My Unpopular Opinion

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Replies

  • People who smoke anything should be required to do community service once a year, spending a day picking up cigarette butts.

    Srsly.
  • ElBo58
    ElBo58 Posts: 44
    Death tolls

    Pol Pot >2 million
    Hitler > 6 million
    Stalin at least 20 million (some sources say 50 million)
    None of these men believed in God

    Not an argument for the presence of God, but irritates me when people blame all major genocides etc on religion.

    Hitler identified himself as a Christian, and believed in something he called the "Aryan Christ".
  • fraser112
    fraser112 Posts: 405
    I'm coming legit! The only brain-altering substance I've had is alcohol, but not nearly as often as before. Honestly, my unpopular opinion that you can have fun without being ****ed up all the time. Experimenting is a different thing though and I'm willing to try :)

    As long as your carful they really can help you get through bad times.
    My unpopular idea
    we could treat depression, Ed , fear of death with these substances
  • ILoveJesus72
    ILoveJesus72 Posts: 181 Member
    The Koran and most other "holy books" also instruct their followers to go out an proselytize. That isn't unique to the Bible. I respect others' right to believe in and preach about what they want. Likewise, you should respect my right to not believe in god(s). It doesn't take faith to hold no belief. I don't believe in unicorns, faeries, or elves either. Does that take faith? No. Atheists aren't forcing you not to believe in gods. There's a reason, however, why atheists and other non-believers (theological noncognivitists, agnostics, ignosticts, etc.) engage with believers. Most of the atheists I know know more about religion and theology than most believers. We've studied and through logic and reason have come to the conclusion that there is no credible evidence for belief in gods. We also are acutely aware of the harm that organized religion and faith have caused in the world. Other posters have detailed those harms (Inquisition, Pogroms, anti-gay laws, wars, discrimination, etc.) on this thread so I don't need to provide the specifics. Ultimately, everyone has to decide for themselves what they believe or don't believe. I just think it's important that people are informed. I sent my kids to parochial schools but I also told them that when they were old enough they were free to make their own decisions about god. My son turned 19 last week. He is a self-professed atheist. My daughter is 14 and she is a believer, like my wife, but I don't worry because she has an open mind and questions everything.


    Cheers!

    Quoted from part 1

    Death tolls

    Pol Pot >2 million
    Hitler > 6 million
    Stalin at least 20 million (some sources say 50 million)
    None of these men believed in God

    Not an argument for the presence of God, but irritates me when people blame all major genocides etc on religion.

    Not meaning to carry on this discussion about religion, but just to clarify a mistake in fact - I'm pretty sure Hitler was a Christian :ohwell:

    Though he wasn't massacring Jews in the name of God, so I guess that's something.

    Woah....let's not go there at all. Hitler was NOT a Christian. I dont care if he used the name of God or not.........Hitler was also very curious about the occult, should we call him a Wiccan? Heck no because then the Wiccan's would freak out. Hitler was a monster.....not a Christian.
  • I'm coming legit! The only brain-altering substance I've had is alcohol, but not nearly as often as before. Honestly, my unpopular opinion that you can have fun without being ****ed up all the time. Experimenting is a different thing though and I'm willing to try :)

    As long as your carful they really can help you get through bad times.
    My unpopular idea
    we could treat depression, Ed , fear of death with these substances

    That has substance, actually. And it's not that I hate everything about it, honestly. Just haven't taken that leap. Alcohol is only fun socially and in moderate doses. Then again...I'm terrified of vomit and the act thereof, so I try hard not to do anything to cause it. lol
  • sweetie89207
    sweetie89207 Posts: 361
    lol...i think its funny how the issue of God's existence came upon so suddenly in this post...i think its preposterous to think that there is no proof of God...especially if you have eyes that work and you can see...i dont know- everything in the world lol...but what is really nice about this world we live in is that everyone is for the most part (i suppose depending on where u live) we have complete freedom to choose what we will or will not believe...

    and i dont mind hearing what other ppl feel about this world or God or anything else...just as long as they dont criticize others publicly for making whatever choices they do! thats really where i draw the line- dont tell others they are wrong (if they are then thats their own choice- kinda like smoking- if you choose to kill yourself then fine- just dont smoke around me and kill me along with the process!)

    in the end whoever is right will be right and whoever is wrong will be wrong...but as long as you are happy with your ideas and opinions then more power to you
  • ILoveJesus72
    ILoveJesus72 Posts: 181 Member
    Death tolls

    Pol Pot >2 million
    Hitler > 6 million
    Stalin at least 20 million (some sources say 50 million)
    None of these men believed in God

    Not an argument for the presence of God, but irritates me when people blame all major genocides etc on religion.

