I believe that most Theists believe they are being honest in their claims. I think that they are usually indoctrinated so young, so early in life by parents, family and friends, that they are unable to actually accept truth. For them to admit doubt or "god-forbid" Atheism, would mean not only losing their god, but their faith in their parents and family as well as the repercussions of doing so.

That being said, I have not met any Christians that live the way they say the bible wants them to. I have never met one who did not judge, who did not hate, who did not do things completely out of context with the bible or what they profess to believe. I mean Jesus loved a whore/prostitute and did not judge her. But if these so called Christians see a gay man they all get judgemental, when In fact not one word is said about homosexuality in the new testament.

I don't think I have ever met a christian that has read the whole bible. So I think they all get their ideas about how they are suppose to act from sermons -

and so, my opinion is

They THINK they are taking the teachings seriously, and believe that whenever they screw up, even if on purpose, becuase they "believe" they are already forgiven.

I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness. They had a doctrine that lying to non-witnesses was OK if circumstances merited using the example of Rahab who lied to protect the Jewish spies. I believe Mormons have something similar when it comes to lying to the gentiles and I would guess a lot of fundamentalist religions have something similar. The problem here is anything can be justified using the Bible as a guide. I really believe that many Christians are honest and sincere in the beliefs and that is one of the biggest problems because the Bible is a terrible guide and most anything can be justified with it. What I’m trying to say here is if a person bases his morality on the bible, being honest and sincere toward a book takes on a meaning that most here would consider a complete detriment to society.

Living among a dense population of them, I hate to say that most seem to me to be hypocrites, but I do know some who are sincere.

The flock is generally sincere. The shepherds/preachers who fleece the flock, not so much. Some of them might believe honestly in what they say they're doing, but... Creflo Dollar? Pedophile priests?

Some are sincere, but as a general rule, the louder they are, the less sincerity they have.

I think that they are sincerely engaged in an eternal flight from the cognitive dissonance between Jesus's message and their own self-interest.

The so called teachings of Christ are basically just rules to live decently and interact with society in a thoughtful and considerate way.

The thing I find really hard to accept are theists who are outwardly intelligent and well educated still able to swallow the implausible concepts put forward by most religions. It almost seems that their religion stands outside their knowledge and experience in a separate area with a fence around it.

I believe each theist is different. I think some truly do believe. How else would you explain suicide bombers killing themselves for their "god"? I know a lot of Christians who believe some parts of their bible and not others. Would I say that they do not truly believe in their god? No, I think that each person's god is just a reflection of themselves or their inner desires. Therefor I think that some or most of them are sincere in their beliefs. If they were not sincere it would be much easier to show them the fallacies of their belief.

I would imagine there's a spectrum, those with tunnel vision in echo chambers, those with doubts, those who want to believe, and those that simply do.

I find them to be in a couple of camps. There are the ones who don't believe and/or only "believe" to be on the "safe side". They will readily admit that they really don't believe, and most people I know fall into this camp. The other, smaller group are the more fundamentalist types who have been fully brainwashed from birth and challenging their beliefs is challenging everything they have known in their life. I think that they sincerely believe, but I think that it comes from a place of fear rather than credulity.

They may sincerely believe what they are saying is true, but that doesn't mean they're honest. Honesty means you are telling the truth. Religious truths can't be proved and, therefore, can't be honest.

Remember, Christ does fly off the deep end from time to time to flip tables and whip people. His teachings are a great facade, Christians will always ignore the bad and embrace the good.

It is because they have the ability to keep what they like and ignore what they don't-- as well as not having a clue as to what is actually in their "holy" book. And, I agree that some teachings attributed to Jesus are admirable, although not unique to him; but, he supposedly believed in an eternal Hell-- and that is a pretty horrible belief.

"Does anyone believe that theists are generally honest and sincere in their claims?"

Well 'generally'? Who knows but 'often' maybe yeah pehaps.

I used to be a theist, but not a member of a particular religion. Now I'm an atheist again...

"For whatever reason, I can't shake the feeling that I actually don't beleive most religious people are sincere."

Ah! 'Can't shake the feeling' eh? - Well most theists can't shake the feeling that there's some god but feelings aren't generally reliable means of gleaning the truth are they?

"Yes, I'm mostly talking about Christians, because I interact with and mostly know them."

Well maybe many of the ones you know aren't honest & maybe they are but how can we really know? Go on nothing better than feelings? What's wrong with saying 'I don't know' when you really don't & can't?

"Honestly, I'd love to live in a society modeled after Christ's teachings, even as an atheist."

Really? Jesus said a lot of unsupportable nonsense as well as decent stuff.

"However, I think one only needs to look at the state of the US, or the world, to dismiss any reasonable claim that Christians as a whole take those teachings seriously."

On;y if you cherry pick the sensible stuff he said but remember he said people were possessed by demons too. Should we follow Jesus' lead & open special clinics for the demon possessed & employ exorcists to rid them of them or spend our efforts building secular health care centers instead?

