Some of us were once religious before we wised up. *raises hand*. I was also really conservative, once upon a time. Now I'm just a bra-snapping liberal atheist.
What follows looks like quotes I cribbed from Godschild or Drich or Waldorf, but it's shit I actually said, in a much dumber stage of my life.
I believe what I believe because of my life experience, not because I was indoctrinated. I do not belong to a church. I believe the Bible is metaphors, not exact, bald doctrine. I don't listen to so-called 'religious leaders' because I distrust many of them. Even with all that, I still have my faith, and it is MY faith. And I'm not close-minded at all. I don't care what you believe. But for you to say you are not close-minded is ridiculous. You're constantly insulting Christians in general for their beliefs and faith, and you don't even try to mask it. You call us close-minded simply because we do not agree with you. It is YOU who is being the arrogant ass about this matter. I don't care what you want to believe, and I'm not going to waste a second trying to convert you, but you're acting just like a charicature of a firebrand Christian preacher, only in reverse.
What you athiests need to realize is that you are a minority. And because of that, you will be subjected to things you may not agree with. That is the essence of BEING a minority, in absolutely any sort of category you please. As I said, I don't care if you choose to believe whatever you believe, but I think you people are pushy and arrogant too, and frankly, there is nothing other than the absence of a deity that seperates atheism from religion. Christianity has it's bad people, no doubt. Most Christians dislike the Pat Robertsons of the world. But the atheists who militantly devote themselves to the eradication of God in every aspect of public life are in every way as rotten and evil.
Belief in God is more than just blind faith. For me, I believe in God because when I look around, I don't see random nature, I see designs of incredible complexity. I cannot believe that everything I see is the result of a one in a bazillion lucky shot, where ALL the conditions were perfect for Earth to become more than just a barren rock like all it's neighbors, and for one species out of a billion to transcend all others in intelligence and abilities. Believing all that was just a lucky break is what I consider blind faith. To me, the idea that there is no higher power is absurd, and in my opinion atheists like to think this because the thought of there being a power greater than themselves terrifies them.
You call religion a security blanket, and then spew off line after line of drivel which serves only to reinforce your own beliefs. And the condescending tone you add to it, as though those who follow religion are mindless sheep, is just irritating as all hell.
I was an atheist for a few years. My upbringing was only minimally religious, and I had a period of time where I felt that it was all crap. But like LL, and probably everyone who converts back into religion, I had a period of time where I was in the absolute pits and I made it out. That was two years ago, right around the time I took over Tendo City, in fact. My life has turned around dramatically and right now my future is bright and I'm happy as can be. Now, atheist though I was, I could not attribute that to just chance, because I've known people who fall into despair and never get out of it. But I did, and that's what turned me back to God.
In fact, it made me realize that my faith problems were never with God in the first place, but with the churches. Religion is the creation of Man, and therefore is corrupted and twisted. Therefore, I don't go so far as to consider myself religious. I consider myself simply a man of faith, in Christ and God.
Now, if you want to be an atheist, that's your call. I won't tell you you're going to burn in hell for eternity, as I don't go for that sort of teaching. I believe God is compassionate and loves everyone, regardless of their faults. Perhaps someday you'll have a time in your life when God seems like the only answer. Maybe not (seeing as you're so hardheaded I doubt it), but you seem at the present to have a strong hatred for religion, as evidenced by your ridicule of us, and your wish that religion would become obsolete. It will never even come close to happening. Whether you choose to believe it or not, faith in a higher power is something people have always needed. This nation was founded on a basis of faith and is still very predominantly of a belief in God. It's one of the things that defines us. Sure, there are people who don't buy into that, but they will never be anything more than a fringe minority, and they will have to get over it. You chose to become an atheist, and now you wish the entire nation to conform to your beliefs.
It won't happen. It shouldn't happen. So drop it. And, ironically for an atheist, you sure are holier-than-thou, which doesn't surprise me really, but still, just because you choose not to have faith does not make you a better or smarter person than anyone else. I'll stop believing in God the moment science proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that He doesn't exist, and science will never be able to achieve that.
And what do you base your thinking on? In a world of over six billion people, a huge majority of them practice one religion or another. Faith in it's many forms has been around since the dawn of civilization. It will never die. It will never even come close. And though neither of us will be around in a few hundred years, that's a promise I can make and die knowing it will be kept.
Maybe one day you atheists will give up the immature teenage rebellion and find a faith. You're no smarter than us for lacking faith, you just think differently. You're also no better than brimstone preachers, trying to convert people and telling everyone their beliefs are wrong, with no proof backing it up. Atheism is just as much a religion as any, all it lacks is a deity. But not all religions have deities.
Besides, the Christian, Muslim and Buddhist faiths will never die because they are rooted in scientifically proven, established historical fact. Jesus, Mohammad and the Buddah were real people.
