So what if I despise atheists and fundamentalists equally? What if I think they're both full of crap?

Question

I can't stand either one. I'm just a regular Joe. I believe in God and Christ but from the time I was 12 these fundamentalists completely give me the willies. Now they want a nuclear war over israel because they think the israeli government is the israel of the Bible,plus if it blows,Christ has to come back blah blah blah. And to think you can't get elected president without the Bible Belt. Meanwhile you have all these totally driven atheists who want to attack everybody's beliefs for apparently no reason other than they can't stand anybody having religious beliefs. What they both have in common is a desire to regulate your beliefs,positively or negatively. Require school prayer. Ban school prayer. Why not just leave it up to the people,you know,good ole self-determination? Any idiot can see that urban areas are way too multicultural for school prayer; but how about a town of 200 in Nebraska? They both seem equally intolerant and I despise both utterly. I say,regulate them to space.

Answer 1

What's your opinion of a fundamentalist atheist.

Answer 2

I am a Christian, and I have friends that are fundamentalists, and friends who are atheist. My fundamentalist friends think I'm one of the most liberal people they know and actually like, and my atheist friends think I'm one of the most conservative friends they know and actually like. There are also people of both groups that I don't particularly care for. I guess that makes me a moderate.

I mostly agree with you about school prayer. I work in a public school, and I pray quite frequently, usually alone in my office, but occasionally with other staff members. I would hate to be told that I could no longer do that (and probably wouldn't listen to such a ban anyway) but at the same time I don't think I should have the right to force prayer on anyone else in the school. I've discussed religion with students on occasion, but only when they have brought it up, and even then never to prostelatize. The person I most enjoy talking about religion to at my school is a Muslim. I don't agree that mandated school wide prayer would be appropriate even at the school in the Nebraska town of 200 because of the one child that may not want to participate, but I think that if a group of students want to get together to pray, they should be permitted to, even in the multicultural urban school.

Answer 3

Well. I guess you could call me a fundamentalist. I believe Israel is still Israel, and that its reemergence as a nation in 1948 was the answer to the biblical prophecy that God would call them back from the nations to which they were scattered. I believe in the morals and principles associated with Christianity, and therefore, I guess I am a fundamentalist. And I don't mind at all that my president quotes scripture and prays for guidance; I'd rather he did, even though I may disagree with some of the things he's done. I would only vote for a conservative president, because I believe God despises abortion and many other things that a more "tolerant" liberal politician embraces.

The rest of what you said, though, I pretty much agree with. I think it's asking for it to require prayer in school. What if the teacher/principal is a religion other than mine? I don't want my child praying to some other god. And regardless of what other religion someone else might subscribe to, I am opposed to the idea of forcing their children to pray to a god they don't believe in. I think there is a lot of common sense to what you've said here. It is too bad there is so much polarization; people would accomplish a lot more if they would compromise. The "all-or-nothing" approach more often than not leads to "nothing."

Answer 4

I think you should know that there are LOTS of perfectly sane, rational, loving fundamentalists out there, who have no desire to push their religion on anybody else through legal means, and have no desire to bring the world to the brink of destruction. And I'm saying this, even though I myself am an atheist, because I know quite a few such fundamentalists.

At least believe what I say about fundamentalists, even if you think I'm lying when I say that there are also LOTS of atheists who don't attack anyone else's beliefs, who just sit quietly in a corner, not believing in God. I still go to church every week, but I don't run in and shout "You fools! You're all living a lie!" I don't care what people believe, but rather how they come to believe it, and whether they're putting their beliefs to a good cause. And I totally agree with you that schools should decide for themselves on the school prayer issue.

I know that there are plenty of fundamentalists and atheists who fit into the stereotype you describe, but definitely NOT all of them, and it's not any fairer to lump all fundamentalists and all atheists into a single group any more than it's fair to lump all blacks or all Jews into a single group. Saying "All atheists and fundamentalists are intolerant" is NO different than saying "All blacks are lazy" or "All Jews are greedy."

Answer 5

I'm not going to address the rest of your rant, because your personal opinions on fundies or atheists are of little concern to me.

What I did want to address from your *cough* "question" is the statement you made about letting the majority vote for prayer in public schools and that in a small town of 200 people, prayer might be appropriate. What if there was one student there who didn't believe in the christian god? Why should his rights be infringed on just to make everyone else happy? Last I checked, his freedom of religion is equally important -- even if he happens to be a severe minority.

Answer 6

All I'd have to say is, what did I do to you to make you hate me? I have never, and never will, try to control someone else's beliefs. I fully support there being Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Wiccans, and whatever else in this world. Even fundies, as long as they aren't armed with inspirational pamphlets. Diversity is the spice of life. Why in the world would I want to change that which makes this world interesting?

I think you need to work on being more tolerant of other people.

Answer 7

I'm an atheist, and I know of no atheist who wants "to attack everybody's beliefs..." The atheists I know of, including famous ones like Dawkins and Harris, support constitutional law. U.S. constitutional law doesn't allowed government sponsorship of religion. So public schools cannot sponsor prayer, but individuals in public school can still pray. If you think that is crap, then I think you're unAmerican.

Answer 8

I don't give a shtt . . . blah blah blah . . . blah blah . . off to get a drink, the beergod calleth meith . . . cheers!





You truly are burdened with many problems, but keep mouthing off if it makes you feel better about yourself.


Apparently you have it all figured out, so why are you ranting on here for? Just curious.

Answer 9

No, dear. It's not that atheists 'can't stand anybody having religious beliefs'. We can't stand the horrible influence that these misguided and silly beliefs have on our government.

Answer 10

I don't want for anything to happen to Israel. Plus, without me life would not be as fun.