LINK Do You Hate God? | The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser
I had to share this because I’ve seen this topic broached here before. Religious people can’t get it through their noggins that we don’t BELIEVE in God, to hate him.
I love this blogger btw. He was a fire-and-brimstone preacher most of his life (his life story is very interesting) and became an atheist in his 50s, which shows us that there’s always hope. And since he’s an ex-preacher, he’s dangerous, because he knows what he’s talking about.
My hatred is reserved for certain aspects of some religions. Since I live in the United States, my experience has primarily been with the Christian religion, especially the Evangelical form of Christianity. While I think the essence of Christianity can provide value and substance for some people — even in our modern, scientific world — I am convinced that twenty-first-century Christianity is so far afield from its original intent that it has ceased to be Christianity at all. How does the Christianity of today, in any of its various forms, remotely resemble the teachings and faith of Jesus, the poor, itinerant do-gooder of first-century Palestine.
To be fair there are some churches that do manage to justify their existence, doing good for a lot of people, but unfortunately that brand of Christianity is not prevalent in the American political sphere at this time. Seems to me that when any religious group is the majority, in any country, it’s the WORST version of that religion that is represented in the government overall.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Thanks for the link.
While I don't 'hate' 'God' (there are very few things I 'hate' ), I do dislike it intensely.
Think of all the waste that would be eliminated If the imaginary entity were to vanish from people's minds.
Maybe folks would devote themselves to doing genuine-good works rather than posturing to sort-of-good works. Maybe some people would anyway.
RichCC
Level 8
Sep 29, 2019
0
Moore
Beautiful dragons
A dragon was my first major sculpture in sand. Made a living from sandsculpture for 45 years. A dragon is an image for me for imagination, if there is anything Godlike, it is imagination.
I agree with this man's words as I read them but I do not give the god concept enough consideration to be able to hate an invisible imaginary being. This guy needs to do an honest study for himself of how we got the bible. I did and I'm a preacher no more. Bible study is good for making you atheist. I cannot hate imaginary beings. Well, maybe Zeus. 
DenoPenno
Level 9
Sep 29, 2019
2
Politics has no god. No matter the faith or lack of faith, Politics persists and makes use of anything human lying around.
CapriKious
Level 7
Sep 29, 2019
2
@altschmerz I would think that politics precedes religion, other than individual "transcendent" experiences, The socialization of those individual senses, through politics would seem the creator of organized religion.
@altschmerz
No atheist in high office, very little Godlike action neither, plenty of good hypocritics.
That always cracks me up, how they think we hate something that does not even exist. That is like saying I hate fire-breathing dragons (of course dragons are cool as fuck).
<img src="[scontent.fcmh1-1.fna.fbcdn.net]; alt="No photo description available."/>
mooredolezal
Level 7
Sep 29, 2019
3
Being a white man, maybe I would ride on that dragon.
@altschmerz, @Castlepaloma <img src="[scontent.fcmh1-1.fna.fbcdn.net]; alt="No photo description available."/>
The religious professional cannot admit that Atheists simply do not believe, the concept is dangerous to them, they must maintain the illusion to their "Flock" that their is not a possibility of their NOT being a a god and therefore the atheist is in denial, is a liar and KNOWS the "truth" but ignores or denies it out of hate, or evil intent, or is like some celestial James Bond out to practice espionage on the divine plan of god and send everyone to Hell.
LenHazell53
Level 9
Sep 29, 2019
2
I think most religion is a tool to control and brainwash the masses. I hate how it's being used to justify hate in this country. Those clearly either didn't read the Bible or don't care because they use from it what they want for their own agendas. Sickening.
flatlinegamer
Level 4
Nov 15, 2019
1
What I hate is the use of God (or any other supernatural assertion) as an excuse to hate, torture, kill, steal from, or enslave other human beings.
sterlingdean
Level 6
Nov 5, 2019
0
How can one hate something that does not exist?
old90210hahaha
Level 3
Oct 6, 2019
1
It's kinda backward that religious people are not only still being told that irreligious people hate god in 2019, but they also BELIEVE it when they hear it, or feel the need to pass on the nonsense.
Can people really be this devoid of sensibility?
DZhukovin
Level 7
Sep 30, 2019
1
Exactly. Wash my butt and ears, Mommy. Not my brain. Bad Mommy. You so bad, Mommy.
Being human, one can hate anything, even an unreal thing. We are weird, aren't we? No matter, we are what we are by chances and coincidences and occurrences. Thus we are natural. Anyway, it isn't logical or healthy to hate something that you don't believe in. Only angry believers can hate their god. Or other believers can hate other believers' and their gods.
Beowulfsfriend
Level 9
Sep 30, 2019
1
By coincidence, this is the first time I've noted your presence here, being relatively new. the coincidence is that I am in the midst of reading "Beowulf.!"
@BirdMan1 enjoy. One of my favorites.
@BirdMan1 I like Seamus Healy's translation of Beowulf. It is newish, early 90's. There are many. Once you've conquered the story, try Grendel by John Gardener for a new twist - told from Grendel's POV.
@Beowulfsfriend I finished J.R.R.Tolkien's translation today. I expect that I will, indeed, seek out Healy's version, as well as Gardener's version. Tolkien wrote a story, of his own, "...suggesting what might have been the form an style an Old English folktale of Beowulf." Tolkien finished his translation in 1926, and his son edited the work and the book.
