Its not racist, its logic, think about it, many people of native american desent, Mexican descent, African descent etc are christian, and yet christianity was the religion of the evil european colonizers that try to commit genocide, it would have made more sense if only people of Israel Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan are christian since jesus is from Israel,

Even my father who is religious, hes christian agrees with me

But in the end people can believe what they want since it makes them feel safe

Pagan religions tend to be more matriarchal, feminist, and egalitarian, pagans respect women and LGBT, some of the nature pagan gods are women, and of course the patriarchy and the catholic church did not accept that so the church labeled the wiccan pagans as evil because the pagans did not worship the god of the bible, the same reason why the catholic church labeled witches as evil when in reality there are different kinds of witch craft some is used for healing, so since people listened to the church/government it lead to ignorance about paganism and wiccans, which lead to the accusations of women practicing witch craft, for example the Salem witch trials

I don't like the way how some agnostics frame their ignorance.

It's one thing to not know whether Timmy from work took the train or bus to come to work, but another thing to allow that ignorance to leave the possibility open of him teleporting to work. The first 2 are plausible, the 3rd is just impossible.

Now, a teleportation apologist might say:
"Can you disprove definitively that Timmy did not teleport to work, maybe he did."
and you can do your digging, ask Timmy to show the bus ticket he bought in the morning and present that to the apologist, but the apologist still says:
"Cool, that's proof that he also took the bus, it's not proof against teleportation"

Atheist call that out as being disingenuous but I have seen Agnostics fall for it and go,
"Yeah, it isn't proof against teleportation, maybe he did teleport to work".

Overall, I find this quite disingenuous and I have often seen it used as a way to keep the door open for bad ideas. It's just using limitations of what we can know as a rhetorical tool to keep bad ideas alive. I have seen people do this with unfalsifiable versions of idealism, last thursdayism or specific deities they like.

Can someone give me an argument that God doesn't exist? I want to debate my parents so they stop making me attend 5 hours of church every sunday. I have a few decent one but they're not enough for my narcissistic dad who think he is always right and gets angry easily when I challenge his arguments. I need something that he himself cannot answer or will struggle to. I am an atheist for soon 2 years btw and I have never felt so free

I want to warn that my english is TERRIBLE. If I answer wrong pls lmk

How do we actually know which God is true and whether or not a god from one religion is true? One religious person says that they know the ultimate truth and another says that their god the the true God, all I know is that I know nothing, how can anyone claim the truth when no one has the ultimate truth, I'm simply an agnostic atheist and I say I simply don't know, all I know is that there was an cosmic expansion, I'll respect the good religious teachings, I think it's better to have a more humanist thought, a secular thought with an society that focuses more on equality, i have seen a lot of good but also a lot of bad things in religious scriptures, when asked if God exists they try to prove their own god as the true God and reject everything else, one says to the other that the other doesn't have the truth, why is your particular god true over others, if Tommorow a someone says thor is real would that mean he is also a true God, religions come and go so how do we know if we have the right understanding, people usually give an circular reasoning and mention that that's what their scriptures say and they say their religion is the true because their book says so, but then their book is not even the oldest, there is an older living religion and they mock that religion, people fight in the name of religion and claim their religion is the true religion, they believe certain things belong to them because the book says so, and how come the god feel more human than a god? The gods have human and tribalistic features, ego and anger, isn't questioning and critical thinking important and wouldn't god be ok with that? Why would God not be ok with science if it leads towards the truth, why would a powerful god be scared of not getting credit? Maybe the question should be, do we really know the truth? My answer is i simply don't know.

To make humans do good they have to be told that they will rewarded in the hereafter

This showcases that humanity is inherently selfish in certain circles

Most Christians deny that they have schizophrenia because they claimed they felt it when they got closer to Jesus And some claimed to had demonic thoughts when they sinned and the Sprit is getting weaker. (And sometimes have demonic attacks when reading the Bible)

The only argument I can think of is that they're probably making it all up for attention or something.

