Ironic--why so much hatred in the "religious" category?

Question

After looking through many categories of questions on Yahoo Answers, I have never seen so much hatred or divisiveness as I see in this category. Shouldn't religion and / or spirituality be a category of peace?

On one hand, this seems ironic to me, that the people who are most interested in religion apparently are the most hate-filled. On the other hand, sadly, perhaps this reflects the situation among religious fanatics in the world today.

Or, perhaps, those who are the most ignorant, who cannot understand or answer questions in other categories, must come to this category to shoot off their mouths and display their ignorance to the entire world.

Answer 1

There are people watching these questions who lie in wait like predators to pounce on others. I've watched innocent questions become platforms for these predators' anti-religious dogma. I wish there were a category for people who hate religious people, so more serious dialog could go on here.

Answer 2

A great question, and observing these responses is interesting to me because they are rather one sided, "us versus them" (or more appropriately "them versus us") when, in my opinion,

a) a discussion of religion and spirituality (or lack thereof) shouldn't only be limited to Christians (those who believe that Jesus is the Messiah) and Atheists (those who believe that there is no deity of any sort, God or otherwise)

b) I've read just as much violence and hate coming from *both* sides of that discussion, regardless of who on which side asked the question.

c) many faiths are allegedly about compassion, yet I find that it is often lacking or reserved only for fellow believers

d) I don't see why one must belong to a certain religion/faith to have knowledge of it, to be genuinely interested in learning about it, discussing it, and debating it

e) I think that people should not make claims about anothers' faith/religion if they are not familiar with it, and that they should refrain from making claims about their own faith/religion if they do not have a clear understanding of it; and this would solve part of the problem

and lastly

e) is an interfaith discussion even possible? If not, then why have an open forum for questions and answers - why not just have a chat room for each particular group so that they can self-segregate?

"Oh baby baby it's a wide world, it's hard to get by just upon a smile"

P.S. I am not possessed by Satan or any of his legions of demons.

Answer 3

I've only been participating in yahoo answers for a week now just about, and most of the insulting questions I've seen have been from people trying to "prove" that the Bible is stupid or that God doesnt exist, and they seem to be very very angry about the whole thing. I think that's pretty ironic because they care so much about people's belief in God and they have some kind of chip on their shoulders. I think that anyone trying to disprove someone elses faith on something as trivial as yahoo answers either is going though some type of spiritual battle of his/her own and needs to go to God to solve it, or really just has nothing better to do with their life.

Answer 4

Sad isn't it Deb.

Truth is most religions are fear based. This fear makes it difficult to respond in a loving manner like our brother Jesus asked us to. The belief in a judgmental punishing God causes believers to think that it is appropriate for them to judge others. They somehow completely over look Jesus' advice, judge not lest ye be judged.

I feel lucky that Jesus took the time to come to my rescue and lead me out of the darkness that the belief in a judgmental God is. A long time ago I thought that love, was something that you reserved for some special set of people that you had judged worthy of it.

After a while I got to thinking about what Jesus had said about turning the other cheek and loving our neighbor I put the two together and realized that he had made no exceptions in these statements. It became obvious to me that he intended that we exclude no one from the love that we are supposed to be giving. I started thinking about my idea of love and suddenly realized that I had not been loving anyone at all. I had simply been judging everyone and every thing.

Judging someone worthy of love is not love, it is only judgment. I actually started to cry when I realized this. I saw just how much of my life I had wasted being judgmental, thinking of myself as a Christian, when I was actually doing just the opposite of what Jesus had asked us to do.

I thought about the verse judge not lest ye be judged, and I understood it for the first time.

I realized that I have a lot of catching up to do. So many opportunities were wasted. I now try to apply the love that I have for the world in a universal way like Jesus asks us to do.

If I start to feel afraid and think that I see someone that I should not love because of something I have thought or heard I try to catch my mistake as soon as possible. I tell myself that I have forgot the truth and have fallen for the same old trick that had cost me so many opportunities to be loving in the past. The horror of this realization is often all that is necessary to bring me back to my senses and make me drop the judgmental nonsense I was thinking.

If your belief system won’t allow you to go to a place like an amusment park or a shopping mall and see every person that comes into view as a perfect and beautyful child of God completely worthy of your love just the way that they are, then your belief system is failing you miserably.

I still have a lot to learn about love, but at least I’m making progress.

Love and blessings Deb

Answer 5

The devil isn't interested in fashion. He already has conquered the fashion world.
He isn't interested in any other forums.
He comes to where they talk about God because he hates God.
And those who Satan inspires are led to come to this forum and bash those who talk about God.

They hate God because they are afraid that there
really is a hell and they can't stand it because they are NOT going to give up their perverse and evil ways and so
they lash out in mockery against God and God's witnesses.

I scan the questions and try very hard to not even read the filthy ones or the jesters and mockers.

But there are genuine seekers of things pertaining to God
and I trust some of them are finding answers to their questions.

This is supposed to be a religious/spiritual
category....so why do mockers even read this category?

Because they are demon possessed and can do no less.
What a waste of time and effort for them for God says not one of His children will be lost no matter their efforts.

Answer 6

I enjoy the discussion because I allow people their view on the issue.

I know, I know. I am not allowed to be a devout Christian and a positive human as well.

But let's talk the tolerance of various views of evolution and creationism in an intellectual setting. Humanist will certainly be tolerant of a Christian point of view. Why would discussion frighten them so much? Oh, I forgot to speak differently, I am being hateful.

God is not something to hide, but discussed openly and sincerely.

Answer 7

in my opinion religion has nothing to do with it, it's what/who you believe in. those that are non-Christians/pagans/heathens/santanist ( those in the dark) usually throw hate at Christians(those in the Light of Christ), when Christians respond with scripture the haters don't/won't recieve the truth so it's a constant back and forth.though it is readily available to them, they would rather go around living in complete darkness disconnected from the Truth. what does the Light have to do with the darkness? come into the marvelous Light that you may finally see the Truth. p.s Jesus didn't like religious people bka pharisees

Answer 8

I know! It's sad, but I hope that my loving and positive answers help make it worthwhile for those who see too much hatred here. What can I do? I just focus on the things that I can change. The change within is where peace and love begins.

Answer 9

It is not ironic.

Violence and hatred has always been going hand in hand with religion (or lack of) history.

A good portion of humans can't accept that others are different or that think differents, and with that portion it's enough to make it all look bad and start problems.

Answer 10

I find that the radical on both sides are pretty equal here. But, if some level headed people can make their statements here it's not a total loss. Who knows someone may read it and start to change. So, it can't be all bad.