I can't bear to see my mom worshipping a god who apparently denied food to a stray starving dog. (Hindus have over 33 crore gods, i believe. He's probably one of them.) He was basically a guy who suddenly 'appeared' one day, stark naked and thin as a rake. He only said one phrase over and over. He has millions of worshippers, his own sacred village where he supposedly appeared, and a small sacred book 'supposedly' written by him that my mom reads every morning for half an hour. Says it makes her happy. She occasionally visits the sacred village, but they make good food there which she brings back, so I don't complain. She's an intelligent, independent woman, as are many theists, but it physically pains me to see her do this. 
I realized that I could never be that person, I could never look up to a naked mysterious guy, though I could probably look up at one, (  ), and I could just never be religious. 

I also recently admitted my atheism to my cousin, who's a hindu, and I know there's a long and tiring conversation coming up soon. HELP.

I'm also non white, and a particular incident always comes to mind when people ask me why I'm atheist. I was at the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, Austria, a few months ago. We stopped at the abbey used in the movie, and everyone got out of the bus to walk around and inside it, admire it, or just get a feel for it in general. (Random fact: I swore thrice in that place. I feel so proud lol). Just as me and my friend (also non white), were walking through the door, this oldish white guy walks out, pauses right next to us, gives us the once over, and says under his breath, "That's only for Christians. You can't go in there.". Then he walked away, the picture of nonchalance. Wanted to (verbally) whip his sorry racist ass right there and then, if I'm being honest. I have enough self restraint, though, so instead I just ignored it. 
But if being religious lets you be a racist asshole without feeling like a sinner, then honestly, what's the fucking point? A) Assuming that we weren't Christians just based on our skin color is ignorant. There are loads of non white Christians in the world. B) Non christians can go in churches. I've been to several, and I love the feel of it. Very serene.
Just to clarify, I'm not saying that his religion made him a bad person. But it didn't stop him from being one either. What's the point of following a faith if you're gonna be a prick anyways? Might as well enjoy life without constraints and be a prick.

(January 8, 2018 at 9:56 am)DodosAreDead Wrote: I can't bear to see my mom worshipping a god who apparently denied food to a stray starving dog.

Is it a man pretending to be a god... I don't follow. Could you clarify?

Quote:Just to clarify, I'm not saying that his religion made him a bad person. But it didn't stop him from being one either.

Well said. And while he continued to be a bad person, he used his religious prejudices to be a dick.

(January 8, 2018 at 10:03 am)vulcanlogician Wrote:

(January 8, 2018 at 9:56 am)DodosAreDead Wrote: I can't bear to see my mom worshipping a god who apparently denied food to a stray starving dog.

Is it a man pretending to be a god... I don't follow. Could you clarify?

I don't pay close attention to it, obviously, but from what I gather he's a reincarnation of god. Hinduism has one aatma/god/ultimate deity or whatever you choose to call it, and crores of reincarnations. There's the Destroyer, the Creator, and a third other important one, and then several other smaller ones. There's an adorable potbellied elephant, for example. (He loves food, travels the world on a mouse roughly 1/40th of his size, and has very large flappy ears. My spirit animal, except the ears.). Then there's a flying monkey. There's a blue skinned yogurt stealer. 
Basically, this guy was believed to be another such reincarnation of god. He supposedly wasn't pretending. For all we know he could be a rapist who liked fucking pigs in his spare time. But it's not one of those modern day guys who pretend to be god and has a large following. This was thousands of years ago.

(January 8, 2018 at 10:26 am)DodosAreDead Wrote:

(January 8, 2018 at 10:03 am)vulcanlogician Wrote: Is it a man pretending to be a god... I don't follow. Could you clarify?

I don't pay close attention to it, obviously, but from what I gather he's a reincarnation of god. Hinduism has one aatma/god/ultimate deity or whatever you choose to call it, and crores of reincarnations. There's the Destroyer, the Creator, and a third other important one, and then several other smaller ones. There's an adorable potbellied elephant, for example. (He loves food, travels the world on a mouse roughly 1/40th of his size, and has very large flappy ears. My spirit animal, except the ears.). Then there's a flying monkey. There's a blue skinned yogurt stealer. 
Basically, this guy was believed to be another such reincarnation of god. He supposedly wasn't pretending. For all we know he could be a rapist who liked fucking pigs in his spare time. But it's not one of those modern day guys who pretend to be god and have a large following. This was thousands of years ago.

Oh, so it's a statue or something. It's not a real human being.

(January 8, 2018 at 10:26 am)DodosAreDead Wrote: I don't pay close attention to it, obviously, but from what I gather he's a reincarnation of god.

