Question...

[metsguy234]

Am I racist if all religions literally make me laugh out loud?

[etothep]

religions = race?

[OregonDuck1989]

Am I wrong if communism makes me literally laugh out loud?

[dickay]

Am I racist if all religions literally make me laugh out loud?

racist, probably not per the definition. prejudice, most definetly.

[metsguy234]

Well, I just think that all religions are just so outlandish that, it's like, pathetic...

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Well, I just think that all religions are just so outlandish that, it's like, pathetic...

To hell with other people's beliefs!

Oh wait! Hell involves religion! :rolleyes:

[dickay]

Well, I just think that all religions are just so outlandish that, it's like, pathetic...

I shall pray for you ;)

[justanewguy]

Definitely not "racist."

Not necessarily "prejudiced" as was mentioned, but possibly. And if you laugh at religions you know nothing about, prejudice is very likely.

It possibly makes you "sensible" in scientific terms, so long as you don't just find religion and faith funny for the sake of going against some sort of grain. Many people do this. If you do have information about beliefs, it's fine to react to them however you want, but understanding and respecting them is important, when it comes to being both intellectual AND kind.

However, I'd recommend spending less time laughing and more time learning. There's actually a whole lot that can be taken from religion, whether or not you buy into the oogly boogly aspect of all of it (gods, angels, ghosts, magic, and so on).

I'd definitely recommend reading about Buddhism. It's a very strong and well thought out philosophy, in my opinion. If you can suspend some disbelief and try to accept certain supernatural qualities of the religion as being metaphors or allegory (even in spite of the texts being so numerous it isn't even funny, it's an allegory within a long-winded library), you may learn a lot from it.

[etothep]

oogly boogly aspect

haha

[metsguy234]

I shall pray for you ;)

Please don't.

[RickD]

Metsguy you are definitely not racist but I would lean heavily towards prejudice as mentioned before.

I like the praying for you idea.

[metsguy234]

Metsguy you are definitely not racist but I would lean heavily towards prejudice as mentioned before.

I like the praying for you idea.

Praying for me wouldn't do anything for me.....

[RickD]

We'll see.

[metsguy234]

We'll see.

Yes we will see.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

I personally don't follow a particular religion or church. I do, however, believe in the existence of a greater being (IE - God), I just can't stand to actually follow a religion, but I'll leave it at that.

[RickD]

Yes we will see.

It's not personal.......it's not a threat of any kind...

[metsguy234]

It's not personal.......it's not a threat of any kind...
Well, it just seems pointless.

[RickD]

So maybe I'm pointless.....:D

Since you don't believe in religion though how can my prayers have any irreparable harm?

[justanewguy]

I love the concept of a prayer standoff. RickD prays for metsguy, then metsguy perhaps prays, atheilistically, against RickD's Christian prayer. I wonder who wins. I can even imagine two beams of supernatural force rising up from their homes and colliding in midair. I wonder what colors they'd be. I say one is orange, the other is navy.

[metsguy234]

I love the concept of a prayer standoff. RickD prays for metsguy, then metsguy perhaps prays, atheilistically, against RickD's Christian prayer. I wonder who wins. I can even imagine two beams of supernatural force rising up from their homes and colliding in midair. I wonder what colors they'd be. I say one is orange, the other is navy.

Agnostically.... and I don't pray, who would an agnostic pray to anyway? John Maine?


:D

[RickD]

No if metsguy absolutely does not want me to pray for him I won't force it. I don;t want him to feel he is being harmed in any way. I figured he wouldn;t mind since he doesn't believe in prayer anyways but if it bothers him I won't do it.

[ohms_law]

I think you ought to look up the work Agnostic, metsguy... based on your stated "beliefs", you're certainly not an agnostic.

[justanewguy]

An atheistic, or even an agnostic, prayer, is obviously an oxymoron and a joke.


No if metsguy absolutely does not want me to pray for him I won't force it.

Isn't it Christian duty to spread the Word and the gospel, and also to pray for the "lost?"

