The thing that changed me from a person who said "I don't have enough interest in religion to call myself an atheist" to a militant was "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." The attack on our school just plain pissed me off.
So, would religion matter to you if it didn't intrude into life outside their churches?
If they kept their beliefs to themselves, didn't talk to anyone about it, didn't indoctrinate their kids, didn't teach it in schools as fact, didn't make laws based on their belief, didn't try to halt scientific advancemen, etc... I probably would have no problem with their religion.
In fact, I wouldn't even know that they belonged to a religion :biggrin:
I would care the way NDT cares.
Sent from Monster Island. Titty sprinkles.
Its the trying to create laws which force portions of their beliefs on everyone that does it for me I think.
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on April 12, 2014, 02:47:14 PMSo, would religion matter to you if it didn't intrude into life outside their churches?
Yes, I would still have some pretty major philosophical differences with religious people, but they'd show up on my radar far less often.
I would likely still hang out at nerdy/irreligious forums.
I came here mostly to educate myself, didn't really become an atheist by being outraged by the religious right. I just studied and learned. I grew up in fundie religion, so I have a pretty good knowledge set from that. That "Expelled" movie is a certified example of religious stupidity.
I'd still be here if for no other reason than to give baby eating heathens a good name....err...something like that.
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on April 12, 2014, 02:47:14 PM
So, would religion matter to you if it didn't intrude into life outside their churches?
Good question. I'm not sure. What brought me into such discussion groups was getting ODed on religious preaching in AA meetings 16 years ago. I had never been surrounded by fundamentalists like that before. In my town, those who attended meetings were from circles I was totally unfamiliar with. I needed the help so I was there too, but I was going nuts listening to the nonsense, and as often happens, the internet surf just sort of floated me in this direction. Before then, I didn't even know about atheist forums.
So it was their constant preaching and testifying that pushed me here. Let's say that never happened though. Would I have found myself here, anyway? I don't know for sure. I no longer go to AA or find myself surrounded by the most noisy of the crazy people, but I plan on still hanging out here now that I know the option exists.
I went through the AA bullshit too. At one point argued with a judge over separation of church and state and was told I either go to the damned meetings or go to jail. I did part of the time in jail, a week then relented and forged the court meeting papers.
Quote from: AllPurposeAtheist on April 12, 2014, 05:23:07 PM
I went through the AA bullshit too. At one point argued with a judge over separation of church and state and was told I either go to the damned meetings or go to jail. I did part of the time in jail, a week then relented and forged the court meeting papers.
The separation of church and state issue has been challenged and I heard it was even won by the ACLU. Yet it remains ignored by the courts. I think it might be because you have the option of not attending meetings. You can choose jail instead. But it seems like a real stretch of the intent of the law to me:
1. You get to run around free and go to meetings.
2. You go to jail.
Some choice huh?
In some larger metro areas there are alternative programs just as cheap and equally effective that you might be able to pitch to a judge with a chance of him listening, but for most people those meetings are hundreds of miles away. I suspect it's part of the reason AA promotes itself as not a religion, but calls itself spiritual. I heard that all the time, but I found my meetings virtually indistinguishable from a religion. Yes, you can call a skunk a rabbit, but it's still a skunk. At best, I would call the meetings I went to as non-denominational church services.
I think it's not as bad other places, but in my travels, I found that the god stuff frequently comes up, although not necessarily every day.
I was told my higher power could be an orange as long as it has power over me to which I replied, YOU'RE FULL OF SHIT! and was asked not so politely to leave.
Quote from: AllPurposeAtheist on April 12, 2014, 05:52:09 PM
I was told my higher power could be an orange as long as it has power over me to which I replied, YOU'RE FULL OF SHIT! and was asked not so politely to leave.
LOL I had a tendency to hold my tongue. It's not like I had anything those people wanted to learn from me. I did make one friend in AA, not what I would call a close friend, because we had different interests, but he was a great guy and very accepting of others.
Yes I would still be here. I like a sense of community and belonging. I also prefer to be around like minded people. And since I'm in the bible belt I'm mostly alone in RL.
I was assigned to AA by a Navy doctor who could think of any other way to get back at me for something I did that had no relation to him at all. Pshrinks are fucking nuts.
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on April 12, 2014, 02:47:14 PM
So, would religion matter to you if it didn't intrude into life outside their churches?
Not really.
Religion came up in my pre-militant life four times after I got out of high school. Each time was when I married a believer (all non-church-going women) and I made a point of telling them I wasn't religious before we got hitched. Otherwise, there was nothing except that "peace symbol" incident.
I would hope they'd get a life that appreciated the fact that this is all they get. My cousins buy Hummers or F-350s because "God made this planet and he's the only one that can destroy it, so I don't have to worry about global warming."
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on April 12, 2014, 02:47:14 PMSo, would religion matter to you if it didn't intrude into life outside their churches?
I'd be much less inclined to be anti-theist or spend as much time on atheist web sites if the fuckers would just leave their beliefs at the door of the voting booth. Why they can't understand that not everyone believes as they do and the law gives those others the same right to believe whatever the fuck they want, just like it gives that right to them, is so far beyond me I'll likely never understand.
Why is abortion under constant attack? 'Cause gawd sez it's wrong! Why is assisted suicide illegal in every state but Oregon? 'Case gawd sez it's wrong! Why are blow-jobs illegal in 19 states? 'Case gawd sez it's wrong! For fuck sake, not everyone believes in that (or any) gawd!** Hey assholes, leave that shit at the voting booth door and vote for more personal freedoms instead of state regulated inquisitions and the world would be a vastly better place.
**I did once convince my mom (die-hard buy-bull thumper 'til the day she died) to vote
for assisted suicide. She started banging on about how gawd sez this an' gawd sez that so I simply stated "But I don't believe in your gawd. Why should
I be bound by your beliefs in a country founded on the principle of freedom of religion?" It left her speechless to realize that making a law based on a religious belief was wrong. So, of course, she "prayed on it" and wouldn't you know that gawd told her exactly what she wanted to hear.
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on April 12, 2014, 02:47:14 PMSo, would religion matter to you if it didn't intrude into life outside their churches?
You see, whether there are theists or not, the quest for truth remains. That is independent of theists. I would still be here to discuss what new things science has to offer.
Quote from: Aupmanyav on April 14, 2014, 11:40:06 PM
You see, whether there are theists or not, the quest for truth remains. That is independent of theists. I would still be here to discuss what new things science has to offer.
I was thinking the other day that even in the bronze age, there were probably people who thought the superstition of the religion about them was nonsense. I usually think that the ancients were all about superstition, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were divided in along similar lines as today. Understanding the environment, without mythical explanations is always going to be satisfying to some people, and whether we have an abundance of superstition or not, that need probably always exists to a degree.