to be a little perturbed to have discovered that my next door neighbour is a Creationist?

[Greensleeves]

DH overheard our next door neighbour having a row with his wife in the back garden yesterday. He was insisting - belligerently - that the Earth is 6000 years old, Stephen Hawking was an idiot and the moon landing was faked. His wife was cackling and saying things like "but it's basic GCSE physics!".

For the avoidance of dripfeed: he's a dour, ill-mannered git who bellows at his kids all weekend and lets his dog shit on our drive.

This thread has left me absolutely disgusted. I just can't get over the way people could mock other human beings, for their religion. It's disgusting and wouldn't be accepted if you were to say all these nasty things about, for example; a Muslim belief.

Tiger Woods, kitty cat?

Tiger Woods, kitty cat?

Sorry, still none the wiser???

it's funny how you can't mock anyone for anything on MN

No, it's not funny, it's tedious and boring. I have respect for lots of people with views other than the ones I hold. However, life is made very dull by humourless people who can't distinguish satire and spoof from fact.

I just found out my neighbour is a Holocaust denier.

Honestly, I feel like moving.

@Ringsender2 there is no respect on this thread. People are making extremely offensive comments. I'm not humourless, but it really pisses me off that people think it's fine to take the piss out of someone for believing in God. What of God is the only thing that has got them through some tough times? What if people were saying that they'd leave their husband if he believed in Allah? Suddenly that's wrong but it's fine to say it (page 1 on this thread) about Christianity.

RandomNameChange415 that's exactly right. He's definitely a few drops short of a piss, and thoroughly odious, paranoid and aggressive to boot. I don't feel REMOTELY remorseful about taking the mick out of his batshit opinions, particularly given the volume with which they were being honked out across the garden fence at 11.30pm

Pinkyy...yeah. Tough shit.

My 16 year old neighbour describes herself as an 'Inspirational Speaker'. In reality she is a spoilt brat whose parents think anything she does is truly amazing! Everyone outside the "family" consider her to be nauseating. Which, in the real world, she is.

My neighbour used to be a fireman. When he retired he brought home a pole and suggested his wife learn to dance with it. She divorced him. Now the pole stands in their back garden with a fireman's helmet on top, it scares away crows and cats. I'm not going to move.

They tend to gloss over the bit about Adam and Eve only having two sons...

From a very vague memory, when they were cast out, they found other humans and from there the human race was born.

I cant remember how the other humans turned up

I've reported this post but MNHQ didn't remove it. Absolutely disgusting.

@MNHQ please tell my why you're allowing this discriminatory thread to stay up.

@nornironrock how dare you suggest that following a religion equates to lack of intelligence. I'm hiding this thread because I don't with to be in a discussion with so many ignorant idiots.

@Pinkyyy
I didn't suggest that. You inference is simply wrong and shows your own ignorance, not mine.

What I state outright is that people who are creationists are eminently less employable than others due to their obvious lack of ability to effectively process and understand scientific evidence and normal reasoning.

I know many well-educated Christians (and those of other religions) for whom this is not an issue. And indeed work with them. In a science based industry. Successfully.

Whilst not religious myself, I absolutely stand by anyone who wishes to be so - our greatest asset as humans is our freedom of thought and choice.

However, I reserve the right to ridicule that which is deserving of ridicule. Creationism is pretty high on the list.

Macca84
I'd love to see the ending of religion and all the ridiculous ideas that come with it. It's absolute madness what some folk will believe 😂

The sooner the better, the world would be a much better place. I honestly think these people just lack critical thought.

Pinkyyy no need to get in a froth, other people are entitled to a different point of view.

Another turd on the drive today, right by my front steps this time. I may have to start sticking little crosses in them.

That’s nothing. I often think that we are a part of a computer simulation and don’t actually exist. Nothing is real.

That's strangely soothing, that idea

There is a vast difference between believing in a god and believing that the earth was created in seven actual days, or that Noah actually fitted two of every animal in the world on the ark...

The first has to do with faith etc, although given the manner in which he behaves by e.g the state of the world and the constant talk of the need to be worshipped and the punishment which will befall those who don’t, it baffles me that anyone would want to worship him or refer to him as a loving god even if he did exist.

The other stuff however deserves to be laughed at though because it’s simply laughable.

• They tend to gloss over the bit about Adam and Eve only having two sons...

From a very vague memory, when they were cast out, they found other humans and from there the human race was born.

I cant remember how the other humans turned up*

I had a creationist explain this mystery to me, in all seriousness - That in addition to their sons (3 of them, Cain, Abel and Seth), Adam and Eve had daughters (but they weren't really worth mentioning explicitly), and Cain and Seth had kids with them. Okaaaay.

So, in other words, they have to twist themselves into knots to explain away that Adam and Eve only had sons. I thought they were supposed to take the bible literally. They're adding something in that wasnt there. Especially as the bible does mention other women.

Scientists believe the universe began with the Big Bang. They can’t explain what caused it.
We Christians believe God did. That’s a perfectly valid belief.
The only foolish and easily disproved statement is the claim that the Earth is only 6000 years old.
That is not a mainstream belief. It is down to Archbishop Usher, who worked back through the lineages listed in the Old Testament and dated the day of creation to October 23rd 4004 BC.
Non fundamental Christians read Genesis as allegory, and the writing down by 3 different authors, millennia later, of oral tradition folk tales.
The first few verses of Genesis can actually be read as a beautifully poetic description of the Big Bang itself:
“In the beginning was the heaven and the earth. And the Earth was without form, and void. And darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the spirit of God moved upon the waters. And God said “Let there be light”. And there was light.”
Your neighbour sounds like someone who feels insecure and likes to cling to didactic certainties and fundamental nonsense for comfort. Or he may have a mental health problem - some forms of schizophrenia can present with paranoid conspiracy theories.

@Babdoc- I think when you say ‘we Christians’ you believe ‘some of us Christians.’ I do take the first chapter of Genesis literally- I don’t think it makes sense as poetry. I don’t think it reads like it in the forms of Biblical poetry I’m familiar with. I haven’t ever come across science to to disprove it either- suggestions of dating the earth only apply if you believe God created the earth less than fully formed anyway, and so beg the question. In the same way I believe God created Adam as a fully grown man, I’m quite happy to accept he created fully formed mountains and beaches etc. As for fossils, they had to be created faster than the bones could decay- so millions of years of sedimentary coverage of a non decaying bone has never made sense to me. Macro-Evolution can never be ‘proven’ as there are no records or examples of it- I have never heard of anyone who disputes micro-evolution however. I could go on, and would happily discuss with anyone individually who is interested or curious, but the tone on the thread overall is really quite bullyish and petty. Constant references to creationists as ‘non-critical thinkers’ and other such bizarre statements. In my experience most of the people who have belittled me for what I believe have very little understanding of my or even their own beliefs themselves, and just enjoy the mocking of the outsider without the scientific or philosophic savvy to engage with it properly. Of course that doesn’t mean that every creationist is a critical thinker or that OP’s neighbour is vindicated in any way... but petty bullying gets tiresome.