I am looking forward to reading all the posts this week
about how all god botherers are jaded lunatic worshippers of mythical beings and stories.

I have faith, I would never push it upon someone else and most in fact of the people I know who go to church do and would not push their faith onto others. I like having faith, for me personally it gives me peace of mind and having the belief that there is something more after all this is comforting, and working and living in a massively multicultural area it really helps me identify with a lot of the families I work with.

One thing I have noticed though is that a lot of atheists are far worse than a lot of the christians I know when it comes to pushing what they believe. They demand proof and of course unless you are able to come back from the dead be it a scientific breakthrough or a holy miracle you will never be able to give this proof, so then your labelled as a freak and a loon.
My believing in god doesn't harm anyone, and if you are going to throw the "Religion creates War" card at me then I will try and throw the "If they weren't fighting over religion then they would be fighting over something else" card.

Yes you get the odd bloke standing in town with a life size replica of Jesus' Crucifix strapped to his back bawling about fire and damnation for sinners, you can walk past him and ignore him if you chose to? I often open the door to Jehovah's Witnesses and will spend a few minutes listening to what they have to say I have never been rude to them or just told them I am not interested and not once have they tried to convert me, they just give me a copy of the watchtower, read a bit of the bible to me, wish me well and bugger off next door.

Anyway I am not sure what my point is to this post I wanted to put across the point of view from the other side of religion from a normal 30 yr old girls point of view, and say that it doesn't hurt to just get on with life allowing other people believe what they want to believe, I would never try and force an Atheist to believe in God so why are all the ones I have met damned set on proving to me that something that makes me happy and brings me comfort, doesn't exist.

I also want to point out that this post isn't aimed at all atheists just the ones I have met.
( Mrs Sp@m, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 17:24, 22 replies)

Elloquently put
I'm neither for or against in the big relegion question.

Basically, I just want to read some funnies when I'm at work.

But I like this post. Its nice to have some balance in a debate.

Now, can we have some knob gags, people???
( SpankyHanky, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 17:31, closed)

Hahaha...
...you said knob!
( Undercovercarrot got done for gross misconduct on..., Wed 25 Mar 2009, 20:03, closed)

Live and let live: a healthy attitude to have I think!
re: "religions create war", I think you're right, if it wasn't religion it would be something else. Unfortunately people seem to enjoy wars :-(

Let's hope we grow out of it one day
( LemonEntryMyDearWatson This time, Moriarty, the hand is on the other foot, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 17:31, closed)

hmmm
The trouble is, there's a lot of Religious types who are pushing their beliefs on everybody else and their children.
It's not just the odd bloke - it's half of America and most of the middle East.

Does your peace of mind equate with the extreme Islamic peace of mind where women are treated little better than plankton?
( scoshi pretending to diet since, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 17:33, closed)

muslims don't tend to try and push their faith on others
they are perfectly content to know that others aren't going to get the virgins.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 17:57, closed)

Oh joy
Having to teach them to not use their teeth yet again.
(TrudyScrumptious, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 18:11, closed)

hey
no one said muslims were bright
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 18:43, closed)

"muslims don't tend to try and push their faith on others"
Hahahahahahaha, oh mercy! You're a funny man.
(RVD420 has his world coming down on, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 11:01, closed)

Some people are asshats
This is not necessarily related to their beliefs.

You seem to have a poor understanding of the methods by which Jehovah's witnesses attempt to convert people, however.
(Metalfish Hasn't had a sig since, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 17:34, closed)

Proof
I think one of the problems is that atheists have no more respect for someone's beliefs than any other opinion that they might hold, so religion becomes an interesting discussion rather than something you have to avoid talking about in fear of offending someone.

It's also much more noticeable when someone openly disagrees with you - personally I've found a large number of believers have tried to convert me, whereas I have no problem with fellow atheists! The "opposition" stands out a lot more.

"One thing I have noticed though is that a lot of atheists are far worse than a lot of the christians I know when it comes to pushing what they believe. They demand proof and of course unless you are able to come back from the dead be it a scientific breakthrough or a holy miracle you will never be able to give this proof, so then your labelled as a freak and a loon."

Personally I like talking about religion because I'd love to be shown any evidence - I don't need absolute proof.
(F1Monkey, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 17:43, closed)

FFS
Is this an amusing story? Is there even a fucking point to this post?

NO. This is purely you taking the opportunity to get on your soapbox about how atheists are worse the religious types.

If you want to get on with life and allow everyone to believe what they want to believe then don't post your opinion on the internet. The only reason to do this is to provoke the same debate that always erupts at posts like this.

Post a funny story about religion, post a funny story about atheists, but please, just post a funny story and not this crap.
(Bazongaloid, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 17:43, closed)

You have faith and you don't push it down people's throats?
Good for you.



