New here and I'm probably gonna sound mean!

[Minimalist]

I'm sorry, but...where was the mean part?

Welcome, BTW.

Mormons and Catholics don't take kindly to people questioning their beliefs.

Hence why I always invoke the doctrine of "fuck both of them."

[Polaris]

Mormons and Catholics don't take kindly to people questioning their beliefs.

I still fail to see how that is mean.

Well there are many who have addressed questions to them in a rude and provocative way. Sometimes questions aren't meant to generate answers but an attempt to prove something is wrong with someone's beliefs or values.

[Reforged]

I still fail to see how that is mean.

Well there are many who have addressed questions to them in a rude and provocative way. Sometimes questions aren't meant to generate answers but an attempt to prove something is wrong with someone's beliefs or values.

If they can't answer the question then yes, thats what it implies. It isn't the person asking the question implying it though, its the person who can't answer the question.

[kılıç_mehmet]

Merhaba ya habibi...

[Aegrus]

The Bible allows for slavery, but that does mean we have to own slaves. Also I believe the term slave is closest to the indentured servants that paid off their voyage to America during the early Colonial days.

Not the place. This is just an introduction.

[Jesus Pipes]

Good evening

[Whateverist]

Good for you. My older brother went the other way. He actually converted to Mormonism after spending his young adulthood as an angry atheist .. hell he was just an angry guy period and for him atheism was simply another way to say "screw it".

It is perfectly fine to admit you don't know what's what as far as gods and religion is concerned. You seem to be finding your balance pretty well for one so young and after a religious upbringing like I never had to deal with. I'd say your impulse not to jump toward any beliefs straight off, including the belief that there are no gods, is a healthy one. I would resist letting belief edge over into wishing as both theists and strong atheists are prone to do. Restrict "belief" to what you think you have good reason to hold true and you won't go wrong. Certainty is the siren's call.

[KichigaiNeko]

Hey whateverist!! How's the garden growing?? Long time no compost... I mean speak.... working on my own little patch atm. Pics when it is all finished!

[Whateverist]

Hey whateverist!! How's the garden growing?? Long time no compost... I mean speak.... working on my own little patch atm. Pics when it is all finished!

Weird. I thought I replied to this post this morning. Hi ya Kichi. We just had our big Spring garden/studio party. I've never neglected the garden more and it still looked great. (Spring can do that for northern hemisphere gardens.)

I suppose if we're edging into summer you must be looking down the barrel of winter.

[Brian37]

Ah crap.... this is probably going to sound really mean!

I was raised Mormon. I wish I could say that it's been easy to get away from it and that way of thinking, but it hasn't been. I never really "fit in" because when I was five I believed that dinosaurs really had existed and I started to love science and evolution. But to this day I have a hard time wearing shirts that don't have sleeves and shorts that show anything above the knee. I'm now 23 and I left the church when I was 18.

In the past year I have been very open about my views and my very obvious dislike of the bible. Lately however I have realized I don't like Christians as a whole. My best friend is Christian, so I can't say I dislike them individually, but as a whole they drive me crazy for the following reasons;

1. They only pay attention to certain parts of the bible. Take gay marriage for example, because the bible says that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Well, the bible also says that we should own slaves and kill those who work on the sabbath. What about those laws and all of the others? Who picks which of the bibles laws to follow? If you're going to follow one, then follow all of them!

2. Have you ever tried to have a logical conversation with a Christian? It's impossible abut 90% of the time. "No, evolution did NOT happen! The devil put those things in the earth to trick the non believers!" Wow, the devil must be one smart guy then.

3. They think that their religion is better than all others, and if they meet someone who isn't Christian, they automatically put themselves above the other person. If a person isn't Christian, then they obviously aren't a good person.

4. In this country it is considered perfectly fine and normal to be a Christian but not to be anything else.

My family is mostly Mormon. I often get messages from them telling me that I need to be saved and that I am worse than someone who wasn't ever introduced to the Mormon church because I have been shown the right path but I am choosing not to follow it. My fiance's family is Catholic and Christian... some of them even go to the kind of church where they "speak in tongues" and run around the church with a flag, for some reason I don't understand. I won't even get into what a headache that is. "Does anyone want to pay Bible Taboo? Oh... that's right... we have a non believer."

It would be so nice to actually know people who have the same views and an open mind to science and logic. I wouldn't say I'm an atheist, more on the free thinking side of things I suppose.

Mean? No quite a normal reaction to absurd claims. We all love and have friends that do believe, but that does not mean we like or have to like everything everyone claims. It would be like if you had a friend who insisted that the world was flat. You might love them, but it is quite normal that that would drive you nuts.