ISIS calls for destruction of pagan Egyptian Pyramids and Sphinx

[Shiranu]

They are not great people if they believe in hell.

Difference between you and I, I would guess... I let their actions, not their beliefs, speak for themselves. That and I try not to pass judgment on people I have never met, nor heard of their reputation or even their name.

[1liesalot]

Difference between you and I, I would guess... I let their actions, not their beliefs, speak for themselves. That and I try not to pass judgment on people I have never met, nor heard of their reputation or even their name.

I try not to judge but anyone who entertains the notion of kids and babies burning in eternal hell fire and (in spite of this) deems it to be appropriate to worship the entity responsible for such atrocities is an intrinsically wicked and evil individual.  I am literally incapable of concluding that people who hold these views are in any way good.

[Shiranu]

I try not to judge but anyone who entertains the notion of kids and babies burning in eternal hell fire and (in spite of this) deems it to be appropriate to worship the entity responsible for such atrocities is an intrinsically wicked and evil individual.  I am literally incapable of concluding that people who hold these views are in any way good.

Then you are, bluntly...

(Edited for a little tact)

...ignorant of what it's like to be raised in a fundamentalist household, fundamentalist society.

[Mike Cl]

They are not great people if they believe in hell.

The simple belief in hell does not make a person bad.  When I make friends I don't usually inquire about their religious beliefs.  We usually share some common interests, things we like to do together.  I don't think about quizzing them about their beliefs.  I share what we have in common and let it go at that.  As time goes on and a friendship develops, there may come a time when that subject comes up.  But I still don't act like I'm coming from the higher moral ground or try to hold their feet to the fire.  I really take my cues from their actions.  If they act like a decent human being, I treat them as such. 

[Cocoa Beware]

If my friends are willing to pay taxes, not break any laws and keep their religion to themselves, like they do, I really have no need to get in their face and ask them to explain their religion to me. The fact that they aren't criminals, don't have any intention of being criminals, and are great people (yes, they say that has to do with their religion, and I am prone to agree) is good enough for me.

To do so would make me just as obnoxious as the theists who get in atheists faces for disagreeing with them. Believe it or not, but not all atheists are anti-theists. I personally have no desire to see religion wiped off the face of the earth, nor think the world would be significantly better (and it certainly would lose a good deal of cultural variety, which is never a good thing).

Fair enough, I think thats a very good attitude.

I just am not a fan of how Muslims attempt to either distance or divorce themselves altogether from the violence that is endorsed in their texts.

Reminds me too much of Christians.

[Mike Cl]

Fair enough, I think thats a very good attitude.

I just am not a fan of how Muslims attempt to either distance or divorce themselves altogether from the violence that is endorsed in their texts.

Reminds me too much of Christians.

Let me expand on that.  I, too, hate muslims--christians, jews,.........................all theists.  But not really.  I hate the hierarchy of each of those separate religions.  The hierarchy is what seeks power and money, and will do anything and everything to gain and maintain it.  That is the real evil of religion.  If the hierarchies could be expunged from the pages of history, and even if the religious beliefs remained, this world would be a safer, saner place.  I don't hate the people within these religions, for taken as individuals, there is the entire rainbow of types of people.  Some good, some bad and most in-between.  I have a personal feeling about people--they are generally good.  If given a chance people will tend to do good.  It takes special circumstances for people to be and do evil.  Religious hierarchies can and do make people evil and bad.  So, when I aim my hatred toward theists, I aim at their hierarchies.  I try to take people one at a time and consider them as people first.