I notice that there are many posters here who state that they are atheists. Some of them act like true atheists and simply state that they dont believe in a Judeo-Christian God, Allah, or any other gods so they have no use for religion. That's fine. Others go one step further and post comments that Christians are "backwards" or "anti-scientific," against, "progress," or similar. I think there is some confusion here.
To start with, the largest single body of Christians in the world is the Catholic Church. However, in the US, various forms of Protestantism outnumber Catholicisms making Catholics a Christian minority in the US.
The Catholic Church accepts evolution. It accepts the Big Bang Theory as God's work. It isnt wholly against things like stem-cell research (It is against just creating embryos to harvest stem-cells.) The people who run places like Georgetown U. are NOT telling their students the world was created in 7 days! (more...)
2007-01-20 06:02:00 · 18 answers · asked by sothere! 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I could go on. This is not to say that everything the Catholic Church does is right. I dont think that is the case at all. But when atheists attack Christianity are they attacking the whole faith or are they attacking Christian fundamentalism?
Catholics are not fundamentalists. The Vatican and etc., are constantly studying and interpreting the religion. Fundamentalists are the ones who answer a question with a quote from the Bible and take the writings literally.
Not to say there is anything wrong with fundamentalists per se. Just that a lot of the anger that atheists seem to exhibit seems to be more directed at fundamentalists than other forms of Christianity.
Look at it this way. Most people are spooked that there is a born-again Christian in the White House while no one seems to notice or care that there is a Catholic Speaker of the House as well as a Catholic majority on the Supreme Court.
2007-01-20 06:06:09 · update #1
A person below wrote that they are angry that Catholicism says all gays are going to hell. (It doesnt say that by the way.)
But this is more to my point. If one was a true atheist, they wouldnt believe in a heaven or hell anyway. So the Pope's comments would be irrelevant.
2007-01-20 06:10:55 · update #2
So there - The United Methodist church is the same. But they (atheists) have been told this many times and it means nothing to them. They only see what they want to see and they only hear the answers that support what they say. Good try though. cal
2007-01-20 06:08:14 · answer #1 · answered by Callie 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Religion is a memetic virus that leaves the people it affects in a semi-delusional state in which they are apt to harass others (conversion/preaching), start holy wars (see jihad, crusades, untold other wars), and discriminate/persecute against others (see homosexuality, people labelled witches, people of other faiths).
It also seems to attract a disproportional number of dangerously unstable people (what you call fundamentalists).
Given the misery religion has caused over the past 2000 years, I would stamp out this virus much like we hope to stamp out AIDS.
Oh, and the church does not 'accept' evolution; it wiggles its way around the issue. It is safe to accept the Big Bang as science has made clear that what is beyond the big bang will remain forever theory.
2007-01-20 14:29:07 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Canada also has a majority of Catholics. Atheists seem to be attacking creation ideas, the existence of a God and the afterlife, the improbability of events written in the Bible and not necessarily the people who hold those beliefs
2007-01-20 14:07:29 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Atheists aren't "all one way" any more than Christians are! It's kind of funny because you're outraged that Atheists might be painting Christians with the "You're all alike" brush, but you're using it on Atheists with the question itself.
Yes, Atheists know that Christians aren't all fundies. Fundies DO tend to ask the majority of questions on here and so they get responses. When an evolution-believing Christian or a non homophobe Christian asks a question, we answer those questions. I usually also congratulate the person for not being a fundie too, as you can see if you look back.
As to your statement about hell - "why do atheists mind when we condemn them to hell" - I asked a question about that for you here http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsfruIy3O2wLpfmb_DAX6dfsy6IX?qid=20070120111400AAJPVVJ
2007-01-20 14:11:28 · answer #4 · answered by Haiku Hanna 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Why can't we be comfortable enough with our views of spirtuality to sit and enjoy ourselves? The real question is that what happends when we die...and the real answer is that we really don't know. So, since there maybe the smallest doubt in our belief structure, shouldn't we learn to tolerate and respect each others beliefs since its more of a personal thing if even they conflict with each other. Can't we live in world where we can actually be friends with other people who may not see the afterworld differently. A little mutual respect should be in order.
2007-01-20 14:10:49 · answer #5 · answered by Laughing Man Copycat 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Anyone (believer or non-believer) who engages in "ad hominem" attacks is not helping matters and should be ignored. They are behaving as if the only possible way to think is their own.
That said, when someone uses faith to restrict human rights and otherwise hem in their fellow human beings, whether or not they share the same faith, that is an exercise that deserves both ridicule and outright resistance. And the great majority of Christian denominations (& Muslims) have done this in some fashion.
^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^
2007-01-20 14:07:45 · answer #6 · answered by NHBaritone 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The catholic church also did the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition among other nasty things, and it was the founder of christianity and christian morals. the Catholic church is the same christian organization that condemned Galeleo to his death if he didnt deny that what he said was wrong.
" Catholics are not fundamentalists." I can tear that statement of yours to shreds, Hitler was a catholic and so was Vlad the impaler just to name a few choice catholics. Also, there are fundamentalists in every religion and lack thereof.
2007-01-20 14:05:58 · answer #7 · answered by kyubikitsune888 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
well i'm agnostic but what happens is that the fundamentalists on this site reject everything that atheists bring up and claim it to be blasphemous towards the view of creationism anyway alot of the attacks are towards the fundamentalists not that i go around attacking anybody as i stated that i'm agnostic but the bickering goes back and forth between groups on this site just stick around a little while longer and you will see what i am talking about
2007-01-20 14:12:57 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Big Bang was suggested by a priest!
Evolution was suggested by an Anglican, who later became an agnostic. Fabulous, huh?
Not to mention Pope Jean Paul II
2007-01-20 14:07:14 · answer #9 · answered by FAUUFDDaa 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The fact remains that anything that takes something to be automatically true without question is in contrast to science. Therefore, any institution with a dogmatic belief in something relating to science is antiscientific. It would be inaccurate to say that this group must be wrong, but because they do not allow questioning, they are necessarily antiscientific.
2007-01-20 16:45:50 · answer #10 · answered by Phil 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