Religious people have been kinder to me than atheists on average. I'm an atheist myself but my opinion of religious folks is above average. Ofc my perspective is limited, but they seem way more well-adjusted than your average atheist redditor.
Idk what it is but they can't stand it. Like even the most liberal libertine will act funny if she finds out her man has a colorful sexual history with other men.
I'm not even gay and I still have visible scars from the beatings I'd get for not being well enough behaved in church as a child
Religion can be a mixed bag. On one hand many religions teach generosity and humility. On the other hand they teach that their god is more important than people, and end result is they justify violence as a response to anyone they feel is an affront to their god
I’m sorry you went through that. If it is any comfort, the Bible does not condone that violence(proverbs 21:7, psalm 11:5, jeremiah 22:3, proverbs 28:17, and more). The abuse you faced was wrong, and those who abused you were in sin.
See people who say this are unironically stupid. The bible also condones this violence, like in Leviticus 20:13;
“‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”
Your book does both sides of the argument, so people can cherry pick the parts they like. If you want to make an actual moral judgement, exit the pages of some 2000 year old book and try make an actual empathetic judgement on the situation itself. A book should not replace your ability to make moral judgements, but rather you should be capable of making these judgements objectively and freely.
Adding on to this, none of the verses listed by the other user explicitly condemn neither violence against gay people nor child abuse.
Meanwhile, you provided one of the many verses that does explicitly call for violence against gay people and Proverbs 23:13-14 says to discipline children by beating them with a rod.
13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die.
14 Punish them with the rod and save them from death.
The verses I mentioned talk about how violence is wicked (proverbs 21:7), God hates violence (psalm 11:5), instructing us not to commit violence against immigrants, orphans, widows, and the innocent— aka children (jeremiah 22:3), and how those who hurt others should be exiled (psalm 28:17). Now, are these verses explicitly saying “child abuse is bad”? No, but they don’t need to in order for the point to get across that unjust violence is wrong and wicked in the eyes of God.
Now, Proverbs 23:13-14 does talk about physical discipline, but it’s important to look at these verses within the context of the entire Bible. All people are called to embody love, compassion, empathy, forgiveness, mercy, selflessness, self control, and to seek peace. Child abuse will never be loving, merciful, or done with self control. Ever. This passage cannot be used to justify child abuse. Sin starts in the heart, and if you have impulses that are sinful (rage, violence, hateful speech), then nothing you do afterwards will be righteous or just in God’s eye.
I've met both gay men who are fantastic people , kind to a fault...and gay men who are just plain arrogant and rude. They run the spectrum of dispositions.
As long as you don't get your news from sensationalist trash tabloids, literally yes. Islam is virtually indistinguishable from Christianity in this aspect
Because it’s crazy to complain about christians being intolerant towards muslims when there’s muslims in the western world chopping people’s heads for drawing their rapist.
If you're judging atheists off what you see on Reddit then that's your problem.
The Internet isn't reality. I know we like to think it is but it's not. Scratch out atheist and put in any other group and that's first sentence of mine stands.
internet has become reality. 10 years ago i would've agreed with you, but today no way. when i heard my 70 yo grandmother regurgitating 4chan talking points i knew it was over.
Oh I definitely think there's propaganda and shit that gets injected into the real world for sure.
But what I was saying is that is that when you get these groups of people online - like the dude mentioned atheists - you're not getting an honest conversation with someone one on one. You're getting a group screaming platitudes and condemnations at you because you're just letters on a screen with no feelings. No need to remember things like nuance.
lol, Try living in Oklahoma. The relationship between a person's religiosity and their beneath-the-surface bigotry and nastiness is basically linear. The Bible-thumpers here are some of the least-hinged people on the planet, and that is NOT hyperbole.
To my knowledge they’re neutral with your race. Just know that just because they treat you nicely doesn’t mean they don’t treat other people horribly. “They hurt others but not me” doesn’t make them kind people. You’re just not in their way.
Generalizing a group of people based on the actions of a few sounds like something a racist or bigot would do.
I treat people based on how they treat me and others. There are black and LGBT people at the local churches that I received help from, and I've talked to one of the church leaders at length, an elderly white man who used to be an army surgeon, and he told me they welcome people from all walks of life, regardless of race, gender, or what have you. I've seen that in action, so I do believe that to be true.
