I know some here will say how can I but I just do.

I believe in the Incarnation, life, ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ so I buy the virgin birth.

Angels? Being born of a virgin? Resurrection? Really? Fairytales in my view. But, if someone wants to believe ham sandwiches grow on trees or that white elephants live at the bottom of the sea, they can believe that too. Too each his or her own.

experience of life is different than ours. Right?

Because believing in god is just like believing ham sandwiches grow on trees and white elephants live at the bottom of the sea.

Right?

It must be really special to be so free of any of those fairy tale beliefs.

Any of the beliefs you mentioned.

But, hey! Mocking is so much fun and makes us feel all superior and shit.

Please throw in some unicorns and sky daddies and leprechauns, else I might be disappointed in the maturity of your religious conversation.

ham sandwiches don't grow on trees but look at all of our food that does. All we need to do is pick and eat. And our drinking water falls from the heavens.

Also I think tress are kosher so no ham sandwiches.

No BLT's, either.

And in your case, it just doesn't.

it.

You have the advantage of integrity.

I interpret the gospel narratives differently, but I have no trouble at all with seeing both Jesus and .Mary as manifestations of the same divinity as, say, Deganawitha and White Buffalo Calf Woman.

Just wow.

I'm speechless.

I'd really like to see those numbers for other "modern" countries.

And what countries would you consider not modern?

Since he didn't get back to me, but you seem to agree with him, what is a "modern" country?

reject science and reason, and embrace mythology as "real." Sorry, but the sky-god-raped-a-virgin-and-implanted-a-magic-zombie story is on the level of "a monster swallows the sun every night."

Modern country? Definitions vary, I'm sure.

And it is quite possible, even likely, for one to possess both.

Mocking religion is what shows a lack of critical thinking skills. It is much easier to type some condescending nonsense like "the sky-god-raped-a-virgin-and-implanted-a-magic-zombie story", than to actually understand that some people see the world differently and hold beliefs that are not consistent with your own.

You must feel so superior to those with religious beliefs, with all that critical thinking and stuff. But that's just your belief based on faith. You really aren't.

I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to hold the opinion that some beliefs are silly. Ostensibly if you're a DUer you believe Republicans hold silly or wrong beliefs. So why there are two sets of rules depending on whether or not one mixes in The Supernatural into belief is beyond me.

I'd evaluate them the same say that I would evaluate religious beliefs. If they don't hurt others or seek to impose your POV on them, there is no problem.

I do think Republicans hold silly and wrong beliefs, and I am on a site that doesn't permit them and their beliefs and does allow for attack and ridicule of them.

But I am also on a site that does permit for lots of religious beliefs and lack of beliefs. Not only that, it specifically protects them.

There are different sets of rules for all kinds of things all the time.

You want to go to CC or FR and spot your opinions about republicans, go ahead. You won't last long.

You want to attack and ridicule religious believers, there are lots of sites for that, too. This is supposed to be one where that is not the case.

You want to have your POV as an atheist respected and not attacked or ridiculed, there are lots of sites for that, and this is supposed to be one of them as well.

So, how do you want it? Do you think that both believers and non-believers should be protected on this site, or neither, or just some?

We as Democrats disagree on many issues. We are allowed to disagree. You don't get to declare what is or isn't allowed to be discussed.

Religion is one of the topics on which we disagree. People who have negative opinions about religion are allowed to post. You don't get to declare what can or cannot be said about religion or religious beliefs.

Use the Alert feature. There is a system in place. If at least 4 of 7 random DUers think a post was disrespectful toward individuals rather than beliefs, they will likely vote to hide the offending post. Quit trying to be the judge AND jury for everyone whose opinion you don't like.

Your endless severe warnings and admonitions against anyone you decide has posted inappropriately is tiresome. You are not a host of this forum. This forum has been and is wide open for all discussion of all opinions about religious issues, religious beliefs, and even the people who hold those beliefs. You have your own interfaithy forum where the hall monitors are very strict and will shut down the slightest utterance of anything that can be remotely construed as negative about religion, religious beliefs or people holding those beliefs. This is not that forum.

But it looks like America lost.

around is a very, very bad thing.

Together we can find a cure.

Last edited Tue Dec 16, 2014, 10:14 AM - Edit history (1)

who are eager to believe in silly shit with no evidence is a bad thing. That's why we have anti-vaccine woo-woo, climate change deniers, Obama birthers, Benghazi nutballs and a whole host of others. All symptoms of the same disease that people like Ted Cruz, Michelle Bachmann and James Inhofe are afflicted with. All the result of people who will swallow anything they're fed and follow anywhere they're led.

