RE: Your perception of theists
July 6, 2015 at 11:19 am
(This post was last modified: July 6, 2015 at 11:24 am by Catholic_Lady.)
(July 6, 2015 at 10:53 am)Napoléon Wrote:(July 6, 2015 at 10:48 am)Catholic_Lady Wrote: No, no conspiracy theories up my sleeves... yet. ;-)
Haha, I'm actually just curious, really. I like knowing the thoughts of people who have views that are so different from my own, and I believe everyone has something to offer and is someone I can learn from. It's nice to be able to openly talk with all of you here. The atheists I'm friends with in real life don't feel very comfortable talking about this sort of thing with a devout Catholic like myself, which I think is unfortunate.
Okay. Genuine question: what do you think of our thoughts? Do you find any of them compelling? Even the least little bit?
Initially, my answer would have been that I do not judge a person at all based on their religious beliefs. But after some folks here made the point about Westboro Baptists, creationists, ISIS, and Satanists, it really did make me step back and think. In extreme, and specific examples like those, I definitely would form some sort of negative opinion.
The Westboros are a group of like 20 people who all go out of their way to purposely bring a lot of pain to other people. Picketing funerals is particularly abhorrent.
I believe Creationists can be very good people, but as far as their intelligence goes... well, I do question the intelligence of someone who believes in the literal interpretation of Genesis and rejects all evidence of evolution, the Earth's age, etc. I wouldn't hold it against them in terms of their character, though. Just intelligence.
ISIS... well, I don't think I need to explain why I have a negative opinion about a group of people who kill everyone who holds different views.
And Satanists , even the atheist ones, though they don't worship the Devil, they still "worship" greed. I don't think I can initially have a very positive opinion about someone who promotes greed.
So the posters here who brought all this up made a good point that I had not previously thought of. Theist is a broad term, but if we were referring to very specific, and small groups of people like the ones listed above, I wouldn't consider it a rash generalization to hold some sort of negative opinion.
(July 6, 2015 at 11:14 am)Napoléon Wrote:(July 6, 2015 at 10:58 am)Catholic_Lady Wrote: I also think the majority of people can't really control what they do/don't honestly believe in...
... if an atheist came to his conclusions regarding the existence of God by really looking at both sides, doing a lot of reading and thinking, and informing himself, I will have great respect for him.
Does the second bit not contradict the first?
Why have any more respect for someone who's assessed his beliefs, if he can't really control them?
I don't see how it does. If a person came to or reinforced their belief/disbelief through taking the time to carefully inform themselves, I will admire them for it. :-)
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
-walsh
