AWKWARD ZOMBIE

I'm Athiest, I guess. I'm incredibly tolerant of all religions and their ideas, including Christianity, because hey they might be right. We know about as much as they do, what makes us more right?

Religion all comes down to faith, no matter what logic you're trying to imbue, negative or positive. You either have it, or you don't. I don't, they do. I might get it later, I don't know. I kinda' hope that I do.

Also, it makes me feel good to see a Christian who's trying to convert me to their religion. I know a lot of people are just like "FFFF CHRISTIANS SHOVIN THEIR SHIT DOWN MAH THROAT", but even if they are a bit eccentric sometimes, you have to understand that anyone who's trying to convert you ( not just saying outright that you're going to burn in Hell ) is just trying to help you.

They're trying to save you from burning in eternity. If the thought ever did count, I would imagine that's like a 10 on the Nice-Thought-O-Meter.

The man with 1 post speaks truth.


It's a dangerous line of thought that you should hold a person accountable for their ancestor's misdeeds.

The US Government doesn't seem to mind doing exactly that.

Hey-o.

I rest my case.

I tuck it in and read it a bedtime story.

Nicely put. +2

Religion brings nothing but harm, conflict, and hatred into the world. We should not have to be tolerant of it's destructive nature. It is a negative force that harms everyone who follows the religion, and the people around the followers. It pollutes the minds of children, and slows humanity's assent into a utopian society.

Good god man.

It's not religion's fault that wars or pain are cause in it's name. If anything, it's the people for being so daisies ignorant and intolerant towards people of different beliefs.

If people would think more like The Result and be more tolerant and allow people to believe in who they want, then the world would be more at peace.
What you just said pretty much is what starts those wars in the beginning.

"WE SHOULD NOT TOLERATE IT"

A religion is not an independent entity capable of making decisions. Who else are we to blame if not the followers of the religion?

I can't help but notice that, although most of, for example, the people of the U.S. follow a religion, most of the people of the U.S. are, in fact, not actively killing each other.

People kill each other about all sorts of things, not just religion. People kill each other over land, does that mean the concept of owning land is evil? I know that's not a very good example, but I think it makes my point.

I was talking primarily about things other than murder.

Namely the propagation of ignorance, and of hatred, and the slowing the evolution of the human race.

The very nature of religion is that it glorifies and praises ignorance as a virtue.

So I was reading A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. On the subject of black/white racism, he says that racism was created as a tool to keep black slaves and white servants from coming together against oppression in the South.

There were no equal opportunities between the servant class and the aristocratic class, and very harsh laws made against the poor and unemployed in America. The upper class used their power to get more wealth, and they also prevented many farmers from moving up in society. After Bacon's Rebellion, the rich were afraid of a full scale rebellion involving all the lowest classes such as slaves and servants. So they made a decision to pit the blacks against whites. They offered white servants benefits and denied blacks the same treatment.

That's all from the book, but I wanted to know what everyone thought. Is racism something that was naturally felt by the people because of differences in appearences, culture, etc. or is it possible that it was created by politics?

The thing is, that doesn't only happen with religion. That happens with EVERYTHING people disagree on.

Also, I can't help but notice that you're sort of coming across as a hypocrite here. You accuse religious people of not being accepting enough, but, by hating religion and accusing people who are religious of being ignorant, you are being unaccepting yourself. Why is it okay when you do it?



The problems come not from religion itself, but from people who don't accept other people's beliefs.



How so?

A mixture of both. Racism is hardly a new concept, and has existed in various forms throughout the history of the world. It can form naturally, or it can be a result of politics.

...

I always think it's worthy to note that slavery has existed for thousands of years, but there was never another nation which held slavery in the form America did... Where a person was considered property, and their children and their children's children were considered slaves, and the men and women were breed together like dogs.

Historically, slavery was something along the lines of... "Hey, your nation attacked us, and we defeated you in the war, we'll be nice and not kill you, but your nation is wiped off the map, and you work for food and shelter for 20 years, then you can go free as a member of our nation. If you don't like that, we can execute you."

That's what slavery traditionally was.

Religion shouldn't be an excuse for a person's actions, because it does not define who your personality is like.
If you're a religious person but an asshole, it's not the religion's fault. It's yours for being an asshole. Same thing applies if you are intolerant.

If anything, religion has given an insight on how to be a good person. I sure don't remember Jesus asking people to kill in his name. Yes it has it's downsides, but that's because it's mostly run by humans now. And humans are faulty.

Any religion, even Atheism, can be manipulated for someone's selfish gains, which includes creating wars and being intolerant to people or different beliefs. Which is what you're doing by calling religion bad and that it should be removed from all walks of life. If you want to be intolerant, be intolerant and angry at those who create wars for something that otherwise can be used for good.
I'm religious, yet the last thing I would ever do is be hateful towards those of a different belief. I'm sure many more people think like me, so is it really all that bad?