Sounds like the supervisor is an idiot. As a strong Christian myself, I would never have the gall to make such a cruel remark to that woman. There is no justification for rape. None. I would go so far as to call that remark un-Christian, for being unkind when kindness and (brother/sisterly) love is what's needed. Personally, I have no beef with evolution. I don't see why it should be such a big argument; why an infinite God could not have controlled all of the required variables is beyond me. That said, some of the "liberal professor" stories I have heard are discrimination just as clearcut as the type you experienced in the other direction, such as being assigned an essay where they are required to write about the reasons why a certain conservative policy is wrong, without room to debate the issue one way or the other. Stupid stuff like that. I think sometimes, professors in general go on a power trip, and when they're ideologues, that makes it all the worse.
Yeah. I agree professors can do this. However, most colleges have a recourse for students who feel they have been discriminated against. I'm not sure how well it works, however. I had a professor in a class on Japan who had issues with nearly every single male student in the class, which coincidentally was 95% female. When I got an F on an exam, I talked to him about it in his office and he was extremely condescending, telling me my essay was "grade school" material and belittling me for using it's instead of its. Once. I dropped out of the class immediately. As for the supervisor, the comment was made in a joking manner, so I think he thought it was okay. However, most women would have been incredibly offended. Either way, it is unethical for a counselor to make light of such a tragic event, much less do so while telling a client he or she is attractive.
I've always been liberal-leaning. My dad is far more conservative, so the few political discussions we've ever had did not turn out well (and I'm putting that mildly). However, my dear homeroom teacher in middle/high school was a staunch conservative Republican, but we got along fine for whatever reason. I'm a registered Democrat but I'm extremely unimpressed with both Dems and Repubs. One of these days I'll probably switch to being an Independent.
Some people are just more tolerant than others. I've heard stories of intolerance on both sides of the political spectrum, where people believe it a life or death situation that others share their views. Some people just realize this is not the case.
It's kindda funny that atheists make such a big deal about religions...like it's a plaque. People that has gone through hell...they all turn to religions. Take it from them... They speak from experience. And just because I believe in God that doesn't diminish my IQ, or change who I am.
^ So you dislike when atheists tell you that religion is silly superstition, but at the same time you single out every single atheist as militant and pushy, and enjoy telling them that being an atheist is naive and just due to inexperience. Are you sure you are thinking this thoroughly?
I'm sorry, but that's not true. Many people's beliefs are destroyed by awful experiences that make clear to them the indifference of the universe to human suffering. Of course, these people don't get their stories retold by the kind of smug propagandists who make their livings by "inspiring" people. You ought to do more investigation before making generalizations that don't stand up to any examination at all. I have no idea what your IQ is; I know that the kind of assertion you made is not well thought-out.
It's not that Jesus is indifferent to human suffering, but the problem is that he wastes all his time manipulating various sporting events to be able to take care of starving children and preventing wars.
I'm a bosnian by birth and naturally we talked about the civil war in the 90s and we also have suffered personally under it (though we live in Germany and were safe from the war). Back then my parents were quite radical up to and including "Slaughter the Serbs!" and it appaled me and we had long discussions (and even more informed ones once i got older and could understand better). Now fast forward to present times.. both parents have retired and moved back to their house they've been building in a Serb controlled, former autonomous state where they live in a city that's not predominantly controlled by Serbs (a wide mix of Hungarians, Croats, Serbs and some other minorities) and they got more in touch with folk down there including Serbs and guess what? They realized that the former enemy were people too and most of them quite decent and they have made new friends too. What i realized and drew conclusions is that the atmosphere of anger and fear will blind you to everything and turn decent people into vengeful and hateful people and this is what the GOP is about. They are the party of fear.. the Dems will tax all of your money away, they will kill your baby and elderly, they will weaken your military and terrorists will kill you, the Mexicans will take your jobs, everyone is out to get America etc and it is most apparent with the Tea Baggers. Unfortunately the most hard core are also the most fanatical and will not even listen to proven facts trying to weasel out and at times downright disregard proof when cornered. Every government needs opposing sides to keep each other in check but those two sides need to be able to compromise for the good of the country and if the US debt ceiling "debate" has shown anything it is that the GOP would rather sink the whole ship than make a few steps towards the Dems to meet somewhere in the middle.. a Democracy is gravely in danger when a side considers the other a true enemy rather than an opponent.
Yeah it is much easier to accept the randomness of life then to be angry at some sort of all-knowing creater who is causing all of the bullshit you deal with.
Most atheists don't make a big deal about religion. They just go about their daily lives like everyone else and want nothing more than to be respected like they respect others. There are some atheists who are rude and pushy about it and give others a bad name, but then as the link in the OP shows, there are some religious people who are rude and pushy about their beliefs as well. Turns out no group owns a monopoly on having rude and pushy individuals and subsets. I don't claim anything so dramatic as having "gone through Hell," and there are countless other people around the world who have had it so much worse off than I have throughout their lives, but having gone through more than a few rough patches myself, it's never made me turn toward religion. Which is not to say it's not a source of great strength and comfort for billions of people during trying times. I'm just saying you should avoid absolutist statements like that and not claim to speak for all people. Those rough patches didn't cause my atheism either, mind you (that just came about through self-reflection when I was between 10 and 12 or so), but I will admit that during my transition from being a Catholic to an atheist I did ask the question many times of what kind of all-knowing/all-seeing God would allow the cruelty and suffering in the world and to a lesser extent in my personal life to go on before realizing there's no grand plan behind it all, it's just life. But that's a question even many people of faith ask and answer in various ways through self-reflection, scripture, or speaking to clergy. If this is a platitude along the lines of "there are no atheists in foxholes," I would direct your attention to Pat Tillman for one notable counterexample. Well, I would hope it would change who you are at least a little bit; otherwise, what's the point? No, belief or lack of belief in God has no bearing on one's IQ (and IQ itself as a measure of success or authority is often overrated), but one should take care not to make blanket statements based on ignorance and inexperience.
I realized that when the opposite of what I was asking was happening...it's time to give up. Either He's a dick or He doesn't exist. That whole "works in mysterious ways" thing is bullshit.
Same here as Squiggy and TheBrew. Religious people talk about feeling "at peace" when they surrender to God/Jesus whatever, but that just sounds like a "ignorance is bliss" kind of peace. Accepting that there's nobody there intentionally trying to mess up your life, it's just how life works, that is truly peaceful.
And frankly, I don't need the threat of eternal hell and damnation to scare me into treating people nicely.
Can we just all agree that people are religious for many many reasons, and others are atheist for just as many reasons and not stereotype each other? I'm agnostic, but have found merit in both camps. I just am not convinced either way. But I find baseless attacks from either side rather annoying. I'm frightened by people like the couple I talked about earlier, who are so programmed by right-wing propaganda that they believe Obama is the anti-Christ and vote Republican without thinking about it. But I'm just as frightened by atheists who feel the need to attack people's beliefs because they are angry with the politicians. Use logic to demonstrate that Republicans are not following Christian ethics (which shouldn't be hard at all), but don't tell people their beliefs are wrong or stupid. That won't suddenly get them on your side!
Yeah! Is there a problem with that? And I will overlook your condescending tone! I think atheist assume that there is something wrong with people who have turned to religion. That people like you are the savior of the earth. There's not nothing wrong with other people or what they believe in...or why they act certain way. There are something that they don't understand about you people either... You just have to accept people for who they are.