I’ve just been through a flame war with a couple of people about their faith, and, as always, it ended up in name calling that prevented any kind of real discussion. So I will put it out in a diary and see what comes of it.
I’m a dyed-in-the-wool atheist, and have come about this belief as a result of some serious soul searching over my lifetime. I’ve studied many religions in an effort to find one that makes sense, as well as philosophers such as Gurdjieff and Kant and Ram Das and on and on and on. I was raised a catholic, which lasted about as long as 6th grade. I do refuse to patronize individual beliefs. I do so because they can never answer just a few fundamental questions. Read on if you want.
The Buddhists say that life is suffering, and that is one belief I can agree with. But they don’t really believe in god in the normal sense of the word. When someone tells me they are Christian, I have to challenge them with my belief that their religion makes no sense at all. They say that god is love, but have no acceptable answer as to the idea that if this is so, then why this stupid test we call life on earth? God loves you but permits genocide, permits disease, permits the constant suffering that is life here on earth.
When someone answers this, it’s always with an inane platitude about free will, but if anyone really thinks about it, that answer doesn’t work. Doesn’t any parent do anything they can for their child? Why has our heavenly father abandoned us so? And don’t talk to me about the mystery of faith, because that is simply a cop out. I know there are a million answers to this question, but to me, every one falls flat and requires “faith.” So, as you get that cancer diagnoses, have faith that god is doing what is best for you. As your child is hit by a car and suffers brain damage have faith that this is a test of your love of god, and his love of you. And as we watch true believers cut the heads off someone who believes differently in the name of their slightly different god, trust that that is human, not god. Yet we all know that a true “God” is all powerful and could change all of this with a simple thought.
If god exists why not make things good? This god we believe in created good and bad. Why? Why do we hear all about how good god is yet this god allows evil…and you believers simply make excuses for him. He’s a very evil god if he sits back and lets everyone suffer, if you ask me.
Why doesn’t God show himself, in a very real way? IN A VERY REAL WAY? If god is defined as you say, he could do it easily.
Why the inconsistencies in the written word? Why should we shun women who are menstruating, or stone women who are adulterers? Why do we pick and choose things from the bible that are convenient? Why do we believe that god wants us to eat certain things? Or wear certain clothes? Or have sex in certain ways.
Why do you people who believe refuse to look at all of the hypocrisies associated with your faith? Look at the Pope, who lives in the absolute lap of luxury while preaching the word of Jesus. More than anything, Jesus preached that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of god. Yet we have ministers who grow fat on their flocks, caught time after time fucking the faithful(yes, even literally) while preaching abstinence. Do you know how much Pat Robertson is worth?
Pat Robertson is estimated to be worth anywhere from $200 million to$1 billion. Given that he sold International Family Entertainment to Fox in 1997 for $1.9 billion, my guess is, his net worth is quite a bit more than $200 million.
http://www.forwardprogressives.com/...
Want to talk about Joel Osteen? That’s there tool
I have lot’s more, and if you’re a real philosopher, you know that these are the real, real simple questions I’m asking. They’ve been asked thru history, yet nobody’s ever answered them without going into contortions. But have a go at it, and I’d be happy to argue the whole night. Snowing here in NY, and WTF?
But here's the thing. I can have respect for you, the faithful, without respecting your ideas. You have every right to believe anything you want. But if you're a Mormon and want me to treat your religion with respect you have some explaining to do. Likewise if you believe that God is an elephant headed multi-armed deity that looks over your particular business interests only when you offer him incense and rice and flowers. And don't expect me to go along with cutting off my child's foreskin. Or yes, cutting heads off infidels.