I do not believe in any God, nor have I ever. I cannot reconcile logic and reason and real life with religion.
Funny, a reward from God is just about the opposite of what I seek from religion. Nor is trusting the universe to take care of my material needs and wants. The universe exists, I exist (at least up til now), that's all I ever expect from beyond myself. If I die tomorrow, well, it was an interesting trip. Glad to have had it. Religion is also an attempt to answer to the question "Why?" The "why" of the source. Science gives you an excellent "how," but ultimately results in an infinite regression paradox (or a question mark) when you trace it back to the beginning. Logic gives you a great tool to separate the crap from the useful.
Me. I have been given the tools, it is my choice to use them or not. I bring my own rewards, and my own condemnation. I do not blame the devil for my faults and weakenesses.
That's a simplification (it ignores family, and friends, and those that are born less abled), but I'm keeping it simple for the internet. One should not expect God to do anything for them, because he did enough in the first 2 pages of Genesis. No harm in asking for more, just don't get mad when the prayer isn't answered because you (borrowing from another poster) didn't go out looking for the toy YOU lost.
Still, obviously there is something wrong with their minds. This is why atheism in government is a necessity. The contradiction between praising bigotry and a secular government becomes sharper and sharper, which is why atheism is a moral and political imperative.
A "heavenly scent" from McDonald's?![]()
A "heavenly scent" from McDonald's?![]()
I assumed he lived in one of the countries where McD's doesn't smell faintly of garbage and deep fried cardboard.
Ugh...you just gave me a flashback to their McBurrito. Holy #### that's some gross stuff.
P.S. There are no eggs in Egg McMuffins.
I wouldn't give two shits about what people believed religiously if they weren't so busy trying to ram it down other people's throats. In Canada, people tend to, more often than not, keep their business to themselves and leave other people alone. Live and let live and all that. And religion is pretty much a hands-off topic in politics, the first whiff the public gets of a party trying to legislate by the Bible and they'd be gone, whether it was a Conservative or Liberal party. More people should act this way, IMHO, and stop worrying so damned much that everyone else is going to go to hell but people like them.
I wouldn't give two shits about what people believed religiously if they weren't so busy trying to ram it down other people's throats. In Canada, people tend to, more often than not, keep their business to themselves and leave other people alone. Live and let live and all that. And religion is pretty much a hands-off topic in politics, the first whiff the public gets of a party trying to legislate by the Bible and they'd be gone, whether it was a Conservative or Liberal party. More people should act this way, IMHO, and stop worrying so damned much that everyone else is going to go to hell but people like them.
As a wise old comedian once said "Treat your religion like your penis: keep it out of sight and don't shove it down other people's throats."
But when someone actually says that he did something because God told him to, then EVERYONE rolls eyes and doesn't believe it.
Not really, it just depend on what precisely the person says. A lot of people say "God called them to serve" or "God showed me the way." Which is basically saying that after reading scripture, and meditating on what they want, and what they think God wants them to do. Often the individual will come to a realization, which they feel has divine inspiration. Basically, God planted the seed, and they individual nurtured it into something positive (at least from the perspective of that individual finding a purpose in life), and ultimately personal. They don't claim to know more about the world than you do. They're not telling the world to live like them. They're not trying to sell you something.
I have the feeling that those who HAVE had the most direct communication with God tend to be very quiet about it, and that in some cases they may not fully recognize what was happening, or if they do, they understand it isn't something that elevates them above anybody else, or gives them any right to gloat--because they're human just like anyone else. I am also distrustful of those who put on a big show about their supposed "abilities," because that's just a grab for fame, not something that looks to something greater--no matter how much such people loudly proclaim that it's the case.Now, the people that claim either a 2-way conversation with God, or that God literally spoke to them (ala Moses), or received divine instruction to spread to the world, are usually spouting their own (often extreme) views and are merely using God to pump up something that otherwise no one cares about (everyone thinks that if they were emperor of earth, things would be working better). So they're not dismissing God, they're dismissing a snake-oil salesman that doesn't have the gravitas, or the good thinking, to hold his own water.
