One topic near and dear to my heart is religion, or the irrationality of it that we see in many AVers. Of course, many vaxxed people may also dabble in this archaic pastime but I see similarities between religious indoctrination and political indoctrination among AVers. I have seen other professed atheists on this site so welcome your comments.
Everything in the sign above is what many Christians strongly believe to be true! The final sentence on the sign is a part that they avoid thinking about.
If the evangelicals have their way, this will be the USA in the near future...
I'm an atheist, but I often discover that my "beliefs", or "assumptions", are dead wrong.
Russia has been a paranoid society run by paranoid leaders for decades. Paranoia breeds violence. Look at Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Hussein, Khadafi, etc.
I'm not religious, though I was raised very religious. I think some communities are more insular, and giving up or distancing yourself from your religion is akin to distancing yourself from your community. That can be scary and lonely, even if it's ultimately healthier for you.
I try to be respectful of others beliefs, but I can't help an inner giggle when someone emphatically proclaims they're correct based on such and such Bible verse. Um, what? The Bible, written in a dead language from word of mouth stories that were then picked and pulled apart and repackaged to fit whatever narrative served the people in power at the time? That Bible? Watch an interview and then watch how it's reported on Fox vs CNN. We can't agree on a message or narrative in real time, using the same current language, that's ON VIDEO. But tell me more about your Bible....
Religion is fine, though not my thing. Politics is fine. It’s when you mix them that everything goes to absolute shit. The GQP claims to care so much about the constitution while wiping their asses with it whenever it doesn’t confirm what they believe or want. Separation of church and state is one of those areas where the constitution is worth no more than generic toilet paper to them.
Another thought about religion.
Recently I saw that video of the pastor ranting against "witches".
I know the evangelical extremists are very concerned about the Wiccans.
If the Christofascists gain total control, will there be another Salem?
I really can't discount that possibility.
Any comments on this? Personally, with Americans professing support for Putin, I don't think it's helpful.
Exerpt:
"ROME—Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Pope Francis has floated the idea that he wants to take a trip to Kyiv to try to broker a ceasefire. But now he says he would prefer to go to Moscow to try to talk some sense into Vladimir Putin, who he has not outwardly condemned in the now nearly three-month-old war and only did so lightly in a lengthy interview with an Italian newspaper.
“I feel that before going to Kyiv, I must go to Moscow,” he told Corriere Della Sera in an interview that ran Tuesday. But the meeting would not exactly be to condemn Putin, based on what he told the paper. He said that the real “scandal” of Putin’s war is “NATO barking at Russia’s door,” which he said caused the Kremlin to “react badly and unleash the conflict.”
MY FACE WHEN MEETING SOMEONE AND FINDING OUT THAT THEY'RE CHRISTIAN.
I come from an atheist family. Never in my life have I believed in the existence of a deity(s). I find it all but impossible to understand such a belief. Best I can do is compare it similarly to the delusions of the psychotic patients I cared for when I was a psychiatric nurse.
I'M atheist. I know that Poker Pigeons who cant separate beliefs from facts can be separated from their money.
If you haven’t already, I recommend reading this book. It explains almost everything about why America is where it is today. Spoiler alert: Christian nationalism has infested America into the highest halls of power. The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism
Are science and religion mutually incompatible? Can they coexist harmoniously or does one have to go and the other stays as part of the cultural evolution of our species?
I thank this site for my going full atheist.
And, I don't believe in science anymore. It is! Much more confident and comfortable in the ectasy of solid data.
"Prayers 🙏 won't help you,
Cryin' won't do you no good."
BTW -- goddamn QT to hell. Trump first ...
Christian nationalism is the biggest threat to the USA and has been for decades. When you think you are God’s chosen people, any means to exert power over unbelievers is justified.
I think religion mainly serves as a psychological crutch for people who cannot face the terror of reality. It also supplies simple answers to life‘s greatest mysteries. At best, it helps people cope with the difficulties of life we all face, especially death, especially our own death. At worst, it turns otherwise good people into unthinking pawns of unscrupulous leaders (see above). I include the wellness/new age crowd in this too. The grift is large among this group. People shamelessly peddle useless potions, ”energy medicine” treatments, expensive “healing” retreats, (remember the sweat lodge retreat in Sedona that killed people) and my personal favorite, those who make the claim that people can manifest health wealth and relationships with their minds (law of attraction).
Love this topic also!
