past the tipping point

December 1, 2006

Atheist. Believer. How about human. Human beings all living together on a blue dot in the universe. This is the only planet we have. We are hurling through space at break neck speeds hoping we don't bash into an asteroid. I invite both atheists and believers here to tell me what they believe about God.

When I say believe I mean what you believe about his attributes, his demeanor, his character, God as a being. Jesus Christ and who he is.

I am going to lay some ground rules, but only so the conversation stays on good terms.

1. No one is wrong here. Our beliefs are as different as the people that have come together on this forum.

2. No debate. No arguments to support Gods existence, no argument against it.

3. Present only your personal beliefs.

4. Do not respond to anyones beliefs unless it is truly constructive. For example don't ask why someone believes God is purple with the intention of attacking their reasons. Same goes for believers.

5. No provoking fights by saying insulting things or by verbally socking one in the mouth.

That's it, have fun with it and disregard the first post as it was responding to my old topic which I edited because it came off as hateful and arrogant. Any who read it I apologize.

Observerofdreams,

HE must be cool...HE made you and me!! LNJ

December 1, 2006

I believe that there is no god, but hypothetically assuming that there is one, I would believe that it would be a deistic god, as I have seen far too many atrocities in this world to believe that there is an all-loving, omniscient, and omnipowerful god of any type.

Just my opinion!

To Dream:

I plooooooomise not to call anyone a doo-doo head. That post made me chuckle

AskanAthiest

The atrocities you have seen, were they not made by the hand of man? LNJ

Ovedya · December 1, 2006

Do you go on bhuddist boards and bad mouth bhudda?

Buddhists are not trying to turn my country into a buddhist theocracy. They are not trying to keep other humans from attaining civil rights based on issues that are private to everyone. They do not seek to control the actions or thoughts of other humans. They do not seek or rejoice in war with other religions. They do not wish to force everyone to comply with their religion through fear of eternal punishment. They do not pray for the end of the world or seek to hasten the end of the world based on their religious, dogma regardless of the beliefs of others. I don't want the world to end thank you very much.

What does any of that have to do with whether or not you go onto Buddhist boards to badmouth Buddha? Are you arguing that the only reason you contend with Christians specifically, is because of your prejudices against us?

Well, I thought the question and answer was pretty clear. I don't "contend" with christians for those or any reason. I come here to find out why christianity wishes to do those things and hopefully gain a better understanding and perhaps even shed some light for you as to why I don't want christians to do those things. Your use of the word "contend" is out of place.

do you go on islamic boards and bad mouth Mohammed?

I do not badmouth Mohammed or Jesus. The majority of muslims in this country do not seek to change our laws to suit their religion. When Islam presents the same threat to my democracy as christianity does I will go to them as well. Currently, that's not the case in this country and I believe they can run their countries however they want.

Really? So then you have no problem morally with the fact that Islam treats women like dogs? You have no problem with their teaching that women can only obtain their salvation through a man? You have no problem at all that, in countries where Islam is the majority or state-sponsored religion, people of other faiths (Especially Christians) are routinely killed? You have no problem with the fact that Islam laregely responsible for the majority of anti-Semitism in the world? You also have no problem with the fact that there are possibly - probably - factions of Muslims in this country that would like to see Sharia law forced upon citizens (Listen to these audios)?

Sure I do, but they are not trying to make that the law here and I believe in dealing with your own problems first i.e. problems with and in our own culture. Just like I don't believe we should send aid to children in other countries while we still have homeless and starving children here. This is a little off track but... the reason islam is the way it is currently is because they are conservative fundamentalists. Christianity has been tempered with liberalism and progressive ideals. This liberalism allows women and minorities to demand equal rights. If we allow conservative fundamentalist christians to do what they wish with this country we will regress closer to the oppression islam represents. Obviously not the same but closer than the majority of us wants.
Besides, what do you consider being treated like a dog to be? No right to vote? No right to own property? No right to voice their opinion? No right to an equal wage? No right to teach men? No right to expose parts of their body in public? No right to be free of violence by men? How far back in time do we need to go before those things are recognized as part of the christian ideology? Moderate and liberal muslems don't treat their women like dogs...
All the things you list off are not far removed from christianity's past and all of it is based on religious dogma.
I do not need to listen to the rantings of a small group of radicals to know they exist. Do you care to listen to the rantings of radical christian groups like the god hates fags crowd or the blow up the abortion clinics crowd?