This is messed...Read this!

You guys need to acknowledge the difference between Islam and the Taliban.  That stuff that\'s happening in Afghanistan right now is being done by THE TALIBAN.  That\'s a religious/political faction that siezed control of the government and set about turning Afghanistan into their vision of the most pure conservative Islamic nation in the world.

There are many other predominantly Islamic nations that do not infringe civil rights and persecute individuals of other religions.  Egypt, Jordan, Qatar are examples, but you never hear about them the way you hear about Afghanistan, Iran, Algeria, etc.  Many Islamic nations have harshly criticized the Taliban for taking the Koran too literally.  For political reasons they can only go so far, but this behavior IS repudiated in the Islamic world too.

Don\'t lump all Muslims into a category as "fanatics."

it is my firm belief that religion causes nothing but fear and hatred religion of any kind
i also believe that faith in a god of any kind is a sign of weakness and unintelligence

Originally posted by jaropkls
it is my firm belief that religion causes nothing but fear and hatred religion of any kind
i also believe that faith in a god of any kind is a sign of weakness and unintelligence

damn man! i dont know if id go that far.

Originally posted by Luke


damn man! i dont know if id go that far.

im not a big fan of religion what can i say

[Living-In-Clip]

Originally posted by jaropkls
it is my firm belief that religion causes nothing but fear and hatred religion of any kind
i also believe that faith in a god of any kind is a sign of weakness and unintelligence

I agree to a certain degree.

I grew up in a highly religious enviroment, as I was a Jehovahs Witness. You could classify me at the time as a fanatic. During this time, I can look back and see that I was close minded to alot of things. I hated alot of people, like homosexuals, even though, the basis of any religion is not to hate someone. They tell you to love your neighbor as your brother, yet condem the same people for the choices they make, which in turn, breeds fear and hatred. It was a glaring contradiction, I noted in the religion.

I also noted that religion also takes away from ones personal self. I realized there was things in my life that I wanted to accomplish, but due to my religion I couldn\'t. There was also things I wanted to try in life, but couldn\'t, which includes dating out of my religion, growing my hair out, and other things. While they may seem trivial, they was big things for me personally.

I left the religion at 13, to much suprise of everyone. See, I was a true fantatic. At 13, I was spending all my time memorizing the bible, giving speeches, knocking on doors and aspiring to become an "Elder"--the equal of a preacher in the Jehovah Witness community. My mother was highly dissapointed, my grandparents, infact, pretty much everyone was.

Now, 5 years later I have to say I am happier then ever. I look back and think of the many things I use to hate when I was in religion, just because I was "suppose" to. The many things I would of missed if I had stayed in the religion, and the many people I would of never made friends with. I have met some excellent homosexual friends, who helped me overcome that blind hatred and taught me the true meaning of "free choice". I\'ve met a wonderful girl, who is highly religious, but respects my choice not to be. I\'ve also done plenty of dumb things , like getting drunk or trying weed, and I learned from them. These are all things I could of never accomplished if I would of stayed a fanatic, due to being taught to hate what the religion doesn\'t approve of and being blind to things.

The part I disagree with is the fact you think anyone believing in God is moronic. I won\'t argue if there is a "God" or not. It can\'t be proven one way or another. But, I do think religion can help plenty of people. I have seen alot of people who need the hope that there is something beyond this. Reading the bible, going to church, or whatever religious thing they do gives them that hope, and that hope carries them through the day.

Religion can\'t work for everyone. Some of us need the freedom. But some people need the control and hope religion offers them.

I\'d also like to make note that the word "fanatic" in my opinion is left up to personal interpation. What one person may see as extreme, another may not.

Originally posted by Living-In-Clip
Religion can\'t work for everyone. Some of us need the freedom. But some people need the control and hope religion offers them.

That is so very true. Some people like (and need) the hope and protection believing in a higher being gives them. But some people don\'t need that and believes in the free choice, and living as a human being for, say, the 80 or so years a normal human life lasts.

What I hate is people who are trying to force their beliefs onto others - mostly religious people who are trying to convert and \'save\' the atheists. I cannot stress enough how much I despise that. Because even if they believe they\'re right - SO DOES THE ATHEIST!

And personally I don\'t like all the evil things that has been done (and is being done) in the name of \'God\'. Those people are pretending to be good and religous and all that, but on the other hand they (in extreme cases) don\'t have any troubles killing people who aren\'t \'right\' - as they see it. That pisses me off so much. And that\'s the reason I\'m not particularly fond of religion - and a proud atheist.

[Living-In-Clip]

Originally posted by Samwise


And personally I don\'t like all the evil things that has been done (and is being done) in the name of \'God\'. Those people are pretending to be good and religous and all that, but on the other hand they (in extreme cases) don\'t have any troubles killing people who aren\'t \'right\' - as they see it. That pisses me off so much. And that\'s the reason I\'m not particularly fond of religion - and a proud atheist.

I agree. We go to war in the name of \'God\'. We put on our money "In God we trust"--which is nothing but greed. Greed is a cardinal sin. There is so many glaring contradictions.  Religion has time and time caused wars, deaths, such as the Salem witch burnings in early American history.

In my opinion, there is no one "right religion". My view on this is simple. The bible was wrote by man. Man is inpefect, therefor what man wrote down could be wrong. Also, the bible is left up to interpation. Who is to say what is right and wrong? The bible was also wrote for an older time with more extreme set rules.