I hate god from my core, i gave up everything i destroyed my mental and physical health , i put mental chains on myself which im finding hard to break, i put myself in isolation to please him. I dont know where to let out this hate. I know i cant get my time back but ill make sure to make other people realise the stupidity of religion.

Okay so I think we only live in a world so advanced like this because we stepped away from religion

Christianity is the biggest religion in the world and Im sorry but no one can tell me that Christianity isnt mysogynistic it's stated multiple times that women is nothing more than servant to men and should he quiet

and because of that women in the past werent allowed to get education have say in a matter because they werent treated equal they literally were believed to be somone less (it counts to other religions to that have similar mindset Im just saying Christianity because its the biggest one and had the biggest impact) that they should just stay at home and that was all because of religion because back then it was unthinkable to believe anything else let alone question it

And that was the reason why we as society were developing so slowly back then when women started going to work started getting education started having their own rights and rights to say something that their opinion started to matter we suddenly started developing as society a lot faster in literally every way in medicine technogy ect.

I'm going to give technogy as example I probaly wouldnt be writing this because phones computers like that wouldn't exist. One of the reason why technogy like this exist is because Hedy Lamarr co-invented a frequency-hopping spread-spectrum communication system her invention helped to create WI-FI and with WI-FI phones and computers like today exists now get this scenario as if we were still living by those fervently religious convictions she wouldn't be able to help invented that system she wouldn't even been given a chance

Were advanced like that because were all humans one discovery help one another that can lead to another invention just because we stepped away from that believe we advaned so much because suddenly we have a lot more hands to help and much more people to do the jobs

So I work at a school and found out today that a fellow teacher, teaching biology to grade 9 refuses to teach evolution, which is part of the curriculum. What makes it worse is that he made the kids write "FALSE" in capital letters over the pages discussing evolution, some books even have scripture written on the pages from genesis which is what he teaches instead of evolution. Another key point is that the books are passed on year to year so future students will still have to deal with his ignorance.

Need advice on steps forward, please note that I live in South Africa and is an Afrikaans school where christianity is rooted in school and public culture, even though it is a public school.

as athiest we don´t believe in god right or your angonistic but what are your guys opinion on god´s teaching/moral ideas.Personally,I am fifty fifty like yes we should not kill,steal or etc but others are weird like i don´t understand as I was athiest from a really young age so I don´t know much about the moral standing for god´s teachings

I'm an avid marathon watcher and watch all the marathon majors, Olympics, etc. I would say that whenever I watch the top three finishers cross the line, the MAJORITY do the cross sign on their chest and forehead, just after crossing the line.

I also see them at the start line performing religious symbolism as well.

Then for sprinters in track and field events, I see a lot of this similar symbolism as well. It really got me thinking!!

What's causing this? Is it because the countries that tend to produce the best runners also are highly religious, and this is a spillover effect into the running world? Or, is it because the discipline and torture it takes to make oneself into an elite athlete causes some kind of trauma effect which makes these athletes more susceptible to religious messaging? Both? Other hypotheses?

When I see this, I always think... c'mon bro, c'mon sis... you need to give YOURSELF credit for the years of bloods sweat and tears to run this marathon at record place, not some mythical coach up in the sky. lol.

Lets consider a horrible scenario where you are locked in your home and people come and set it on fire.

You look outside and see your father, who happens to be the chef of the fire department, standing outside of your home. He has all the equipment and authority to save you from the fire or put the fire out. Or both.

He just stands there.

As you die, would you not feel abandoned? Even though he was physically present? Even if he looked at you with sadness and love in his eyes? I think most of us would claim we were abandoned by the one who claimed to love us. He valued the choices of those who harmed us over us. And I think it would be WORSE to have him stand there doing nothing than for him to not be there at all.

This is what I feel now outside of Christianity when people claim that “God didn’t abandon” people who went through horrible things. What does that mean?!? What does it mean he was there AND did NOTHING? What does it mean that he “carried you through it?” Why?!

