The Expression of Christianity, not its Perversion.

[dloubet]

I'd like to suggest that Christiany and properly interpreted Christianity are not the same thing.

Oh come on, surely you can see the problem with that.

Who decides what a proper interpretation is? You? How did you obtain the authority to decree what a proper interpretation is?

All Christians think they have the proper interpretation. So do you. Do you know what it feels like to be wrong about something before you know you're wrong? It feels like you're right.

Being an atheist, I must take the position that anyone who self-identifies as a Christian is a Christian, and that the beliefs they hold that they claim are Christian beliefs are Christian beliefs.

To do otherwise would be for me to assume the authority to decree who's a Christian and who's not. I don't think many Christians would like the results.

[Anymouse]

Christianity ain't nothing but death worship. First I thought this was an apologetic thread, then I thought - sure doesn't read like apologia - then there's this:

Atheism is not active hatred, it is not repression of opinion, it is merely disbelief without proof.

Give an atheist incontrovertible empirical proof of a deity or its effects, and an atheist will have to acknowledge it.

From a Wiccan, even. I'm a witch. You don't have "active hatred?" I got plenty of spare, if you're running low. You know what "active hatred" is good for? Building patience, practicing tolerance; and my personal favorite, hiding in the bushes.

I am a moral creature; what inevitably happens in 'random' street encounter when the preachy Christian questions this cat, is that I'm assumed to be Christian. So I let 'em assume - hiding in the bushes - there's some bobbing and weaving because I lie but I do not deceive; and one inevitability follows another. And they associate YHWH with hell. And I win.

I'm an atheist, I paint atheism with a different brush; one thing I do not do is "lack of belief." And if you wanna know why, your very next sentence gives you the answer. Being Wiccan, you might not know any witchcraft; being a witch, I do. Like YHWH. Like prophecy, like Paul; like how Christianity ain't nothing but witchcraft. Which can be defined rationally as primitive psychology.

Saying an atheist has to acknowledge proof... what does that actually mean? Let me loan you some of my faith. As a Wiccan, I trust you could envision Deity in such a manner that if you were offering me proof; then it is possible I could become agnostic. Seriously.

Which is why it will never happen. They do not envision Deity; they envision us versus them. They envision us burning in hell. It is incontrovertible empirical hypothesis, and if me and you ever kick it on the same streets, I'll show you. Wanna try some primitive psychology? Go up to a 'random' Christian - tell them - I will burn in hell for you - and see what happens. Isn't that science? That's how i did it.

But then again, witchcraft is not entirely psychological; in terms of locality. There's also this:

Energetics Research:
The heart produces the body’s most powerful rhythmic electromagnetic field, which carries emotional information and mediates bioelectromagnetic communication, within and outside the body. This field affects one’s environment in fascinating ways not previously understood.

Not previously understood by straights, perhaps; but there has always been witchcraft, and witches. Like Paul.

I'm sorry for the long quote, and also sorry I have not posted in some time at all.

I am no longer a Wiccan. In October of last year I dropped Wicca as a religious belief and a moral guide.

But even as a Wiccan, I was an atheistic sort of Wiccan. I did not view God and Goddess as actual deities, but as archetypes for male and female.

As for "active hatred?" No, I do not hate religion any more than I hate a debunked scientific theory. I find the steady state theory of the universe to be quaint, but not deserving of hatred.

Even those pickets that came to my house from CBN when I lived in Virginia Beach and ran a Wiccan and freethinker's BBS I did not hate. I feared them (as they threatened my ex-wife and baby son's life), and I took action (I put in for a transfer as I was in the Navy), but I did not hate them. I pitied them.

[KichigaiNeko]

But even as a Wiccan, I was an atheistic sort of Wiccan. I did not view God and Goddess as actual deities, but as archetypes for male and female.

This is a recurring theme through EVERY religion on the planet as far as I can understand. Only the roles have been changed to protect the guilty.