    Hitler identified himself as a Christian, and believed in something he called the "Aryan Christ".

    Hitler falls in line with the likes of the Westboro Baptist people, Jim Jones, David Koresh and many others who claimed to be Christians but were not. No Christian, a true follower of Christ, would ever EVER agree that these people were Christians.
  • sunnyday789
    sunnyday789 Posts: 309 Member
    The Koran and most other "holy books" also instruct their followers to go out an proselytize. That isn't unique to the Bible. I respect others' right to believe in and preach about what they want. Likewise, you should respect my right to not believe in god(s). It doesn't take faith to hold no belief. I don't believe in unicorns, faeries, or elves either. Does that take faith? No. Atheists aren't forcing you not to believe in gods. There's a reason, however, why atheists and other non-believers (theological noncognivitists, agnostics, ignosticts, etc.) engage with believers. Most of the atheists I know know more about religion and theology than most believers. We've studied and through logic and reason have come to the conclusion that there is no credible evidence for belief in gods. We also are acutely aware of the harm that organized religion and faith have caused in the world. Other posters have detailed those harms (Inquisition, Pogroms, anti-gay laws, wars, discrimination, etc.) on this thread so I don't need to provide the specifics. Ultimately, everyone has to decide for themselves what they believe or don't believe. I just think it's important that people are informed. I sent my kids to parochial schools but I also told them that when they were old enough they were free to make their own decisions about god. My son turned 19 last week. He is a self-professed atheist. My daughter is 14 and she is a believer, like my wife, but I don't worry because she has an open mind and questions everything.


    Cheers!

    Quoted from part 1

    Death tolls

    Pol Pot >2 million
    Hitler > 6 million
    Stalin at least 20 million (some sources say 50 million)
    None of these men believed in God

    Not an argument for the presence of God, but irritates me when people blame all major genocides etc on religion.

    Not meaning to carry on this discussion about religion, but just to clarify a mistake in fact - I'm pretty sure Hitler was a Christian :ohwell:

    Though he wasn't massacring Jews in the name of God, so I guess that's something.

    Woah....let's not go there at all. Hitler was NOT a Christian. I dont care if he used the name of God or not.........Hitler was also very curious about the occult, should we call him a Wiccan? Heck no because then the Wiccan's would freak out. Hitler was a monster.....not a Christian.

    Some writings of Hitler
    National Socialism and religion cannot exist together.... The heaviest blow that ever struck humanity was the coming of Christianity. Bolshevism is Christianity's illegitimate child. Both are inventions of the Jew. The deliberate lie in the matter of religion was introduced into the world by Christianity.... Let it not be said that Christianity brought man the life of the soul, for that evolution was in the natural order of things. (p 6 & 7)

    The best thing is to let Christianity die a natural death.... When understanding of the universe has become widespread... Christian doctrine will be convicted of absurdity.... Christianity has reached the peak of absurdity.... And that's why someday its structure will collapse.... ...the only way to get rid of Christianity is to allow it to die little by little.... Christianity the liar.... We'll see to it that the Churches cannot spread abroad teachings in conflict with the interests of the State. (p 49-52)
  • small_ninja
    small_ninja Posts: 365 Member

    Woah....let's not go there at all. Hitler was NOT a Christian. I dont care if he used the name of God or not.........Hitler was also very curious about the occult, should we call him a Wiccan? Heck no because then the Wiccan's would freak out. Hitler was a monster.....not a Christian.