Gotcha. Well, at least its some dude from long ago instead of some schmuck running a cult and pretending to be god. Hinduism has a lot of that from what I understand.

(January 8, 2018 at 10:29 am)Grandizer Wrote:

(January 8, 2018 at 10:26 am)DodosAreDead Wrote: I don't pay close attention to it, obviously, but from what I gather he's a reincarnation of god. Hinduism has one aatma/god/ultimate deity or whatever you choose to call it, and crores of reincarnations. There's the Destroyer, the Creator, and a third other important one, and then several other smaller ones. There's an adorable potbellied elephant, for example. (He loves food, travels the world on a mouse roughly 1/40th of his size, and has very large flappy ears. My spirit animal, except the ears.). Then there's a flying monkey. There's a blue skinned yogurt stealer. 
Basically, this guy was believed to be another such reincarnation of god. He supposedly wasn't pretending. For all we know he could be a rapist who liked fucking pigs in his spare time. But it's not one of those modern day guys who pretend to be god and have a large following. This was thousands of years ago.

Oh, so it's a statue or something. It's not a real human being.

The one I'm talking about is a real human being. There is a lot of idol worship in Hinduism too, though. The monkey and elephant are obviously examples. 

Tbh you could paint a rock the holy saffron color, build a sacred looking building around it's pedestal, and you have a new god. Get ready to rake in money in the thousands. 

@vulcanlogician, exactly. There are way too many of those in Hinduism and it sickens me completely. A few of them recently got arrested for sexual assault. They also found secret tunnels in their ashrams (holy encampments) leading to the women's quarters. Good times, these. 

(January 8, 2018 at 10:29 am)vulcanlogician Wrote:

(January 8, 2018 at 10:26 am)DodosAreDead Wrote: I don't pay close attention to it, obviously, but from what I gather he's a reincarnation of god.

Gotcha. Well, at least its some dude from long ago instead of some schmuck running a cult and pretending to be god. Hinduism has a lot of that from what I understand.

Do they all look "more Kamar-tajy"?

I think part of it originated from realizing that many of god's rules were impossible to follow. Also that some of them are very unpleasant to attempt to follow. Reason told me that for god to give me rules that I can't follow, for me to then feel guilty about not following them, well he would be more of a sadistic freak then an all good god.

From there I listened to the audiobook version of "The God Delusion" from my local online library and later Hitchens-The Portable Atheist.

(January 8, 2018 at 10:35 am)DodosAreDead Wrote: There are way too many of those in Hinduism and it sickens me completely. A few of them recently got arrested for sexual assault. They also found secret tunnels in their ashrams (holy encampments) leading to the women's quarters. Good times, these. 

That's fucked up. Were women, like, being held prisoner?

---

(January 8, 2018 at 10:55 am)Industrial Lad Wrote: I think part of it originated from realizing that many of god's rules were impossible to follow. Also that some of them are very unpleasant to attempt to follow. Reason told me that  for god to give me rules that I can't follow, for me to then feel guilty about not following them, well he would be more of a sadistic freak then an all good god.

From there I listened to the audiobook version of "The God Delusion" from my local online library and later Hitchens-The Portable Atheist.

Y'know, I'm not a huge audiobook guy, but I will go for an audiobook everytime with Hitchens because he speaks so eloquently. I listened to "God is not Great" on youtube that way.

(January 8, 2018 at 10:35 am)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:

(January 8, 2018 at 10:29 am)vulcanlogician Wrote: Gotcha. Well, at least its some dude from long ago instead of some schmuck running a cult and pretending to be god. Hinduism has a lot of that from what I understand.

Do they all look "more Kamar-tajy"?

I'm sorry, I don't get what you mean. I'm not even sure who you're asking this to, or whether it's sarcastic, tbh.  

(January 8, 2018 at 11:28 am)vulcanlogician Wrote:

(January 8, 2018 at 10:35 am)DodosAreDead Wrote: There are way too many of those in Hinduism and it sickens me completely. A few of them recently got arrested for sexual assault. They also found secret tunnels in their ashrams (holy encampments) leading to the women's quarters. Good times, these. 

That's fucked up. Were women, like, being held prisoner?

Nope, as far as I know, they were devotees of the accused, and they were raped when they went to his private chamber because he summoned them or something. Not sure what the tunnel was for. 
They still have millions of supporters and devotees, and the rape victims and their families receive death threats on a regular basis. When the verdict came out and they were proclaimed guilty, there were violent clashes (supporters vs police), in which around 30 people died. (I keep saying they because there was one such idiot convicted in 2017 and another in 2013) 
I could add a few links here, if you want. My knowledge of this shit is limited.