there seems to me to be way to much animosity towards religion....these things will pass..... be happy with your freedom....
I disagree.
I have just the right amount of hostility toward religion...not too much, not too little...just right.
Tastes good. Try some.
being wary is one thing ... hostility could get you shot..
@blzjz Not if you exercise discretion, and respect your enemy and his or her opinions.
My handyman is a Christian...good guy, knows his stuff. I don't confront him, find ways around the subject; we get along fine.
I have no quarrel with him, just his beliefs. He doesn't know any better. Unlike Christians, I feel no compulsion to 'convert' him. Besides it'd probably only sow discord and discontent and, as you say, might even get me in trouble.
Not interested in THAT!
Religion is not a benign entity...they try to force their beliefs on everyone else. Look how Christianity has attempted to become the defacto state religion here in the U.S.
It is exactly this reason that should drive animosity towards Christianity. Religion is not benign in America.
So true!!!
When religion coerces, forces, shames, shuns and discriminates then animosity should be expected. Not to mention sometimes some of my tax dollars go to supporting their delusional thinking and false beliefs.
then you (we) are screwed...but it will pass.... relax and enjoy your truths..
I agree.
Beware of this poster..he just likes to stir the pot to get a reaction. Ugh!
@2muchstupidity Who me? You don't know me so you can't be referring to me.
@2muchstupidity, @blzjz All I'm sayiing is there should be accomodation for us and as much respect for us as they demand from us for them.
I was referring to the poster who said he was free because he didn't believe in animosity.
Sometimes when you post a comment, you can't tell who you are answering.
@2muchstupidity ....UGH as much as you want...if having a different opinion is a crime then I am guilty...
A quote I've always liked.
“With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion.”
― Steven Weinberg
It isn't exactly "animosity towards religion", it is the way organized religion treats others, IMO, in direct contradiction to WWJD!
sometimes I don't understand the acronyms... WWJD?....
Yes. We need to shout at all of the pedophiles and make it known what they are doing to children! If everyone stayed quiet out of fear and intimidation, then they win.
@2muchstupidity pedophiles are not all religious zealots....just bad people..
@blzjz What Would Jesus Do? They are supposed to ask themselves that before they act/react. I sure do not see much of that idea in action!!!
BTW you can Google acronyms.
@AnneWimsey I am with blzjz on this, I had to google WWJD the first time I encoutered it on this site. Too many acronyms are not good. This is after all, an international site, and few countries share the same conventions, it seems unreasonable to over use acronyms, unless they are very common and international, when that means making fifty people google something.
@AnneWimsey Jesus wants family members to draw their swords and kill each other.
There are certain siblings I don't like, but I think I'll not do what Jesus would, in this case.
White supremacists and religion are interlinked.
ya but they all will die too...
The texastan school board determines the content of the majority of textbooks used in schools in the US.
These books are full of bullshit because of the militancy of the christers.
Animosity is the least i feel toward these shitheads demanding children learn absolute lies.
Yes they may pass, (not proved but ok) and I am happy in my freedom. But I reserve the right to be outraged, on behalf of those of my fellow humans, and other creatures, who still suffer, and to fear that I may one day be among them.
outrage is a form of violence...I ignore the noise..
I agree!!
"Trump hosts pastor who says Jews are going to hell at White House Hanukkah party"
Do I need to explain this to you?
no and I am not surprised .. and I am free and happy because I don't care what fools say
@blzjz you bet, Trump is a fool, for sure
Moronic sheep worship invisible gods. By the way, there is no freedom if even some of us are not free. You sound suspiciously like another nutcase on this site to stir up shit.
Yeah. We don't need one more nutcase when I'm here.........wait,,,,,,,,,never mind.
of course I am..... that is what my freedom has given me...
I agree with you. This person likes to stir the pot...he's full of shit!!
@2muchstupidity I'll tell you who are full of shit. The pedophile Catholic Priests!!!!
*too
Do you realize what will happen to many of those freedoms if the zealots get their way? A Christian doctor will be allowed to refuse to treat those he/she disagrees with. Corporations will be able to refuse insurance coverage for procedures that the corporation doesn't believe in. Animosity towards religion is necessary to retain many of our freedoms.
for one thing it means there will be $$ in catering to atheists and agnostics ....and we already choose our Dr. to be a social awareness match...