Okay, so I was raised in a fairly agnostic family, but had the misfortune to have both sets of grandparents who were Southern Baptist Evangelicals. Basically each Sunday we had to go to their mega-church to keep them happy. My parents went, although even as a youngster I realized they truly didn’t believe. When my parents divorced when I was 10, my mother used our next door neighbor as her baby sitter. This lady was straight up cray cray evangelical. We got dragged and enrolled to every church group available for us kids. To say it was miserable would be an understatement. I actually spent a few critical teenage years feeling as if the problem was with me because I couldn‘t “see” or “believe” like they could. I seriously thought there was something wrong with me bc I just couldnt buy into the bullshit. I spent the next 30 years trying my best to “belong” with religious people. I would join in with prayer, told ppl I was praying, and desperately hoped that God would appear to me in an epiphany and that I would finally be blessed with the presence of the Holy Spirit whom I was convinced I still wasn’t “good enough” to feel like others professed. Every single one of my friends was religious. My first husband was religious. My grandparents were gone by this time, so thank goodness we didn’t have to keep going to church. Honestly it wasn’t until I got breast cancer when I was 40 that I was able to break free of this. I was 40, a single mom to 2 teens, and had received news that I had less than 50% survival. I remember sitting down on my bed and yelling and screaming at “God”. No answer. I sat there for about an hour and then once I was cried out, something in my brain “clicked”. There is so Sky Daddy. It wasn’t just me being obtuse, or stubborn, or disobedient or any of that other crap. The most simple answer is that there was me and my doctors and a little bit of luck that was going to get me out of this. I proudly turned my back on looking for anyone else to help me with my problems, put on my big girl pants and fought that bitch called cancer! Of course I still have many of my old religious friends. I’m sure that many of them are still praying for me daily (bless their hearts) and I unabashedly don’t care. Let them have the comfort, I‘m actually in a better place than I’ve ever been in my life.
Since then, I met and married the love of my life and we try to live each day to the fullest knowing that this is the only life we are ever going to have. Do I fear death? Only in the way most normal atheists do. What I will miss the most is knowing that the story will go on without me.
I was sort of brought up to religion, (I attended church and such like) but I gradually stopped believing in any sort of religion when I realized that religion is one fuck of a mind control con that has been used by con men, mentally ill people and countries in order to control masses of people for centuries.
To wit: The Roman Catholic Church, their sins have been unfurled through out the ages, but then again paid off. They are responsible for so much evil done in their imaginary 'sky fairy's' name that entire encyclopedias could be written about it.
All in the name of control and money-never forget that the Church does not pay taxes to any city, state or country. The Vatican is itself an un-taxed country.
There are no taxes, no restrictions on the import or export of funds, and no customs or excise duties payable in the Vatican City . Employees of the Vatican pay no income tax and no customs duty on gasoline or goods that they buy in the Vatican. Non-Italians enjoy allowances on their monthly salaries.
So where does the money raised from the faithful go? One doesn't want to know, but when "God's Banker" was found dead in broad daylight the murder was investigated, but no one person was ever tried and no motive was ever proposed. Of course we won't talk about the money that was embezzled, either.
My pops is a minister and I was raised homeschooled, super religious, the whole deal. I think saying one doesn't believe in god, or religious ideology, is good for individual expression, but as far as having a conversation about the world it's about as useful as saying one doesn't believe in the stock market. Religion and belief in a higher power/s influence an incomprehensible amount of human activity on this little rock called Earth. It's way more useful to acknowledge these (idk what word to use here... Entities? Forces? Driving concepts?) To examine what they provide people.
Obviously the spectrum is real wide, but one of the more obvious provisions of some world-dominant, monotheistic religions is a sense certainty and order. It's sad and surreal to see people abandon all other sources of logic and information in favor of rules that seem so founded on nothing to me, (i.e. pray warrior your way through COVID) but in a (maybe perverse) way it's also enthrallingly fascinating. It's one of the main reasons I check this site almost every day. I've never come away from any post closer to understanding it. In fact, I usually just feel more boggled. But I guess that's a weird, interesting feeling. Some people go to church to get their minds boggled. I read Facebook posts by people who keep their faith in God while he cruelly kills scads of loved ones, or even until he sucks the last breath right out of you. Why? I cannot say. But a few dozen more posts from the Vaxxman maybe I'll be closer.
Mrs WolfenBane, and I have differing, but similar outlooks when it comes to a person's belief in their faith.
Personally, I'm somewhere between agnostic, & atheist.
Mrs WolfenBane says that she believes in God, but doesn't believe in religion.
We both respect each others belief/s and never try to convert either one of us, which also flows over to treating people around us.
We respect your faith/beliefs but don't try to preach it to us, and we won't do the same to you.