RE: What shall we do about theists?
October 1, 2014 at 12:17 pm
(This post was last modified: October 1, 2014 at 12:25 pm by Thumpalumpacus.)
Generally, I behave as I am, and enjoy the surprise when they learn that a decent, upright guy is a non-believer.
It's a good way to show them that religion is not necessary for the moral life, without being an obnoxious prick.
What they do with that information is up to them.
The fact is that very few of Stalin's victims were incarcerated and murdered for their religion. Stalin himself was a seminary student before he became a revolutionary, and it's not outside of reason that he might have remained a believer.
And if we're to be totting up balance sheets, theists have not only Christian misdeeds such as the Inquisition, the Crusades, the Thirty Years' War, and the medieval witch-hunts to their ledger, but also the victims of Muslim expansion, the Hindu-Muslim battles in India, the sacrifical victims thrown into volcanoes throughout history and on every continent... because the balance sheet is not atheists compared to Christians, it's atheists compared to theists.
It's a good way to show them that religion is not necessary for the moral life, without being an obnoxious prick.
What they do with that information is up to them.
(October 1, 2014 at 10:37 am)Jenny A Wrote: Stalin, you can have. He was atheist. Currently, there are many places in the world where being atheist is a death penalty crime. How many places is that true of Christianity.
The fact is that very few of Stalin's victims were incarcerated and murdered for their religion. Stalin himself was a seminary student before he became a revolutionary, and it's not outside of reason that he might have remained a believer.
And if we're to be totting up balance sheets, theists have not only Christian misdeeds such as the Inquisition, the Crusades, the Thirty Years' War, and the medieval witch-hunts to their ledger, but also the victims of Muslim expansion, the Hindu-Muslim battles in India, the sacrifical victims thrown into volcanoes throughout history and on every continent... because the balance sheet is not atheists compared to Christians, it's atheists compared to theists.
