COMMENTS:
Voted : No
I have two friends that seem "spiritual" but I never asked them what god they believed in. Just wasn't willing to go there. It may have ended the way a lot of religious conversations I've had on here.
I should have voted maybe
Voted : Yes
I have plenty. Most of them are open to debate but get a bit fretful when it gets closer to the bone. I would say that's because I am more pro active than most atheists. But generally its an unwritten agreement that religion gets put to one side in social situations.
Unless of course someone is trying to push it in my face. At times like that, tho they may be christian, my friends tend to take a back seat and watch the show. christian or otherwise.
I have chaired debates on theism and have played the role of christian protagonist in several. I know in myself that if i had gone the path of christianity i would have been very effective at it.
It's a lot harder sat on the outside explaining why thats a bad thing.
its an odd fact that if religion disappeared overnight then most of my christian friends would be no different.
I suppose that comes from the english attitude towards religion around where i live. it's considered one of those things. you either are or you aren;t. its certainly a lot harder to find a strongly religious person.
I guess that begs the question that, if i live in that kind of environment, why am i so anti church? Well it's because its based on ignorance. The one constant amongst believers is a strange sense of apathetic disregard for any other thoughts on the origins of man. Some conversations have to stop because of an inability to think of possibilities. i mean sure god bods can understand science fiction. but give them an alternative to reality to consider and its a no go area. suddenly its "god wouldnt allow that" or "that means god doesnt exist so that cant be right" or " but there has to be a creator in all this"
To me it serves no useful purpose other than self delusion and it should not exist in the modern world. my christian friends are aware of my thoughts and occasionaly try and put me right. but its fair to say they always fail and generally go away feeling insecure and a little shell shocked.
the church didnt take prisoners as is persecuted half of europe into believing. why should I?
I would like to add that I have never actually lost any christian friends through argument or debate.
But certainly there are people who steer a wide berth around me who ARE religious.
So if the purpose of the question was to find if an atheist can live around christians and be friends then yes they can. but i still maintain that they are all delusional and cultish. If they can accept that in me i can accept that in them. But they are still wrong :-)
Voted : Yes
many, including RWS, I hope :)
by LCD on Mon Jan 19, 09 11:33am
[+]
Here's another question for the atheists...
If you were going through a crisis or something bad happened in your life and I offered to say a prayer for you to help you to deal with the situation at hand, would you be offended or would you just accept it as a loving or friendly gesture on my part?
Thanks, LCD!
Voted : Yes
"If you were going through a crisis or something bad happened in your life and I offered to say a prayer for you to help you to deal with the situation at hand, would you be offended or would you just accept it as a loving or friendly gesture on my part?"
I'd accept it as a friendly gesture though I know it wouldn't have any effect. Really, I'm fine people having a religion and practicing it so long they don't try to push it on me or others. I have friends who belong to a variety of faiths who can abide by that. I distanced myself from and ended relationships with people who couldn't abide by that because having something I strongly deny being pushed on me every time I was around people like that was extremely uncomfortable.
"If you were going through a crisis or something bad happened in your life and I offered to say a prayer for you to help you to deal with the situation at hand, would you be offended or would you just accept it as a loving or friendly gesture on my part?"
I'd rather you didn't. By not doing so would show me that you respect my not believing and I could in turn show you that we can all "get through" life without religion.
"If you were going through a crisis or something bad happened in your life and I offered to say a prayer for you to help you to deal with the situation at hand, would you be offended or would you just accept it as a loving or friendly gesture on my part?"
Personally i would find this a little offensive because it goes against my beliefs and would really prefer it if you helped me rather than did something meaningless from my point of view.
"I'm fine people having a religion and practicing it so long they don't try to push it on me or others."
Second that. I'm sure I've had slip-ups in the past, but I try my best to let people believe w/e the hell they want. I would hope people would extend the same courtesy, but that has not been the case in much of my experience. Even family I feel have forced religion on me. That's unforgiveable to me.
Voted : Yes
Oh, and to answer the question, yes.
I don't see myself as your typical churchgoing Christian. I haven't been to church in years, but that's mostly because I don't think they accept me the way I am with my many faults. I smoke, I swear, I party, I like dirty jokes, and I laugh at inappropriate times. Despite all that, I still believe in God.
If a person tells me they don't believe in God, I just give them a look, roll my eyes at them, and that's it. There is more to a friendship than just religion.
You people who are atheists say that you don't want others trying to push their religion on you, yet the atheists on this site don't hesitate to tell me how silly or irrational I am in my beliefs. Sounds kind of hypocritical to me.
my mom prays for me daily. I appreciate her efforts and thoughts, even though I don't tell her often enough.
I should call her today...
by LCD on Mon Jan 19, 09 1:59pm
[+]
"You people who are atheists say that you don't want others trying to push their religion on you, yet the atheists on this site don't hesitate to tell me how silly or irrational I am in my beliefs. Sounds kind of hypocritical to me."
