I envy people who have Faith

[BlueBloodedBlue]

I don't but it must be a real comfort to believe in a higher power and have something that gives a meaning to everything.

That's it really.

Well said.

I think it's a bit rich that poster has said atheists can't ever find peace or happiness, based on their judgement and aggression on the thread!

At the moment I have been going through the worst thing I've ever experienced in life.. worse than bereavement... Marriage breakdown. We are both Christians but it did not stop my husband going online and paying a fortune to cam girls and raking up huge debt on credit cards.. he still appears to feel justified for what he did and blames me... But of course he says sorry to God feels ashamed and is happy he is forgiven... He thinks me as Christian should forgive him and move on.... Now for me his behaviour post the recent revelations has been the most confusing.. a pious religiosity with only remorse to God but still gaslighting me.. however I can say that when your world is blown apart, I have found comfort in listening to premier Christian radio. I am normally a deeply spiritual person anyway and seek god's way with all decisions I make in life.. in this dark time, I feel Christ is with me and I feel less afraid of the future, even if the journey ahead is bumpy, I know God will guide me to a future where I will arise from my current depressive state.. whatever happens I'll be ok and I'm no longer focused on my marriage or even my husband. My priority is me and my mental and physical health and caring for our child... Keeping my eyes fixed on Christ or when I don't feel able to connect to God means I know I will get there one way or another and life will unfold as it's meant to... Not sure how I'd cope without my higher power.

I’m sorry Snoozley, that’s awful. Will pray for you.

@Snoozley

I'm so sorry that this is happening to you.

While I don't share your faith, I sympathise with your pain and really hope things get better for you.

Hug your little one tight and do whatever gives him a happy, healthy mum.

Your husband sounds selfish and cruel. You deserve more and being single is much better than being with someone who damages your mental health.

Best wishes

I am so sorry that is happening to you, @Snoozley . Whatever brings you comfort right now is a good thing - your faith is absolutely a part of that. What your husband does and how he reconciles that with his beliefs is entirely on him.

you've hardly been a font of humility on this thread.

Yes, the idea of sin based on religious texts has caused a lot of damage over the millennia.

@Snoozley Sadly there are people who use their ( alleged) faith in abusive ways, in ways that seek to control others,, as your husband is doing. What a neat get out of jail free card he is trying to manufacture for himself.
One of the churches I used to go to had a poster in the women’s toilets for women suffering abuse justified by religion in their marriages.

Sorry but I do not base my life on things I do not know.

Yeah I know, all this carrying on about, ‘you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall respect your parents, etc.’ Shocking stuff! No place in a modern, progressive society!

So when Dawkins says that religion is the root of all evil and should be stamped out that is OK?

That's very selective editing, surely you know there is plenty of unpalatable texts in the good book

@Malie

So when Dawkins says that religion is the root of all evil and should be stamped out that is OK?

Dawkins isn't on this thread though, is he?

You're sneering at entirely different individuals.

You're a very angry person full of spite for others and it's been unsettling to witness.

You say atheists will never know true peace or happiness. You seem spoiling for a fight and happy people don't sneer at others with contempt and refuse to listen when they patiently and repeatedly explain a concept they don't understand.

Maybe some stuff for you to think about, as Christians say they are called to be humbled. This seems something completely alien to you.

Firstly omg 😲, then all the best and positivity and when possible, ltb, as some fellow mumsnetters would say.

Dawkins did a whole TV series broadcasting his evangelical message on New Atheism. You are the angry one - not me. The anger is in every word you write s9 please do not project your anger on to me. Actually dear old Richard did us all a favour with his diatribes as people were far more open to discuss the Faith question afterwards. Sorry but it’s you who are continually picking ‘fights’ with everything I say and projecting your anger. But all part of the delusion.

That was the title RD gave his series

@Malie from Leviticus: 12 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. 3 On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. 4 Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. 5 If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding.

No misogyny there at all, is there? And then there's the demand for male circumcision, which is basically child abuse.

From Corinthians: …33For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace—as in all the churches of the saints. 34 Women are to be silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. 35If they wish to inquire about something, they are to ask their own husbands at home; for it is dishonorable for a woman to speak in the church.…

More misogyny. Yes, what a lovely book full of good things the Bible is.

And then there's the entire book of Job, in which your god allows the Devil to completely ruin a man's life by way of an experiment.

Being an atheism and not treating people like dirt is more appealing to me, I cannot think why.

@Malie

Dawkins did a whole TV series broadcasting his evangelical message on New Atheism.

I'm starting to think you're unable, rather than unwilling, to understand very basic concepts.

I didn't say Dawkins did / didn't say a specific thing.

I said he's not on this thread so citing his words when defending your aggressively worded posts to atheist posters is nonsensical...

Honestly, life is much nicer when you aren't angry all the time - I promise!

Give it a go and you might find people are more receptive to you in general.

It can't be nice for you approaching conversations the way you do.

It's possible to agree to disagree without being aggressive, snarky or telling people (ironically!) that they will never find peace or happiness unless they agree with you.

As I said, my mum is religious. She's warm, kind, loving and accepting. She approaches discussions about religion in the opposite way to you. She is interested, she listens, she is able to engage in hypotheticals and theoretical examples.

I hope you find the peace and happiness you think us atheists don't have.

I'm glad I found mine

Yes it’s fine for him to give his opinion. But anyone, whether it’s you or an atheist, who does it in a way which expresses contempt and scorn for theists of atheists is being an arse.

You are obviously unacquainted with the customs of the Torah which was there to protect the woman. The point was that it was a totally male dominated society and the law was there to protect the woman during the time of her recovery from childbirth in addition to the ceremonial aspect.

There is also an instruction in 1Corinthians for the men to remain silent as well. The passage regarding women do you know what the Greek actually says or haven’t you bothered to look that up either? The fact is you can drag anything out of context and prove anything from the Bible!

I’m sorry @Malie , but plenty of people on This thread have found you rude, aggressive and downright unpleasant, and unable to engage in discussion in a constructive or reasonable way, I have been impressed with how calm, civilized and reasonable other posters have been in disagreeing with you, given your deeply unpleasant manner to them.

Sorry there is no point in discussing if you are going to be rude and personal. The problem is that people do not like faith and that’s why they object.

An alternative approach God could have taken was to tell the Israelites that women were not property of men, but full human beings with autonomy and full agency over their own bodies. Perhaps this could have been amongst the Ten Commandments. Perhaps there could have been a clear instruction not to rape women. Instead, in the Ten Commandments ( which are clearly written to a male audience) women are firmly placed as men’s property, alongside ox. This theme is continued throughout the Old Testament.

These religions were birthed in a deeply misogynistic society and attempts to pretend they do not reflect and uphold this misogyny are always going to be transparently misguided.

@Malie the customs of the Torah do not explain why a woman is considered unclean twice as long after delivering a girl. That is misogyny plain and simple - boy babies were celebrated more. And these texts are still used to justify the oppression of women today, both in Orthodox Judaism and in fundamentalist Christianity.

The passage from Corinthians has long been used to block women from the priesthood. Again, oppression of women.

And yes, back then societies were largely patriarchal. We're trying to change that (not with any notable success, we've been going mostly backwards lately). If we're going to build a world where women have equal rites and where we do not denigrate, persecute and abuse gay people, the Bible is going to need a very major update (as indeed are the Qu'ran and the Torah), because those books are still being used to abuse people. There are truths in the Bible, but there is also much that is evil.

I was talking about the passages used to justify homophobia and sexism, as you well know.