Sabine Grant

Hello Dr. Rick.... I think it ought to be welcome by christians to be under scrutiny. Especialy as we make claims that are easily contradicted by our attitudes. And the same applies to anyone who pertains to represent any particular ideology which is to contribute to the betterment of humanity ( or claims to).

For example... I like to place any humanist claim under scrutiny. If I detect any prejudicial thinking in a self proclaimed humanist...I am going to challenge the claim.

We can all use the same tools to promote self awareness that the actions simply do not match the claim. Of course we can choose to apply scrutiny on any individual's claims by giving him the benefit of the doubt first. Or we can jump into conclusions and pertain to draw a portrait of their psyche and make them worse than whom they are.

Scrutiny is productive if used to edify and build self awareness.

Dr Rick

Many religions, Christianity among them, define morals and differentiate behavior and even thoughts as either "right" or "wrong." The practioneers of a religion may have interpretive disagreements over their doctrines of faith but they still purport to define morality. Many theists, including some that post here on these fora, go so far as to say that there can be no morals without god/religion. That these morals may be modified or partially incorporated culturally as Judeo-Christian ethics have in the United States does not change their religious basis. Atheism, on the other hand, is a lack of belief in gods and not a specific set or sets of beliefs, so it is correct to say that there is no such thing as atheistic morals.

Okay.

Okay, again.

Rick

Mad Kally

I need to separate evengelical fundies in my mind from Catholics and liberal Christians. Thinking back on my childhood and life, mostly Catholics have been my good friends. Religion was never a big issue. They never got a bible out and preached in my face or told me I'm going to hell. I'm not sure if I've ever met a liberal xian before. I'm sure I must have somewhere, maybe it never came up. The in your face fundies are the ones I despise being around. They say it's their xian duty to save my soul. I don't believe in god, so of course I don't believe in a soul.

I don't hate all xians. I just talked to my best friend (a Catholic) on the phone and we ended up laughing until it hurt. I love her and my other best friend forever, no matter what. They have gone through all the crisises in my life and never batted an eye. (some wild ones too) They were here in February and I just found out they will be back in June! Neither one of them understands why I would come to this website just to get all pissed off. It kind of makes sense now. I think if they lived near me you would never have seen the name Mad Kally before.. I'm just rambling with my thoughts. I hope this makes sense. I know I'm way off topic, so please excuse me for the brief interruption.

Kally

Dr Rick

Those two are beautiful.

Rick

Mad Kally

YO YO YO CUTE KIDDY O O O's (sorry I got stuck on ebonics)


Kally

HelenM

Thanks, Rick and Kally

Hedwig

*raises her hand* Mom was Baptist. Raised me as such. Raised my brother the same. I'm an atheist. My brother's a Christian. My mom has never been abusive and is highly supportive of me. She's never told me I will burn in hell for being an atheist and she even drove me to my first Gay Pride march. My mom and I are very close. My dad's a lapsed Catholic so I wouldn't define him as Christian really but he too has never been a bad parent.

beyelzu

actually, my mother was pretty neutral towards xianity. raised lutheran but we only went to church a handful of ties. I dont think that every atheist has a fundy parent. I do think that people who have fundy parents are more likely to see the inherent idiocy in the old book and bcome something other than xian. My father was more or less agnostic or deist. Of the three kids raised by them, 2 atheists and one xian.

Amos

But you are not a hard-core atheist either. Hard-core atheists have been through hell because of their faith and will spend the rest of their days fighting against fundamentalist christianity

As far as that goes, you don't even know what Kally's kind of "fundy Christian" is.

beyelzu

beautiful children, I am glad that you have a form of compormise concerning religion.


do they know that their father thinks differently about religion,

or have they not gotten to the point yet where they ask such questions?

Just curious. btw thanks for giving me the benefit of doubt, I am a militant atheist after all.