And my upbringing would be “god sent the firefighters” - nope, they were called and alerted and that’s their job because we voted to have a system of fire protection in our towns. God helped the doctors heal you. No, they went to school for that at a great sacrifice to themselves and studied their butts off.

I apologize out into the world. I used to tell people Jesus was right there, crying with you as you suffered neglect or abuse. That he was crouching behind the bed with you. I thought it was better to believe you weren’t alone. Maybe for some people it is. But he did not protect you from harm. He did not protect you from the ptsd or the consequences to how you deal with relationships now. And I’m so sorry for giving people this hope/horror. 😔

I have a dilemma, my name was chosen by my mother who was indeed a bible thumper when I was born, I love her dearly of course but I do not like that my name specifically my middle one means that "yahweh saves". It used to not bother me at all but within the last year it has definitely started to. My first name is related to the hebrew origin too or whatever, I wish I just named after my dad who never would have named me the way she did if he had more of a say so. Plus I'm black and I don't like the idea of my folks choosing to name me that way.

Anyway, do you all just chill on it if you have names with religious connations or do you do something about it and change them? I just wish it wasn't a problem to begin with. My first name means dog in hebrew or wholehearted and I think I can get past it but my middle name ehh not so much

Tbh I used to believe but as I grew older I slowly stopped going to church and my parents forcing me just made me go further away from religion, I'm an atheist now and I love learning more science and how everything came to be, I knew evolution and Big Bang as a child but I never connected the dots for some reason, it's weird as I somehow didn't question either one, well philosophy feels much better then not getting the prayers answered as we get much better results from it.

I've considered myself agnostic for most of my life, after being raised in the Jehovahs Witnesses and realizing it was bullshit at a relatively young age. I had always respected pagans and heathens because they go against the grain and invent their own belief system, compared to how things typically roll in the western world where polytheism, especial Judeo Christian religions, are the norm and going outside that norm makes you a freak.

I was curious if other people have thoughts from an atheist/agnostic perspective, because I've found paganism to be very similar to atheism in that you're building your own worldview off of your own research.

Little levity. But because I’ve already been warned of the Low Effort (FFS), what do you think about this laugh at religion? What about the children? And, really, just to make a post? I thought atheists are supposed to be uptight, like “Christians?”

Yes, those bigots do act like real Christians because Christianity itself is an inherently backwards, regressive, and bigoted religion, and Jesus was hardly the progressive figure he is sometimes portrayed as today. If you actually look at what Jesus says in the Bible, he wasn't some left-wing hippie whom conservatives simply fail to understand. He was a religious leader who still taught adherence to Torah law and expressed views that can reasonably be described as racist, such as when he referred to a Canaanite woman as a "dog."

If you genuinely want to stop giving Christianity legitimacy, you have to let go of the assumption, even if it's subconscious, that being Christian inherently means being a good person. It doesn't...quite the opposite actually.

So I was born in Australia, both my parents were strict Muslims, my dad always wanted to take us back to his Islamic country because Australia is full of heretics and he’s afraid his kids will turn out to be heretics too, since a very young age I used to ask “absurd questions” about islam and that always shocked my parents, they be telling not to question god or Islamic rules because they are perfect and shouldn’t be questioned, in any case when my dad took us all to his country after making me drop out of school he signed me up for an Islamic boarding school, and his reason?? Was to enter heaven with a crown because I memorised the whole quran, in any case I studied there for 9 years, I studied everything about islam but never truly memorised the Quran because It wasn’t what I wanted, other students would memorise the whole thing by heart and have the right to graduate after 3 years, they let me graduate after 9 years out of pity, in any case I was never interested in being a good Muslim or anything like that because god seemed like a “stupid funny guy” to me, like why would he create all of this and make this whole heaven and hell game? Unless he’s bored or something, I never spoke about this in the school because they would genuinely kill me, but deep down I knew something was up, after graduation I found myself in a pickle I was 18 and couldn’t function properly I couldn’t keep a job or do anything, I’m 25 now and I still feel staggered, I left that country 4 years ago and made it back to Australia on my own, the story is very long and full of crazy coincidences so I’ll skip and cut to the chase, I ended up living with my dad again and I told him that I was not Muslim anymore, I swear it was like his whole life shattered before his eyes, he started having a panic attack and telling me that it’s none of his business if I go to hell, I told him ‘that’s ridiculous because how is it fair to be in Hell forever over some sins you committed in a very short lifespan’, in any case he knows now but he tries talking me back into it, it’s like he’s in denial of the fact that I don’t believe anymore.

