Atheists & Agnostics
Related: About this forum"We're not all like that!"
Whenever I am reading a story pertaining to the latest nonsense spewed by some pastor or conservative Christian politician and I read the comments linked to the article, I will invariably hear: "We're not all like that!" or "That's not a TRUE Christian".
What do you think when you hear that line?
Warpy
(111,286 posts)And then I inform them that as Christians, those people are their problem since they stole the name to serve the Antichrist. And when they ask about that statement (and they do), I say anyone who lives his life so contrary to the teaching of Christ is a servant of Antichrist.
Then I let them stew in it. I have hope that someday they'll realize that yes, it is their problem and they'd better take care of it before their god as well as their country gets sold off out from under them.
LostOne4Ever
(9,289 posts)why they keep using the same book that justifies that behaviour without altering it (ala Thomas Jefferson) or I simply give them a link to the wikipedia page for the "No True Scotsman" fallacy.
If they feel so deeply that their religion is being mis-interpreted why don't they remove the offending verse and keep using the same book that justifies other believers behaviour? And no, they don't get to take credit for all the good and get no blame for all the bad their book justifies.
DavidDvorkin
(19,480 posts)trotsky
(49,533 posts)But by insisting that religious beliefs are special and cannot be subject to things like evidence and reason, you make it possible for those "bad" Christians to also reject evidence and reason that don't support their beliefs.
Oh but they are so SURE their beliefs are right. Just like the conservative Christian politician, oddly enough.
You might not be a bad person as an individual, but you make it possible for others to act the way they do. When you refute basic science, when you fight against logic and reason and truth (that last one being perhaps the most important), you fight for the ability of others to spread their poison using the same arguments.
Not to mention the sheer amount of hypocrisy contained in their belief system as well... I have a hard time believing in "good" christians when they tell me that they live a life based off the Bible and all of the insanity contained therein.
progressoid
(49,992 posts)I can kind of see their point. Christianity covers a wide range of people politically, culturally, economically, intellectually, even dogmatically. It's kind hard to lump them all together.
As Democrats, we don't want to be defined by Rod Blagojevich or Anthony Wiener. HOWEVER, the difference is we don't dismiss them with a "we're not all like that!" We condemn them for their stupid actions.
"We're not all like that!" is weak sauce.
F4lconF16
(3,747 posts)they can be a wonderfully diverse people and still share and spread a common disease. Unlike a party of Democrats whose views may conflict on just about everything (this site being a perfect example), they are still bound together by a belief in God as described in the Bible (however loosely-else I wouldn't call them Christians per say). As such, they still promote the same falsehoods as the others, if not to the same degree. While I agree it is wrong and potentially dangerous to group all christians together in our words and thoughts, I would argue that they can and often should be lumped together. When your kindly next-door neighbor says he believes in a God loosely defined as said in the Bible, he is (however indirectly) aiding the beliefs and actions of those such as the WBC. Feel free to tell me I'm wrong about this, I'm tired and may not be thinking straight.
(also sorry about all the asides-I tend to use them profusely when on little sleep)
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Under the hood, their ideas all source from the same delusion.
amuse bouche
(3,657 posts)You are a fraud...a phony... a non-thinker....delusional ... dumb and a bigot
Heather MC
(8,084 posts)I was raised Jehovah's Witness Everybody should know by now THEY are the only true religion!!!!!
Just last month I asked a Christian on who's Authority were they given the right to decide which Christians are true and which are false? She got mad accused me of attacking her faith and never answered my question