruit. People die young in spite of prayers. People will suffer whatever tragedy befalls them in spite of prayers. If a person helps another person in need, it is out of true goodness from that person, and not from a prayer that the one in need spoke into the indifferent night air.

People will also say "Well yeah, science is great, but it can't explain WHO caused it!" What if you just don't know enough about science? I could tell you to read 3 books that DO offer explanations without a "who."
 
what i meant was
converting someone into Christianity is still psychological abuse no matter what the age of the person being converted
people take "the great commision" too seriously
in a randomly given week i'll have 2 or 3 seperate people try to convert me, and some of them will fuck off their schedule (and mine) to spend a whole freaking hour trying to "save" me
and if a person dosn't want to be converted, you shouldn't force it on them, i and many other people are perfectly capable of dealing with life as atheists, and then someone comes along and tells them "you're going to hell" and sometimes it's psychologically crippling having people tell you that you're going to be tortured for eternity for the things you do instinctively

I just tune that out when it enters my life. For there is no merit in even considering it. This is where the Anti-Theists fail. They spend far too much time on religion, however inane they think it is. And thus can never win against Theism as they are constantly involved in its constructs(even if it be an interest to brandish the plethora of deconstructs). Only those who can fully accept the damage of what religion, or more particularly, faith, is, deign complete wisdom only when they can utterly distance themselves from it(mentally, at least).
 
I just tune that out when it enters my life. For there is no merit in even considering it. This is where the Anti-Theists fail. They spend far too much time on religion, however inane they think it is. And thus can never win against Theism as they are constantly involved in its constructs(even if it be an interest to brandish the plethora of deconstructs). Only those who can fully accept the damage of what religion, or more particularly, faith, is, deign complete wisdom only when they can utterly distance themselves from it(mentally, at least).

christianity is so clearly an "artificial construct" that people spent way too much time trying to de-construct it
me personnally, (in terms of how i interact with people face-2-face) i just ignore christianity all together, i only talk about religion online, and i try to avoid having thological discussions when i'm sitting through the sermons to get to the free stuff (food clothes hygeine toiletries etc etc)
 
christianity is so clearly an "artificial construct" that people spent way too much time trying to de-construct it
me personnally, (in terms of how i interact with people face-2-face) i just ignore christianity all together, i only talk about religion online, and i try to avoid having thological discussions when i'm sitting through the sermons to get to the free stuff (food clothes hygeine toiletries etc etc)

I hear you. It just doesn't enter into my thoughts at all, in any way whatsoever; as it(religion/faith) is arguably the worst and definitely the most complete waste of time that there is. I rarely even engage it even online. The only reason I even entered this thread was because the silly excuse of propaganda just doesn't fly with me anymore with people on the internet. For the truth is just one click away and for them to still just blindly deny/follow(what they believe is only true in their hearts) with that reality; is nothing short of the most macabre and willful ignorance imaginable.

Though it is now all too plain to me upon seeing the repeated reverence for faith/religion in place here that such an effort on my part was not even worthy of my contempt.
 
I hear you. It just doesn't enter into my thoughts at all, in any way whatsoever; as it(religion/faith) is arguably the worst and definitely the most complete waste of time that there is. i totally agree but i religion is something that's freaking EVERYWHERE down here living in the city that used to be called "the buckle of the bible belt" it's crazy down here with people trying to convert me into christianity every single fraking week I rarely even engage it even online. i engage in religious discusion online because like several other subjects, talking online is much easier to get my point across than in f-2-f conversations The only reason I even entered this thread was because the silly excuse of propaganda just doesn't fly with me anymore with people on the internet. this seems to be an american problem, or at least worse in america, where americans don't really think about things where american christians end up being christians just because all the people around them are christian For the truth is just one click away and for them to still just blindly deny/follow(what they believe is only true in their hearts) with that reality; is nothing short of the most macabre and willful ignorance imaginable. there are still people walking around claiming that "dinosaurs are a hoax"

Though it is now all too plain to me upon seeing the repeated reverence for faith/religion in place here that such an effort on my part was not even worthy of my contempt.

sometimes religion, (mostly christianity) is the direct result of PTSD where christianity is being used as "the wheelchair for the crippled mind"
 
I remember being TORN TO PIECES about women. I would fall in love with a girl and think "What if she wants me to have sex with her? What am I supposed to do then?" LOL :erk: :puke::lol: can you believe that?
I'd hear in my head (not literally of course) "You can't do that! You would so greatly misrepresent your FAITH! It is a sin to even THINK about it!! Were it not for God's Grace in your life, you would be a violent, perverted degenerate!"
I eventually ended up in a relationship in which I did have sex, and boy can I tell you how that fucked with me! Now, I don't give a shit about ANY of that BULLSHIT.

