Do you believe in the afterlife?

[Falconer02]

am not saying you do not have the right to debate and discuss, but you do not have the right to accuse Christians of throwing their religion in your face when you voluntarily clicked a Christian thread.

Yes I do. Because we're not just talking about on this forum. Christianity is over-bloated in this country to the point where it's infecting politics still. Besides, I can't go 3 blocks w/o seeing a church with a sign out front saying "God is with our troops!" or "Come here and be saved!", having people come to my door on a saturday or sunday morning to talk about god, advertisements on billboards or ads on utube for churches, etc. etc. I know that not all christians/churches do this though, so my attack is just on those specific ones (which you must admit is a lot of them).

And usually when there are titles like that they are from marielisa or however you spell it, which hardly counts as a Christian throwing their religion in your face, as sometimes she claims to be a million other religions.

Well fortunately she's kinda died out on this part of the forums, but the threads do keep popping up a lot. I don't mind discussing religion as a whole or out-of-the-box, but there are a lot of assertion threads that advertise/implore superstitious ideas. The freethinking group usually jumps in at this point and...you know the rest.

Lately though it can not really be called a debate because it is just a small group of atheists insulting the intelligence of Christians.

Well I do hope I'm not being too rude, but if the intelligent christians can't answer the questions and instead try to work around them and call the askers insulting, they really shouldn't be in d+d.

[falcon9]

Well I do hope I'm not being too rude, but if the intelligent christians can't answer the questions and instead try to work around them and call the askers insulting, they really shouldn't be in d+d.

In the interests of being even-handed, I really should be requesting some substantiating proof for the presumptive claim of intelligent christians however, there must be some statistical basis for the existance of at least some some critters, right?

[jcribb16]

Quote from SurveyMack:
Lately though it can not really be called a debate because it is just a small group of atheists insulting the intelligence of Christians.

Quote from Falconer:
Well I do hope I'm not being too rude, but if the intelligent christians can't answer the questions and instead try to work around them and call the askers insulting, they really shouldn't be in d+d.


Actually, yes that is very rude.  Christians have answered questions - you refuse to accept most answers.  Most of us do not call the askers insulting either.  Anyone can come in and debate/discuss.  However, you are making it sound as if you are the absolute smart one who knows all of the answers and no one else need debate. 

[jcribb16]

Quote from queenofnines:
Being forgotten is not what saddens me in the slightest...what saddens me is that currently, we all only get 70 to 80 years on average of we're lucky, and I would like to live a few hundred years beyond the usual life expectancy, because I like life.  It would be entirely possible for humanity to achieve this IF people could stop wasting their potential away on religious efforts...and this is what makes me sad most of all.



How does this make you sad?  If these people are happy with their life working with religious efforts, then that shouldn't even bother you in the least.  You are enjoying your life your way, so let them enjoy life their way.

[falcon9]

Quote from SurveyMack:
Lately though it can not really be called a debate because it is just a small group of atheists insulting the intelligence of Christians.

Quote from Falconer:
Well I do hope I'm not being too rude, but if the intelligent christians can't answer the questions and instead try to work around them and call the askers insulting, they really shouldn't be in d+d.


Actually, yes that is very rude.  Christians have answered questions - you refuse to accept most answers.  Most of us do not call the askers insulting either.  Anyone can come in and debate/discuss.  However, you are making it sound as if you are the absolute smart one who knows all of the answers and no one else need debate. 

I haven't seen a substantive response to the questions asked yet.  Instead, I've seen prevarications and side-stepping in lieu of answering without circular 'reasoning' or, claiming dubious "evidence" as substantiation.  Although those debate tactics may seem a bit rude to some, "rude" is in the mind of the beholder.  For instance, my view might be that some dancing around the questions could be considered to be quite rude.  Should I determine that to be the case, I'll be sure to strongly substantiate such a contention.

[queenofnines]

How does this make you sad?  If these people are happy with their life working with religious efforts, then that shouldn't even bother you in the least.  You are enjoying your life your way, so let them enjoy life their way.

Really?  I'm dumbfounded that you would ask such a question.

You could stay home and knit for 8 hours a day...and you're correct, that's not so much of a problem if you keep it to yourself.  It's when you go out and try to enforce your knitting into politics, actively hurt and hold society back...then we have a problem.  It isn't just a matter of "to each his own"...religion doesn't mind its own business, that's the issue.

[falcon9]

How does this make you sad?  If these people are happy with their life working with religious efforts, then that shouldn't even bother you in the least.  You are enjoying your life your way, so let them enjoy life their way.

Really?  I'm dumbfounded that you would ask such a question.

You could stay home and knit for 8 hours a day...and you're correct, that's not so much of a problem if you keep it to yourself.  It's when you go out and try to enforce your knitting into politics, actively hurt and hold society back...then we have a problem.  It isn't just a matter of "to each his own"...religion doesn't mind its own business, that's the issue.

That's a good analogy, QoN.  Although I may have taken further and suggested that stridently insisting that others knit like your knitter does and then asserting that their god-of-knitting will commit others to an eternity of hand-stitching with dull needles if they don't knit as they do might push the analogy too far.

