Why Christians Attack Evolution

[fr0d0]

I think belief in God is to increase your quality of life. "I came to give you life in all its fullness".

I honestly have zero guilt. My belief takes that away.

"We are guilty" = we aren't perfect. We're born that way = that's the human condition. We are at the mercy of our (human) nature which can lead us to do things that are not in our best interests. So that we can have clear consciences, we make amends. We will pay back our debt so that we can be without guilt.

We can try to live with our health in mind. Not do stuff that would harm us. That intention doesn't make us perfect. And sometimes people lay off their responsibility onto rules: like a faith, or the law. But the responsibility is yours alone.

So you can accomplish this with faith or a lot of common sense and a view identical to the Christian model. Like lots of beautiful things, Christianity has been used and abused. Were constantly blaming it for the failings of imperfect people. Poetic if you think about it.

[tor]

I think belief in God is to increase your quality of life. "I came to give you life in all its fullness".

I honestly have zero guilt. My belief takes that away.

"We are guilty" = we aren't perfect. We're born that way = that's the human condition. We are at the mercy of our (human) nature which can lead us to do things that are not in our best interests. So that we can have clear consciences, we make amends. We will pay back our debt so that we can be without guilt.

We can try to live with our health in mind. Not do stuff that would harm us. That intention doesn't make us perfect. And sometimes people lay off their responsibility onto rules: like a faith, or the law. But the responsibility is yours alone.

So you can accomplish this with faith or a lot of common sense and a view identical to the Christian model. Like lots of beautiful things, Christianity has been used and abused. Were constantly blaming it for the failings of imperfect people. Poetic if you think about it.

So fictional character cured fictional disease? Good for you

[fr0d0]

If the disease is fictional, you're perfect. Is that what you're saying?

[tor]

I don't feel guilty for not being perfect. You said you need god to not feel guilty but you are still not perfect.
So we are both not perfect. We both don't feel guilty about. You need god for not feeling guilty about it and I don't.
Seems like a fictional disease you got there

[fr0d0]

My faith is the best way I know to achieve a good life. You might be able to replicate that without faith. I don't know of any other way, I've never seen anything come close.

My faith doesn't make me perfect. It's an answer to my imperfection.

You're human with just the same needs as me. You try to find your own route to happiness off piste, which is commendable.

[*Deidre*]

But without believing in a god, we can accomplish those things. It is common sense to wish to treat others as we wish to be treated. Common sense to apologize when we wrong someone. Maybe it's not so common? Lol

I'm just making the point that atheists can accomplish the same things, and interestingly if you look at survey research and stats, their divorce rates are lower than Christians, and they donate more and more frequently to charities. Studies have also shown that atheists do so out of compassion and not because it is an obligatory "duty" be their "god."

Stats don't lie. If believing in a god made people treat others better, we would see it all around us. These stats wouldn't be what they are.

Proof is in the pudding.

---

You can believe as you wish frodo, and if that edifices your life, so be it. But, it's an inaccurate statement to claim that being a good person to others came from a god. If that were the case, the world would look a lot different, considering Christianity is still the dominant religion, globally.

[fr0d0]

Like with state for killing, you cannot ever know a persons motives. Rich people are the biggest donators to charity. Charity is a tax dodge.

Some of the nicest people I know are atheists. They're also the most negative, degraded and depressive at times.
Your beliefs don't magically make you the opposite of what you were before. Rarely it does but mostly assholes remain assholes.

[ThomM]

Any half-rational individual knows that Evolution is the back-bone of modern science. Differential Reproduction is the method by which medicines are developed, and natural selection explains why humans resemble their parents, grandparents, and their many other relatives. Without evolutionary science, we would essentially be returning to the dark ages when people blamed evil demons for terminal diseases. Advocates for faith-based healing still do.

