to think it is rude to persistently refer to God/Allah/etc. as an "imaginary friend"

[AtheneNoctua]

even after asked not to by several posters who have stated they found it offensive.

twinny I never said you were deluded I think you are the one who has actually been offensive to me by implying you have something that I want I can assure you that most of us who are non believers are not jealous envious etc etc of christians at all
but
it makes you feel better to think we are

Where is UnquietDad BTW?

And I'm appluading Snarky for putting it much better than I can.

It's hard to argue with this New Christianity which apparently requires only that you be nice to people. For many christians now and for all christians for thousands of years it is/was much more than that.

It used to have heaven as a reward and hell as a punishment. It used to have a bible with commandments and laws. Some branches of the church used to be able to absolve you of your sins after you committed them so you could go out and start afresh.

There is still a Roman Catholic branch that issues edicts on certain subjects. They have this guy they call the pope.

If everyone posting here has abandoned all that or maybe never heard of it then good for you.

By all means stick to the being nice bit. It's easier and better in the long run than actually being a christian since that sounds like hard work.

georgi deriving comfort from your faith I have no problem with at all whatever floats your boat
your faith having influence on how I live my life through the house of lords, faith schools etc that I do have a problem with

but who would want to be that type of Christian - you were the one who just said how awful it all was?

And why would you argue with a Christianity that rejects all that hideousness?

laurie there are lots of christians like that all over the world
recent examples being the hostility to homosexuals
the hostility to women bishops etc etc

I love that non-Christians are telling people who are Christians how to be Christian, even the rev. at my Church doesn't do that.

Christianity is all our own interpretation.

Man wrote the bible not God, and since we were given free will we are free to interpret it as we choose, just as they were entitled to write what they chose.

Yes, andiem there are and I dislike and mistrust all that shite clearly as much as you do.

Christianity is not called a broad church for nothing. It's just not ok to lump us all together.

I think it's lazy to be rude about 'all' Christians and I've no idea how it's become acceptable to be prejudiced against a whole group of people just because they are 'loosely' in that group

I'm not a Catholic and never have been - so the Pope and his edicts don't concern me too much. I don't think he has a hotline to God (although I have no doubt he tries to be a holy man and does do some good), I dial direct.

I believe in heaven, I also believe in hell but have no idea if anyone ends up there. To me hell is being beyond God's grace. I'm not sure anyone is.

I haven't been rude to anyone
I don't mind what anyone believes as long as it doesn't effect me the problem that I have is that it does effect me and the way I live my life and the church per se does want to influence everybody as they want influence over political, educational matters etc etc

no one could object to individuals persuing a way of life that they want to as long as they are not harming others but this all strated because of discrimination by the church against non believers not the other way around

andiem, you seem determined to take offence where non was intended, let me put it to you straight
I do not want you to be in any way offended by the post I added to this thread, it was not my intention to say that you were jealous of my or others faith in God, or in any way made to feel 'less than' for being a non believer.
In order that you should understand the point I obviously made very badly, I will repeat that is has been my experience that some non believers WORRY that they are missing out on what believers have. You are perfectly within your rights to reject all, some, none of my beliefs as long as you respect my right to embrace and comment on my beliefs. with the attendant right to not feel as if I need to defend myself for holding them. I hope you will accept my view without the need to feel it was personally directed, it most certainly was not.

Onager - I don't think any of the people on here who are saying they are Christians would define it as just "being nice to people". But there is a long way between that and the "hellfire and brimstone" legalistic interpretation of Christianity that you describe.

If anyone genuinely wants to understand what (the liberal side of) Christianity teaches, then I think there are quite a few of us on here who would be happy to have a proper dicussion about it. But it would be nice if we could do it without being told we are stupid or hypocritical or not really Christians because we don't fit in some pigeon-hole idea of what Christianity is about.

I realise that the most vocal Christians that many people have met will be the biblical fundamentalists, but that is not the whole of Christianity and never has been. And even they would not identify themselves with a lot of what Christianity is being labelled as round here.

ok twinny

Snarky has gone terribly quiet on us. Come back Snarky!

Sarky, I have lost your plot what is it you are saying?

"I've no idea how it's become acceptable to be prejudiced against a whole group of people just because they are 'loosely' in that group"

Err lauire.... Isn't that exactly what Christian schools are doing to unbelievers?

I do think that Christianity is more than just loving your neighbours. Possibly all the rest is entirely elaboration, but why would you need a faith to be nice to people? I was brought up in a religious family (I have a sister who is a vicar) with Catholic, Anglican and Quaker adherants and certainly they all thought that the parables were very important. Not necessarily in a literal way, but certainly as part of Christ's teaching. If you are going to ignore that how can you be a follower of Christ? Isn't that fundamental?

I am an atheist because I have no faith. Without faith religious belief is not possible. I know people who hold their faith at the heart of their lives and to me that is what being a Christian is all about (I would say this is true for all religions, but some have important cultural aspects too). But having faith alone surely is not sufficient to consider oneself a Christian. There is a body of understanding that goes with it. Of course that should be studied, interpreted and thought about. I can't say I have much respect for people who simply pick and choose, those I know and respect struggle with reconciling their personal beliefs with what they consider the teachings of God. I may disagree with those teachings, but I don't think you can choose the easy bits and drop the hard ones or the ones you just don't like.

My Christianity is not about being 'nice to people' I daresay Hitler was 'nice' to Eva Braun. My Christianity is about love, not the soggy in your face stuff that most people would call love, but the kind of love that will cause you to look after a child who is not able for fourteen years for someone else, the kind of love that will go without in order to give to others, that kind of love that will show deference to the poor and needy, the kind of love that prevents evil when you come across it, the love that shares what you have with those that dont have enough, your home, your money, your time, and acknowledging that their is in all of us a remnant of what God put there in the begining, the spirit of love. That is what Christianity is all about, in my opinion that is.....debate!

you don't need god to do any of those things you can be a nice/good/loving person without a belief

You can treat the Bible seriously, and learn from it, without starting from the attitude that every word in it comes straight from the mouth of God. My own view is that the Bible is the story of God's relationship with humanity, and that the events, thoughts and beliefs described in it were inspired by God, but that they were then interpreted and described by humans. Those humans were limited by their own understanding, as we still are now, and therefore their interpretations and descriptions were not completely accurate.

So, while I take the contents of the Bible very seriously, I do not necessarily apply every part of it to my own life without considering the context.

But Laurie...deciding that other people's interpretation of scripture...and their subsequent belief is 'all that shite' ????

Where is it OK to be less than complimentary about belief, and where not?

I don't think I'm a better person for having a belief in God - one of the major teachings in Christianity is to recognise our own imperfection. Anyone who claims they are better than someone else just because they are a Christian really hasn't understood it.

There is a huge difference between "some" and "most". The former is a perfectly reasonable observation, whilst the second is hard to interpret as other than "and that's what I think you think too".

I also think you are muddling agnostics, who think maybe there might be a God, some of whom may well envy those who are certain, and atheists who have decided that for whatever reason (usually involving holding a high value for the concept of empiricism) there is not, and hold those who believe in (I am afraid) some disdain. Really they have no envy, and will be rightly irritated if you suggest they do.

I guess that there is even greater diversity in thought amongst those who make their own mind up than those who embrace (however loosely) one of the great faiths.

I'm not sure every christian on this thread comes across that way amuminscot