[etothep]

I think you ought to look up the work Agnostic, metsguy... based on your stated "beliefs", you're certainly not an agnostic.

if one wants to get technical agnostic is based on the greek word gnosis (to know), thus agnostic literally means to not know, which I think fits him quite well :p

but point taken

[RickD]

if one wants to get technical agnostic is based on the greek word gnosis (to know), thus agnostic literally means to not know, which I think fits him quite well :p

but point taken

Well he expresses a lack of belief more than a not knowing as Agnostic also can mean that you are willing to learn about what you don't know where as atheists refuse to believe period so Ohms would be right.



Isn't it Christian duty to spread the Word and the gospel, and also to pray for the "lost?"

We are called to preach the Gospel to all nations and to pray for others yes. However Christ did not force himself on others.

[etothep]

Well he expresses a lack of belief more than a not knowing as Agnostic also can mean that you are willing to learn about what you don't know where as atheists refuse to believe period so Ohms would be right.

figured the :p gave away the fact I was kidding :rolleyes:

And also, what makes you think atheists aren't willing to learn about what we don't know? I've studied (albeit not too in depth) Hindu, Buddhism, & Islam. And I'm willing to bet I'm more well versed in the Bible than a good majority of Christians. Hence why I know it's not for me. Also, while I was adverse to physics, chemistry, & calculus, I still was willing enough to learn it to pass the classes. :p



Here, :p is to insinuate that I'm speaking with tongue planted firmly in cheek (despite that the tongue on the face is, in fact, out of, or protruding from, the mouth)

[RickD]

figured the :p gave away the fact I was kidding :rolleyes:

and also, what makes you think atheists aren't willing to learn about what we don't know? I'm willing to bet I'm more well versed in the Bible than a good majority of Christians. Hence why I know it's not for me.

Sorry I missed the :p

I know many atheists who are willing to learn but I have found in my contacts and conversations with others, and this is with people I have talked to face to face, that generally agnostics are more open than atheists in these areas and MetsGuy's intolerance seems more atheistic IMO.

[ohms_law]

etothep beat me to it, regarding Atheists.

Anyway, being a self-described "devout Christian", I wouldn't expect many Atheists to be open to a discussion with you about their beliefs. Despite obviously good intentions, those conversations inevitably become confrontational, at least for many Atheists...
Agnostic people are less "threatened" with that type of discussion though, simply for the fact that they don't dis-believe in the existence of God. You're views aren't fundamentally opposed to those of an Agnostic's views.

Anyway, there are multiple stripes of Atheism. Metsguy currently falls under the very militant branch, which personally I don't support at all. Those of us who are non-militant about their Atheism seem to be more secure in our beliefs, in my experience. I can talk about all of this without feeling very threatened at all, simply for the fact that there's no way possible that you or anyone else could affect my viewpoint at this point... If Jesus himself literally appeared before me, I'd have a whole lot of questions for him before he could even begin to convert me to any brand of Christianity. (Feel free to insert any other religious icon and faith in the above sentence, as well)

[justanewguy]

etothep beat me to it, regarding Atheists.

Anyway, being a self-described "devout Christian", I wouldn't expect many Atheists to be open to a discussion with you about their beliefs. Despite obviously good intentions, those conversations inevitably become confrontational, at least for many Atheists...
Agnostic people are less "threatened" with that type of discussion though, simply for the fact that they don't dis-believe in the existence of God. You're views aren't fundamentally opposed to those of an Agnostic's views.

Anyway, there are multiple stripes of Atheism. Metsguy currently falls under the very militant branch, which personally I don't support at all. Those of us who are non-militant about their Atheism seem to be more secure in our beliefs, in my experience. I can talk about all of this without feeling very threatened at all, simply for the fact that there's no way possible that you or anyone else could affect my viewpoint at this point... If Jesus himself literally appeared before me, I'd have a whole lot of questions for him before he could even begin to convert me to any brand of Christianity. (Feel free to insert any other religious icon and faith in the above sentence, as well)

Well said.

