God Creation

[Jersey Girl]

Taking this piece by piece as it relates to Christianity. Italics used to demonstrate how an intellectually honest non-bigoted, non-stereotyping reliant person might have composed the original were they of a mind to.

Even if a god actually existed, any god concept is made up. Since it has never made itself known to mankind, we have to assume it's a product of imagination. It's a fiction created by every person talking about it.

Christians believe that God made himself known to mankind in the form of Jesus Christ as reported in the Bible, but I have seen no empirical evidence that this is based on fact. I haven't experienced a belief in God myself. I assume it's made up.

Whenever I hear someone talking about their god, all I can think these days is, "What a damned waste of energy. You are lying to everyone, but most importantly, yourself. What are all the burdens you are carrying because you feel required to hold on to the ridiculous god belief? How much money are you wasting?"

I'll never understand why people even talk about their god. It seems like a waste of energy to me. I think they're lying to themselves and others. I suspect they are carrying burdens that turn them to believe in God. I don't fully understand why people are willing to give so much of their money to churches. Seems like a waste of money to me.

It's also occurred to me that living a religion is not only lying on a regular basis, but also the process of getting used to living a lie. People who are well-practiced at living their religion are well-practiced at lying to themselves and others. Lying is a lifestyle for the religious. It's hilarious how many religions teach that lying is bad when the very act of living a religion requires a lifestyle of lying. Religion is a disease that causes you to hold on to ridiculous beliefs, so lying to yourself becomes second nature. It's also a disease because once you're willing to believe outrageous religious claims, you'll believe other outrageous claims (like Trump cares about you, or anything but himself).

Since I think people have invented their God in their own image or what they would like a God to be, I think they are lying to themselves, lying to others, and the whole thing is based on a lie to the point where it becomes their lifestyle. It's hilarious how many religions teach that lying is bad when the very act of living a Christian life is an act of lying.

I think that religion is like a disease or psychological disorder that causes people to hold on to delusions to the point where deluded thinking becomes the norm. Once you've made your descent into self delusion, you'll accept any delusion that is put before you like the people who fall for Trump's lie that he actually cares about them when it's obvious to any clear thinking individual that Trump only cares about Trump.

It's obvious to me that religion is for people who can't face life on life's terms. They have to lie about the reality of things to simply cope. Religion is for people who haven't grown up yet. I'm so sick of the deference paid to idiotic religion.

I think religious people are weak; people who simply can't face life on life's terms. They have to manufacture a reality in order to cope. Religion is for immature people and I'm sick of the deference paid to what I think is the idiocy that is religion.

[canpakes]

It would be fine if people believed their thing and kept it to themselves, but they are ridiculously confident in their unsubstantiated beliefs and try to foist them on others. Until that stops, I will continue to speak against the BS that is religion.

This is what sets many people off with regard to religion.

How should folks who do not prefer to publicly pronounce themselves to be Christians - for whatever reason - respond to these statements -

"We need to be the party of nationalism and I'm a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists,"
- Marjorie Taylor Greene, who last month also said that Christian nationalism is "nothing to be afraid of," and that the "movement" will solve school shootings and "sexual immorality" in America.

“The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it, and I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk. That’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does.”
- Lauren Boebert

It’s fine with me if folks want to raise their children with Christian beliefs. I get that. People have choices, and we stand for and protect that in America. But what I do not need is for my school system to become overrun with folks who are too fragile to allow the idea that dinosaurs existed, and instead want to mandate teaching my children that dino bones are tricks from Satan designed to try to make us believe that the earth isn’t 7000 years old. Not that such a claim is even Biblical - because it isn’t.

So, who puts that house in order? Because I don’t see too many folks who are happy to tell you, unsolicited, that they’re Christians but who will also be willing to stand up against that kind of nonsense being foisted on to others.

[Jersey Girl]

You generally don’t get too involved in deconstructions of your faith,

In more than 22 years online I have read hundreds upon hundreds of actual deconstructions of my faith. That wasn't a deconstruction. That was an unhinged bigoted tirade.

You can save the rest of what you wrote. I know exactly who he was targeting. What I want to know is why didn't HE say who he was targeting instead of issuing a blanket condemnation of every God believer on the planet?

[Jersey Girl]

It is littered with ignorance, hatred, and bigotry, and yet, hardly anyone calls him out on it.

If you think it's important, you could point out what you think constitutes "ignorance, hatred, and bigotry" rather than expecting everyone else to do it.

I'll get you started: it would seem I really do hate religious ideas. Hatred is certainly the correct word for how I feel about religious beliefs. No doubt about it. I've never seen a religion make anyone appear smarter; quite the contrary.

That should get you going.

Thanks. I don't need any leading from you in order to reply to your original post. If I feel like replying to what you've displayed in the above, I'll come back to it.

