Quote:
Originally Posted by Dion
This is what you said....
I find it sad and feel genuine pity for people whose life is only meaningful because they have an irrational belief in a magical space fairy. I feel even worse if those same people don't live their lives to their absolute fullest because they believe they'll be rewarded with an eternity in paradise after death.
What difference does it make how people live their lives?
I know people who live that way. If it gives them meaning and a purpose for life who am I to argue. It makes them no less of a person because they don't share the same beliefs as you. And i'm sure they don't need your pity.
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It can be pretty hard for atheists and believers to understand one another. Both are outsider perspectives of the other. Personally, my belief in God doesn't feel like an "irrational belief in a magical space fairy". It gives me peace, optimism, and the occasional ability to see outside my narrow self-interest. Contrary to the picture that alot of the a-theologians paint, many believers are rational and kind people. Organized religion is man-made and suffers from the flaws in human nature. The thirst for power, dominance and oppression of the weak. Those are present in anybody. I don't like pointing fingers at anybody, but I know everyone has these faults. I don't think Christ envisioned Catholic priests raping children or the fruit-less bloodshed in the Middle East as the purpose of his teachings.
As other posters, have said, why can't both sides listen to each other in a rational manner and discuss things for the benefit of all humanity. Atheists have just as much a lesson to learn as religious people. Alot of the so-called "logic and reasonable" posts in this thread and others are really just polemical thrusts intended to get a rise out of the religious.