"

sensenbender (imported) wrote: Sun Jul 11, 2010 10:54 pm And only a heretic fit for the stake would slander science!

" Yer darn tootin'!

Why is it that so many people of alternative lifestyles bash christianity? I haven't had a christian, muslim, or any other religious person attempt to convert me in many years. I don't give a hoot what anyone else thinks, this one life is MINE!!! Although I had no choice about coming in the front door, how I go out the back one is up to me ONLY!!! I find intolerance with so many people, REGARDLESS of their belief system, or personal preferences. This constant chatter about other's is disruptive to MY own goals, of enjoying the castration of every male possible. wink!!!

sensenbender (imported) wrote: Sun Jul 11, 2010 10:54 pm And only a heretic fit for the stake would slander science! I could list at least ten parallels between religion and science, but I've been warned by Paolo not to be too provocative or I'll be banned. If you want to carry on this debate off line, I'm game.

All we ask and you play nice and no flaming

"

Babbygirl (imported) wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2010 6:05 am Why is it that so many people of alternative lifestyles bash christianity?

" You should get out more. I'm often given opportunities at "salvation" by various religious groups. But that's the least of it. We live in a sea of religiosity. Politicians routinely invoke god. The deity shows up for almost all ceremonial occasions. If you're old enough, you began every school day with a prayer. Most colleges have chapels, even when they don't actually require religious instruction to graduate. Most towns are littered with multiple churches, and religious leaders are always numbered among community leaders. The Gallup Poll consistently shows about 25% of Americans expressing religious prejudices. Surveys show that about 40% of Americans attend church regularly - far higher than France's 20%. In the US, atheists are not quite respectable - to admit to atheism is to declare one's disloyalty to the majority sentiment. For that reason, most atheists don't talk about their (dis)belief, while the religious are free to aggressively propagandize. This past Easter, hundreds of Christians paraded around my town square holding up a huge cross and beating a drum. Atheists would never do this, partly because they don't require other people's agreement to sustain their beliefs.

Finally, anyone confessing his atheism is met by the cries of Christians who claim to be persecuted! Yes, that's right, Christians insist that anyone who dissents in public harms them! In post #17, I wrote that "r

bobover3 (imported) wrote: Sat Jul 10, 2010 10:27 pm eligion is a social phenomenon (one can't imagine a religion without a community of believers).

" This is why Christians feel under attack when anyone dissents. The foundation of their faith is the belief of others around them. They believe what others believe, because others believe it. This system requires continual vigorous assertions of belief in public; it requires aggressive conversion of non-believers; it requires continual reaffirmations of belief. Should any small voice say no, it chips away at the unanimity on which faith rests, and which is its fondest goal. That's why religious people feel threatened by anyone's disbelief, and why they threaten disbelievers.

And here I am accused of flaming! That post of yours, Bobover3, comes across as a paranoid rant, or screed, if you prefer. Your hostility and anger are exemplified by your exclamation points (mine too, I suppose). So, Christians are persecuted by athiests simply by being atheists and atheists are persecuted by Christians by being Christians? Wow! You can't BE an Evangelical Christian without proseletising (sic - wish we had spellcheck). That's what the word 'Evangelical' means, i.e. 'to evangelize'.

You don't have to listen to them, they're losing anyway, slowly but surely. The real problem on both sides of the debate is 'self righteousness'. Both sides, Atheists and Christians, are certain they are the ones who are right and the others are wrong. Self righteousness caused 9/11, the holocaust, the rounding up of Japanese citizens in WWII, the fire bombing of dresden, suicide bombers, etc., etc.

Self righeousness is the problem, period. Of course, it's also self righteous to accuse others of self-righteousness, so what do I know.

MacTheWolf (imported) wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2010 8:34 am All we ask and you play nice and no flaming

Ok, I'll try. Help me out though. Where did I flame?

sensenbender (imported) wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2010 12:16 pm Ok, I'll try. Help me out though. Where did I flame?

No one said you did. Get your sensitivities off your sleeve...

Ok, again. But I'm particularly sensitive right now because I was upbraided by Paolo for causing him to receive three complaints about my posts. So I took your remarks to mean, 'stop flaming', instead of 'we all try not to flame here', as you apparently meant it. Sorry about that.

I'm neither hostile, nor angry, nor paranoid. I'm an amused observer of religious antics. Religious people don't threaten me. To repeat myself, it's characteristic of the religious to insist that others join them. We atheists are content to sit back and enjoy the show. I don't need to "convert" you. I'm not trying to "convert" you.

When I read posts claiming that Christians are persecuted in the United States, I feel moved to comment on the ridiculousness of these assertions. Atheists are not persecuted by Christians being Christians, unless Christianity includes the practice of murder, rape, torture, theft, banishment, segregation, and vilification, as it has through so much of history, especially when Christians felt themselves to be in positions of unassailable authority. If you don't know what I'm talking about, do some reading. American Christians' sense of persecution might have to do with the rare fact that they're not usually able to persecute others. (I know of at least one EA member, a Jew living in a Roman Catholic community, who's subject to frequent anti-Semitic attacks.)

Don't project your own emotions onto others.

America is blessedly free of an "Establishment of Religion," and that includes a Christian establishment.

The way I see it, since we already are

one consciousness,

we should re-unite:

Twinsenboy (imported) wrote: Sat Jul 10, 2010 12:05 pm http://www.essene.com/GospelOfPeace/peace1.html

It simply explains all the "hokus pokus" in the Bible... physiologically... by none other that Jesus (Yeshua) himself.

Perhaps it's time we started REMEMBERING the Truth.