Donjared

Holy smoke! You atheists are an angry bunch. [removed]

It seems to me you fellas only see what you want to see. A genuine realist, as you all claim to be, would see ALL angles to the argument or institution. The Church has been a source of great comfort too BILLIONS of people. Can you say the same mean Mr. Biff. It has also been a source a great charity and compassion. My church alone feeds, clothes and houses hundreds of people in this area. What do we ask for in return? Zip, zilch, nada. What do you all do? Do you actually DO anything worthwhile? Or just sit around concocting fancy arguments as to why you don't help other people?

I ofcourse know my Church history as well as perpetrated Church history from the likes of you all. I know that bad things have happened and continue to happen. I also understand that any human institution is subject to these problems. I also understand that the good we do is MY focus, while the occasional bad is YOUR focus. I also understand that no amount of good we do will ever redeem us from your hatred because you are bigoted and angry and thats the root of it all.

Truly, you fellas can not see any redeeming qualities with our faith because you just dont want to. It's got nothing to do with the TRUTH and everthing to do with passion.

RevDahlia

Ah, the "new thread" vs "post reply" dilemma. Funny, I don't usually see much of that here.

Donjared

Check out "Should parents be punished for... thread. I know how to post a reply and how to start a new thread. We dumb Christians actually can work a computer. Funny, we get so much condecension here.

RevDahlia

Don't get your knickers in a twist. I just see a lot of this problem on other boards, not so much on this one; thought it bore remarking on.

Are you trying to say that you did not, in fact, intend to reply to a post on another thread? This here, from your OP
would indicate that you DID intend to post in the other thread, and hit the wrong button. (Emphasis mine)

So what is it? In the absence of context the OP, which seems to consist of responses to other posts, is disjointed and confusing.

orpheus last chant

Holy smoke! Another xian with that "you shall not judge" function in working!
Please, can you tell me of my inherenty sinful nature andmy future hell vacation while you're at it. That always cracks me up. Christian love...ha!


Oh, no. I have to call the EAC headquarters now. We've been
had. I repeat, the cover is blown!


You got it. I just get a kick out of being the only atheist for miles and miles, and not being able to talk about the things I like except with people half way across the world. Wow, how dare I have a point of view diffrent from the rest?

tensorproduct

Wow. We are an angry bunch.
You're calm and reasonable post makes it so clear how brimming over with rage we atheists are.

Donjared

In response to Revdahlia
I did not mean to confuse. I originally wrote in response to the the -Billy graham is cool- thread, but decided that the topic was more fitting for a thread all by itself. I am just amazed as I read these threads how pissed off at God and the Church you all seem to be. I really dont get why? Why do you hate us so much? Although I may have seemed to be trolling with this post, I really was not. I genuinely don't understand the rancor.

RevDahlia

Your question has been answered here many a time, but I'll take a crack at it.

First of all, we aren't "pissed off at God"; one can't really be pissed off at a being one doesn't believe in. We (meaning atheists, there are quite a few theists here, of various stripes) don't believe in God. Big difference. I understand that, to a devout person, this can seem like a rebellious rejection of an entity whose existence you take for granted, but I assure you it is not. We simply don't see any evidence for God's existence, therefore we don't believe in him.

As for being pissed off at "the Church", that's closer to the mark, but there are a lot of churches out there; I'm unsure to which you are referring.

The rancor you see is due to several factors. One, many of us have been treated pretty poorly by theists. (I haven't, but I've always moved in areligious circles.) We've been accused of everything from being unpatriotic to worshipping the devil -- the President of the United States has even said that atheists shouldn't be considered true American citizens. Lots of us have been rejected by friends and family for our (lack of) belief. This isn't fair, and it inspires some hostility, as I'm sure you can imagine.

Two, most of us find your beliefs silly and your holy book deeply flawed. Our reasons for this are discussed all over these fora. You may take a defensive stance and read criticism as anger, but that's not honest.

Three, this is an atheist board, and many of us come here to blow off a little steam. We (particularly those of us who reside in the US) have theism crammed down our throats all day, every day, and this makes us a wee bit edgy.

If you actually want to have a reasonable discussion about religion, this is the place to do it. If you want to charge in, guns blazing, assuming that our beliefs represent a personal attack on you, this is certainly not the place to do that.

Before anyone beats me to it, I'd recommend that you read the "Atheist's 'testimony'" thread in Secular Lifestyle and Support, so you'll get an idea about where we're coming from.

And on that note, this thread should probably be moved.

orpheus last chant

Donjared, it is in my experience with theists that they often do not get the nuances in other people's attitude towards a belief. Especially if that belief is relating to the religious, and is not christianity. IOW, you lack empathy.

What you perceive as hate, can often be just sarcasm or the result of living an a supersaturated Christian enviroment that is most likely intolerant towards us. I'm surprised you didn't tell us we hate God. That's the usual knee-jerk reaction. I mean, what do you expect, be glad that we are often lumped up in a group with the satanist, demon-possesed, imoral, amoral, God-hating, baby-eating monsters? Not all christians may think that, but I've often heard variations upon this theme.


If you really didn't understand, and was looking for more than flaming, maybe you should have left the "holier than thou" attitude at the door.
Maybe you should have used phrases like "It is my perception/opinion/impression that you seem angry at christians. Is that true?" Or thought that you cannot just lump such a big board with so many people of all beliefs that primarily share just one "lack fo beliefs in god(s)" into a silly not-so-cool-and-non=angy generalisation. What was it? Biggots and hateful?

Oh, and you keep makeing the same fallacy - the loaded question. "why do you hate us so much" is just as impossible to answer as "Did you stop beating yoru wife?"

Straight Hate

Holy smoke! You atheists are an angry bunch.

Straight Hate's the name, it's a pleasure to meet your emotion-denying backside!

"To know I hate with the passion with which I love is a travesty..."

To be fair, you do have a point regarding charity. But it's so generalized it's pointless to discuss.

There are many 'redeeming qualities' of your faith, but in my opinion they're all tainted by the process of religious belief. I simply will not support it.