    I meant that I'm pretty sure he identified himself as Christian... I thought this was widely known? I'm not using this to rag on religion, coz by that logic all Germans are horrible coz Hitler was German, which obviously isn't true... the poster just said all those men weren't religious, and I'm just clarifying by pointing out that Hitler was in fact religious...
  • jeffazi
    jeffazi Posts: 198
    The Koran and most other "holy books" also instruct their followers to go out an proselytize. That isn't unique to the Bible. I respect others' right to believe in and preach about what they want. Likewise, you should respect my right to not believe in god(s). It doesn't take faith to hold no belief. I don't believe in unicorns, faeries, or elves either. Does that take faith? No. Atheists aren't forcing you not to believe in gods. There's a reason, however, why atheists and other non-believers (theological noncognivitists, agnostics, ignosticts, etc.) engage with believers. Most of the atheists I know know more about religion and theology than most believers. We've studied and through logic and reason have come to the conclusion that there is no credible evidence for belief in gods. We also are acutely aware of the harm that organized religion and faith have caused in the world. Other posters have detailed those harms (Inquisition, Pogroms, anti-gay laws, wars, discrimination, etc.) on this thread so I don't need to provide the specifics. Ultimately, everyone has to decide for themselves what they believe or don't believe. I just think it's important that people are informed. I sent my kids to parochial schools but I also told them that when they were old enough they were free to make their own decisions about god. My son turned 19 last week. He is a self-professed atheist. My daughter is 14 and she is a believer, like my wife, but I don't worry because she has an open mind and questions everything.


    Cheers!

    Quoted from part 1

    Death tolls

    Pol Pot >2 million
    Hitler > 6 million
    Stalin at least 20 million (some sources say 50 million)
    None of these men believed in God

    Not an argument for the presence of God, but irritates me when people blame all major genocides etc on religion.

    Hitler was a Catholic

    Stalin was an atheist but he didn't do what he did in the name of atheism. In fact, his government bore all the indicia of religion (See, e.g., Trofim Lysenko and Stalin's religious faith in junk science).

    Pol Pot was not so big an Atheist as some Christians would like to present, mixing communism (social relations between humans) with atheism (humans relations with god) - they are two separate ideologies. The inflammatory comparison between the two is a logical fallacy in which the secular nature of Communism is assumed to justify the conclusion that all secularists are Communists, which is clearly not the case since an attribute of one system may also be an attribute of other systems. The American constitutional republic, for example, is also secular in nature. The Khmer Rouge had an ideology (apart and aside from atheism) that guided their actions.

    Sorry, but you'll be hard pressed to find anyone who committed genocide in the name of atheism.
  • KrisyKat
    KrisyKat Posts: 740 Member
    Here is my MOST UNpopular.... And I expect every teacher to start bitc*ing. because... thats what they do best ;)

    I'm SO SICK OF HEARING TEACHERS B***H.
    I have NEVER in my life, heard a person B***H more than a teacher. You don't make enough money, you don't have enough time off... why are people expecting you to teach the kids how to pass tests??? BECAUSE THATS YOUR EFFING JOB!?!?! thats why!

    You knew what you were getting into when you DECIDED to be a teacher. You knew you were under paid and under appreciated! But you chose it anyway. PROBABLY because you got a couple months off WITH PAY. You have a few months off PAID for vaca... and thats not even including EVERY federal holiday AND several other "teacher catch up days" You still get paid salary.... dental, medical.... and you are STILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL whining?!?!?!

    YES.... I do expect you to work, and I still expect you help my kids pass a test. Even the big ones like, SOL's, PSAT's, FCATS, Whatever... And I expect you to be judged on your ABILITY TO TEACH KIDS, because, after all... it is your job... AS A TEACHER.

    tumblr_m0bin3EOLY1qb3l9f.gif
  • My unpopular opinion:

    People should just STFU about religion already. Enough religious butthurt. I mean...come on. Who cares anymore?
  • milleric
    milleric Posts: 25
    People who smoke anything should be required to do community service once a year, spending a day picking up cigarette butts.

    What if you smoke weed out of a bong but loathe cigs?
  • small_ninja
    small_ninja Posts: 365 Member
    My unpopular opinion:

    People should just STFU about religion already. Enough religious butthurt. I mean...come on. Who cares anymore?

    Yeah, sorry, I agree :embarassed:
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    People who smoke anything should be required to do community service once a year, spending a day picking up cigarette butts.