Not surprisingly, many Christians adamantly oppose the theory of evolution, despite their rampant ignorance about it. Court cases concerning the teaching of creationism in public schools include the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, 1981’s McLean vs. Arkansas, 1987’s Epperson vs. Arkansas, and the most recent 2005 case, Dover vs. Kitzmiller, in which Justice John Jones ruled creationism is in fact not at all science and does in fact promote religion (outlawed in the U.S. Constitution).

But why exactly is it that Christians oppose evolution? There are many reasons that come to mind, but it’s difficult to put my finger on it. Then I started reading Ruth Hermence Green’s book, The Born-Again Skeptic’s Guide to the Bible, and I figured it out. Listen to this:

Achievements in this world, even if they promote the welfare of humanity, are pointless, and honors and recognition for the advancement of human knowledge are meaningless in God’s massive bookkeeping system.
Spiritual life is the only measure of a person’s worth when heavenly rewards are bestowed: What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36.

Most Christians judge others by what they believe in. Not what they do. As the quote above indicates, it really does not matter how many good deeds you do in this life, as long as you trust in fictional Jesus Christ. If an Atheist jumped into a burning building and saved a whole bunch of helpless children, he or she would not get the endorsement of pretty much any local church. If an atheist discovered a cure for cancer or any other terminal illness, they would not get an endorsement from most any local church, either.

I also came across another argument in my research, and this one has to do with religion in general and not just Christianity. From C.M. Kragel’s The Grand Deception:

Christians, Muslims, and other religious people are just as capable of immoral and harmful actions as anybody else. Does the knowledge they contain of morality, God or Jesus save them? No, it simply supplants lessons into their minds of superior beings with supposedly higher morals, but this does not enable better individuals. It simply instills a form of arrogance that is derived by the belief of a people that their morality is in fact superior to all others since it is supposedly handed down by God.

C.M. Krager brings up an excellent point: sectarian religious people tend to think their own fictional God is better than another religion’s fictional God. This explains why a repulsive Christian woman I know refuses to vote for an Atheist for president, and why Christian televangelists slander Charles Darwin, atheists, Muslims and anyone else who contradicts their doctrinaire ideologies.

But of course, this natural feeling of superiority over dissenters is not confined to religion. This is true of any one who holds a political position, as well. Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and other rabid, hate-spewing right-wingers do nothing but slander “the left” with ludicrous aspersions, and self-identified liberals like Markos Moulitsas and the Daily Kos bloggers say more or less the same about conservatives. I am sad to say that Atheists like Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris have a pompous attitude towards people who don’t think like they do. Dawkins wants to racially profile Muslims, Christopher Hitchens was for the Iraq invasion because he wanted to stamp out religion in the name of secular fundamentalism, and Sam Harris is just another islamophobe.

And that is my two cents.

I do not attack it and I am a Christian. Nor do many other brilliant Christians in the academy attack it.

So where does that leave your post?

In the same place - just look at the title of the thread
Just because YOU do not attack evolution does not mean that other xtians agree with you -

The problem with xtianity is that it is - and has been for centuries - a cafeteria belief - with any number of different sects changing their beliefs based on the parts of the Myth Bible book they believe in - and which ones they ignore.

That YOU choose to ignore genesis - because of overwhelming evidence against it - only means you have some intelligence. Now - do the same with the rest of your beliefs. If you can admit that the bible is not inerrant on the basis for the beginning of the religion - how about the rest.?

Example - where is ALL The proof of the christ? WHy is it that there is not a single document from his supposed time that even mentions his name. Why is it that we cannot verify a single "eye witness" account of his life since the bible references cannot be verified as to author. And why is it that there are so many contradictions and errors in the otherwise once called inerrant bible?

Have you actually READ the bible - the whole bible - from the first page?
Studies have shown that is it those that do not believe who know more about religion that those that accept the religions.

Read 1 Timothy 2 - and tell me - DO YOU agree that women need to be silent and submissive and bear children - because if EVE?

[fr0d0]

Too late to the party Tom. The guy's been banned already