Very true, and I personally am sorry if I've ever crossed that line. It's a fine line between outlining your beliefs, defending them when they've been misrepresented, and outright preaching.
Voted : Yes
Does this question apply to agnostics too?
I have many Christian friends and only a few of my friends are atheist or agnostic.
I know my Mom prays for me all the time and I'm pretty sure some of my friends do to. I'd like to think it matters, but I have my doubts.
I've got this song running through my head now -- "God never listens to what I say - and you don't get a refund if you over-pay".
But back to the prayers and whether anyone or anything hears them - If they are saying prayers because they want something better for me, and if in some small way i feel better because they do this because they believe it will help - then are their prayers being answered? And does it matter if anyone or anything listened?
I'm not at all offended if someone offers to pray for me. And if someone actually listens - well that'd be great. Sometimes I think something does, but most of the time i don't.
You people who are atheists say that you don't want others trying to push their religion on you, yet the atheists on this site don't hesitate to tell me how silly or irrational I am in my beliefs. Sounds kind of hypocritical to me.
If I ever came off that way that wasn't my intent. I've simply shared my beliefs and why I chose to abandon Christianity when asked. The hatred within the church for homosexuals, the devotion they expect, the way the install these beliefs in the under-developed minds of children was all too much for me. I believed in god for a while after that, before becoming agnostic. And then the world orbited around the sun a couple more times and the what took place in it convinced me there is no god. Horrible incidents like the 2004 Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the on-going genocide in darfur, how could a god or gods let those happen? That's just me though. If people still wish to tolerate the way christianity is orchestrated, I give them credit, they have a higher tolerance than I did for it, and if people want to believe "god works in mysterious ways" - whatever floats your boat, but seeing the way the universe, and some preachers work, I lost my faith in a higher christian power, and eventually in higher power itself a long time ago.
I knew you were going there RunsWithScissors. If we are discussing a topic, like religion, then everything should be on the table, like me grouping gods with other supernatural things. I think that is different then in a daily life situation which you mentioned. As I said, I don't even bring up religion to friends because it's such a touchy subject.
Just in case you didn't read my response to the earlier ballot:
The remark about believing in witches, ghosts or fairies being silly was to make a point. Most people would tend agree that believing in those things is silly. But gods, as you stated, deserve to be treated in a different class of unprovable things.
Yes, I do take believing in witches, ghosts, fairies and gods irrational. I'm sorry if that offends you but I'm not trying to hurt you I'm simply stating my opinion. You may feel that I'm a jerk for expressing it but I'm being honest.
I make no apologies for my stance on this runswith. To me its a silly and irrational belief. I wouldn't accuse you of being a silly or irrational person just because of your belief. I however someone choses to attack me personally I will defend myself and if you happen to be a christian who walks into the conversation you may very well take it personally.
But I try not to deliberately engage in button pressing for no reason. I'm not saying it's not fun. I'm just saying if noone presses my buttons then I can debate religion quite calmly albeit emotive at times.
I believe atheists should be pro active. We should be getting our point across. people should be aware of choice and everyone else should be aware of atheists as a minority. A rather large minority in the UK. Thing is with atheism it isnt a belief. To an atheist were not constrained by the churches moral law. just our own. it's silly and irrational to give away self control in such a way and totally meaningless to an atheist.
and not all atheists believe in the same things but they do accept there is no god.
But christians will insist on wrapping their values around their beliefs and thats where it all gets nasty. take gribley or whatever hes called claiming god mentioned demoracy in the bible on another ballot.
This is vomit inducing and far worse than me describing god or indeed even you runswith as irrational. No atheist would claim democracy was an atheist invention. at best it would be bloody greek/roman anyway and they didnt believe in god.
You know i think their gods are far more believable than the israelite ones.
^ "I believe atheists should be pro active. We should be getting our point across."
When you are talking down to other people, you are not getting your point across.
^ yes i know. :-)
When you talk religion - someone better be prepared to be offended - it's pretty much inevitable. Most of us try not to be offensive, but sometimes just stating our views rubs someone the wrong way. So either don't talk about it or overlook those offenses.
I have some pretty strong views (not necessarily beliefs - just views) and I love to talk about religion. But sometimes it makes my friends defensive and then we just agree not to talk about for a while.
Voted : Yes
And they always avoid attempting to convert me, else I point out the silliness of their bible, nothing scares a Christian more than having their beliefs brought into the light of reason
Voted : Yes
If if question applies to agnostics also, yes. A great many.
"If you were going through a crisis or something bad happened in your life and I offered to say a prayer for you to help you to deal with the situation at hand, would you be offended or would you just accept it as a loving or friendly gesture on my part?"
by RunsWithScissors
I wouldn't mind a bit. If you believe it will help, I'm certainly not one to get in your way. It's not like I'll combust or anything if someone says my name in a prayer.
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