Then you take in the account that religion is ran by man. Man, once again is inperfect. There is no way for any organization ran by someone / something that is inperfect to be perfect or be the "true" religion. If there was a true religion, I believe that corruption by humans ruined it along, long time ago.

If there is a \'God\', I don\'t believe you have to go to church every Sunday to worship him. You don\'t have to donate money to your church. You don\'t have to do any of that. What you have to do is simple. Live your life to the fullest extent and give everyone mutual respect. That is the greatest thing you can do and shows the deepest love for mankind. Mutual respect. Not forcing your views on someone. Not hating them for their sexual preference. Not hating them for their race or their cultural background. And not directly hurting someone (i.e, raping, murdering, stealing).
And IF there isn\'t a \'God\', well you still enjoyed your life and can say you lived your life as a good person at the very end of it all.
Pretty simple,eh?

Originally posted by Gohan
So what about Athiests trying to push their beliefs on the rest of the population? I am far from a religious person but I believe that taking the 10 commandments out of schools was wrong. I think if they were still there things would be noticeably different today.

My opinion on this , is some sort of compromise should of been met. For the athiest children, they shouldn\'t have to deal with the ten commandments nor do school prayer. For those who wish to keep the ten commandments in school, along with school prayer, have a room  / class dedicated to that . Sort of like a school counsler. Basically, make it where the person has the choice to notice them or not. Not sure if that makes sense or not.

So what about Athiests trying to push their beliefs on the rest of the population? I am far from a religious person but I believe that taking the 10 commandments out of schools was wrong. I think if they were still there things would be noticeably different today.

Originally posted by Living-In-Clip
If there is a \'God\', I don\'t believe you have to go to church every Sunday to worship him. You don\'t have to donate money to your church. You don\'t have to do any of that. What you have to do is simple. Live your life to the fullest extent and give everyone mutual respect. That is the greatest thing you can do and shows the deepest love for mankind. Mutual respect. Not forcing your views on someone. Not hating them for their sexual preference. Not hating them for their race or their cultural background. And not directly hurting someone (i.e, raping, murdering, stealing).
And IF there isn\'t a \'God\', well you still enjoyed your life and can say you lived your life as a good person at the very end of it all.
Pretty simple,eh?

Yep, once again I agree with you completely. People don\'t have to worship God in a church, donate money to "him", etc. Just live your life to the fullest and respect the living things. That way you\'ll be a better believer than any person who sits in \'Gods house\' every week, while going home and beating their children and whatever (ok, a bit of an extreme example, but you get my point ). IMO all that stuff is just a manmade thing thought up to \'protect\' the religion or whatever, and control the masses - like Satan, the all evil beast that will haunt us if we don\'t do as "God" says (read: the priests or other high profile members of a given religion that wants to control the masses). It\'s been that way throughout time.

Originally posted by Gohan
So what about Athiests trying to push their beliefs on the rest of the population? I am far from a religious person but I believe that taking the 10 commandments out of schools was wrong. I think if they were still there things would be noticeably different today.

That is a moot point. What you call the ten commandments I call common sense. Some people have it, others don\'t. It doesn\'t have anything to do with religion.

And why should my children be taught something I find is total BS in school? If you want to learn about religion, do it AT HOME. That would be like saying the children should be taught how to smoke in school, because that\'s what you do, and that\'s what you want your children to do. But I don\'t want them to smoke, if I did, I could teach them at home. A bit of a stupid analogy perhaps, but I\'m sure you can see my point if you think about it.

[nO-One]

I don\'t like religion.

The only thing I belive in is myself.......I pray to myself every night

But seriously,religion is just a big lie to fill in a gap in peoples lives,in ancient times if they saw something and they didn\'t know what it was they would either say it was god or an angel,or say it was the devil or a demon.
But this has just grown into what we see today,fanatics there are wars which people say are in the name of god.But what do they know what god wants.

And those who are peaceful can be even worse,take munks and nuns for example,while they are ver peaceful they waste their lives trying to be perfect....and what do they get from it....NOTHING.Living by some strict rules and not allowing themselves the simplest of pleasures all to please some god.

And if there was even a remote possibility that god did exist he would propably be laughing his ass off at these people.

Originally posted by Samwise
That is a moot point. What you call the ten commandments I call common sense. Some people have it, others don\'t. It doesn\'t have anything to do with religion.

Exactly it is common sense; but not all kids have that and if someone were to try to put the commandments up so they could read them then there would be an outrage. Why? I don\'t know and I don\'t understand. At least put some of the commandments up. I don\'t understand parents who are against signs that say "You should not kill" and things of that nature. How is that forcing religion on their children. Its not like anyone is forcing them to carry around the Bible/Torah/Koran.

Hello people, I am an Atheist and I will clear some things up.

Gohan, we are not against the don\'t kill portion, we are against the "Thou shalt not worship any fals gods." portion.  Freedom of religion means ANY religion, and that is very offensive to some people.  Most of us don\'t force our opinions on anyone and all we ask in exchange is the same.

Another thing, we don\'t dwell on our deaths.  We lead perfectly fullfilling lives without god.

::prepares to be flamed by Catholics::

I am sorry but I see Catholosism as one of the most immoral sects of Cristianity.  The pope of WW2 was openly anti-sematic and a facsist sympathiser(sp?), that makes him a Nazi in my eyes and no ammount of  apologys can sweep that under the rug.

I honestly don\'t care what you think of my opinions, I have gone through more than a few insults on a forum for them (physical violence, threats on my life, exe.).  But I remain civil at times like these because I love a good debate.

Just remember that most of us are against the church  itself, not the religion.