Religious Tolerance

[Sejanus]

The WBC are the closest to true christians that exist.

[Whateverist]

That they would agree is something they have in common with most of the other Christian subgroups.

[Cato]

Asshat is indeed an American word.....I wasn't hating on an entire nation with that comment...maybe just the Republican states which frankly is the norm for people who don't live in those states to do. If you don't like it, move to a state that's not chalk full of people with automatic rifles.

....bolding mine.

Listen asshat! If you are going to denegrate the intelligence of an entire nation because of the use of a word found in common dictionaries, I suggest you endeavor not to fuck up the language. It's chock, not chalk. Your use of ellipsis is horrible.

Brought to you from NYC. Just want to shit on your red state theory.

Asshat!

[Bad Wolf]

Yes...99% is a little low for the people I get along with actually, but I didn't want to have the number too high just in case I meet a shithead such as yourself

A 'shithead' such as myself that will point out where you are being inaccurate?

....there's always a possibility I will meet an atheist of your class in my daily life, extremely unlikely but not impossible.

Oh this will be fun! Tell me, what exactly is an atheist of my 'class'? Do we have different classifications now? How exactly does my class act?

I read Facebook comments from other atheists who see your type as the scum of the earth right next to the Christian Fundamentalists....it's the atheists who tend to hate you the most these days.

Well, yet again I would like you to provide evidence for your claim right there. I know this kind of thing pisses you off (how dare I doubt you) but this is the only reliable way to tell if you are lying or not (I think you are lying). I've certainly never seen any atheists hating on other atheists about atheism. Is there any atheist hate atheist facebook pages? And I have definitely never had such venom filled abuse hurled at me from atheists so.....From what i've seen, atheism is on the rise and we all generally get along, the American atheist association, the atheist experience, and the clergy project are all successful organisations.

Frankly, they've had enough of your bullshit

You are going to have to be way more specific, what is our 'bullshit'? I don't know what you think we do in real life, but for me, this is the extent of my atheism, an Internet forum! So......assuming too much me thinks.

ending up reflecting on their normal behavior.

What's normal behaviour?

They hate you more so than the Christians who probably want to help you (maybe because they generally care about you or maybe because they want more to be Christian like themselves...who knows)...those atheists just want you to stay out of the public sphere and never interact with anyone.

Again, evidence or STFU

Just like most Christians are respected, only the ones who act like those from WBC etc are pissed upon, most atheists are also respected. It's people like you are not respected.

Oh so is that why the American people would rather have a gay president before an atheist one? A mormon before an atheist? A scientologist before an atheist? Because we are respected? What kind of fantasy world do you live in?

[Chad32]

I have been threaten before. I was told I should be killed to see what hell is like. Why? Why would you want to kill someone at all? The Ten Commandments rings a bell? I guess it only applies to believers.

I being persecuted for not believing, and I do not want believers to be persecuted as well, but they should learn to keep to themselves in public.

In the context of the bible, I believe the commandment to not kill people really does only apply to believers. Remember what happened right after Yahweh gave Moses those commandments? He told the guy to go kill his people for idol worship.

[Tonus]

The commandment can logically be interpreted to forbid murder, or the premeditated killing of an innocent person. The rest of the killing is therefore allowed. Which is good, because the law given to Moses had quite a few crimes for which the punishment was death, to be performed by the rest of the tribe. And that's not counting all of the killing done in the process of clearing the promised land for settlement...

[Chad32]

If it was going to be that selective, though, why not elaborate on the commandment? Why just have "thou shall not kill", and then start making various exceptions without describing them within the commandment?

Besides it can't just be thou shall not kill innocent people, because Yahweh's followers definitely kill a lot of innocent children. Not to mention livestock. as a commandment it just doesn't really work. You can kill people who don't worship Yahweh. You can kill people for forgetting even one commandment. It seems like the times that you're allowed to kill someone exceed the times you aren't allowed to.

[Tonus]

If it was going to be that selective, though, why not elaborate on the commandment? Why just have "thou shall not kill", and then start making various exceptions without describing them within the commandment?

I think it's probably impossible to ever discover what the original set of rules or laws were, or how specific they were. The earliest books of the Bible seem to be an amalgam of stuff from any number of sources with different goals and agendas. It's possible that the morals of the time were very tribal, so that "don't kill" meant don't kill your fellow tribesman without legal sanction, which was then provided in all of the laws that said "if someone does this, kill him."

It also wouldn't apply to those outside of the tribe, especially if we're talking about a region and/or period where there were wars of conquest. Perhaps under those circumstances, the willingness to take slaves, rape women and girls, and ransack towns and cities right down to the last person isn't as surprising as it would be in a more orderly and secure environment. "Live and let live" may not have worked as well as "do unto them before they do unto us" at the time.

[Bad Wolf]

I have to go two weeks without Polaris! But how am I supposed to entertain myself?

[Crossless2.0]

I have to go two weeks without Polaris! But how am I supposed to entertain myself?

For a change of pace, you could try talking to a Christian who actually gives a shit about Jesus' command to forgive and love. That bit is obviously lost on Polaris.

Thank goodness for him those commands aren't, you know, important in Jesus' message or anything, so it's easy to understand how a faithful follower with such an obviously superior intellect might miss it. Then again, I might be at fault here. I just can't remember the passage in the gospels where Jesus insists his followers be douchebags and assholes.