Christians/good people

[MTL]

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I have always said that there are both good and bad people who are Theists

AND good and bad people who are Atheists.

But I consider Theists who are good-hearted to still be misguided to agree to a dangerous thing like the religion,
and can be capable of doing a lot of damage...
...there's the old saying that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

I'd be interested to see a similar Poll taken of Theists
to see what percentage of them believe Atheists are capable of being good people;

(And to see if they can be honest enough to observe that while there may be good and bad Atheists out there,
it is undeniable that Atheism, in and of itself,
never did the damage that Religion has done to the world).

I'd be somewhat surprised if the results correspond to this Poll;
I think most Theists believe most Atheists are immoral.

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One ironic note:  I have personally long been of the opinion that it is highly unlikely that the world leaders of religion, such as the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, are actually Theists;
I can only believe that they are probably secretly Atheists.....and not very good people, either.

See,

I can understand 90% of the world believing in some kind of god,
I can understand someone devoting their life to evangelism, like Billy Graham,
I can understand well-intentioned, lower echelon spiritual leaders, like Priests.

But for an educated LEADER personality to ascend so high in the ranks,
aware of the evil that is done in the name of religion,
and continuing to manipulate the masses,

they MUST have realized at some point what the sheeple do not;
they MUST have at some point faced that Religion can only ultimately stand in the way
of anyone wanting to serve the TRUTH (and God is said to be synonymous with Truth).

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THEY MUST KNOW that they are not encouraging people to serve God,
but are only encouraging people to serve Religion...

...even if it prevents people from ever finding God!

I think if there IS a God out there,
and He is synonymous with the TRUTH,

then you must realize that you have no hope of pursuing the TRUTH,
with any degree of integrity,
as long as you hang onto BELIEF....which is not the same thing as TRUTH,
and indeed, can even be the OPPOSITE of TRUTH, and lead you further astray.

If one is to have any real chance of finding GOD or TRUTH at all,
it only makes sense to relinquish all BELIEF, first,
and be open to whatever you honestly find...even if it does not comfort you.

Religious belief offers comfort.  It caters to so many human needs.

But the TRUTH hurts.

I don't think God has to bribe, or threaten, people into compliance or worship.

I'd like to see more people stop being afraid to give up all BELIEF,
and go earnestly in search of the TRUTH,
however terrible it might turn out to be.

You might find GOD,
you might find TRUTH,
....and they might be the same thing, for all I know.

But you won't find either as long as you cling to the saccharine BELIEF that is designed to drug you, IMO.

I see nothing as standing between God and Man as effectively as Religion does

...if God is there to find, at all, that is.

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This is a case of liking you even when I disagree with you.  I think you are too optimistic about the intelligence of people and their ability to overcome indoctrination.  Sure, I expect some of the popes likely were really atheists, but I do not think it of all of them.  When one has spent a lifetime being deluded, why would a promotion suddenly make one reasonable?

Oh, allow me to clarify.

I don't think all priests are necessarily sincere Theists, either.
I daresay there are clergy from all religions that were NEVER theists
...and at best, chose such a calling because he thought it was a joke and would be easy,
and at worst...well, I don't think I need to spell that one out.

But I do think that a sincere Theist POPE is probably a rarity, if not a fictitious creature, altogether,
or at least an extinct breed....

...and I don't think it was the "promotions" that turned him into an Atheist...

the more ambitious and powerful a clergyman is, in the church,
the less likely I am to believe that he was EVER a sincere Theist.

he was probably pretending from the get-go.

Once the general public realizes there is power to be had,
the unscrupulous, out there, will be ambitiously beat back the sincerely devout to get the job, IMO.

[Whateverist]

I voted hell yeah to A, the first option. But I should specify that I am NOT interpreting "devout" to mean "fundamentalist". I can't conceive of a fundamentalist of the talmud, bible or koran being a wonderful person.

[Ravenshire]

I have to agree with BrianSoddingBoru4 about people being good people regardless of religious beliefs, but I'll take it a step further. Good people of faith are good because, contrary to popular faither belief, they don't actually get their morality from some musty tome of religious rules.