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After I had my first boyfriend, who was a racist homophobic christian, I've gotten uncomfortable around religious people. I've learned more over the year and decided that I don't believe in god. For me it just seems pointless. And too much hate comes from it. Is it normal that I'm an agnostic atheist and Jesus freaks annoy me?
how is it on IIN people think that by appending a '?' to the end of the sentence, the loaded statement will somehow morph into a genuine question.
I would say your boyfriend was just a dick, but you are now exhibiting the same dickish behavior. i.e slamming an entire group of people you hardly seem to understand.
and you did it without religion.
This. I'm agnostic/atheist myself, but it has nothing to do with religious people and everything to do with my personal philosophy on life and the universe. When will people learn that terrible people exist regardless of religious background (or lack thereof)?
In my opinion, it's not really about the "religion" at all it's what YOU have chosen to believe from the bible or whatever beliefs you share.
So really religion is a pointless word. One person in a religion may be radically different in their beliefs from the next. If someone chooses to belief idiotic things with little evidence, that's a problem with them.
believe in god, dont believe in god, it doesnt matter, its your personal business. live and let live, and be a good person, that's all that matters.
I go to church every sunday, my parents force me to go, but sometimes I don't really mind going. Theres a part of me that truly really does want to believe there is a god, but last year in history class all i learned from christianity is that a lot of people died and it was all hectic. Christianity just really doesn't make any sense to me.
if that is so, please provide me with empirical objective evidence as to why there is no god. how about the gods in other religions? Do you believe in the capitalist economy? where demand and supply are suppose to become 'equal and perfect' all on its own?
Can you deny that the way our capitalist economy functions just like a religion and its followers are those who reject religion and applaud capitalism a bit like you. In that sense you have just replace 'god' with 'chance/fate' but what's worst is that you don't even know you are following a belief system.
so don't say 'you know' when it's impossible to 'know' what makes sense to you will not make sense to people in another country who have experienced things that you can only imagine.
I'm an Atheist/Buddhist and I agree with you.
I've had to deal with religious racist homophobes for most of my young life and even more now that 2012 is here.
I refuse to believe in a "god/religion" that preaches hate and tells it's followers to hurt/kill anyone or anything that's different from them.
It's pointless. It doesn't provide a good outlet for such negativity, but instead it only makes it fester. I believe in other deities. Peaceful ones:)
You're normal. Namaste:)
Amongst things such as "thou shalt not kill" and other commandments, I fail to see how Christianity tells it's followers to kill and hurt anything that's different from them.
It would have been better if you said, "after reading into various religions, and talking to..., I decided to be Buddhist".
making decisions without having a clue what you are on about, isn't normal... at least for rational people.
My dad is Buddhist, but he can tell you in clear terms why he made the decision and it would be hard if not impossible to call him out on any of them. For you however, it was as simple as quoting one of the ten commandments.
Rational decisions are built upon a solid grasp of the facts.
I know what I speak off, but I dis not mean to group the whole christian faith as one thing. I was referring to the people who claim to be "christians" and get their followers to be judgmental towards others. Those sorts put a negative view on the religion. The bible is against many things, like homosexuality and supports many a bad thing as well. I believe in a more peaceful approach to life.
I am grasping solid facts and I had good reasons to convert. I used to be a christian and I lived in fear. I have converted, but I still live in fear. I'm "closeted" about it for the most part. In my current situation, it's impossible for me to continue my studies on buddhism and atheism. I have done the best I can and I'm aware that there's more that I need to learn. Unfortunately, I'll have to put it off until I'm able.
It's true I have a negative view on things, that is constantly clashing with my positive view on things. I didn't mean to offend anyone. I'm often misunderstood for the things I say and it hurts my soul deeply. I have my reasons for converting. I have allot of reasons and one day I'll probably write on those reasons, but I can't now.
I hope you can forgive me and we can settle this misunderstanding as alas, I didn't mean anything of malicious intent.
Peace:)
And in Theravada Buddhism, the prevailing belief is that anybody can become a Buddha and preach the dharma. Buddhism is a huge institution with many branches, so telling someone that they don't understand their own beliefs is like telling someone they aren't a Christian if they don't believe in the strict God of the Old Testament. There's room for interpretation in any system of beliefs.