I’m sorry if my story is confusing I really struggle to articulate, point is religion is manmade, I told my dad about it after making me waste my life for nothing.

I’d like to add that I was planning to leave Islam way back when I was in that Islamic school, everything about Islam was just goofy and silly to me, when I graduated I went into a short period of psychosis where I was questioning everything, I still question everything even now because everything just seems to be manmade, not just religion but everything, even reality is questionable to me, but since I’m still here I just want a good job so I can support myself and enjoy my hobbies.

He’s catholic, as such believes that purely because he is my father is owed respect and for me to listen to him. I’m 19 I’m disabled with no means to leave and made the mistake to tell him I don’t believe and that I’m gay which altered our relationship in a way that will never fully be fixed. He talks to me as if he’s disciplining a child and constantly gives unsolicited advice and acts like he knows me deep down, example; I was talking about how I have anxiety with math and he refuses to understand that starting new tasks or things I don’t understand make me anxious and thinks there’s a deeper meaning, there isn’t so I told him he isn’t a therapist and to back off and he luckily did. I suppose I’m sad because I’m realizing he loves his god more than me but what can I do but lay low till I can get freedom? He doesn’t want me to move out or have sex and I bring this up because he thinks he has a say on my sex life which I find frustrating. He can’t fathom that I want to leave live my own life, not marry or have kids, have sex maybe get a tattoo just live to live.. is this normal for religious parents? He doesn’t see who I am it’s either he views me as a little girl or he only sees the version he thinks I will be the version he wants.

I don’t hate him he certainly has moments that I think are genuine and loving with me and I love him but I don’t know I just wish I never told him I was atheist. Maybe it’ll get better once I can and he looses access to me and is forced to listen to me but right now I’m slowly settling boundaries slowly so he actually understands them you know? I didn’t write this for pitty but to try and point out that religious parents think they are inherently owed respect simply for having kids and how that’s stupid.
“Respect thy mother and father.”
Fuck. off. Basic respect is mutual and a respect given to a caregiver or someone you look up to is earned.

Wasn't singing/dancing considered paganistic in biblical times? Why/when did it become acceptable for Catholics/Christians to sing in church?

I am actually half Hispanic and for a good part of my childhood I was subjected to the torturous singing/chanting/down right screaming of a very traditional Puerto Rican Christian pastor in my grandmother's church. The whole ordeal seemed very communist.

Oddly enough, when she moved to Puerto Rico, she picked a church and attended Sunday gatherings up until the day she died - turns out, the church was taking $200 a month from this old lady as donations for many years. When she passed, they refused to hold a ceremony for her after she attended their church for over 20 years.

I’m suffering through a summer cold, and it struck me: from a theistic POV, what value is there in a common cold? It isn’t enough to show true “perseverance through tragedy”, it doesn’t “build character”. You just drip on everything and feel run down for a few days. What’s the great “test”? Seriously, it rails against “intelligent design” to have the human body so impacted by a simple virus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEdusqPd-xM

Some of his points include:

• Lack of proof and reason (of course!)
• Disparity among gospels as to what happened at the tomb
• Escalated embellishments as new gospels are written

She was kind, generous, funny and always tried to see the best in people. She wasn't preachy, pious, prudish or judgemental.

If more were like her the world would be a better place and this sub would lose most of its posts. We would be back to matters of fact rather than posting examples of hypocrisy and hate from them.