To think the atheists on MN are a bunch of miserable whingers

[GothAnneGeddes]

Every bloody week it's a new thread whining on about how terrible it is that there is religion in the world.

A prominent feature of such threads is the intolerance and stupidity of religious folk, yet threads by believers insulting atheists are very rare.

Besides, aren't you all meant to be so happy to be freed from the shackles of religion, that you're too busy having fun to moan?

Nooka I see you point.
I don't mind having my faith questioned. To be fair I would not say my faith or anyone's has been exactly 'questioned' in a mature nor polite manner. Really very little 'questions' have been asked.

It has been quite an interesting, if not distrubing insight.

However for me, this thread have done nothing but make my belief in God even stronger.

I may get insulted and attacked after this post. I may not.

Either way it futile. My faith has been reinforced greatly so I have gained something wonderfully postive out of what could have been a wholly negative experience.

Perhaps the atheists are trying to be reverse pyschology type non believing missionaries

Saving the religious from ....ummm

Judgement is rife and is a nasty habit of believers and non believers... whatever it is that they are believing about!

Blessings and fun to All :)

Roseflower. You complain that nobody has asked you polite questions about your faith. Speaking only for myself, I suppose it's true that I have not done so on this thread. However, I have asked believers endless questions on many threads on here over the years and on other fora too, and always tend to get the same frustrating, inconclusive, woolly answers. I've kind of given up, because it's like asking someone who insists on answering in another language. A made-up one.

well, the Sermon on the Mount doesn't really say "questioned" either, iirc - isn't it "persecuted"? Which is why I find the current complaints (not particularly this thread) that Christians are being "attacked" by the secular world a bit odd, really - that's kind of the point, according to Jesus.

I don't have any questions because I was a Catholic for a long time. I know A Lot about it, I just don't believe in it anymore.

UQD, I'd imagine justa, if she's still around, would be a good person to talk to like that - she's v thoughtful and open.

Dunno, Papillon. I don't reckon a world full of Quakers and Buddhists would rile even the most "evangelical" atheist.

UnquietDad in life some people think the most intresting questions are those that lead to more.

and on other fora

is that the plural of forum?

now this is a thread I could start: why do religious threads descend into intellectual posturing within 2.5 seconds of starting. It kinda gets on my nerves.

I don't have any problem with questions leading to more. But I do need more evidence for a thing than there is for the existence of, say, dragons and fairies before I will start believing in that thing.

It's a plural of forum - you can say fora or forums.

Unquietdad then that journey for is yours to take- or not.

Other people have been on that journey and found what they wanted.

Just live and let live.

SGB - While I have indeed been abused in the street for my headscarf wearing ways, the conversations I refer to are not disagreements, but go along the lines of "So you're a Muslim then?" and when I reply yes, I then receive a tirade of how evil/terrible/pointless religion is and how they were forced to attend Sunday School, blah, blah. You may disagree, but I think that is incredibly rude and not something I would ever do.

Goth, the most stupidly anti-Muslim person I know is a Christian. Bigotry is far from being the sole preserve of atheists.

Roseflower -

You haven't been all that mature or polite yourself. You told Echt categorically that her experience of employment discrimination as an atheist and a teacher was all in her head...and when it was pointed out that this is exactly what the law allows faith schools to do you didn't, as far as I can see, apologize or acknowledge that you might have been a bit hasty in calling her deluded.

You said that people on this thread have been vile and repugnant, and then when asked for some examples of that you gave a whole lot of quotes that, many have been pointed out, are -if not misunderstandings -then taken completely out of context.

Have you considered the possibility that you are seeing insults, attacks and vile and repugnant statements where there aren't any?

I did come across the and the mention of 'war, rape, McDonalds and Justin Beiber' on the other thread and it doesn't say as you think it does that 'as a Christian you must support these things' at all. What it says is that the argument that 'if millions of people do something there must be something in it' can be applied to any number of controversial human practices, but offers no insight as to whether they are sound or moral.

Himalaya

Thank you for your thoughts. I agree with none of them, but they are valid to you which I appreciate.

GAG: Yup, it's rude of people to rant at you in the way you describe. Just the same as it is rude of people to rant at anyone in the course of a social occasion for that person's belonging to any particular social tribe, be that religious believers, Justin Bieber fans, vegans or Tories. Just announcing an allegiance or making it obvious (wearing a significant religious item or a branded piece of clothing such as a football scarf or clutching a concert programme, or asking if there's meat in the pasta sauce) shouldn't be a cue for someone to have a go at you. Stating that your view on some or other emotive topic of discussion is informed by your particular allegiance might mean that the person disagreeing with you is going to disagree with the allegiance as well.

Aaargh: I really must hide this thread as it is going round in circles.

I have witnessed bigotry of Christian on Christian. Any form of bigotry is wrong, rude and not to be accepted in a civilised society.

The example I witnessed was very similar to that experienced by GAG as a Muslim: on a train with a friend wearing a crucifix who was then asked by a group of Rangers supporters if that meant she was a "Finian" (pejorative term for Catholic) and as she wasn't from the West of Scotland, she answered truthfully "yes" . Fortunately they were on their way to the game so weren't yet too drunk - and not all of them were total yobs.

I'd agree that uninvited discussion / comment in RL about people's beliefs/customs/personal life choices is rude. And of course yelling abuse in the street in just about any circumstance is unacceptable.

Discussion and comment on a thread such as this one is obviously different as views are actively being discussed from many different angles by people who CHOOSE to participate and are therefore inviting comment on their views as they state them.

GAG - so, having read the thread, do you still think the atheists on MN are a bunch of miserable whingers

A friend of a friend once told me (when we were discussing being atheists) that he had been asked his religion while in a pub Back Home - Belfast - and had said he was an atheist. The questioner had then said 'Sure - but are you a Protestant atheist or a Catholic atheist?'.