Jesus?

Coming from a guy who embraces logic and science you certainly don't come to the table with anything more than opinions or assumptions based on your own life experiences...

Thank you, Eugene!!! I don't know why this is so hard for people to understand!

Refreshtwo:

I would have to disagree with that table.



I'll agree with both of these I think, but entertain this thought for a moment: maybe the fact that it's so muddied on just a simple definition, and the entire attempt to separate all who aren't theists is just a move to weaken the position of those who don't actively believe?

Isn't it bad enough that we're in the minority, and that we all have to fight political religion?



I think I'll make a somewhat of a disclaimer for when I'm discussing the matters that I will put on it that I lack the belief in a deity, and that's what I consider atheism, so we don't get into the distracted semantics debate anymore and can possibly focus on other, more meaningful matters?

Exactly! Some people have spilled their guts on here about their personal detachment from God/gods, and that's fine. At least their decision was through a bit of thorough (sometimes agonizing) contemplation and self-evaluation.

At least in those cases you can allot a good deal of sympathy or empathy. Compassion is something that some of us share that others don't. I feel sad for those who lack compassion and refuse to even try to understand that their idea of faith, or lack there of, is entirely an individual's own blessing or burden.

Understanding and compassion are very different.

I understand and for the most part respect people's choice on these types of things, but I am also one of the least compassionate people you will ever have the misfortune to meet.

Well, I feel like I need to inject some randomness in here now...

/falls to knees and wails

Why can't everyone just be happy?!?

/runs out of thread with arms flailing

Falls to knees > runs out.

Problem Anatomy?

you make it sound like you can't run on your knees...

you dont unless you want to screw up your knees. knee caps wherent meant to be used to run with lol

Newsflash: Secular humanist thought itself is a 'religious' system.

It ejects a deity but still attempts to give you a reason for existing, what you should do in society and why this is important. Hell, some secular humanist societies even have their own equivalent to a church complete with chaplains. We can argue if this is progress but it is a philosophical system to live your life by which sounds pretty damn close to a religion.

We can also talk about a world without the monotheisms, a world without the suffering and death caused by clashes of faith but there is no utopia on the other side of the rainbow and whatever religious systems exist 2000 years from now will still have to deal with conflict on some level. All we can do is hope (or work towards) the current religions we have floating around developing into more laid back approaches before we destroy ourselves as a species in the process.

Religion will always exist so long as there are unknowns and we have a need to be a part of something greater than our individual. This can be taken as needing to be apart of a great cosmic system (like mainstream religions) or simply apart of a group of like-minded individuals who are good to be around.



I say they evolve because history has shown religious belief to evolve but even theist thinkers (who aren't literal on the texts) reach a point where they either adapt some new thought into the belief system or risk losing the flock. Religion doesn't have to be unwavering and many sects are more than happy to adapt beliefs if it suits them.

See: Do unbaptized babies go to hell?
Does my pet dog Rover need to be baptized to enter heaven?
Do pets even go to hell/heaven?
Do pets have souls?
Why didn't Jesus speak about pets?

It's painful, unless you're on really soft ground, like a trampoline or bed. You take about 3 strides and go "oh *** this" and jump up.

Kwop? oh wait you actually ran...