Tolkien also wrote two songs, or lays, of Beowulf, that are quite charming, if a bit gory, included at the end of the book.
If something is by some definition "God," it most certainly isn't any God of which I am aware!
THAT God would not be hate-worthy.
The Abrahamic gods are, however, loathsome cariactures, not in any way connected to reality.
Since I'm an "agnostic Neo-Deist," however, unlike my atheist loudmouth co-respondents, I have no idea what "reality" might be.
Storm1752
Level 8
Sep 30, 2019
1
I am an atheist because I do not believe any gods exist. I don't claim to have all of the knowledge of the universe.
@altschmerz Except for natural law, which is uniformly constant.
Every quark, every molecule, every animal--including man--follows it. No exceptions.
@altschmerz, @Joanne Neither do I.
But you DO claim to "know" there is no god by any definition, which is a LOT to know!
I often tell theists I hate their conceptions of god(s) they put forth, in addition to the certainty they claim.
WilliamCharles
Level 8
Sep 30, 2019
1
i can't see hating something that doesnt exist, dislike the concept of a god or gods yes, hate, naw, just can't hate it cuz like i said, doesn't exist.
cobra3282000
Level 6
Sep 29, 2019
1
Couldn't agree more. However, I think the rotten underbelly of religion was always there. In times of social stress the real face of religion shows itself.
JackPedigo
Level 9
Feb 21, 2020
0
The fallacy that I can hate something that does not exist immediately brings out the heavy sarcasm in me. Because hey! I really do hate Lord Foul the Despiser, being both a four thousand year old man with leprosy and dead on a slab with a knife through my heart. Do I win £5?
In the end, I've found that no amount of discourse, no matter how polite, can overcome such confirmation bias. Or as George Carlin once quipped: "Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience."
Thomas-Covenant
Level 4
Oct 29, 2019
0
It's a very moving piece. Kinda makes you want to adopt him, doesn't it? I mean that in the way this site appears to do that; everyone sort-of adopting everyone else on their journey into something more rational.
I find the SHOUTY CAPS COMMENTS a little hard on my autism, but I do persevere, just to see what that clearly irate individual is saying. The antichrist thing is more of the "you're either for God or for Satan" codshit. No, genius, I'm for neither, since they're both bunk. In the latter's case, most likely bunk created to discredit the pagan god of fertility, the former's case being more complex than I can articulate in one short reply.
If you've read anything about Thomas Jefferson, it also puts me in mind of that. Essentially, when he was younger, he came to the conclusion that praying did sod-all, then he decided to go through the Bible and cut out all the horse hockey. I amused myself reading that at the time, imagining him with his pencil going "That's codshit. That's codshit too. WTF is THAT? Okay, that bit's quite nice. That bit's sound advice. Codshit... codshit... yeah, do unto others, that one's good... codshit... codshit..." and so forth.
Pascal's Wager reminds me of Bertrand Russell, who spent the last seventeen years of his life about 22 miles from where I'm sat right now. If memory serves, when asked about dissing the Almighty, his response was something like "Why would I do that? I might be wrong."
N.B. I'm with George on another point: I think I might start worshipping Joe Pesci. Maybe he'll come and sort out that smack dealer they've let out of prison and back into the flat opposite, for all his customers to come around night and day shouting my name in the square (his real name and my real name are the same).
@altschmerz Yes, I'm Type-1 autistic, formerly known as Asperger's Syndrome, but that doesn't begin to cover my spots on the spectrum. A fair bit of ADHD too, which I'm assured by a geneticist isn't autism but is neurodivergent. Different markers. Got my diagnosis at 47. No.1 Son got his at 7; made a lot of difference. Long, boring story I won't write here, not least of which because it's part of something I'm writing for myself.
It's not loud noises per se with me. People honking their horns illegally outside my window (or anywhere) grips my shit, depending on how loud and persistent it is. Certain frequencies don't agree with me. Certain combinations of numbers or patterns do or don't do my head in. Egregious claptrap presented as fact without anything to support it, which is one reason I'm here. I don't mind anecdotal evidence per se, it's the idea that there are things science cannot explain. No, there are things science hasn't explained, and that's not remotely the same thing.
@altschmerz It's all about coping mechanisms. I've raised a son with autism too, and over the years, had more and more conversations with him as he's got older, and with my twin sister and elder sister too. As our own understanding of how it affects us specifically and others in general increases, on we go.
I just despise the people who push their silly, ignorant, hate-filled beliefs on others...
Lizard_of_Ahaz
Level 9
Oct 28, 2019
0
Yeah, I hate "god". Just like I hate flying horses, dragons in my garage and snakes that talk.
PondartIncbendog
Level 8
Oct 18, 2019
0
The trouble is deeper than mere existence or non-existence of a divine entity. The trouble is inherent in human ability to ignore the worst of our nature. I don't mean that humans are inherently violent, nor are we inherently emphatic - the point is to recognise how some identities, when not contemplated and accepted subtly, become poisonous and harmful to those who differ slightest from our organised belief.
NishantX
Level 2
Oct 18, 2019
0
It's not god I dislike. It's the concept of god(s) that I despise. Huge difference.
As for churches justifying their existence I would disagree. You do not need churches or religion to do good.
Gawd
Level 5
Oct 8, 2019
0
Gawd:
@altschmerz Exactly. And there are many better substitutes for a community than churches.
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