    What if you smoke weed out of a bong but loathe cigs?
    That doesn't make you any smarter.
  • sweetie89207
    sweetie89207 Posts: 361
    The Koran and most other "holy books" also instruct their followers to go out an proselytize. That isn't unique to the Bible. I respect others' right to believe in and preach about what they want. Likewise, you should respect my right to not believe in god(s). It doesn't take faith to hold no belief. I don't believe in unicorns, faeries, or elves either. Does that take faith? No. Atheists aren't forcing you not to believe in gods. There's a reason, however, why atheists and other non-believers (theological noncognivitists, agnostics, ignosticts, etc.) engage with believers. Most of the atheists I know know more about religion and theology than most believers. We've studied and through logic and reason have come to the conclusion that there is no credible evidence for belief in gods. We also are acutely aware of the harm that organized religion and faith have caused in the world. Other posters have detailed those harms (Inquisition, Pogroms, anti-gay laws, wars, discrimination, etc.) on this thread so I don't need to provide the specifics. Ultimately, everyone has to decide for themselves what they believe or don't believe. I just think it's important that people are informed. I sent my kids to parochial schools but I also told them that when they were old enough they were free to make their own decisions about god. My son turned 19 last week. He is a self-professed atheist. My daughter is 14 and she is a believer, like my wife, but I don't worry because she has an open mind and questions everything.


    Cheers!

    Quoted from part 1

    Death tolls

    Pol Pot >2 million
    Hitler > 6 million
    Stalin at least 20 million (some sources say 50 million)
    None of these men believed in God

    Not an argument for the presence of God, but irritates me when people blame all major genocides etc on religion.

    Not meaning to carry on this discussion about religion, but just to clarify a mistake in fact - I'm pretty sure Hitler was a Christian :ohwell:

    Though he wasn't massacring Jews in the name of God, so I guess that's something.

    hahahaha LOL...when will we get past this stupid idea of ppl who "call" themselves something- meaning they really are that...thats how we got to racism- judging one person just because of the color of their skin- then judging all ppl by the standards you gave to one person (you know like when 1 person makes a "bad name" for a whole group of ppl)

    and since killing ppl is against the bible i think we can all clearly say that hitler was not a real christian...lol
  • ILoveJesus72
    ILoveJesus72 Posts: 181 Member

    Woah....let's not go there at all. Hitler was NOT a Christian. I dont care if he used the name of God or not.........Hitler was also very curious about the occult, should we call him a Wiccan? Heck no because then the Wiccan's would freak out. Hitler was a monster.....not a Christian.

    I meant that I'm pretty sure he identified himself as Christian... I thought this was widely known? I'm not using this to rag on religion, coz by that logic all Germans are horrible coz Hitler was German, which obviously isn't true... the poster just said all those men weren't religious, and I'm just clarifying by pointing out that Hitler was in fact religious...

    I know what you mean. Sorry if I seemed confrontational, really not trying to be that struck a chord in me. Hitler claimed to be Christian, wanting to purify it by removing the Jewish influence. That in itself dismisses his claim of Christianity considering he would have to purify Christianity of it's core which is Jesus Christ. Therefore, he was not Christian.
  • ElBo58
    ElBo58 Posts: 44
    "westboro church isn't christian"



    Okay, but then you're naming yourself the judge of who is "christian enough" for you to consider a christian. Isn't the bible pretty clear about who is the only one who can know what is in a person's heart? The bible is also very clear that christians aren't identified by what they DO but what beliefs they hold in their heart. Who are you to say what is in people's heart? They may not act in a way that YOU think a christian should act (or that a normal person thinks ANYONE should ask) but isn't it a little prideful to think that you know a person's heart better than they do? And isn't pride one of the 7 deadlies?

    (Sorry--long, thorough religious education over here).
  • tumblr_m0bin3EOLY1qb3l9f.gif

    I literally cried laughing when I saw that!
  • sunnyday789
    sunnyday789 Posts: 309 Member
    The Koran and most other "holy books" also instruct their followers to go out an proselytize. That isn't unique to the Bible. I respect others' right to believe in and preach about what they want. Likewise, you should respect my right to not believe in god(s). It doesn't take faith to hold no belief. I don't believe in unicorns, faeries, or elves either. Does that take faith? No. Atheists aren't forcing you not to believe in gods. There's a reason, however, why atheists and other non-believers (theological noncognivitists, agnostics, ignosticts, etc.) engage with believers. Most of the atheists I know know more about religion and theology than most believers. We've studied and through logic and reason have come to the conclusion that there is no credible evidence for belief in gods. We also are acutely aware of the harm that organized religion and faith have caused in the world. Other posters have detailed those harms (Inquisition, Pogroms, anti-gay laws, wars, discrimination, etc.) on this thread so I don't need to provide the specifics. Ultimately, everyone has to decide for themselves what they believe or don't believe. I just think it's important that people are informed. I sent my kids to parochial schools but I also told them that when they were old enough they were free to make their own decisions about god. My son turned 19 last week. He is a self-professed atheist. My daughter is 14 and she is a believer, like my wife, but I don't worry because she has an open mind and questions everything.


