by B_Deserter 145 Replies latest jw friends
That condescending, superior attitude sums up christians quite tidily to me.
And this attitude would be just as judgmental, condescending and superior. Sounds like if you cross over to their way of thinking, you'll fit in quite nicely. Not all christians believe that the bible is the untouched word of God. I'd guess the ones that do are probably the smaller number.
The difference FHN, is that atheist's do not actively recruit. They do not seek you out to tell you how wrong you are. They do not knock on your door, or stick pamphlets in your hand, or organize political pressure. They do not picket outside of churches, nor do they shoot anti abortion doctors. They do not burn folks at the stake for believing, and they don't interject their lack of belief into everyday conversation.
The difference FHN, is that atheist's do not actively recruit. They do not seek you out to tell you how wrong you are. They do not knock on your door, or stick pamphlets in your hand, or organize political pressure. They do not picket outside of churches, nor do they shoot anti abortion doctors. They do not burn folks at the stake for believing, and they don't interject their lack of belief into everyday conversation.
There is a loudness of the the voice of atheists on JWD. Ant then consider some atheists who insist that intelligent design not even be mentioned in schools or that God not be mentioned in the pledge to the flag and under similar circumstances: they most certainly do organize political pressure.
And Beks, the majority of christians and others who believe in God do not picket abortion clinics or shoot anyone, let alone doctors. Those are extreme examples. And those people are off balance and would be even if they didn't believe in God. Some of us are pro choice. The majority of people who believe in a higher power do not burn people at the stake and they don't interject their belief into everyday conversation unless the subject comes up. Most people I know don't discuss politics or religion, whether they believe in God or they don't.
I was thinking of starting a thread here called Day of the Atheists. I've been here a few years now and I've seen trends come and go in the subjects people post about. Right now there is a trend toward threads that are about or include a lot of discussion from atheists. I'm speaking up now because much of it is done in a condescending, rather uneducated tone (about believers) with insulting, sweeping generalizations about people who do believe in a higher power.
Please keep in mind that there are people other than fundamentalist christians who believe in God or gods and goddesses here in the usa and through out the world. You can't paint us all with the same broad brush. I do believe Jesus was a real person who performed miracles and I do believe in a higher power. But I am a universalist. I am opposite to what the WT believes. I always was a universalist, until I became agnostic and then was influenced by JW thinking after my brother's death.
I don't believe you have to be saved or believe in God. I don't believe you will be punished if you don't believe. I believe God is vastly superior to man in the sense that he understands extenuating circumstances and he understands why some don't believe he exists. He doesn't condemn people for non or varying beliefs. I certainly know the church I was raised in recognizes the very negative male dominated slant in the bible we have today. They know the scriptures have not come to us untampered. Many of them do believe in evolution and they greatly value science. They say they have a three legged stool that involves scripture, tradition and reason and that they do value modern science and consider it. They are not a fundamentalist church.
I speak up on these threads to the condescending tone of some athiests. The only reason I would recommend God to you is if sound confused and I think it might he might be comforting to you. I am not worried about your soul. The God I have known since I was a baby loves all of his children. ALL.
FHN said:
I've been here a few years now and I've seen trends come and go in the subjects people post about. Right now there is a trend toward threads that are about or include a lot of discussion from atheists. I'm speaking up now because much of it is done in a condescending, rather uneducated tone (about believers) with insulting, sweeping generalizations about people who do believe in a higher power.
I applaud you for speaking up about this. You have as much right to speak out about your belief in a higher power as the others have to speak out about their non-belief.
I, too, have noticed a very narrow-minded tone in the recent atheist voices on the board. I certainly think everyone should be able to voice their opinion, but it chaps me
when some (not all) attempt to make one appear ignorant if they call themselves a believer. Their narrow mindedness prevents them from seeing the full spectrum of believers and they tend to
put them all in the same box and slap the same label on them (usually Christian or religious). They don't seem to comprehend that there is a huge diversity of definitions for "believer". But, by gosh, if
you call yourself a believer, BAM!....right away you are attacked as one who doesn't have all the facts; one whose scientific knowledge is sorely lacking; or one who is
delusional; someone who is not quite as informed as they are. Then you have to listen to a litany of tales about how horrible believers have been in the past and yadda yadda yadda.
Sometimes after reading some of the more lengthy cut and paste articles spouted by some so-called "brain", I close the thread thinking if they only knew the individual experiences and perhaps had a
fuller comprehension or a more conscious connection to the flow of these universal harmonies, they could understand. It's as if there is a blockage there. But, each to his own. If that's your thing, fine, but
like Flying High Now stated, the condescending tone is getting to be a bit much. When you call yourself a "believer", are you saying "I'm a Christian" or are you saying, "I believe in a Higher Power commonly
called God"? To me it doesn't have to mean both. Some atheists simply have a deep-seated prejudice, and when they can finally recognize it, sometimes they do find a new spirituality and are able to find the
divine intelligence flowing throughout the universe and find their connection to it.
I like the post where the Christians jumps on the Muslims or Buddist! Funny! "My God is the "real" God!" Where they try to make a presidential candidate appear to be Muslim. "He's a Muslim!" "Isn't that horrible!?" People on here are so hypocritical!
People on here are so hypocritical!
Show me a human being and you are showing me a hypocrite. Everyone is hypocritical in some way, be it big or small.
Small/narrow mindedness comes in a hue of belief systems. We all know that a few Chrisitans or Muslims can be quite narrow minded. Let's recognize here that atheists, evolutionists, buddhists, hindus, pagans and so on, all of them are human and yes some of them are very small minded and closed to any other ideas. Hypocrites come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors and belief systems.
Thank you, Journey ON.
FHN,
The difference FHN, is that atheist's do not actively recruit. They do not seek you out to tell you how wrong you are. They do not knock on your door, or stick pamphlets in your hand, or organize political pressure. They do not picket outside of churches, nor do they shoot anti abortion doctors. They do not burn folks at the stake for believing, and they don't interject their lack of belief into everyday conversation.
I stand by my comments above. They do not recruit nor seek out believers to change their minds. That's a far cry from holding their own when the subject comes up. The political action they try to take is defensive, not offensive. It is in reaction to having god pushed upon us. Don't forget too, that more often that political pressure you are trying to point out, has nothing to do with atheists, but rather non christian believers. And as far as interjecting lack of belief into everyday conversation, when is the last time you sneezed and had someone say "hey aren't you glad there's no god?"
On this thread and another recent one, the direction taken by believers, is to discount the feelings of the non-believers. You yourself kept politely nudging Gopher as he explained his complete comfort with his non-belief. You would not except that from him. You responded with a well you'll change your mind one day attitude no matter what he said. This very thread here is a questioning of non-believers "coming to their senses". We are a minority in this country, and we get this stuff shoved down our throats pretty much every day. We are not trying to change your beliefs, we are saying we would like to continue to hold our own, give us the same courtesy. There is a difference between an action, and a reaction. Believers push and push, and condescend, but if a non-believer does the same, watch out! There is a huge christian crowd, trying not to protect their right to believe, but to push those beliefs on others. That is the difference. When is the last time you had an atheist knock on your door and tell you you were wrong to believe? Found a pamphlet on your car telling you how much more peace and love you would find in your life if you would just give up god?
Found a pamphlet on your car telling you how much more peace and love you would find in your life if you would just give up god?
The difference FHN, is that atheist's do not actively recruit.
Actually, some do. They may not go house to house like JWs, but they do use the Internet and different orgs.
If these aren't recruitment tracts, I don't know what are:
http://ffrf.org/shop/nontracts/
BTS
