by FusionTheism 141 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
But it also true that today's new atheism is creating an atmosphere where in the future, if it were not for government standing in the way, the religious would be drawn and quartered by some who are just as evil as those pictured above.
OK, that's just ridiculous.
Atheists don't burn people at the stake or torture them because they aren't atheists. That's just absurd.
Provide some evidence for such unfounded assertions or stop making them.
The religious have perfected the art of claiming to be persecuted while they persecute others.
Don't confuse people ripping your idiotic ideas to shreds with being bullied. If you don't want your beliefs to be challenged then stay inside, lock the doors and shut up.
Religious ideas are ripe for criticism and should be ridiculed mercilessly. No amount of criticism will even come close to the evil that religion has inflicted on the innocent over the years.
Why are people so thin-skinned that anonymous comments on an internet forum cause them to think they are being "bullied"?
Who cares if anonymous poster XXX in a location 8000 miles from your home thinks your ideas are wrong? How does that affect your day to day life?
I just don't get it.
Frank,
Your response to 1 Corinthians is often found amongst x-tians, but it is also not the approved response amongst the majority of x-tian religions. Lots of x-tians continue to justify hatred of gays by the bible's hate filled verses, including apparently Rev. Graham. It isn't just Paul or 1 Corinthians.
Remember Leviticus 18 and 20 and Romans 1? So much hatred is contained in the bible, and these types of verses have been used by x-tians for centuries to kill, imprison, sterilize, and shun gays. Frank, you can't spin these verses, and you can't deny the carnage these types of hate filled verses have caused and continue to cause. The Rev. Graham would evidently wish for the good old days, when gays knew their places and the church could treat them accordingly, including influencing government leaders to treat gays with hatred and discrimination.
Those are the facts, and they are not pretty.
Simon, No amount of criticism will even come close to the evil that religion has inflicted on the innocent over the years.
I think you meant: No amount of criticism will even come close to the evil that religion has inflicted on the innocent over the millennia!
That's excellent; and as I noted, x-tianity is evolving. Last week I attended a gay wedding in an Episcopal church in the city where I live. It was their first gay wedding, very well attended and very confirming that x-tianity has hope. The minister was great, and he briefly re-counted the internal struggles and conversations he had with his church to make this happen.
Everyone in attendance was supportive; no one seemed to be faking it. Having said that, however, this was a fairly liberal x-tian church in an upscale area of the city where about 90% of the members are college grads.
I have to say, of all the religions I think Christianity will be the most likely to adapt - it has a history of objecting to change and then incorporating it once it reaches critical mass. Anything to stay relevant - they will abandon whatever beliefs they need to evolve.
You already seen gay marriage being adopted and accepted in predominately christian countries. Of course there will be the die hard hold outs who will be the last to change and accept the new reality but they will die out or eventually become a tiny and insignificant minority.
Oubliette,
If you will note I said "in the future". Do you honestly believe there is no possibility that at some point in the future when religion has become a stench to many more than it already has and is then blamed for a great war, or whatever, that there will not be some who will take action against a religious family in their town or church in their city?
You cannot actually be that blind to how people everywhere can be and have been. Or do you believe that atheism will make all people the salt of the earth, truly?
If so, dear brother, you have more waking up to do.
Frank
Who cares if anonymous poster XXX in a location 8000 miles from your home thinks your ideas are wrong? How does that affect your day to day life?
It's more insidious than that.
"Someone someplace else on the planet disagreed with my idiotic beliefs so I think I'm being bullied and am justified in hunting them down and trying to destroy their life. But I'm not a bully"
Religious thinking 101.
DJS,
I agree with you. I'm not trying to spin only to state my opinion.
A question that might be asked of Christians is: Why are there no punishments listed in the 10 Commandments? Why is it that the only sin regarding sex in the Ten Commandments is adultery? Why were the 10 Commandments kept in the Ark but the Law of Moses kept outside of the Ark?
Christians should give serious consideration to this, imo.