But no harm in any of that, right?

to get someone to respond with a less than complimentary statement about religion, so then you can swoop in and berate them (or your straw man representation of them at least).

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Isn't that number just as high as the actual number of Christians in the US?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States

This would mean about 100% of Christians? I guess this is due to normal statistical variation in polls, but still more than I thought. I can see it being high, REALLY high, but 73% just sounds bit too much. Ill accept it for now, but I would like to see more polls on this in the future.

The fact that christians believe it should not be at all surprising.

What is surprising is that anyone would find that odd.

This author has presented it as if it is strange, but it's not strange at all.

Claiming that only a few fundies and (somehow) some atheists are literalists. Leaving aside the total illogic of that, here you have proof that a LARGE majority of Christians are indeed literalists. And yet you're silent about that, instead attacking those who don't give whatever you think is the proper response this time.

Which just goes to show you that Americans will believe ridiculous shit even when scientific evidence says otherwise.

42% believe in strict creation and 31% in evolution with god guiding.

The article, of course, shows that 42% of americans believe in creationism, while 31% believe in evolution but think god had a hand in it.

While those numbers are not good in terms of creationism, you have totally distorted the report to say something that it doesn't say.

God created humans. Which we know is complete bullshit.

And 31% more think god had a hand in it. Which, again, we know isn't true.

So the fact that people think the Christmas story is literally true surprises me not. I wonder how high a percentage of those actually think that birth of Jesus took place on December 25th. I bet the number is frighteningly high.

And how have I distorted the numbers? 73% believe something that runs contrary to everything that the science of evolution tells us is true.

of their belief system. They also believe in god!

You distorted the numbers despite your attempts to back pedal at this time. Your statement was about creationism and it was blatantly distorted.

I personally don't have nearly the kind of problem with the guided evolution thing as I do with creationism. It gives some people the opportunity to move forward, and I am for that.

Don't be so sure that you know what is and isn't the truth. You could end up with egg on your face.

And now with my magic powers, I will make a prediction: This will now be turned into a new meme that I support the idea of guided evolution. Wait, wait…. no, my predicting that will take the wind out of the sails and create quite a delimma for the meme machine.

What to do, what to do…...

He said "some level of creationism."

Believing that a god intervened to help produce humans, at any level, is a form of creationism. You are being vicious and accusatory toward Goblinmonger and it's completely inappropriate and wrong.

Someone needs to chill a bit if they're alerting on this. Can't be healthy, just some friendly advice. Step away and relax a bit.

why is that not surprising?

Who or whatever had to do with our creation put in a dna particle that either makes us believe something about who we owe our existence to, and or makes us search for an answer.

People need something to believe. Sometimes it makes them better people. Sometimes not.

I personally don't believe in a personal god. Watching the Science channel, we were all created with the big bang, everything in us - except at one point our dna was altered. I like Stichen's view about alien intervention. Without it we would be gorillas and probably a lot happier. Or, Eric Von Daniken's. Neither is probably true, but the shoes fit and I'm buying till another style suits me better.

This is an interesting thread, and if I stayed would be alerted on in no time at all. Just voted "Leave it" in a jury poll in this thread.

I would love to see that and hope it was a 0-7 leave.

was #29 by Trotsky. It was left on with a 7-0 vote.

If there was an alert on the article, I know nothing about that.

Nothing in this whole thread needs alerting on. Everything is controversial, nobody has the true answers, so anything is ok, Washington Post, the Bible, History2, Sci, whatever. We all need to believe something, and reading the bible, the pseudepigrapha, and about other ancient religions whether still practiced or not, our Native American beliefs, and so much more - looking at the similarities and the laws and customs - Belief is what it is...

Am tied in my interest in beliefs (not religion) and politics (Laws - Hammurabi Code, 10 Commandments), gardening (rain, sun,when seeds appeared), birds (dinosaurs) and dogs, a gift from something to give us love..(kitties and other creatures too)

Wonderful things we have here.

I agree with you about the thread in general. It's an interesting set of data that is being presented in a rather one-sided way, but, as you say, the whole thing is worth discussion.

Beliefs are indeed what they are, and everyone has them.

I miss gardening. It was something of a belief system for me. Cooking is the thing now, but I still miss gardening.

Another data point in the 'Americans are fucked up' evidence pile.

it's a measure of how frightened Americans are. A lot of the "credit" for that goes to sensationalist media and the need to stoke a 24/7 news cycle.

(As was mine.)