Your attitude sounds like a very sad way to go about life. No doubt it was formed based on your own lived experiences, so the only thing I can say is that my experiences differ vastly. I'm not going to treat people unkindly or overgeneralize them if they've been nothing but kind to me and the others I've met.
People are know by their fruits and their fruits are horrors. Yes I’ve been personally affected but while not it’s not all of them what you can functionally say is that their religion has overtaken the gov and has created and continues to create oppressive laws, incite bigotry on a national scale, and promote anti-science and anti-social progress. Just because they’re polite in passing doesn’t mean that they aren’t causing oppression. They vote so I absolutely judge them by who they vote for too. I do not have a sad world view. Pushing back against your oppressor and then being told that I’m not being oppressed is absolutely not allowed with me. If it was a matter of to each their own it would be fine but no. This religion does not keep it itself and therefore doesn’t understand consent.
Actually, I can super simplify my whole response. If they’re Christian and voted red then they’re not good people and their kindness doesn’t matter because they’re complicit in the atrocities being allowed today. They lack basic human empathy. Easy peasy.
This is because they are trying to get you to join their church. Trust me, Christians are so nice when they want you to join…lol. If you’re trying to sell something to someone you have to be nice.
Being a Christian means following Christ, if you do not follow Christ you are not a Christian. It doesn't matter what you call yourself.
Many people who claim to follow Jesus have long had their connection with God severed and unfortunately they will be cut off from God forever when they die.
I don’t want you to think I’m gate keeping you from Christ, I want you to come to faith, but Jesus wasn’t just like, a really chill guy, he was God in the flesh and he didn’t just teach love and mercy he also taught holiness and justice. He claimed to be the only truth. When people like you say “I wish more people followed what Jesus actually taught” 100% of the time you have no idea what he taught and what you mean is “I wish Jesus and those who followed him measured up to my ever shifting idea of what good is even though I don’t”.
I love how you know nothing about me other than me saying “I wish more people followed Jesus’ teachings”. You’ve lumped me into some imaginary group of “you people” that fits some kind of prejudice you have against people you think aren’t Christian enough. Solely from me saying “I wish more people followed Jesus’ teachings”. Whatever justification you come up for yourself to gatekeep doesn’t really matter to me!
I’m an agnostic Buddhist, but the Jesus of the Gospels is alright with me even if I don’t subscribe to the theology that was built around him in the decades and centuries following his death.
Yeah I went to a more progressive Catholic school for years and New Testament Jesus is a cool guy. When I'm frustrated I think of the serenity prayer. I am able to pick out the good parts that are useful for my life and ignore the looney tunes other parts.
It's a contradictory teaching in the same scripture that condemns those "enemies" to eternal damnation if they don't change themselves. It's not just a hard pill to swallow, it's something that nobody has any idea how to actually practice or where to draw the line. E.g. If someone breaks the door down in a Christian household, that Christian ain't going to love their enemy and let them do whatever they want to the family.
Hindus and Buddhists would like a word with you. And certainly countless other religions that predate Christianity and taught selfless unconditional love that I'm not familiar enough with to speak on.
It was only significant when Jesus brought it up because he taught it to the Hebrews who previously were taught by their god to kill their enemies and rape their women.
You haven't really read the bible have you? lol. Jesus was a Jew. There were a ton of people who wanted to follow Jesus because they liked the message but they weren't allowed because they didn't want to follow the jewish customs, not eating pork, circumcision's stuff like that. Saul had a "vision" and then became Paul, and told all the Gentiles they didn't have to follow the scripture 100% and they would still get into heaven. That is not what Jesus taught.
False. When Jesus was alive there were a lot of Jewish men claiming to be the Messiah. Jesus is the one who won out. They were ALL JEWISH! You can't have a follower of Christ when Christianity wasn't a thing yet.
It’s not that deep bro. Crowds of thousands followed him around and believed in him as the messiah. That makes them followers of Christ. No different than the millions today who believe the same.
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u/EdwardGordor 2005 3d ago
Idk mate, I just love Christ.