[sfister65]

Quote from queenofnines:
Being forgotten is not what saddens me in the slightest...what saddens me is that currently, we all only get 70 to 80 years on average of we're lucky, and I would like to live a few hundred years beyond the usual life expectancy, because I like life.  It would be entirely possible for humanity to achieve this IF people could stop wasting their potential away on religious efforts...and this is what makes me sad most of all.



How does this make you sad?  If these people are happy with their life working with religious efforts, then that shouldn't even bother you in the least.  You are enjoying your life your way, so let them enjoy life their way.

I belive in Heaven. It's still scary to think of dying. I would like to live beyond my years just to see what the future holds. At the same time I kind of look forward to the end of my life. It's when I'll finally when I'll be able to me my son. He died 30 minutes after being born.

[lgemini]

I do believe the afterlife, I like to think that there is something better than this life.  I am not in a hurry to find out.

[lucylaw]

I believe in heaven and in hell and that God gives us the choice and I'm going to heaven!!

[lannl]

I sure do. A friend of mine died and paid me a visit before taking off on his jouney. He was young again and excited about his new adventures he was about to have. It gives me hope.

[Falconer02]

haven't seen a substantive response to the questions asked yet.  Instead, I've seen prevarications and side-stepping in lieu of answering without circular 'reasoning' or, claiming dubious "evidence" as substantiation.  Although those debate tactics may seem a bit rude to some, "rude" is in the mind of the beholder.  For instance, my view might be that some dancing around the questions could be considered to be quite rude.  Should I determine that to be the case, I'll be sure to strongly substantiate such a contention.

Well said, good sir. I would consider it simply an annoyance paralleled to that of a child.

[SurveyMack10]

am not saying you do not have the right to debate and discuss, but you do not have the right to accuse Christians of throwing their religion in your face when you voluntarily clicked a Christian thread.

Yes I do. Because we're not just talking about on this forum. Christianity is over-bloated in this country to the point where it's infecting politics still. Besides, I can't go 3 blocks w/o seeing a church with a sign out front saying "God is with our troops!" or "Come here and be saved!", having people come to my door on a saturday or sunday morning to talk about god, advertisements on billboards or ads on utube for churches, etc. etc. I know that not all christians/churches do this though, so my attack is just on those specific ones (which you must admit is a lot of them).

And usually when there are titles like that they are from marielisa or however you spell it, which hardly counts as a Christian throwing their religion in your face, as sometimes she claims to be a million other religions.

Well fortunately she's kinda died out on this part of the forums, but the threads do keep popping up a lot. I don't mind discussing religion as a whole or out-of-the-box, but there are a lot of assertion threads that advertise/implore superstitious ideas. The freethinking group usually jumps in at this point and...you know the rest.

Lately though it can not really be called a debate because it is just a small group of atheists insulting the intelligence of Christians.

Well I do hope I'm not being too rude, but if the intelligent christians can't answer the questions and instead try to work around them and call the askers insulting, they really shouldn't be in d+d.

Well, to say Christians are not intelligent enough to answer the questions is a joke- because I have many times seen questions answered by Christians with eloquence and evidence and STILL had the response of "oh ya what a fairytale" or some other sort of put-down. Also, seeing a church on a corner does not constitute Christians throwing religion in your face- because you can easily KEEP WALKING and not enter the church. No one is forcing you to even acknowledge the church or why it is there. That is like saying that you can't quit gaining weight because everywhere you go you spot a McDonald's...

Also, if a Christian does come to your door and you say no thank you and they still pressure you- then yes that is a mistake. However, if they knock on the door and offer to talk about God and you say no thank you and they politely leave I do not see how that is throwing it in your face. That is like taking offense to anyone in the world who tries to spread the word about something you do not agree with, even if they are not overbearing in their tactics.

Also, Christianity is a religion based on love, so it is not as if these people are going around trying to spread violence and rounding people up to hurt others or anything like that, and if they are then they are not practicing Christianity in the way it is meant to be practiced.

[SurveyMack10]

Quote from queenofnines:
Being forgotten is not what saddens me in the slightest...what saddens me is that currently, we all only get 70 to 80 years on average of we're lucky, and I would like to live a few hundred years beyond the usual life expectancy, because I like life.  It would be entirely possible for humanity to achieve this IF people could stop wasting their potential away on religious efforts...and this is what makes me sad most of all.



How does this make you sad?  If these people are happy with their life working with religious efforts, then that shouldn't even bother you in the least.  You are enjoying your life your way, so let them enjoy life their way.

  

[SurveyMack10]

How does this make you sad?  If these people are happy with their life working with religious efforts, then that shouldn't even bother you in the least.  You are enjoying your life your way, so let them enjoy life their way.

Really?  I'm dumbfounded that you would ask such a question.

You could stay home and knit for 8 hours a day...and you're correct, that's not so much of a problem if you keep it to yourself.  It's when you go out and try to enforce your knitting into politics, actively hurt and hold society back...then we have a problem.  It isn't just a matter of "to each his own"...religion doesn't mind its own business, that's the issue.

If you can claim that ALL Christians try to throw their religion in people's faces and enforce only their own beliefs, then even if I only use my experience on this forum as an example I can make the stereotype that all atheists try to tell every religious person that they encounter that they are irrational people who sit around and put all their faith in fairytales all while insulting their intelligence. That is not a fair description of all atheists, just as your description does not depict all Christians.