So, I don't think it is any secret to anybody who has been here a while that when I first joined these forums, I openly proclaimed myself as a 'Militant atheist'. More and more lately, I have been easing down my beliefs. Now, I call myself an Agnostic, or Weak atheist instead. In the last week though, I've been seeing a side to the Atheism vs Religion debate that I'd never seen before. I've been seeing for the first time the ignorance, hatred, and bullying which exists in the Atheistic block, and I have come to the conclusion that 'Strong' or as I call it, 'Militant atheism' is exactly like religious fundamentalism, and the exact opposite of what Atheism should be. Atheism is, by definition and my personal belief, meant to be a 'Lack of belief' - It doesn't take much examination into the opinions, and posting habits of the Militant atheists to see the exact opposite. These people don't lack a belief in god - They physically hate the idea of god, and will bully anybody who believes in it, or sympathizes with those who do. The hypocrisy which exists in the beliefs of the group is astounding. They call the other side bullies, ignorant, and accuse them of trying to impose dystopian laws on the world - When they do exactly the same thing, and attempt to ban and 'Exterminate' religion. Over the past week, this has come to me especially hard - It has had me questioning a lot of my current, and former beliefs, as well as my very perception of the world. I am an atheist, and I do not ever see myself turning to religion - Though for the first time ever, I am honestly ashamed to call myself such. I'm not going anywhere fast with this, and I kinda forgot what my original goal was. The point of this thread is I guess to serve as an apology for all of the shit that I stirred against some of you guys when I first joined, and hopefully show you that not all of us are hate filled, self absorbed jerks. I'm sorry.
You know all the stuff you believe is the exact opposite of my own beliefs. In a normal world I would hate you. But moments like this. Things like this make me respect you as much as a could any Right loving Bible thumping Republican Texan. I applaud you as a man who isn't afraid to alter his views. God bless you sir.
In a good world you shouldn't. It should be the norm to not hate someone for having a different belief than you if it doesn't harm anyone (and don't go into it harms them in the afterlife, I mean on this world). A religious person should not hate a non militant atheist who isn't trying to destroy religion and an atheist shouldn't hate a religious person who isn't trying to force his or her beliefs.
Yeah I messed that up. I mean like on paper we are opposites. There is nothing that would remotely attract me to him. Yet I was just saying these types of things are only done by good people. I just think the ability to change your views and say you were "wrong" makes you just as good as someone on the same page as myself.
You know there could be other things you can agree with him on other than religion right? Come to think of it now, you guys disagree on just about every issue. Well screw that logic then.
You'd think the all merciful God ( That aparently according to religon has threatened to destroy the universe more than 50+ times ) wouldn't care about your a religon, just if your a good human being. I think a Generous Jewish person has a better chance of getting into heavean then a greedy catholic person. Also does it really matter if your an athiest or not? We are all human beings. P.S Congrats on 420 posts.
Access to heaven isn't measured by your good works, but your faith in God. So if you are faithful to your Gods, you will go to Heaven. Thank Martin Luther. No matter how much you say or do, there are people willing to forgive you for it. I accept your apology.
so is hitler in heaven but im not going to heaven because he was a christian and im not, that dossent seem fair. atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists. there is also positive and negative atheism i guess you used to be a negative atheist.
Well the biggest reason there's hatred on atheist side is that religion jumps to your everyday life. Like suicide bombing etc you get the picture I think many atheist have had this experience "I have had it with these motherfucking religious people on this motherfucking planet!"
Ignorance & strong beliefs never go together & it doesn't matter whether your religious, non-religious, left-wing, right wing. The issue is that if you are informed it ties you somewhat to reality. It's quite hard to be an informed Creationist for example, but it's easy enough to be an informed Christian. But by being an Atheist you do not tie yourself to other Atheists, you don't have to apologise or say your ashamed of being an Atheist because some other guys are douchebags. I mean I get pissed off with religion from time to time. In the same way I get pissed off at the right, or the fact that everything in the Canteen seems to have Cheese in it.
It's a matter of faith. If you are truly sorry for your sins and believe in God, you get into heaven, simple as that. Hitler was certainly not an active christian. He had several quotes about his hate for Christianity. I don't know if he was sorry for his sins. That is a subjective question and we can't ask Hitler himself about it because he a burnt crisp.
In public, Hitler often praised Christian heritage and German Christian culture, and professed a belief in an "Aryan" jesus—a Jesus who fought against the Jews, i find this ironic since jesus was jewish.
They blamed the Jews for Jesus' death, something which a lot of people have said over the last 2000 years or so. Presumably they'd also try to claim Jesus was more the son of God than a son of the Jews or something like that.
