No I do not think that person would be morally superior to myself, I think we would be equal if I understand the question correctly.

Person A an Ethical person and is good morally but believes that there is no God is equal to Person B an ethical person and is good morally through the teachings of the bible and believes in God.

so we dont need God then at all now do we?

Person A and Person B do it for different reasons.............DUCY

Why do you assume this? I wouldn't ridicule anyone simply for their beliefs, though I might feel very disturbed by them (if they believed it was their God-given mission to kill their families, for example).

Of course, I'm happy to ridicule beliefs themselves, but I make that distinction.

Also, can we please control the derailaments? There's already a thread about how immoral RoosterCAD is.

No, this is not the scenario I presented. In the chance that it was proven that there was no God (or an ambivalent God), Person A remains moral, while Person B (you) murders his children and goes on a raping spree or something. This is not equal.

ya, i DO see why.


but you said theyre equal, so the distinction shouldnt matter.

no

you might make that distinction, but people who are being ridiculed, or having their beliefs ridiculed almost never make that distinction. especially when it comes to their precious god. i dont even bother anymore.

Sorry for derailling the thread.

Yes than that person would be morally superior to myself. Person B (Me) goals, position in life has changed based on the new knowledge that there is no afterlife so why would I live my life like a nit? I am going to fulfill my life to the fullest here and now because at some point I am going to die on this earth with nothing to look forward to after I die. No one is going to judge me after I die so I got nothing to worry about.

Your definition of people?

As long as you can admit that you are, because of your Christian beliefs, ethically inferior to atheists who practice good ethical behavior as inherently positive.

My Christian beliefs teaches me not to think like this,

This is a positive to you?

Oh, I didn't realize when I made that statement that I was defending the actions and statements of atheists across the world. My B.

Okay, but this is one I do for me, not for them. Hating a belief doesn't mean much, but hating a person makes me feel ugly inside.

Wow. The only thing that would shock me more would be something similar from Dawkins.

He didn't make it clear what changed his mind. I've never watched much of his anti-religious stuff but my impression was that he was totally contemptuous of all religion, totally dismissed it as absurd and irrational a la Dawkins. I don't see how someone giving him a Bible would change that so there must be something deeper going on. His statement that if you believe in eternal life he understands how you would want to proselytize makes sense but why pick that out as a reason to do a 180?

I'm glad he has this attitude especially since I expect he has a lot of influence in certain circles, and I'm glad he got positive responses from theologians. I can't help thinking this is the tip of the iceberg - maybe he's the next Antony Flew?

im a bit confused what 'hating' has to do with any of this.

its positive to me...in that i believe the world would be a better place if believers were berated into silence.

I think it's important to remember that Christians are only repeating to you what they have been told their entire lives. Had you not been so lucky to either been born into an atheist household or been able to think for yourself you would likely be in the same situation as them.

very true.

i repeated what i was told for several decades before i was lucky enough to break out of that mindframe. and truthfully, it was as much luck as my own mind that helped me get away from religion. i easily could have been a believer my whole life if certain things had gone differently. *shudder*

This has to be a level.

No one has less respect for those that disagree with him than the op.

So you agree with Stalin. Hmm, interesting.

Stalin did a bit more than just berate them, he had them shot.

lol, ok

The constant represantation of Stalin (and Hitler) acting motivated by atheism is just wrong.

That does not mean that you dont have a point, though. Berating people into silence surely wont make this world a better place.

I signed up last night at what i think is the biggest Christian forum on the web. My goal is to send private messages to posters there that make threads about how they're having serious doubts to hopefully give them a push in the right direction.

All they get for replies from fellow Christians is that the Devil is always trying to trick us and giving us doubt, blah blah.

I'm pissed though because I wrote out a big long pm to this one guy, but when I tried to send it it said I have to have 15 posts to be able to send private messages=(