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Fellow atheists, come say hello! (theists welcome too!

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I am not sure if I agree with this. IMO, what changes things is the way they are interpreted by PEOPLE. At least AFAIK, all religions promote the same values, loving one another, etc ... All, without exception. The problem starts when some people start to twist things ( please note I'm not talking about you :laugh:).

I said in the other thread, I have never read the Bible, except for the Revelation book, but I have read huge amounts of info about religion, and to me they all seem very similar in their essence. The problem is that we aren't nearly intelligent enough to fully understand it.

Just mis dos centavos.

Well a fairly intrinsic difference between religions is if you believe Christ was the Son of God, a mortal prophet or a false prophet. Those are differences in perspective between 3 modern, mainstream religions.
 
This thread will likely last about one page more....


I hope I'm wrong.

I believe (excuse the phrase...) that this thread was initially proposed as a place for fellow atheists to check in and say "hi". NOT as a place to argue the merits or demerits of atheism, et al. As soon as we cross that threshold this thread will devolve into bickering and strife real quick.
 

Kentos

B&B's Dr. Doolittle.
Staff member
A "discussion" about religion will likely have a short life. A thread where you post your favorite secular quotes will likely do well.

I always liked, "Insanity is repeating the same action and expecting a different result".
 
I did post a beat poem that I thought people here would enjoy, but it was removed because of profanities (Aussie guy, it should be expected :p) and insensitivities to those who believe in 'auras'. I think I'm allowed to mention it though, for those interested, it's called 'Storm' by Tim Minchin.
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
The OP said;

I'm happy for theists to come in, say hello, and ask questions. But please, no trolling, no aggressiveness, and no debates from anyone - these will be reported. Think of this thread as a friendly place to question and understand more about the atheist position, and vice versa!

Let's keep it there.
That would include avoiding posting videos or lyrics from Tim Minchin containing inflammatory comments and profanity.
 
B&B is a discussion forum.
There are threads here about firearms, people opposed to firearms are encouraged to stay away from those threads.
There are threads about tobacco, people opposed to tobacco are encouraged to stay away from those threads.
There are threads about alcohol, people opposed to alcohol are encouraged to stay away from those threads.

There are certain threads which may not interest certain individuals. Those individuals are free not to click on the thread and read it.
Politics and religion can be a very polarizing subject, but can be discussed as long as it's done in a non-inflammatory manner.

The difficulty lies in keeping it that way, and keeping it that way involves not posting in threads which you know raise your own hackles.
Very well said!:thumbup1:
This applies equally to both theists & non-believers I would assume?
 
Agnostic is a frequently misunderstood term. The root of the word is gnosis, which essentially means knowledge. One who "knows" there is a God, would be termed a gnostic. One who does not "know" for certain if there is a god, would be a-gnostic; without knowledge.

This is different from a theist, who believes in a God or practices a religion. The opposite of that is an a-theist, one who does not believe in any specific gods, or practice a religion.

Someone can be an Agnostic Theist, if they don't claim to have absolute knowledge that a God exists, but still has faith and practices their religion. I would wager that this applies to many, many people (though they may not always be willing to admit it). Similarly, one can be a Gnostic Atheist, one who claims to know for certain there are no Gods.

I don't like to talk about it much, but I consider myself an Agnostic Atheist. I don't know for sure whether or not there are any Gods. I don't think anyone can know this. I try to live my life as best I can, treating people with kindness and respect, and enjoying my time here, because life is precious, and you only get one of them. I have a very hard time believing that if there is a God, he would punish a good person simply for not belonging to the right church.
 

Kentos

B&B's Dr. Doolittle.
Staff member
Agnostic is a frequently misunderstood term. The root of the word is gnosis, which essentially means knowledge. One who "knows" there is a God, would be termed a gnostic. One who does not "know" for certain if there is a god, would be a-gnostic; without knowledge.

This is different from a theist, who believes in a God or practices a religion. The opposite of that is an a-theist, one who does not believe in any specific gods, or practice a religion.

Someone can be an Agnostic Theist, if they don't claim to have absolute knowledge that a God exists, but still has faith and practices their religion. I would wager that this applies to many, many people (though they may not always be willing to admit it). Similarly, one can be a Gnostic Atheist, one who claims to know for certain there are no Gods.

I don't like to talk about it much, but I consider myself an Agnostic Atheist. I don't know for sure whether or not there are any Gods. I don't think anyone can know this. I try to live my life as best I can, treating people with kindness and respect, and enjoying my time here, because life is precious, and you only get one of them. I have a very hard time believing that if there is a God, he would punish a good person simply for not belonging to the right church.

In my belief system you aren't punished by God for belonging to the wrong church, people do that.
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
Very well said!:thumbup1:
This applies equally to both theists & non-believers I would assume?

It does indeed. And if the OP can manage to go 5 minutes without posting videos that are insulting, belittling, full of ungentlemanly comments and profanity, this thread might actually stay open.

But I'm not going to baby-sit this thread, and we've got two strikes already.
 
Pantheist here.

I have not read the full text of the Bible (or any other religious sacred text), though I have read most of the New Testament and the first few books of the Old Testament. Also the first couple of chapters of the Book of Mormon. The latter, whose style is much ridiculed by non-mos because of the ubiquitous "and it came to pass" actually reads fairly well if read aloud..
 
It does indeed. And if the OP can manage to go 5 minutes without posting videos that are insulting, belittling, full of ungentlemanly comments and profanity, this thread might actually stay open.

But I'm not going to baby-sit this thread, and we've got two strikes already.

That's why I don't like to talk about my beliefs. Way too many "outspoken atheists" get downright insulting and vulgar, and it makes it very difficult to take them seriously, or really even listen to what they have to say. I don't like being associated with that kind of behavior.
 
It does indeed. And if the OP can manage to go 5 minutes without posting videos that are insulting, belittling, full of ungentlemanly comments and profanity, this thread might actually stay open.

But I'm not going to baby-sit this thread, and we've got two strikes already.

For those who want to check the video themselves, it was called 'Open-mindedness' by QualiaSoup on YouTube. I honestly have no idea how you came to the conclusion that it is "insulting, belittling, full of ungentlemanly comments".
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
And that's it fellas.
We have better things to do than sit here and make sure that people are capable of following basic forum guidelines.
It's clear that this thread, and the "non-bible quote" threads were started as a rebuttal to the recent Bible Quotes thread, and as this one didn't derail sufficiently to the OP's desire, he had to try to push it in that direction.

Calling people who do believe in a deity mentally ill, or to state that they have flawed thinking isn't discussion about what you believe, it's discussion about what you think about what they believe.
 

Alacrity59

Wanting for wisdom
For those who want to check the video themselves, it was called 'Open-mindedness' by QualiaSoup on YouTube. I honestly have no idea how you came to the conclusion that it is "insulting, belittling, full of ungentlemanly comments".

Wow.

This is going to perhaps sound insulting and belittling to you but you might start your way to understanding by consulting a dictionary. I did enjoy the poem; the concepts it presents are fine for discussion but the method of expression really didn't fit here.
 
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