[Some Schmo]

Christians believe that God made himself known to mankind in the form of Jesus Christ as reported in the Bible, but I have seen no empirical evidence that this is based on fact. I haven't experienced a belief in God myself. I assume it's made up.

No. You haven't been paying attention. I told everyone that I did believe in a god for many years. I know first hand the process of creating a believable god in my head. That's what this thread is about.

This is your problem understanding what I'm saying. I am speaking from experience. If you had read what I wrote closely and honestly, you'd find it relatable, because I'm pretty sure no god has ever appeared to you. Unless you have direct experience with a god (real sensory experience, not the tingly feelings people enjoy attributing to their god), you had to have made him up.

As for the rest of your paraphrase, there's very little difference between what we wrote. Sprinkling "I think" throughout does nothing; I wrote it, so obviously it's what I think.

[Some Schmo]

Thanks. I don't need any leading from you in order to reply to your original post. If I feel like replying to what you've displayed in the above, I'll come back to it.

Hey, you were the one whining that nobody called me out, and now you're undecided at the suggestion you should do it.

But I'm sure you never learned that kind of hypocrisy from precious religion.

[Res Ipsa]

My personal experience with people of faith is so different than what’s described here that I feel like I’ve fallen into the upside down. My closest friends have been been all over the map in terms of religious belief. I’ve never had religious issues damage a friendship of alienate a family member. Maybe I’m extraordinarily lucky. Or maybe folks here are an atypical sample of nonbelievers.

I obviously disagree strongly with the political agenda of some religious folks who want to legally enforce their religious moral codes on others. If anyone has tried to bring abstinence based sexual education in my kids’ public schools, I’d have raised holy hell. Or if a Christian group tried to take over my local school board to put creationism in the curriculum, I’d be on the warpath. I think those battles are worth fighting because combining church and state ruins both.

But I can do that without dehumanizing my fellow humans who are people of faith. Reading the above is like reading some kind of weird funhouse version of Ajax ranting about BLM. Is the plan that we all become little bundles of bigotry and hatred? Are we all going machete shopping?

I really don’t get it.

[Some Schmo]

That was an unhinged bigoted tirade.

Oh, I'm hinged. I have never thought so clearly on this subject.

If it doesn't apply to you, why do you seem so upset? If it's so crazy, why not just let it go? I didn't strike a nerve or something, did I? I couldn't have, since it was so "unhinged."

I never get upset at criticisms unless I think they're at least partially true. Why can't you just laugh off the crazy contrarian?

You can save the rest of what you wrote. I know exactly who he was targeting.

Do you? Please, enlighten the class.

[Res Ipsa]

It would be fine if people believed their thing and kept it to themselves, but they are ridiculously confident in their unsubstantiated beliefs and try to foist them on others. Until that stops, I will continue to speak against the B.S. that is religion.

This is what sets many people off with regard to religion.

How should folks who do not prefer to publicly pronounce themselves to be Christians - for whatever reason - respond to these statements -

"We need to be the party of nationalism and I'm a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists,"
- Marjorie Taylor Greene, who last month also said that Christian nationalism is "nothing to be afraid of," and that the "movement" will solve school shootings and "sexual immorality" in America.

“The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it, and I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk. That’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does.”
- Lauren Boebert

It’s fine with me if folks want to raise their children with Christian beliefs. I get that. People have choices, and we stand for and protect that in America. But what I do not need is for my school system to become overrun with folks who are too fragile to allow the idea that dinosaurs existed, and instead want to mandate teaching my children that dino bones are tricks from Satan designed to try to make us believe that the earth isn’t 7000 years old. Not that such a claim is even Biblical - because it isn’t.

So, who puts that house in order? Because I don’t see too many folks who are happy to tell you, unsolicited, that they’re Christians but who will also be willing to stand up against that kind of nonsense being foisted on to others.

I know and have known many people of faith who would team up with this atheist to put that house in order. YECs don’t make up the majority of people of faith in the US. And many of them are happy to home school.

[Some Schmo]

Can we please focus on where the hatred is directed? For “F”'s sake.

I don't hate religious people. I hate religious ideas, and I hate it when people try to force those ideas on others. It's so damned weird to me that people think their ideas are their identity. If your ideas are your identity, I've been a different person every day of my life. Hating ideas is not hating the person who holds them. Christ, when will this simple concept be learned?

And since people are currently trying to force their religious ideas on America, it behooves us to once again tell people why they should “F” off with them, and that involves attacking the ideas themselves. As I've repeated ad nauseam, I'd leave the ideas alone if I never had to hear about them. If you're trying to force a bad idea on me, you're going to hear why I think it's bad. That is reasonable.

If you want to call that bigotry, I don't damned care. It's not what I call bigotry, but whatever floats your boat.