    Cheers!

    Quoted from part 1

    Death tolls

    Pol Pot >2 million
    Hitler > 6 million
    Stalin at least 20 million (some sources say 50 million)
    None of these men believed in God

    Not an argument for the presence of God, but irritates me when people blame all major genocides etc on religion.

    Hitler was a Catholic

    Stalin was an atheist but he didn't do what he did in the name of atheism. In fact, his government bore all the indicia of religion (See, e.g., Trofim Lysenko and Stalin's religious faith in junk science).

    Pol Pot was not so big an Atheist as some Christians would like to present, mixing communism (social relations between humans) with atheism (humans relations with god) - they are two separate ideologies. The inflammatory comparison between the two is a logical fallacy in which the secular nature of Communism is assumed to justify the conclusion that all secularists are Communists, which is clearly not the case since an attribute of one system may also be an attribute of other systems. The American constitutional republic, for example, is also secular in nature. The Khmer Rouge had an ideology (apart and aside from atheism) that guided their actions.

    Sorry, but you'll be hard pressed to find anyone who committed genocide in the name of atheism.

    See my previous post re: Hitler

    My point was that these atrocities were not committed in the name of religion not that they were committed in the name of atheism.
    Communism has no god.
    Realistically, all done for power and money.
  • emmymae22
    emmymae22 Posts: 206
    People who smoke anything should be required to do community service once a year, spending a day picking up cigarette butts.

    this.
  • jeffazi
    jeffazi Posts: 198
    The Koran and most other "holy books" also instruct their followers to go out an proselytize. That isn't unique to the Bible. I respect others' right to believe in and preach about what they want. Likewise, you should respect my right to not believe in god(s). It doesn't take faith to hold no belief. I don't believe in unicorns, faeries, or elves either. Does that take faith? No. Atheists aren't forcing you not to believe in gods. There's a reason, however, why atheists and other non-believers (theological noncognivitists, agnostics, ignosticts, etc.) engage with believers. Most of the atheists I know know more about religion and theology than most believers. We've studied and through logic and reason have come to the conclusion that there is no credible evidence for belief in gods. We also are acutely aware of the harm that organized religion and faith have caused in the world. Other posters have detailed those harms (Inquisition, Pogroms, anti-gay laws, wars, discrimination, etc.) on this thread so I don't need to provide the specifics. Ultimately, everyone has to decide for themselves what they believe or don't believe. I just think it's important that people are informed. I sent my kids to parochial schools but I also told them that when they were old enough they were free to make their own decisions about god. My son turned 19 last week. He is a self-professed atheist. My daughter is 14 and she is a believer, like my wife, but I don't worry because she has an open mind and questions everything.


    Cheers!

    Quoted from part 1

    Death tolls

    Pol Pot >2 million
    Hitler > 6 million
    Stalin at least 20 million (some sources say 50 million)
    None of these men believed in God

    Not an argument for the presence of God, but irritates me when people blame all major genocides etc on religion.

    Not meaning to carry on this discussion about religion, but just to clarify a mistake in fact - I'm pretty sure Hitler was a Christian :ohwell:

    Though he wasn't massacring Jews in the name of God, so I guess that's something.

    Woah....let's not go there at all. Hitler was NOT a Christian. I dont care if he used the name of God or not.........Hitler was also very curious about the occult, should we call him a Wiccan? Heck no because then the Wiccan's would freak out. Hitler was a monster.....not a Christian.

    Hitler was raised by a skeptic Catholic father and a devout Catholic mother, Adolf Hitler ceased to participate in the sacraments after childhood. In his book Mein Kampf and in public speeches he often made statements that affirmed a belief in Christianity. Prior to World War II Hitler had promoted "positive Christianity", a movement which purged Christianity of its Jewish elements and instilled it with Nazi philosophy.