I remember desperated prayers by many many people bearing no fruit. I remember MY prayers bearing no fruit. People die young in spite of prayers. People will suffer whatever tragedy befalls them in spite of prayers. If a person helps another person in need, it is out of true goodness from that person, and not from a prayer that the one in need spoke into the indifferent night air.

the rules and regulations presented in the bible are really just telling us to go against what is naturally instinctive
that's why following the rules in the pentatuech and the rules in the sermon on the mount are so fucking difficult to do, these rules are going against nature
 
the rules and regulations presented in the bible are really just telling us to go against what is naturally instinctive
that's why following the rules in the pentatuech and the rules in the sermon on the mount are so fucking difficult to do, these rules are going against nature

it took me a long time to acknowledge this, but now I couldn't agree more
 
i was paraphrasing one of those philosopher guys, i think maybe it was thomas hobbes

Ive read Hobbes' Leviathan. I didnt agree with alot of what he said but Id still recommend reading it. Its very thought provoking and forces you to think about your own opinions at many stages. And this is coming from an anarchist.
 
Aggressive atheism is just as bad as an other type of extremism, whether it be Christian, Muslim, Jewish, etc. Either side of the extreme can be just as belligerent, hawkish, judgement-al and narrow-minded as the other. We should all learn to co-exist and respect each others views on spirituality, lifestyle choices, peacefully. I have no problem with faith as long as you aren't advocating hurting yourself/people or forcing your religious beliefs upon others.
 
Aggressive atheism is just as bad as an other type of extremism, whether it be Christian, Muslim, Jewish, etc. Either side of the extreme can be just as belligerent, hawkish, judgement-al and narrow-minded as the other. We should all learn to co-exist and respect each others views on spirituality, lifestyle choices, peacefully. I have no problem with faith as long as you aren't advocating hurting yourself/people or forcing your religious beliefs upon others.

Agreed, and for the record, doing something like handing out literature or buying media space isn't "forcing" a belief.
 
what i meant was
people take "the great commision" too seriously
in a randomly given week i'll have 2 or 3 seperate people try to convert me, and some of them will fuck off their schedule (and mine) to spend a whole freaking hour trying to "save" me
and if a person dosn't want to be converted, you shouldn't force it on them, i and many other people are perfectly capable of dealing with life as atheists, and then someone comes along and tells them "you're going to hell" and sometimes it's psychologically crippling having people tell you that you're going to be tortured for eternity for the things you do instinctively
this^^^ is way more annoying than the people that hand out the pamphlets
doing something like handing out literature

handing out the literature is fine
i don't really have a problem with that
 
It never ceases to amuse me that people live their whole damn lives by a fucking fictional piece of shit "book" no more truthful than Harry Potter or Twilight
 
It never ceases to amuse me that people live their whole damn lives by a fucking fictional piece of shit "book" no more truthful than Harry Potter or Twilight

the biggest problems arise when Americans don't notice that it's really a piece of fiction
if random people off the street realized that the bible was just fiction just like Harry Potter or Twilight,
there'd be alot less wars, (the Crusades, Desert Storm, all the Americans that died in the middle-east after 9/11)
and it would be a hell of alot harder for greedy-ass-american-oil-tycoons to rise the price of gasoline
even though i'm an atheist, i personally still actually read the bible alot
when you realize it's fiction, the old testament is a really interesting story
 
^ I agree. I'm not an Atheist, but I'm very self spiritual. I believe in working with the universe, so I've been involved in the Occult and Covens for years because it's a meditative thing for me. Religious labels are bull shit and they cause separation, leading to wars over religion. Just like racism. No labels like black or white -> no separation -> no racism.
 
the biggest problems arise when Americans don't notice that it's really a piece of fiction
if random people off the street realized that the bible was just fiction just like Harry Potter or Twilight,
there'd be alot less wars, (the Crusades, Desert Storm, all the Americans that died in the middle-east after 9/11)
and it would be a hell of alot harder for greedy-ass-american-oil-tycoons to rise the price of gasoline
even though i'm an atheist, i personally still actually read the bible alot
when you realize it's fiction, the old testament is a really interesting story

It's not only Americans who are retarded Bible-thumping idiots. Also, any minute amount of interest i would have in reading the Bible as a fictional story would totally be drowned out by the reatrds who take it seriously.