My views are quite different than most, because I generally do not think as locally as most people.
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If you live in a residential neighborhood, you have kids, and some clown comes barreling down the street at 90 mph, even if he is your friend, you are going to get pissed off an call him out for his bad behavior . . . That does not necessarily guarantee an end to your friendship, but it certainly has that potential.
This analogy is just as relevant to other forms of dangerous behavior. Granted, it is possible that a friend may just not see that what they are doing is destructive, but it sure is not acceptable to me to let someone going on being destructive . . . What I see on a world-wide scale, (and there are pretty large majority of American ostriches sticking their heads in the sand on this issue) is people who are supporting "patriotism", wars, illegal actions in other countries, for example the bombing of the Libyan water supply, the use of depleted uranium in weapons, white phosphorous, promotion of unjustified wars, support for Israel, which is one of the most racist countries in the world, and have you ever noticed how whenever the USA is bombing a country, it is never a country with people who have white skin and always a different culture? Iraq . . . . roughly one million people killed . . . . and much suffering afterward as a result of depleted uranium use in weapons. And who is it that votes these crazy, war-loving christians into office, and how many times have you seen a major church leader stand up against all the illegal wars?
Unfortunately, to the vast majority of Americans, these things . . . are things that they seem to think are nothing more significant than watching a war movie, with just as much indifference and nonchalance. Add to this, the belief that many of these people hold with regard to "end times", where many believe that they can actually instigate the second coming via helping Israel to the point of rebuilding the temple and also by war, their complete disregard for the environment, and you can bet that if I have a friend, s/he is going to get tested on these things, because as I see it, it is worse than the idiot driving through your neighborhood at 90 mph. Just the other day, I saw an article about how in Syria, an American military vehicle attempted to run a Russian military vehicle off the road . . . . the USA has no business whatsoever in Syria, they were not invited in, they invaded, and if you look up the UN reports on the so-called poison gas claims, you will not find one sliver of substantiation of the claim that Assad used poisonous gas . . . it was all an excuse for the US to interfere, just like country after country that can be named, and what most people fail to see is that if they do not stop this out-of-control terrorist organization in Washington, they are going to wake up to a day . . . . when we are entering into a new world war . . . . and if that is not driving at 90 mph down a dead end street, I do not know what is . . . . . people are not thinking of their children's future, they think all the wars will end, they will then go back to what they were doing beforehand, but most likely scenario is that if it comes to all-out war, . . . . it will end in multiple huge nuclear blasts . . . followed by a very long silence.
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Who my friends are is my business, and I have every right to know where they stand on such issues. I refuse be a friend of someone (christian, agnostic, atheist or other) who clearly has blood on their hands, and is perpetuating it all, and if that means I have less friends, then so be it.

A friend is a friend... Period.. friends are important wherever you find them...

Of course you are correct in everything you say, People should be judged not on the religious labels they or others attach to them, but on their character as human beings. Kindness and empathy bypasses all other beliefs and reaches out person to person, even when there is a language barrier. I’m glad to hear your friend is giving something back and not being selfish with his wealth and good fortune, he sounds like a great guy.

God belief isn't the problem per se, it's the actions which result from what one believes.

If you're doing good for others, the actions matter. If you're refusing to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, or not letting women learn to read or drive, that's a problem.

In that case, I'm judging the behaviour. The religion just happens to be the reason for it and also good reason not to be friends with someone.

Thanks for this. There are Christian, Hindu, Atheist,Agnostic,Buddhist, Muslim,and Druid assholes as well as saints. Many have learned this lesson regarding races, Now we need to learn it in other ways as well. I firmly believe it is what people do more than what they say.

Everyone has the right to their beliefs and opinions. The rub comes in when anyone believes everyone should think as they do.

Good equals happiness. Delusion does not stop one doing good.

Good people exist with or without god. Good people show empathy and kindness with or without god. I've got friends from all walks in life regardless of their religious following. We're all human beings and that's first and foremost. ...just don't pounce your religion on me and expect me to agree. You guys think beyond that and share what you have with those that don't and that is great.

Ditto!!! I fully agree with you on this. Not all religious people are stupid and closed minded. Good people are good people and that's it.

Neither of you puts your beliefs or non-beliefs before your friendship and the things you enjoy doing together. That's what matters. There are good decent people everywhere.

Perhaps he should be asked if he would feel and do the same things if he did not believe? Many of the religious act out of a future goal which is their own salvation.

Well said.
About the Agnostic 'versus' Atheist squabble, it's all good. I love my atheist friends, AND my Christian friends.
Just because they're wrong doesn't make them bad people.
In person-to-person interactions, we don't sit around debating about it; there is so much more to friendships than that.
Being a sports fan, that's always a good topic.
Right now, I'm much more interested in talking to my Christian handyman friend about how to construct my new pond with a fountain in the middle.
I gave him a copy of the Desiderata...he liked it.
So I'm not going to ruin good friendships by pouring salt in wounds and punching sore shoulders.
It's just on a site like this we have the liberty to discuss the fine points of all these disagreements at arm's length. In depth. Ad nauseum. Without permanently hurting most people's feelings.
There's value in that.

With you all the way.

I don't see why religion has to be a barrier to friendship. Why not put sporting affiliation or dietary preferences in the same context. I don't care if someone supports Manchester United, or if someone eats meat or if they are a Christian. (okay the Man Utd thing may be a stretch!)

If they are my friend I'll support them.

There are great Christians and fucked atheists. Its people at the end of the day not the label!

Absolutely correct I have many thesist friends

If I may offer , Jimmy Carter , in his 90's , is still helping to build homes for the poor , with Habitat for Humanity . There are indeed many who are good and decent people , who don't have to throw their religious beliefs at everyone else .

That is a very heartwarming story. I like that you both model what it means to value friendships and kindness above differences and disagreement.

Well done! Cheers to you and Walt.

Wholeheartedly Agree!

You don't have to justify your relationship with anyone to anybody. There are decent believers that deserve to be recognized for their humanism. However, when the line is blurred b/t good works & religion, then one should take a position. Good without a god.

Saints vs assholes.
Most of us are somewhere in between.

You can be a good person despite your religion or lack thereof.
The main difference is that atheists do not believe that theists deserve to be tortured forever because they disagree.

Many theists will say they don't believe that, but will still worship a god that hold that as a just doctrine and abnegate themselves from all responsibility by claiming they cannot know the mind of god, while still claiming a relation ship with said god.

So I am sorry, you friend maybe a good man, but if he is a Christian he is either an ignorant sheep or a fucking monster, like his god

Hear, hear.

My religious friend is rational on most things. It's just that he has no rationality at all when it comes to Jesus. He even views world events by comparing them to what he finds in the book of Revelation. It never enters his mind that this biblical book was not the only choice when the bible was compiled and assembled. Some people have a near fit when they hear you tell them things like this. They want a bible that was present in Jesus time and not one that came about in the 4th century.

Glad to share a name with someone like that.I am an atheist, but I agree, he is a good person.

My best friend is very devoutly fundamentalist Christian. Baptist, I believe. She is one of the kindest and most compassionate people I know. We each know the other's beliefs, or lack thereof, but it doesn't cloud our friendship. Character is what matters.

The reason many gravitste towards religion is that they want to be better people and think religion will help them to do so. What they don't realize is that they are already good people and don't need religion to be good people at all.

There are others that are good people that get bad ideas from religion. They also want to be good people. They want to do the ultimate good sometimes according to religion the ultimate good invloves little things like genocide or simple witch burning, beheadings etc.

These two types of "good" people are easily distinguished. In either case they would be better off being good without god.