    Here's an excerpt from a speech he gave to a crowd in Munich just prior to his ascension to power:

    "My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was his fight against the Jewish poison. Today, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed his blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice."

    He may not be the kind of Xtian you are or the kind of person you associate with Xtianity, but he never disavowed his Xtian faith.
  • sunnyday789
    sunnyday789 Posts: 309 Member
    The Koran and most other "holy books" also instruct their followers to go out an proselytize. That isn't unique to the Bible. I respect others' right to believe in and preach about what they want. Likewise, you should respect my right to not believe in god(s). It doesn't take faith to hold no belief. I don't believe in unicorns, faeries, or elves either. Does that take faith? No. Atheists aren't forcing you not to believe in gods. There's a reason, however, why atheists and other non-believers (theological noncognivitists, agnostics, ignosticts, etc.) engage with believers. Most of the atheists I know know more about religion and theology than most believers. We've studied and through logic and reason have come to the conclusion that there is no credible evidence for belief in gods. We also are acutely aware of the harm that organized religion and faith have caused in the world. Other posters have detailed those harms (Inquisition, Pogroms, anti-gay laws, wars, discrimination, etc.) on this thread so I don't need to provide the specifics. Ultimately, everyone has to decide for themselves what they believe or don't believe. I just think it's important that people are informed. I sent my kids to parochial schools but I also told them that when they were old enough they were free to make their own decisions about god. My son turned 19 last week. He is a self-professed atheist. My daughter is 14 and she is a believer, like my wife, but I don't worry because she has an open mind and questions everything.


    Cheers!

    Quoted from part 1

    Death tolls

    Pol Pot >2 million
    Hitler > 6 million
    Stalin at least 20 million (some sources say 50 million)
    None of these men believed in God

    Not an argument for the presence of God, but irritates me when people blame all major genocides etc on religion.

    Not meaning to carry on this discussion about religion, but just to clarify a mistake in fact - I'm pretty sure Hitler was a Christian :ohwell:

    Though he wasn't massacring Jews in the name of God, so I guess that's something.

    Woah....let's not go there at all. Hitler was NOT a Christian. I dont care if he used the name of God or not.........Hitler was also very curious about the occult, should we call him a Wiccan? Heck no because then the Wiccan's would freak out. Hitler was a monster.....not a Christian.

    Hitler was raised by a skeptic Catholic father and a devout Catholic mother, Adolf Hitler ceased to participate in the sacraments after childhood. In his book Mein Kampf and in public speeches he often made statements that affirmed a belief in Christianity. Prior to World War II Hitler had promoted "positive Christianity", a movement which purged Christianity of its Jewish elements and instilled it with Nazi philosophy.

    Here's an excerpt from a speech he gave to a crowd in Munich just prior to his ascension to power:

    "My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was his fight against the Jewish poison. Today, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed his blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice."

    He may not be the kind of Xtian you are or the kind of person you associate with Xtianity, but he never disavowed his Xtian faith.
    See my previous posts about his writing.
    He used the church to gain power.
  • Go make a Was Hitler A Christian Or Just An *kitten* board. Please. Dragging us all down, guys. T_T
  • ElBo58
    ElBo58 Posts: 44
    Kittens are overrated.
  • jeffazi
    jeffazi Posts: 198
    The Koran and most other "holy books" also instruct their followers to go out an proselytize. That isn't unique to the Bible. I respect others' right to believe in and preach about what they want. Likewise, you should respect my right to not believe in god(s). It doesn't take faith to hold no belief. I don't believe in unicorns, faeries, or elves either. Does that take faith? No. Atheists aren't forcing you not to believe in gods. There's a reason, however, why atheists and other non-believers (theological noncognivitists, agnostics, ignosticts, etc.) engage with believers. Most of the atheists I know know more about religion and theology than most believers. We've studied and through logic and reason have come to the conclusion that there is no credible evidence for belief in gods. We also are acutely aware of the harm that organized religion and faith have caused in the world. Other posters have detailed those harms (Inquisition, Pogroms, anti-gay laws, wars, discrimination, etc.) on this thread so I don't need to provide the specifics. Ultimately, everyone has to decide for themselves what they believe or don't believe. I just think it's important that people are informed. I sent my kids to parochial schools but I also told them that when they were old enough they were free to make their own decisions about god. My son turned 19 last week. He is a self-professed atheist. My daughter is 14 and she is a believer, like my wife, but I don't worry because she has an open mind and questions everything.