People aren't that gullible. That's why they roll their eyes at the "jiving preacher." Plus, it's pretty damn arrogant to proclaim that you, a nobody, are somehow in the same rarefied air as an ancient and renowned prophet. People don't like that either.
Me. I have been given the tools, it is my choice to use them or not. I bring my own rewards, and my own condemnation. I do not blame the devil for my faults and weakenesses.
That's a simplification (it ignores family, and friends, and those that are born less abled), but I'm keeping it simple for the internet. One should not expect God to do anything for them, because he did enough in the first 2 pages of Genesis. No harm in asking for more, just don't get mad when the prayer isn't answered because you (borrowing from another poster) didn't go out looking for the toy YOU lost.
Still, obviously there is something wrong with their minds. This is why atheism in government is a necessity. The contradiction between praising bigotry and a secular government becomes sharper and sharper, which is why atheism is a moral and political imperative.
Ack. Even atheists would opt out of the 20th Century's atheist governments, as those governments seemed to solve problems by killing millions of their own people and dumping the bodies in mass graves.
Killing the poor is the quickest way to end poverty.
Killing political opponents is the quickest way to end partisanship.
Killing anyone who objects is the quickest way to end political strife caused by all the killings.
I'd like to point out that people speak of secular government, but forget that an atheistic government, though not driven by religion, is driven by an ideology almost as strong--and people pervert it just like some pervert religion.
What I think many people who speak of secular government really want is a non-ideological government, one that does not presume to have any answers about God, be they positive or negative.
In Canada, people tend to, more often than not, keep their business to themselves and leave other people alone. Live and let live and all that. And religion is pretty much a hands-off topic in politics, the first whiff the public gets of a party trying to legislate by the Bible and they'd be gone, whether it was a Conservative or Liberal party.
That doesn't surprise me in the least. Canadians, especially Canadian politicians, are reluctant to acknowledge their subservience to God as the highest power, because He lives in the US.
I'd like to point out that people speak of secular government, but forget that an atheistic government, though not driven by religion, is driven by an ideology almost as strong--and people pervert it just like some pervert religion.
What I think many people who speak of secular government really want is a non-ideological government, one that does not presume to have any answers about God, be they positive or negative.
Exactly. When I've advocated secular government, I have always meant that what I want is:
Question: "Excuse me, Congressman, what is the government's view on Christ?"
Answer: "We don't know, and quite frankly, it's none of our business."
Let people believe what they want, but as a government agency, you don't know, you don't want to know, you have far more pressing concerns like employment and international diplomacy.
I'd like to point out that people speak of secular government, but forget that an atheistic government, though not driven by religion, is driven by an ideology almost as strong--and people pervert it just like some pervert religion.
What I think many people who speak of secular government really want is a non-ideological government, one that does not presume to have any answers about God, be they positive or negative.
Exactly. When I've advocated secular government, I have always meant that what I want is:
Question: "Excuse me, Congressman, what is the government's view on Christ?"
Answer: "We don't know, and quite frankly, it's none of our business."
Let people believe what they want, but as a government agency, you don't know, you don't want to know, you have far more pressing concerns like employment and international diplomacy.
The Congressman (and other civil servant) should not be banned from belief, though, or from being allowed to explain how that belief shapes his or her character and thought process. That does not constitute the establishment of religion.
Still, it would be foolish to think that his/her beliefs wouldn't affect decision-making. The law can remain equal with respect to beliefs--yet the system also has to represent people who hold beliefs, and who decide what they do and do not believe the government has a right to do.
There is a method to it. If one strives to keep rights and liberty at the top of the priorities list, it can work. You may be personally against pornography, but enabling anti-pornography laws goes against the right of free speech and freedom of the press, so what do you do? You do not make laws against pornography, because it tramples over the rights of others to enjoy it. Above all, the system should not respect the beliefs of those who seek to take away rights.
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