Question to the Overtly Religious

[Misuriver]

This is not to all, just the crazy ones with this idea that Atheists are going to kill them in their sleep and eat their children. Being that Atheist make up a much smaller population, why are you so up in arms against us? What are you truly afraid of? We can't really do anything to you? So what if "under God" is no longer in the pledge of allegiance? So what if gays get married? Will you still have your faith, or is faith that easy to destroy? If it is, let me know. I'll get to work right away.
...Now to search for a gay couple saying the pledge without god.... I have work to do.


disclaimer: I promise not to harp on you, unless you go after me or fill the page with countless, meaningless scriptures. I'm just looking for answers.

[madworld]

They are afraid because their faith tells them to be afraid, because aetheists think for themselves and that is scary, because anyone who doesnt believe the exact same thing as them is evil, because anyone who challenges belief with the power of logic and rational thought is challenging God himself, and that's just not on.

[Kraizer]

Dude religion has corrupted peoples way of thinking. They believe that if they don't follow "Gods" orders then they will be punished by being sent to hell to burn. Now really if god showed mercy like they say he did they they wouldn't feel no reason to fear it now would they? Atheists have free minds to wonder about other things. That's what scares them the most. We actually think for ourselves. I just cant see that god made all this and that he/she/it has always been their. That's just not even possible. Or it is it's to much for the human minds to fathom.

So basically we are the bad guys because we aren't mentally held down to the thought of we must live to serve an object who's yet to be seen or even proved real.

[pat_is_tall]

first off a quick question i quote you in "They believe that if they follow "Gods" orders then they will be punished by being sent to hell to burn. " don't they follow the written words of many people who sought to bring good nature to man kind by using God as a point of evidence to get the masses of people to live in a much more civilized matter. Sure there are those with extremist religious views, but as a whole religion is striving for the greater good. Also may i ask you what you mean when you say atheists have 'free minds', sure there are those that as you say voice there own opinion against religion with strong arguments to support their atheism, but a large majority of atheists are conforming to the exponential growth of atheism throughout western society. These people are blindly following the masses only choosing atheism over religion because it is what everybody else is doing and they are blatantly ignorant to the wider views of religion.

[Kraizer]

Maybe it was brought in to bring a better good for people, but now look? Compare to what people really thought it was then compared to now. A different view isn't it? Religion isn't (partly) for the greater good. Now it's if you don't believe we can't help you. For example of what I experienced one time. I was taken into a back room cause i raised my hand to be taught about god, he told me how he was the creator and how "It is our job to serve him and to make sure others believe as well". <-- Now doesn't that sound just crazy? Point is if it was for a greater good then we wouldn't have religion arguments, it would all be peaceful in that aspect.

By free minds I mean they aren't help down by the thought of we are forced to believe. Not all atheists are following another mass. I doubt someone would choose to die and never see the world again vs Dieing and seeing all your family and friends again in heaven. I want to ask you something now. "These people are blindly following the masses only choosing atheism over religion because it is what everybody else is doing and they are blatantly ignorant to the wider views of religion." When the religion first appeared. Someone had to have made it up correct? So wouldn't that be along the same line as what you stated? Someone blatanty followed what that person or group believed in. A good example are the religions Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism. They each started there own group cause they wanted to believe in what "they" thought was right.

[pat_is_tall]

as i said there are many religious extremists and your experience of religion having a negative influence and sounding overtly crazy, having religion arguments and such is because of human nature, disunion amongst man kind occurs on every level of society. from what i can gather from your arguments you are focused mainly on Christian and Islamic religions both who have arguments that date back a long way and because of individuals, and groups who have done things in the name of god just as well as the blame has gone to that whole society not the individuals or the groups responsible.
Take communism for example, on paper it is a perfect idea for a peaceful society but as soon as anything becomes effected by a heirachy or an individuals desire for power or dominance over another group outweighs the desire to maintain the original idea.
i would like to ask you another thing "I doubt someone would choose to die and never see the world again vs Dieing and seeing all your family and friends again in heaven" this is completely contradictory to your arguments, do the majority of atheists not believe in god and heaven (or are they just like i said being ignorant and don't care either way) so if they do not believe in heaven they are choosing to die and never see the worlds again vs Religious people who die with the belief that they will see all their family and friends again in heaven.

it is hard to set a date when religion "first appeared' and who 'made it up' without knowing what influenced people to preach these ideas you cannot hypothesize that these seemingly philosophical ideas have been made up, at the time with what they believed to be true god may have been a completely logical idea. you have to remember this was a long time before people thought the earth was flat and the sun revolved around the earth. yes people may have blatantly followed the group but there was purpose behind the group these 'ideas' as you refer to them as had strong ethic values involved with them that allowed for a much more peaceful society. if you look at the early settlements of America the only societies that survived through the winter were the disciplined christians who followed these guidelines allowing for a unified society and survival.
and things don't have to be made up, a group or an individual can experience forms of hysteria where they see or feel things they believe to be real, this is an effect of others or them selves telling them something so much they believe it to be real/true. an example of this in modern society is if a group of people continue to harass an individual about being gay a lot of the time not in all cases they will become gay.

[Kraizer]

My personal experience Maybe has gave me a partial negative seeing to religion but That doesn't mean that it isn't true. Yea there are extremists but yet they all have the same opinion and view in mind, some just choose to express it on a deeper level or meaning than others do. My argument isn't restricted to Christian and Islamic although that does have a good part of my example. Other religions do it as well each going into much detail and still have conflicts within the religion. As you quoted me, it's not really contradicting my arguments, What I stated was ruling part of what you said to which people were following another mass out of ignorance which isn't necessarily the case.

However I believe that I can call off my argument. Answer to your question:

Really not much of one, It's what you believe in, while you may have people who take it to far. It's not that they are in arms with us it's that they believe strongly in what they were taught, same reason why atheists can't understand why people believe in god.

[adman]

same reason why atheists can't understand why people believe in god.

Some atheists can understand the reasons for such a belief, they just can't accept them as valid. Non atheists tend to consider themselves to be more 'open minded' than atheists which is something that really f*cking irritates me. As an atheist, I didnt choose not to believe in God because I didnt like the thought of it, I considered the arguments for and against and made up my mind using those things we call logic and rational thought. Being open minded doesnt mean believing everything you're told, it means being open to the possiblity of things not being the way you think they are. Something most religous people would have a great deal of difficulty with.

[pat_is_tall]

"Being open minded doesn't mean believing everything you're told, it means being open to the possibility of things not being the way you think they are. Something most religious people would have a great deal of difficulty with."
what you must remember is that religion led to the beginning of morals in all societies without religion there would have been no morals, for a society to function people must share morals if as you suggest every made up there own opinion, which would involve creating morals individuals would not share the same system of morals and society would not function.