    Cheers!

    Quoted from part 1

    Death tolls

    Pol Pot >2 million
    Hitler > 6 million
    Stalin at least 20 million (some sources say 50 million)
    None of these men believed in God

    Not an argument for the presence of God, but irritates me when people blame all major genocides etc on religion.

    Hitler was a Catholic

    Stalin was an atheist but he didn't do what he did in the name of atheism. In fact, his government bore all the indicia of religion (See, e.g., Trofim Lysenko and Stalin's religious faith in junk science).

    Pol Pot was not so big an Atheist as some Christians would like to present, mixing communism (social relations between humans) with atheism (humans relations with god) - they are two separate ideologies. The inflammatory comparison between the two is a logical fallacy in which the secular nature of Communism is assumed to justify the conclusion that all secularists are Communists, which is clearly not the case since an attribute of one system may also be an attribute of other systems. The American constitutional republic, for example, is also secular in nature. The Khmer Rouge had an ideology (apart and aside from atheism) that guided their actions.

    Sorry, but you'll be hard pressed to find anyone who committed genocide in the name of atheism.

    See my previous post re: Hitler

    My point was that these atrocities were not committed in the name of religion not hat they were committed in the name of atheism.
    Communism has no god.
    Realistically, all done for power and money.

    My point is that these regimes, while they didn't explicitly do what they did in the name of religion, bore all the indicia of religions and were "belief systems" that required allegiance, faith, and obedience.
  • ILoveJesus72
    ILoveJesus72 Posts: 181 Member
    "westboro church isn't christian"



    Okay, but then you're naming yourself the judge of who is "christian enough" for you to consider a christian. Isn't the bible pretty clear about who is the only one who can know what is in a person's heart? The bible is also very clear that christians aren't identified by what they DO but what beliefs they hold in their heart. Who are you to say what is in people's heart? They may not act in a way that YOU think a christian should act (or that a normal person thinks ANYONE should ask) but isn't it a little prideful to think that you know a person's heart better than they do? And isn't pride one of the 7 deadlies?

    (Sorry--long, thorough religious education over here).

    First of all I am not Catholic and I do not subscribe to the "7 deadly sins". Sin is sin.

    Second, Who am I to say what is in the heart of the Westboro Baptist people? I am a Christian, that's who I am! I can judge their "fruit of the spirit" which is non existent. I can judge them by the horrible signs they hold up that scream out obscenities and hate towards gays, soliders and others their PASTOR deems unworthy. I am a Christian who knows my Bible and I know what I'm talking about. I don't judge them as unredeemable in any way. I judge them as fruitless. And Jesus Himself said that a barren, fruitless tree should be thrown into the fire.

    So please, don't come at me because you are thoroughly religiously educated. Book knowledge means nothing without a heart centered on Christ - in regards to quoting the Bible and issues of Christian faith.
  • jeffazi
    jeffazi Posts: 198

    Woah....let's not go there at all. Hitler was NOT a Christian. I dont care if he used the name of God or not.........Hitler was also very curious about the occult, should we call him a Wiccan? Heck no because then the Wiccan's would freak out. Hitler was a monster.....not a Christian.

    I meant that I'm pretty sure he identified himself as Christian... I thought this was widely known? I'm not using this to rag on religion, coz by that logic all Germans are horrible coz Hitler was German, which obviously isn't true... the poster just said all those men weren't religious, and I'm just clarifying by pointing out that Hitler was in fact religious...

    I know what you mean. Sorry if I seemed confrontational, really not trying to be that struck a chord in me. Hitler claimed to be Christian, wanting to purify it by removing the Jewish influence. That in itself dismisses his claim of Christianity considering he would have to purify Christianity of it's core which is Jesus Christ. Therefore, he was not Christian.

    Sorry, but that is the No True Scotsman fallacy. Hitler was a Catholic. He was raised a Catholic and never disavowed his belief in Jesus Christ. You may not like what he did (who does?) but he was a Christian.
  • Kittens are overrated.

    Blasphemy.
  • jeffazi
    jeffazi Posts: 198
    Go make a Was Hitler A Christian Or Just An *kitten* board. Please. Dragging us all down, guys. T_T

    You're not obligated to read this thread. Just sayin'. : )