@blzjz You have the benefit of living in a "socialist" country according to our rightwing wackjob fundies. In the US where most of us have our health plans dictated to us by our employers that is definitely not the case. You can enjoy your utopia in the snow but for those of us facing a wannabe Christian Taliban resistance to their theocracy is essential.
I like my freedom which is why I cannot just sit back and be happy while Conservative Evangelical Christians are trying very hard to use the government to take other people's freedoms away.
Oh, and many of them are trying their best to bring about world instability in order to bring on Armageddon so their Jesus can return. And, as a corollary, they don't give a rip about the planet.
So, sorry...we don't have the luxury of just sitting around until it passes.
Just to throw my own bullshit into this, I'm sick of the Bible thumpers , I'm sick of the Trumpsters, I'm sick of racists and women bashers!! I really just want to be left alone anymore. I like getting on here and vent. Nobody really gives a shit about anybody anyway, it' s just paying the bills and trying to survive. Those Muslims decapitate woman for nothing, treat women like dogs....I'm sick of that primitive bullshit too.......gone, them people are animals...
It's not animosity. Yes, It is freedom. Many here have been hurt by religion. The world is hurt by religious killings, holding back population control (not even contraception), denying climate change, in cahoots with big money, dictating who to vote for. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just keep the beautiful things about religion and trash the rest. In the meantime, Graham tells us to pray for Trump ignoring the plight of our country. But you can go and get healed by the super rich Christian healers. DO NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD IN VAIN. There's your religion.
Oh, I most definitely feel major animosity.
No question. It's animosity.
@KKGator Perhaps so but not without reason. People have been hurt.
@think-beyond People will always be hurt. It's in human nature to be violent.
Religion just helps a lot of people justify what they do to others.
I hear a lot of people around here call themselves "warriors for Christ".
There is no reason to their agendas.
They WANT to hurt people who don't believe the way they think they 'should'.
This is true!
I think there's a big difference between animosity and righteous indignation.
You try living in the USA where you can get fired for being an Atheist.
We are not living in the "land of freedom".
Do your cops shoot you dead on the frequency they do here?
@JohnnyQB KKK, ever heard of them? Truth Keepers?
@genessa Sorry, I had enough of his nonsense. Blocked.
@PondartIncbendog can't blame you. peace of mind is valuable too.
g
@genessa I'm not very logical on this one. I worked for a minister who was a white supremacist. I'm half Japanese and atheist. Guess how that went?
@PondartIncbendog haha i am guessing it went south pretty quickly!
by the way, i lived in japan for 10 years. a japanese film producer meant his description of me as a compliment, and i took it as such, when he said i was "jewpanese." my ethnicity is jewish; i am, like you, an atheist.
g
@PondartIncbendog if you feel so snowflaked (new verb) by @genessa then you are going to block a lot of folks here. I've yet to block anyone, myself. But I invite you to block me.
@Beowulfsfriend Thanks for the defense but Pondar has not blocked me and was not referring to me
g
@JohnnyQB Evidently not...
Reprimanding people and telling them to be happy and grateful and not have feelings, like you're the king of peace or something. Not ok.
Guy shoulda been a preacher.
If we would just all cooperate...........relax,,,,,,,,,,conform.........
then you don't understand I am sorry to say
When the government of my country (run by a cultist) is passing legislation allowing cults to discriminate against those they do not like I will be angry and I will fight for them to be held accountable for their hate and discrimination. We are not allowed to discriminate against them for the same reasons (we are not a cult) but they are allowed to refuse, help (as in medical, emergency care), services (as in selling a wedding cake), resources (as in a homeless shelter), employment, (termination of employment based on sexual orientation, marriage status etc) just because their book of lies says they don't agree with it.
In the US, they already do all that.
There is supposed to be separation between church and state.
It's in the Constitution, but it gets ignored with alarming frequency.
The christians have taken over and force their beliefs on everyone.
They must be stopped.
You clearly meant not enough animosity.
@Gwendolyn2018 Well in the west animosities have stopped the religious from being allowed to burn atheist in the town square, they have been stopped from banning books, they have been stopped from persecuting and ostracising non believers, they lost the power of the ridiculous law of blasphemy and the censorship associated with it, it has stopped them demeaning women and persecuting gay people.
In short being outraged at religion in the west has allowed reasonable people to rob religion of about 50% of it's dangerous power in the west.
@Gwendolyn2018 You're probably correct.
@Gwendolyn2018 Laws do not change without a demand for them to do so, anger at injustice is always a great motivator for change.