I do understand what you're getting at though - Buddhism seems to be "fashionable" as part of that New Age spirituality, and it does bother me when people claim to be Buddhists without knowing anything about the tradition of the Buddha, the sangha or the dharma. I'm not a Buddhist myself, but I've studied the teachings and I have a deep respect for them.
I have studied buddhism, but I've never been allowed to take it further by going to a temple or meeting with others. In my current situation, I'm not allowed to explore or be open with any of my religious beliefs. I live in constant fear.
I do greatly respect what you've said and I meant no disrespect. I'm still trying to learn more about the beliefs. I have much more to learn and this is not some passing whim. Atheism/Buddhism are the only religions I find myself being able to relate to.
me too i have deep respect for them :), thanks for that and i completely agree that a lot of people call themselves buddhists when in fact they don't know much about it.
and again i agree one of the problems with buddhism in the west is that different sects of that religion aren't well know at least in the western society and are all grouped together under 'buddhism' whilst many westerners know there are many different types of christianity
but i stand by my word that one should know a religion well enough to be a devout follower before making any judgemental claims
I wasn't trying to be judgmental. I used to be a christian, but I've only recently managed to break away. I wasn't trying to group all christians as being bad people, but there is a vast majority that do bad things. A vast majority that claim to be "christians" when in fact all they do is spread being intolerant and put a negative light on the religion.
Once again I meant no offense. I hope there could be some form of peace between us, as I don't really feel like fighting or wrongfully accusing others.
Namaste:)
No offense taken, if anything I was being too judgmental, i guess i've been needing to defend my point of view within my group of friends for a while and it just got personal, it's very interesting to see my own mind/psychology at work :).
but truly I just wanted to make a point, words and languages are a very peculiar things in our minds. We take them for granted most of the time without thinking about not only what the words means to us but also what it might mean to other people. Just like now, because of my diction (bash, judgmental etc.) it really did sound like i was trying to start a pissing contests, but i don't. My misuse of words have led to a misunderstanding.
This is part of the point I wanted to make. You must be careful when you use words like atheism (and any other words for that matter not excluding deity, christians, etc.), believing in any deity at all contradicts atheism (a~non, theism~belief in deity) (believing in a belief system like Anomy would fit into atheism but i don't think for your case), but of course that can be debatable if you define deity different than my definition of deity.
the word atheism at least where i'm from has been distorted by all those people who are driven by their hatred of the abrahamic traditions including christianity, i would also believe that most christians are just intolerant if not for a large group of devout christians I know who act and give the feeling of peace like so many buddhists do.
Jesus in my humble opinion did not preach hatred, if you really read into him he was kinda buddhist, and many buddhists consider jesus as someone who, like gautama, has reached enlightenment. This is sort of why I side more on mahayana buddhism because I am christian (it's impossible to not have a bias it seems lol). So it is debatable imo that christians are just following another enlightened fellow much like buddhists themselves follow in the steps of gautama buddha. I hope i don't get flamed for saying that xD
It's just that there are way too many people I know who claim to be atheists when in fact they don't believe in anything but the social world they live in, yet they refuse to admit they have a belief system at all.
it's quite paradoxical in that we can't place universal meanings in words yet we can't live without words.
LOL that's a lot of words, but... in conclusion be careful with your words, you might paint a wrong picture of christianity and atheists in other people's minds.
god bless!!
I didn't mean to insult anyone. The last I checked, buddha isn't considered a god and you can be an atheist as well as a buddhist. I can be an atheist, I don't believe in god and with buddhism you can believe in other deities. They are some that believe in christ. I wasn't bashing anyone, it's my view. You've seem to have gotten the wrong end of the stick.
Peace!
And by the way, I'm not religious, neither are real Christians. It's a personal relationship and personal journey with Jesus.
Religion - "the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods"
You're definitely religious. Your religion is your personal relationship with Jesus and God.
that is one of the crappiest definitions of religions i have seen. are monistic religions not religions then? i guess the hindus and buddhists just call themselves that for fun...
It's one definition of religion. It's not the most inclusive definition, I agree - it just perfectly applies to emilydoll's belief system. In fact, her belief system falls under even the broadest of definitions for 'religion', so perhaps I should have put multiple definitions sourced from multiple dictionaries... But I was too lazy.
