wildernesse

Better than Christianity at what?

--tibac

seebs

Nope, we have selection errors; exclusive truth claims attract people inclined to intolerance.

Anyway, I don't think the placebo is working all that well. The minority is almost always more tolerant; they *have* to be, to survive. But, you get a community of atheists, and *boom*, instant intolerance - available in aerosol spray form for your convenience!

Note also that your view of what Christianity is "supposed" to do is almost entirely unrelated to actual doctrine. Christianity works if I go to heaven; it fails if I go to hell. This will remain conveniently untestable for a long time, I suspect.

Starboy

wilderness, interesting point. If anything made by man worked as poorly as Christianity it would be on the junk pile of history. I don't expect Christianity to be perfect, I just expect it to be better than placebo.

Starboy

seebs

Presumably at inciting tolerance. I mean, compare Starboy to HelenM. Can anyone here honestly deny that, by comparison, Starboy is a paragon of tolerance?

Ooh, I'm seeing a few hands.

seebs

You must have different definitions of "success" and "failure" than I do.

I see lots of Christians doing good things, and engaging in Christian virtues. Maybe you're just closing your eyes a bit tighter than you need to?

wildernesse

better than placebo how? And since Christianity hasn't been tossed out--does that mean that people are finding a use and a purpose in it?

"as poorly as Christianity"--what do you expect Christianity to do, and how do you judge that it is doing that poorly?

--tibac

Starboy

Heaven and Hell will have to take care of themselves. What concerns me is what is taking place on the planet right now. I agree sampling errors dominate, but the active ingredient is not doing much better than placebo. You appear to think that I will not tolerate opposing view points. I have not once resorted to insults or specious arguments. You confuse strongly presenting my point of view with intolerance. You call it intolerance because if I am correct it doesn't bode well for Christianity.

Starboy

tdekeyser

Man, you guys hijacked my thread....hee hee (seebs, wildern, and starboy)

My point is this:

Freethinkers do not have a problem with any faith from what I understand. We look at the world as tolerant folks, and I really like that. I myself have NO problems with deist or other peaceful faiths.

So I'm not talking about 'deist' at all. I'm talking about those who attack us at meetings, in private, in public, on TV, in books, on radio and in our lives. I'm talking about anyone who 'chose' to believe that thier faith is TRUE when it teaches that others are pieces of crap. JUST LIKE THE KKK!

This extends to the Islamic faith as well, but I'm more concerned with this country's problems and that means Xianity.

I want to be like Newdow, Barker (had lunch with him, so i know), the boy scout who got kicked out and all the rest. I want to make CHANGES in America and i'm not going to do that by being "tolerant".

I am being called a vigilante, but I haven't done anything yet except throw out some words on a internet forum...oooooooo...

Hugo Holbling

Why can't you work to strengthen the Church-State division while remaining tolerant of other people's choices?

tdekeyser

I cannot be tolerant of people thinking that I am satanic, vile, heathen, lost, backslidden, monster, ungodly or evil.

So this eliminates a lot of folks. It targets the ones who have waged war on all groups including mine.

Did you NOT see what I posted above? The GW Bush comment in 87???

Atheist are NOT citizens!!! That is OUR president speaking!

This means I will DEFEND myself as an AMERICAN, freethinker, human, and a valued person.

All I am saying is that I want to see more programs on TV, more activism, more marches, more letters to congress, and more outspokeness at defending our rights, not just sit around and talk about it.