Religion

What makes me shake my head the most is that Miss_tery doesn't see how she contradicts the very point she tries to make. She claims that most religious people she knows are unkind, hurtful, and hypocrites. She loves to charge them with the fact that they don't live up to the "Christian" ideal but instead are quite horrible to others.

She uses the idea that Christians have persecuted others all throughout history as proof of her charge.

Yet, she herself acts in the exact same way! She revels in her imagined role on the board as the one to "call out the fundies" without any social or financial repercussions. She ends up acting in the exact same way that she complains Christians are acting!

She's even stated that most of the irreligious people she knows are much gentler and better people than the majority of Christians. Her own actions (along with her enjoyment of those actions) contradict her own argument.

If she acted in a "Christian" way, kind, gentle, respectful of other's religious beliefs, she would actually have a stronger argument. She'd be proof that logical, reasoned thinking does more for humanity than Christianity. She would actually "convert" many people to her belief system.

Unfortunately, her own actions (on this board) contradict the very point she is trying to make.

 

She never claimed to be a nice person. She was simply stating a known fact. So why don't you Christians stop trying to tear her down.

 

She claimed that people who are not religious are better (nicer, etc) than Christians. I'm pointing out that she is not proof of that.

Besides, I'm not tearing her down; I'm attempting to show the inconsistency of her argument.

I've never said a personal thing about her; I don't know her enough to make that kind of comment.

 

She claimed a standard she lived by. So therefore it's topical.
She's fully aware of what she's doing, where most probably aren't.
So she has an ability to face up to herself, not anybody else, and resolve this inside her.
Personally, I'm not a strong Christian, I don't profess perfection and I don't act like I'm better than someone because of religion. I know that any bad I do isn't always conscious, and I'm smart enough to know that it's not because of religion.
I've dated an atheist. She seems more angry at God than disbelieving.
I'm not saying that's the case here, but _tery could make it a lot easier on herself by being true to herself.
And if she were getting blasted for being atheistic, sure, I'd even consider defending her. But she's just starting topics, knowing how it'll go, and then wanting to shy from it when it happens. If she doesn't want her life and actions to be a topic, she shouldn't bring them up and defend them.

 

I took her comments on Christians and their behavior as follows:

Some of the meanest, rudest people on this board claim to be Christians.
Those people are the first to insult and tear down another for differing beliefs.
And those people are the first to claim their religion as the guiding principles in life.


Some of those same people are the ones most highly offended by the word "goddammit" even though it means nothing to those that use it. It's just a word to me. It has no significance other than a way of expressing emotion. Yet those so-called Christians are the first ones offended by it while stooping so low in another forum to call people idiots, stupid fuckers, and fucktards.

 

That's not what I got out of what she was saying - I took hers as saying that you don't need Christianity to be good to others and that the Golden Rule was all you need.

I can't totally disagree with you on some of those ideas. But they're misguided, IMO. There's hypocrisy with religion, but not because of religion. That's like saying, for instance, that black people are physically predisposed to eat fried chicken, or that whites were taught to have their skin pigment.
I have a lot of those feelings about some on this board. There aren't many in this discussion, but there are some with the air of superiority that she herself carries in mirror image.

But let's not make this into some grand, honorable scheme. She was out to talk bad about people and found herself vulnerable to her own criticism.

 

You don't need Christianity to be good to people. I'm good to people all the time. And when I feel like being mean, I don't have to explain myself later.

 

If you're true to what you believe, then that's close enough for me.
She's either not true to what she believes, or develops false beliefs for purposes of discussion.

And no, you don't need religion of any sort to be good to people. Everyone knows right from wrong, regardless of religion. I also can't blame religion for someone doing wrong, logically. It only seems that those that do so, are looking to come to that conclusion anyway.

 

Then explain the Muslim belief that it's alright to kill the Infidels? That's religion teaching someone to do wrong. And the crusades. Too many people have died in the name of "God"

 

She goes way beyond that, Builder. _Tery claims that she sees more rudeness and back-stabbing among professed Christians than among those who admit to atheism or agnosticism. She's not talking about people on this board - she's talking about people she interacts in her life.

Even more, she insinuates that, since her experiential research shows that atheists or agnostics tend to be more gentle and polite than those Christians, ALL Christians must be rude and back-stabbers.

Her comments below show this is so:

My point is that if she's trying to show that non-Christians are more gentle and polite than Christians, her own actions prove her wrong.

If a Christian started a thread saying the same about non-Christians, i.e. that Christians are much more gentle and polite than non-Christians, that person would be blasted out of the water. And for good reason.

I'm only showing that her own argument can't be proven; and in fact, is disproven by her own actions.