Atheists, tell me, a Roman Catholic: why should I become an atheist?

[The Valkyrie]

You shouldn't, not because an atheist tells you why you should.

As an atheist I don't see it as my job to deconvert people to atheism.

Believe what you want. Be who you are.

The only thing I ask is that you don't try to convert a person once they've already told you "no", and that you ask don't use those beliefs to hurt other people.

[Minimalist]

Remember that there are two creation accounts.

A fact which drives xristards so crazy that they deny the plain writing of their own fucking story!

[Cyberman]

You want a good reason not to believe this stuff?

Here's a pretty good start:

[Asmodee]

People often take that to mean "mankind", and it does say that in Genesis 1, but if you recall the story of creation from Genesis 2, God only actually "created" Adam, the man.  So when the Bible says that God made man in his own image, it is not talking about mankind, it is talking about a literal man.  Eve was an afterthought, not "created" at all, but formed from a piece of man.

Remember that there are two creation accounts.  In Genesis 1:27 it states "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."  God then goes on to address both of them when he offers his blessing and grants them dominion over the whole planet.  It is the second account that separates them and places the man above the woman by making her a companion who was created to fulfill a need (Genesis 2:18-- The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”).

It seems as if --depending on the writer and the needs of the particular story-- women are treated as ornaments most of the time in those early stories, until the law given to Moses turns them into property (Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”).  And of course, in spite of the belief that marriage is between one man and one woman and that any exception to this is fornication or adultery, later stories have the men marrying multiple women and keeping concubines because LOL CULTURE.

Yeah, I have a JW friend try to convert me every month or two and he has often given me the "It was a different time" BS explanation.  Did you know that God was never okay with slavery because slavery is bad, but he tolerated that sin because people of that time weren't ready for such a change?  Never mind that this baseless claim assumes that God created everything, but then just kind of left man to his own devices for some period of time before taking interest again and coming back to find that we suddenly weren't ready to be completely righteous right at that particular moment.  To make this work we have to have creation with the immediate follow up of law, broken law, God goes away, apparently no longer expecting us to be righteous, God comes back and finds that not only are we not righteous, abolishing the sin of slavery would totally upset our economy, which, apparently, even he can't fix.  So he allowed it for a while but, being the kind and gentle God he is, set down some ground rules...  Whatever.

[Edwardo Piet]

But but but but... but Steambum... the donkey wasn't literally talking. A donkey is also known as an ass and that clearly represents what The People Of The Lord are talking out of.

[Pat Mustard]

Remember in christianity, as in judaism women are considered to be things to be possessed, not people in their own right.

Hasn't been my experience at all.

Every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God's design.

-CCC 1935

That's because you've neither read the bible nor listened to your religious leaders. Tell me again why the seniormost position for a woman within the rcc is flower arranger?

[Catholic_Lady]

Hasn't been my experience at all.

-CCC 1935

That's because you've neither read the bible nor listened to your religious leaders. Tell me again why the seniormost position for a woman within the rcc is flower arranger?

Both statements are false, sir.

[LadyForCamus]

You want a good reason not to believe this stuff?

Here's a pretty good start:

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

[Balaco]

[Tonus]

Yeah, I have a JW friend try to convert me every month or two and he has often given me the "It was a different time" BS explanation.

Ugh, don't remind me... I was raised a JW.

My response to the notion that God allowed cultural identities to keep him from acting is to point out that there were plenty of times when God took decisive and brutal action for all kinds of reasons. He struck down a man whose only crime was to try and steady the ark of the covenant when the oxen carrying it stumbled. He slaughtered 70,000 Israelites because their king took a census. He wiped out 99.99% of all life on the planet because he was angry with how they were behaving.

But slavery? Equality for women? Newp. I guess that --for a person whose method of dealing with things was usually to kill first and ask questions later-- he simply lacked the quality of nuance.