I give metsguy a "pass" because he's young, and I encouraged him to learn and understand, rather than simply ridicule, beliefs. I don't think it's really a matter of being militant, as much as a matter of finding a school of thought and being vehement about it to reaffirm one's own newfound beliefs. That and, not really being too well versed in critical thinking and open exchange of information and opinion.

With maturity and experience, of course, comes wisdom.

Heh... I think if Jesus *appeared* before me, I'd probably be rather convinced based on that alone, that some person I read about as being God, but doubted, suddenly appeared out of thin air. That's some pretty strong evidence of something. :)

[oriole^]

Wouldn't want to be atheist. You miss all the good holidays. :)

[ohms_law]

Heh... I think if Jesus *appeared* before me, I'd probably be rather convinced based on that alone, that some person I read about as being God, but doubted, suddenly appeared out of thin air. That's some pretty strong evidence of something. :)
That's fine and all, but it wouldn't be enough for me by a long shot. I'd immediately wonder how he did it, of course, but there's no way that I'd believe that his ability to "magically appear" is based on any sort of magic, divine or otherwise. Actually, asking how he accomplished such a feat would probably be one of my first questions. Who knows, I could then go on to be fabulously rich after that conversation by being the first one to patent a method of practical teleportation (http://lightlike.com/teleport/)!

Anyway, you're just a subscriber to "weak" Atheism, which there isn't anything at all wrong with.
*shrug*


Wouldn't want to be atheist. You miss all the good holidays. :)
Says who?
:)

A holiday is still a holiday, reagrdless of the reasoning behind originally instituting it! Christmas is hardly a religious holiday anymore, anyway (in this country, anyway).

[HoustonGM]

metsguy, it doesn't make you racist. Religions aren't a race.

It doesn't necessarily make you prejudiced, either. For example, religion makes me laugh too. I can't fathom the idea. I think it's ridiculous. I hate organized religion...but I'm not intolerant of those that view things differently. I'm not prejucided, despite the fact that I "laugh out loud" at religion, just like you. Based on what I know of you, though, I would say you are prejudiced. You get highly offended by the mere mention of religion. You want to be completely shielded from religion, etc.

[Arctic Blast]

For me, I'm not really angered or offended by religion, I'm offended and angered by how it's perverted by so many so-called, self proclaimed 'leaders'. Imams preaching suicide bombing, cardinals not just blanket forgiving pedophile priests, but also deliberately stalling police investigations in to their crimes, and...well, let's face it, Pat Robertson is, in all seriousness, a category unto his ridiculously un-Christian self (though I'd throw all those ridiculous twits like Joel Osteen making millions off of God's word and then buying a fleet of Mercedes and a big house with all of it in with him). I think that, even for someone who is not personally religious, such as myself, there are still a lot of lessons to be learned from it. That's actually why I 'got into' Bushido and the Hagakure as much as I did...it really does involve a lot of the same things, but without the faith in a higher power. It's more about belief in yourself.

[justanewguy]

That's fine and all, but it wouldn't be enough for me by a long shot. I'd immediately wonder how he did it, of course, but there's no way that I'd believe that his ability to "magically appear" is based on any sort of magic, divine or otherwise. Actually, asking how he accomplished such a feat would probably be one of my first questions. Who knows, I could then go on to be fabulously rich after that conversation by being the first one to patent a method of practical teleportation (http://lightlike.com/teleport/)!

Anyway, you're just a subscriber to "weak" Atheism, which there isn't anything at all wrong with.
*shrug*

Well, it was kind of a joke, but that would be an impressive feat, and make me wonder. I mean, the appearance of God and angels and all that stuff supposedly make people immediately fall to their knees and repent, so it's possible your "soul" would just be overwhelmed by him making an appearance.

Not really any sort of atheist, I'm totally agnostic. I don't know or even care that much about if there is some sort of god. I tried becoming a Buddhist once, but I didn't want to give up beer. Plus the whole reincarnation thing is a tough sell.