Care to have a public laugh at your past self, too? If not, laugh at my past self. Or my present self.
What follows looks like quotes I cribbed from Godschild or Drich or Waldorf, but it's shit I actually said, in a much dumber stage of my life.
I believe what I believe because of my life experience, not because I was indoctrinated. I do not belong to a church. I believe the Bible is metaphors, not exact, bald doctrine. I don't listen to so-called 'religious leaders' because I distrust many of them. Even with all that, I still have my faith, and it is MY faith. And I'm not close-minded at all. I don't care what you believe. But for you to say you are not close-minded is ridiculous. You're constantly insulting Christians in general for their beliefs and faith, and you don't even try to mask it. You call us close-minded simply because we do not agree with you. It is YOU who is being the arrogant ass about this matter. I don't care what you want to believe, and I'm not going to waste a second trying to convert you, but you're acting just like a charicature of a firebrand Christian preacher, only in reverse.
What you athiests need to realize is that you are a minority. And because of that, you will be subjected to things you may not agree with. That is the essence of BEING a minority, in absolutely any sort of category you please. As I said, I don't care if you choose to believe whatever you believe, but I think you people are pushy and arrogant too, and frankly, there is nothing other than the absence of a deity that seperates atheism from religion. Christianity has it's bad people, no doubt. Most Christians dislike the Pat Robertsons of the world. But the atheists who militantly devote themselves to the eradication of God in every aspect of public life are in every way as rotten and evil.
Belief in God is more than just blind faith. For me, I believe in God because when I look around, I don't see random nature, I see designs of incredible complexity. I cannot believe that everything I see is the result of a one in a bazillion lucky shot, where ALL the conditions were perfect for Earth to become more than just a barren rock like all it's neighbors, and for one species out of a billion to transcend all others in intelligence and abilities. Believing all that was just a lucky break is what I consider blind faith. To me, the idea that there is no higher power is absurd, and in my opinion atheists like to think this because the thought of there being a power greater than themselves terrifies them.
You call religion a security blanket, and then spew off line after line of drivel which serves only to reinforce your own beliefs. And the condescending tone you add to it, as though those who follow religion are mindless sheep, is just irritating as all hell.
I was an atheist for a few years. My upbringing was only minimally religious, and I had a period of time where I felt that it was all crap. But like LL, and probably everyone who converts back into religion, I had a period of time where I was in the absolute pits and I made it out. That was two years ago, right around the time I took over Tendo City, in fact. My life has turned around dramatically and right now my future is bright and I'm happy as can be. Now, atheist though I was, I could not attribute that to just chance, because I've known people who fall into despair and never get out of it. But I did, and that's what turned me back to God.
In fact, it made me realize that my faith problems were never with God in the first place, but with the churches. Religion is the creation of Man, and therefore is corrupted and twisted. Therefore, I don't go so far as to consider myself religious. I consider myself simply a man of faith, in Christ and God.
Now, if you want to be an atheist, that's your call. I won't tell you you're going to burn in hell for eternity, as I don't go for that sort of teaching. I believe God is compassionate and loves everyone, regardless of their faults. Perhaps someday you'll have a time in your life when God seems like the only answer. Maybe not (seeing as you're so hardheaded I doubt it), but you seem at the present to have a strong hatred for religion, as evidenced by your ridicule of us, and your wish that religion would become obsolete. It will never even come close to happening. Whether you choose to believe it or not, faith in a higher power is something people have always needed. This nation was founded on a basis of faith and is still very predominantly of a belief in God. It's one of the things that defines us. Sure, there are people who don't buy into that, but they will never be anything more than a fringe minority, and they will have to get over it. You chose to become an atheist, and now you wish the entire nation to conform to your beliefs.
It won't happen. It shouldn't happen. So drop it. And, ironically for an atheist, you sure are holier-than-thou, which doesn't surprise me really, but still, just because you choose not to have faith does not make you a better or smarter person than anyone else. I'll stop believing in God the moment science proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that He doesn't exist, and science will never be able to achieve that.
And what do you base your thinking on? In a world of over six billion people, a huge majority of them practice one religion or another. Faith in it's many forms has been around since the dawn of civilization. It will never die. It will never even come close. And though neither of us will be around in a few hundred years, that's a promise I can make and die knowing it will be kept.
Maybe one day you atheists will give up the immature teenage rebellion and find a faith. You're no smarter than us for lacking faith, you just think differently. You're also no better than brimstone preachers, trying to convert people and telling everyone their beliefs are wrong, with no proof backing it up. Atheism is just as much a religion as any, all it lacks is a deity. But not all religions have deities.
Besides, the Christian, Muslim and Buddhist faiths will never die because they are rooted in scientifically proven, established historical fact. Jesus, Mohammad and the Buddah were real people.
Care to have a public laugh at your past self, too? If not, laugh at my past self. Or my present self.