That being said, Hinduism has gods, including Brahma, their god of creation, so whilst it might be a monistic religion, it's also a polytheistic religion and sits under my first limited definition pretty accurately.
brahma is not a god imo, that would make them monotheist and polytheistic which is entirely possible but they are still monistic, everything part of brahma but i don't think brahma is considered a 'god' perse, although i admit my eastern religious studies aren't very in-depth especially in hinduism because being born in a western world, it is still quite foreign to me. perhaps i am wrong, i will look into it, thanks for this. :)
That patronizing absolutism is exactly what provokes most people into hating religion and the religious (not that there aren't condescending atheists too). Everyone should be able to believe what makes the most sense to them and helps them live their lives. For me, it's science and philosophy. For you, it's Jesus. And that's fine. To each their own.
This is exactly what the OP is talking about. Troll?
Once you give yourself to the dark power of Cthulu you'll realize both options are fictional.
" Once you give yourself over to Jesus, you will wake up. "
You sound like a hardcore obsessed Christian, and that's not good at all! People don't need Jesus or God to wake up, all they need are a set of good principles, good people to care for them, and a determination for happiness to get them through life.
I'm not saying that Jesus or God isn't real, but to say that a person does not understand what reality is unless they give themselves over to Jesus is really ignorant.
whenever i pass a church or see a christian i just want to throw a stone at their head
What no response to my comment? How does something come from nothing? and do you really believe we evolved from a single celled organism how ridiculous is that?
Just because you don't like Christianity, does not mean other religions are just as bad and you shouldn't believe in god anymore. Christianity does not represent all world religions. I'm a Muslim girl and I would never leave my religion no matter how much it is stereotyped. Just because a negative person of one religion is bad, they do not represent their religion, but themselves.
no Almighty Creator? This world just came into existence from nothing at all? Had does something come from nothing?
Did humans you evolve single celled organisms?
i honestly think that the people who wrote the bible might have been on shrooms, and that's why i don't really believe in anything. i was raised Christian, though.
I think it's normal. I don't know about the USA, but in Britain we're losing faith fast. I wasn't brought up to believe in God, but I've always respected people's beliefs and I'm usually fascinated by them.
I'm currently reading god is not great by the recently dead Christopher hitchens and the atrocities committed by people in the name of various gods is stomach churning. We are fortunate enough to be living in a time when we are finally able to answer many of the big questions that have vexed us for millennia. Nietzsche was wrong about god being dead, he is merely unnecessary.
It's normal for you in your sinful state but not normal when it comes to the universe..
Please don't let your boyfriend ruin your impression on many christians, i am christian (albeit not a big church fan of any sect of christianity) and i feel sick as well of those freaking jesus freaks. most of them are fake anyways and they use the church as a means of social status and networking. real christians are among the nicest people i've come to know right there beside those real awesome buddhists. They accept and listen as well, because real christians have "found" christianity not like your boyfriend who prob grew up with it and is christian without knowing why.
Believe what makes you happy. There are plenty of people that do believe and plenty that do not.
However, I wouldn't say that someone who does believe is bad, just like some Atheists are not bad people. In my opinion it's a person's actions that make them good, not necessarily their religious/spiritual beliefs.
Cheers,
Not all religious people are like that, and some agnostics/atheists are. Good people will do good, bad people will be bad, but to make a good person evil, you need religion.
Fuck you
whether you like it or not religion especially in the west is dominated by the 3 abrahamic religions (xtianity, islam, judaism)
saying fuck god will not help in any way.
And saying "fuck you" back is just an unhelpful.
Sorry, I'm really not trying to pick on you, I promise. But this "fuck god" and "fuck you" dialogue is pretty much what's fueling the vitriol of the world. A lot of terror and war has been fought on the same feelings you two are propagating right now.
What are facts to you? facts to you might not be facts to me. imo you are being a bit dense. the human psychology doesn't work in just right and wrong, good and bad, fact and fiction.
you laughing is quite disrespectful and shows a lack of research into the psychology of religion and prob don't know the doctrines of those religions well enough to really "know" the religions
very similar to not knowing what something tastes like and saying that you hate the taste of it.