Free Willy!
I was a very religious child as far as children go in their relationship with a deity anyway. I thought of him as an year-round Santa, thinking that he was to be thanked for my BMX, some Star-Wars figures and my NES - just by pleading with him to make my mom and dad buy them for me.

As years went by, my morals and self identity evolved and became askew with any religion, and as my obsession with science grew alongside it, it became clear that I was an atheist.

What bugs me about people of faith is not their invisible friend, or friends as it were, but rather their monopoly on morality.
They say that you "you cannot have morals without god". But it seems that you can have a god without morals. You don't have to read far into the Bible before you encounter murder, genocide, rape, all sorts of (insert prefix here)cide, incest, insanity and a burning plant. All this either sanctioned, committed or urged on by god.

It scares me to know that in these times of economical, environmental and cultural strife that we are still fixated on faith. Disasters are never really our fault due to the will of a god even though mere common sense completely annihilates such arguments (The condom DOES help against AIDS and other STD's mr. pope guy, I know you're reading this! And who in their right mind takes advice on sexual matters from a sexually frustrated, celibate ex-nazi?)

It seems to me that, due to the element of faith, that we are more reluctant to take responsibility of our actions and for our surroundings. It's not the only culprit but a big one. The sense that everything is out of our hands and should be prayed for instead of direct action is, for want of a better term, silly!

Free will anyone?

Sorry about the rant and a lack of funny.
(snordfjord Cranky...like a crank!, Mon 23 Mar 2009, 14:42, 4 replies)

Holier than Thou?
You only have to read the FSM website's "Hate Mail" pages to see so many "Christians" claiming to be righteous, and in the same paragraph threatening to kill/maim everyone who doesn't agree with them.

The problem is, an atheist is probably more concerned with logical thinking (i.e. should I really kill this person - NO) whereas the religious bunch often just don't have to think (i.e. He doesn't believe in God - let's kill him because my holy book says so).

I had a discussion once with a bible-basher about the old pagan gods. He claimed they were mythical. My reply that they were around before Christianity was met with "They couldn't have been. My God created the Earth".

It was like reasoning with a plant.
(Kliper Filllets Getting noticed by twats on the internet since, Mon 23 Mar 2009, 15:58, closed)

Hahaha!
IRL lol. Good story!
(idle insomniac enjoys listening to Sigur Rós at stupid hours, Mon 23 Mar 2009, 16:28, closed)

jeebus!
lol! I wouldn't have been able to have an argument with a person like that, in the sense that my jaw would probably need re-attatching at the hospital after I picked it up from the floor, hence my only argument would be "mmmwwwaaaallll *droool*"
(snordfjord Cranky...like a crank!, Mon 23 Mar 2009, 16:44, closed)

The was one action I could have taken
The old Viz top tip of "Avoid long-winded arguments by automatically punching anyone who disagrees with you".
(Kliper Filllets Getting noticed by twats on the internet since, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 11:27, closed)