"Thoughts?"

I'm not 'against' a lot of what Jesus was alleged to have said jut let's not forget that if the Buy Bull is to believed he also said:

"But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them--bring them here and kill them in front of me.'" according to Luke 19:27 and...

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to bring peace, but a sword." according to Matthew 10:34. Does this really really sound like a guy we want to get behind or like Kim Ju Un who could probably be quoted saying some lovely stuff too if enough cherry picking is used?

My experience is they ask for forgiveness on Sunday and then do whatever they please every other day without any conscience! I don't trust them either!

Actually, they are some of the worst, most confused, racist, sexist people I've ever met- generally speaking. They are also intellectually challenged if they really believe that woman came from a rib, and that a baby can be conceived w/o sex. However, if there's anything that I do hold on to regarding my Catholic upbringing, it's some of Jesus' teachings. For instance, treat others as you'd like to be treated, and the story of the Good Samaritan are both teachings that I think we should live by. Everything else in the bible can be thrown away, especially belief in a supreme being.

I have met many Christians and I have met about 4 that follow the teachings and message of Jesus.

Christians are notorious for cherry picking from the bible.
That to me that is dishonest, but it doesn't necessarily mean they aren't sincere, I think many of them can be hypocrites about the so-called teachings of Christ, it's simply The Golden Rule that we need to follow.
No need for magic to do that.

I agree many Christians are hypocritical as hell, but there are good people who are Christian as well. I believe that there are people who will be kind, caring human beings regardless of there beliefs, and there will be assholes who just use religion as a self-righteous justification for thinking they're better than everyone else.

I agree that its not taken seriously nor even considered to be a realistic ethics plan by religious folk. Its mostly a front for unethical power play using religious words as a propaganda.

I don't think you can put all religious people into one box on this one.

Some of them are questioning their faith, or have been for a long time, but feel they can't say anything because they will be ostracized. Others I think genuinely do believe.

Sometimes because they actually looked into other religions, and the one the chose "speaks to them" in some way, or they think their logic is sound. And sometimes they are just brainwashed from childhood.

I find Christians twisted in their thinking .

When you speak of theists as christians I think you're referring to the predominant population of bible thumpers in the bible belt inclusive of other parts of the country especially where there are retired people. I don't think these people are entirely honest and sincere based on their actions and the positions they publicly take politically. I believe the catholic community and perhaps a few other different religions are sincere in their actions and claims. But the followers of the 700 club, Jim Bakker and his ilk are all not to be trusted.

Theists are not honest or sincere because they have doubts and often they are anti atheist because we remind them of those e doubts. A theist lives by cognitive dissonance and magical thinking. Taken out of context, the "positive" teachings of Jesus were not unique to the Jesus character. Jesus said many horrible things, which can easily be googled. Here is a description of the fictional Jesus that I like to post: The Jesus character cured the leper, but not leprosy. He cured the blind man, but not blindness. He fed the multitudes and yet billions of living creatures, human and non-human die of starvation. He raised his friend from the dead, but every living creature dies. He cursed an innocent fig tree, sent demons into a herd of innocent pigs (why were pigs in a Jewish country), and he suffered less than three days of an inconvenience, since he is not dead, according to the story. He stole 12 men from their families, advised the poor to be complacent and to give unto Caesar, and his story differs from gospel to gospel. This is a god who fathered himself, sacrificed himself to himself, in order to appease his blood lust, and yet those who cannot see any evidence are condemned to eternal suffering, despite the virtue of their lives. There is no biological, historical, anthropological, nor archaeological evidence of his existence. He knew nothing about refrigeration, antibiotics, or where the sun went at night. This is a man who knew nothing of running water or hygiene, even preaching against hand washing, and he and his mother shit in the street. This is the king of kings.

A slightly different perspective. Mainstream Christians and Catholics are, I think, for the most part sincere and as honest about it as they can be. They are also not the ones making the big claims and they generally keep their religious views to themselves -- except during major holidays, and even then they tend to be a bit moderate.

The fundamentalist evangelical crowd is another story altogether. It is from this gang that we get most of the vociferous apologists and advocates of one scheme or another. I suspect that they are struggling to support what they think they believe and I think it is among this group that the greatest number of hypocrites are found. My dealings with them over the years tends to tell me that they are largely uncertain, thus the push to prove and convince.

They are also, in my opinion, dangerous. It is they and their cohorts on the fringe who fight to get their wacko ideas into the school system, into politics, and generally force the rest into their mold. They actively strive to establish a theocracy.

I claim that theists behave in their daily life EXACTLY the same as atheists. That is, they take out insurance, go to doctor when sick, look both ways before crossing streets, work hard to make more money and not rely on God etc etc. So I think they are not entirely honest in their claims. It's a way of deluding oneself to give ourselves confidence and the moral support we need.