[Dion]

Originally Posted by photon

That's true some do, and it's fair to criticize that if they're being inconsistent. But I don't think it's fair to call an entire group "guilty" or "no better" than another group. Groups are made of individuals.. Taking the group as a whole is only valid if discussing some intrinsic feature of the entire group.

Christianity has a set of beliefs that define it, but there's only lack of belief that defines atheists.

I realise it's not fair to call a whole group guilty or no better. my bad for not being more clear on that point.

Christians outnumber atheists (though Christians themselves will argue strongly about other groups of Christians having the right to call themselves Christian) by a long shot. And I've talked with many many people who cannot be honest about what they think.. even here in Canada.

That really surprises me.

Everyone's different, when I did that sort of thing, my thought process was that I knew the only way to avoid going to hell and suffering for all eternity.. so I'm morally obligated to share it, if I didn't I'm partially responsible.

I didn't feel I was responsible for other peoples choices. Part of the reason is I didn't view Hell as a place for suffering and the related stuff. In fact I never thought of it as Hell but moreso as seperation from God and all that he stood for. Just a place where people went that didn't believe in God.

Much of my beliefs weren't really Bible based as my faith at the time didn't hinge of what the Bible said. They were my own conclusions at the time that made sense to me.

I'm kind of in the middle.. I don't go around asking people "hey, did you know that we all evolved from a common ancestor?", but I do enjoy discussing such things when they come up. But then again I also like discussing cars, computers, games, physics, and lots of other things when those topics come up.

I guess I just don't understand why other people don't understand why it is something people want to discuss, believe or not. It's a significant feature of our society and impacts everyone, believe or not.

I'm not the kind of person who doesn't always feels comfortable discussings thing with people in person. I tend to go online looking for discussions to read or through reading books or websites. I may not post much in these type of discussions but I do learn a lot from reading all the comments on the issue.