Are the words "Sin" and "Hell" a trigger to you Atheists?

[Cyberman]

[Astonished]

Sin, to me, is casting aspersions on my character that I refuse to tolerate. When people use it as a blanket, i.e. "We all sin", they're almost always using it in a way that tries to alleviate their own insecurity by casting it out at others, and I won't stand for that kind of insult. That the person is almost invariably drawing their moral considerations from a book condoning slavery and genocide, and then challenging my moral convictions, is unthinkably appalling.

It is also an implication that they, and their hypocritical phony tyrant believe I am deserving of flesh-searing torment without end. In the entire infinite multiverse, there's nothing any mortal could possibly do to merit this and yet it's tossed around like a Nightmare on Elm Street DVD.

People need to fucking understand how loaded these concepts are and that those who aren't interested in any of their phony-baloney crap are even less interested in the most divisive and offensive parts of it. Those of us who don't believe and who actually learned, on average, more about their fables than the believers, know full well that they are fundamentally incompatible with the idea that their object of worship is a liar, murderer and, depending on how you look at it, rapist, and that alone should make their whole rationale for condemning others (or even themselves) for the idea of bogus sins is laughable. The problem is, if this was a different time, we'd be getting flagellated at best, or burned alive at worst. The weight of these words is greater than their god can lift, and should not be tossed around lightly.

If someone does something completely idiotic, and you explain exactly what was wrong with it, and they call you a moron in return just because they feel like it, because it makes them feel better, does that not make it an insult? This is no different, except that the implications behind it are far worse. It applies to morality rather than intelligence (although since intelligence often indicates non-belief you could argue they're linked) and if they go the step further and say you should be sodomized by a piece of red-hot metal, well, that's the hellfire part. Can either of these things even remotely reasonably be said to someone who has done nothing wrong? There's no call for these concepts to ever be applied to anyone outside of a faith. For anyone to say that faith is innocuous when this kind of thing happens is to reveal that they are just as ignorant as the most embarrassing stereotype.

[Chad32]

To an extent, I suppose hell could be. If you subscribe to the mainstream view that people sent to hell burn in a lake of fire for eternity, that's about the most evil thing I can imagine. As for sin, not so much. Mainly because I think sin is a nonsense word. It has no value, because it just means things god doesn't like. This god being a guy that says rape, slavery, and mass murder are ok within certain limitations. But two consenting same sex adults making love, or doing any kind of work on the sabbath, deserves death by stoning.

[Cyberman]

Sin is human nature, criminalised.

[Astonished]

Sin is human nature, criminalised.

It's more than that, it's a command to kiss god's ass in almost half a dozen ways, and an admonition to do the same to your parents even if they're assholes.

[Cyberman]

That's my point. Sin is the brand name for transgressions against "God"; transgressions which are rooted in human nature (lust, envy, pride, gluttony etc). Basically all those things that distract the peasant classes from their life of toil.

Remove the god from the equation, eliminate sin. And until the priestly class dishes up a god, they have to prey on the superstitions of those cresulous enough to want to be led by the balls.

[Astonished]

That's my point. Sin is the brand name for transgressions against "God"; transgressions which are rooted in human nature (lust, envy, pride, gluttony etc). Basically all those things that distract the peasant classes from their life of toil.

Remove the god from the equation, eliminate sin. And until the priestly class dishes up a god, they have to prey on the superstitions of those cresulous enough to want to be led by the balls.

Only, it's not a sin to own other human beings as property. So sin as a concept for keeping people on the moral path is not even capable of doing that.

[Rev. Rye]

Personally, unless you consider eye-rolling a response to "trigger words", the words "Hell" and "Sin" aren't trigger words to me.

[Cyberman]

That's my point. Sin is the brand name for transgressions against "God"; transgressions which are rooted in human nature (lust, envy, pride, gluttony etc). Basically all those things that distract the peasant classes from their life of toil.

Remove the god from the equation, eliminate sin. And until the priestly class dishes up a god, they have to prey on the superstitions of those cresulous enough to want to be led by the balls.

Only, it's not a sin to own other human beings as property. So sin as a concept for keeping people on the moral path is not even capable of doing that.

Which is why clarifications such as "slaves obey your masters" were put in. The bible had always been a document for sociopolitical control of the masses by a ruling élite. A trend that continues to this day.

[Astonished]

Only, it's not a sin to own other human beings as property. So sin as a concept for keeping people on the moral path is not even capable of doing that.

Which is why clarifications such as "slaves obey your masters" were put in. The bible had always been a document for sociopolitical control of the masses by a ruling élite. A trend that continues to this day.

Oh, I don't give a crap about that kind of thing. I care that today, people want to point the finger at everybody and go, 'Sinner!' as if that's the only kind of immoral behavior imaginable, neglecting every other consideration in or out of the bah-ble.