You do still realise you're deluded, don't you.
( girlinthehole, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 17:58, closed)

You are welcome to your superstition.
I'm sure we would get on if we met and I wouldn't hassle you about it even though I am an evil atheist. I don't have a problem at all with people believing in fairy stories but I do have a massive problem with:

1. My taxes going to pay for faith schools.
2. Religious extremists of all denominations.
3. The presence of bishops in the House of Lords.
4. The tax-free status of religions.
5. That twat, the pope.
6. Men in dresses sodomising little boys and this being covered up.
7. Pillocks who want to introduce sharia and other barbaric concepts into the UK.
8. Creationist idiots.
9. Stupid religious wars.

Otherwise, I'm cool.
( Mod Edit, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 18:35, closed)

It's worse in the US
The right wing evangelical wing nuts have run our country for years now. The very fact that anyone considers Obama liberal shows just how far they have taken over our society. That and the lies that this country was intended to be a Christian Country.
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 15:17, closed)

You smell like a meat shop

(bogus official shove it up your cunt, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 20:03, closed)

Eloquent as usual.
/talk is third door to the left.
( girlinthehole, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 20:12, closed)

I have faith and I don't try and push it on anyone
but I will publicly post how it makes me better than everyone else and how all the atheists I've met are idiots.

That's why I don't like religious people. They're so fucking SMUG.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 10:58, closed)

http://www.thatsfuckingstupid.com/index.php/2009/01/spot-the-difference/
I think it’s important to differentiate between faith and religion. Faith, as Mrs Sp@m has posted, gives her comfort and harms no-one. Anyone, whether atheist, believer or any one of the myriad shades of grey in between, who is marked out for a bashing for politely requesting "please don't tar us all with the same brush" is likely to feel smug at not being a venomous little so and so.

Time and again we get angry at religion, faith and so on because it’s the shouty shouty extremists and the bible thumpers who get all the press. The idea that there are people out there who just get on with their lives, secure in their faith without having to convert, demonise or otherwise judge people (I’ve seen the phrase “live and let live” crop up several times in several posts) is something the shouty shouty atheists tend to ignore because it provides no opportunity to get on one's high horse about believers.

Well those of us in the atheist brigade (of which I am a member) who demand proof, who denounce believers as loonies and as being delusional, who display unwarranted aggression towards someone who has tried to provide a balanced view on a forum which consists mainly of believer-bashing are the shouty shouty extremists’ parallel.

And hypocrites to boot, for demanding we pay attention to your view and yours only and metaphorically yelling “LALALALALA” when a believer asks us to please see things from her point of view.

I personally find both sides a bit sad.
(Biscuit Burlesque wants to be Dita von Teas, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 13:35, closed)

*shrugs*
Talking about her own faith and bashing atheists sounds like every other smug Christian I ever met.

Couldn't care less if shouty atheism offends them or not, frankly.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 15:57, closed)

I'm inclined to agree with you.
However, I think we might both have met some unusually laid-back Witnesses. I've heard tales of far more persistent ones. And on the atheists trying very hard to convert you? I find that a vague smile and avoidance of the subject works just fine. After all, someone (I have no idea who) said one should avoid talking about just two things in public: sex, and religion. Unfortunately I talk about sex a lot, but manage to keep my lips buttoned on the religion subject, unless I'm involved in a particularly interesting discussion on the subject.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 14:35, closed)

Click worthy...
...and a nod your way
( notmyrealname, Sat 21 Mar 2009, 16:07, closed)

Nobody has ever come to my door and tried to push atheism on me.

People HAVE come to my door and tried to push religion on me.

From my own personal experience, which is just as meaningless for true comparison as yours, the religious types are the ones who go out of their way to shove their beliefs down my throat.

Of course atheists demand proof. Seeking proof before you believe something is the very basis of reason, the one shining invention of humanity that is trying to pull us up out of medieval idiocy.

They think you're a loon because you believe an invisible supernatural being that is everywhere and knows everything...with no evidence to support that belief. From a perspective of reasoned thinking, that's no different from believing that there are invisible elves in your wardrobe that eat your socks. At least you can point to some missing socks to support that belief!

I ask you this; what happened to make the athiests talk to you about their beliefs, or lack of? May I hazard a guess that you sparked the conversation off by presenting your own beliefs to them (then getting offended when they turned a critical eye on them, like they would any hypothesis)? Because by and large, people aren't going to start up a critical discussion about religion unless someone mentions it first...and below the level of Richard Dawkins, I doubt many atheists introduce themselves and then start right off on the subject (unlike the afformentioned door-to-door religion-sellers).
(Musuko, Thu 26 Mar 2009, 14:06, closed)