@ToolGuy
Seriously? The last witchcraft trials pursued by the C of E were in 1945, homosexuality was only legalised in the UK in the late 1960s, Blasphemy laws were never fully repealed but were rather decriminalised in the UK and still exist in Ireland, spain and other western countries.
Sex discriminate was only outlawed in 1975 but the churches were given an exemption, churches don't pay taxes.
The state of Theological power is even worse in the USA
Please don't accuse me of lying when you obviously are misinformed
@ToolGuy You said quote "@LenHazell53 That is not true." this implies you find my statements to be a lie, you do not have to call me a liar to imply that I am one.
I too have been an activist, how ever unlike you I was not willing to make bedfellows of evil idiots who while apparently defying their own holy book would not renounce it and would on every possible occasion try to water down the demands for equality expressed in favour of gaining exceptions for their own theocratic abominations.
I think so many people here, especially from the US has been so hurt by religion that they are now lashing out. But if they were thinking rationally it is not the religion that is the problem but the people who are part of the religion.
Don't blame the sinner, blame the sin?
There seems to be way too much misunderstanding about what "religion" is, and isn't. I'm happy to give full credit for that misunderstanding to Richard Dawkins, Chris Hitchens, and a tip o' the hat to Sam Harris. What they really meant was corrupt religion, and they know it, and have said as much, but they continue to forget to voice the adjective.
It's the same human corruption you will find in all human institutions, which we ordinarily assume to need ongoing reform rather than elimination. Animosity toward a feature of human nature is just animosity toward oneself. When we become convinced we are simple machines that can remain healthy on a diet of nothing but objective knowledge, vital as it is, then we are free to marinate in our resentment for the rest of our lives. Ahhh, freedom!
Oh gee, thanks for setting us all straight: it's CORRUPT religion we should be hostile toward, not all the good, decent religions full of light and wisdom!
Got it. Thanks.
Now explain to me how an organization can be wise when it is based on fiction and outright lies.
Explain how to reform a falsehood to make it better, how that's preferable to simply eliminating it.
Explain to me the shortcomings of OBJECTIVE, verifiable TRUTH, and in what ways exactly it is "unhealhy."
Will pass? Based upon what, history?
They don't set us on fire anymore! I think,,,,,,,,,
@PondartIncbendog not because they don't want too.
@1of5 A few more months of winter and I'll appreciate being on fire.
@PondartIncbendog "teach a man to build a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life"*
*some internet genius
Religion deserves abolition, not animosity.
But does not the Christian bible clearly state " Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." ???
So, in essence, all we are doing is giving like for like, Quid Pro Quo in fact, since they HAVE been doing exactly what they wanted all along what they wanted done to them?
@Triphid The bible is full of lies and contradictions.
@Triphid Can we set them on fire now? ,,,,,,,,Please?
@PondartIncbendog No, since that causes pollution and they've polluted the world more than enough with their bullshit anyway, haven't they?
Perhaps recycling them into becoming decent, free-thinking, moral humans would be a far better idea?
Can't do it. Won't do it.
Religion is evil and must be destroyed.
It deserves every ounce of animosity it has earned.
If "these things will pass" were true, it would have happened by now.
I will use my freedom to work against it's continued influence on public policy.
It's actively destroying people's lives and I will not sit idly by while it does.
There is no more "live and let live". That doesn't work. It has NEVER worked.
All there is left to do is to fight fire WITH fire.
Do as you wish, but don't tell me what to do.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
― Edmund Burke.
@Gwendolyn2018 Wow. Went straight to "extermination", didn't ya?
If "these things will pass" were true, it would have happened by now.
BINGO
@Gwendolyn2018 Look, human nature isn't going to change. We suck. We've always sucked.
Humans are inherently violent, and it's really all we understand, as a collective.
Especially now.
It would be really nice if "love" conquered all, but it doesn't.
It never has, and it never will.
Gotta fight fire with fire.
I disagree. I have animosity because religion divides and separates people to start with along with many other hurtful things it does.
I have lost family members because of it and been judged because of it . Many people have been discriminated and killed by it. Yes, I'm mad as hell about religion and I'm not going to apologize.
I am no lover of religion... but I sure won't lose sleep over it....
@blzjz I don't lose sleep over people who have a religion and practice it. I do lose sleep when they start trying to force their religion, via the government, onto the rest of us. And, right now, that is exactly what the Right Wing, Evangelical, Dominionist/Christian Imperialist, end of the world believers are doing.