In article <web.475d627d922777ebf48316a30@news.povray.org>, 
nam### [at] gmailcom says...
> Patrick Elliott <sel### [at] rraznet> wrote:
> > Are you really missing the point that for people that don't believe in
> > God, or even just **your god**, telling them "bless you" **is** the sam
e
> > thing as saying "fuck you"?
> 
> no, I don't understand how wishing for one's well-being is the same as cu
rsing
> them.  You don't need to believe in what I believe to benefit from best w
ishes.
> 
> I can understand it, though, in the light of we living in a fucked up, im
oral
> world.  People without directions in their lifes tend to see everything a
s gray
> rather than black and white.  it's all the same for them, so not surprisi
ng at
> all...
> 
I have seen how people who see the world in clear black and white act. 
They are called sociopaths. And just to be clear. I have never, nor has 
anyone I know that ranges from mildly religious to atheist, *ever* raped 
anyone, killed anyone, lied on the scale that self claimed believers do, 
or committed any of the other large scale sins that *you* are likely 
talking about when saying that we live in an immoral world. However, 
***every*** person I have ever met that thinks the Bible is literal 
truth, believes they are saved, or otherwise thinks I am the one going 
to hell is invariably a hypocrite, lies constantly, would steal formula 
from a starving baby if they thought God wanted them to, threatens to 
kill people, has committed either rape, adultery, pedophilia, or all of 
those together, and more than a few, attach themselves to other 
*believers* like leeches, to suck money, time, and anything else they 
can get their hands on, from the fools that stand there and defend them 
for doing it.

And, the odd thing is, these people do this crap on national TV 24/7 on 
some stations their scamming for the masses pay for, and no one blinks 
and eye. If I so much as walked into half the jobs in this town and told 
the boss that I simply didn't believe in his/her god, he/she would find 
a way to fire my ass so fast that I wouldn't even notice I passed the 
door frame on the way out (and they would then slander me, make up 
stories about me, and do everything in their power to make sure I never 
got another job working for a "Good Christian(tm)" ever again." Yeah, 
the world is a screwed up place. And if you opened your damn eyes you 
would realize that 25% of the people making it that way claim they are 
doing so to serve your god, another 25% blame everything they don't like 
on nonbelievers (which includes stuff they caused), and praise god for 
everything that goes right, almost all of the rest just let them get by 
with it, because they are too busy defending the faith against 
supposedly false attacks, pretending that nothing wrong with the world 
is their problem, and/or defending some of the former two groups, 
because they actually agree with some minor point of irrational 
obsession, illogical conclusion, or crass bigotry (and failing to grasp 
why defending them on that one point is bloody stupid, if 90% of the 
rest of the BS they spout is offensive, even to them).

One might as well blindly defend Mao for his stance on religion, while 
ignoring his insanity, war mongering and mass murder. One defends the 
*position*, if its reasonable, honesty, ethics, fundamental moral 
thought, and just plain common sense implies that you do not defend 
people on the grounds of one point of agreement, if everything else they 
say or do is unacceptable and vile.

But, then that is one of the things you don't get, right. We don't have 
saints, authority figures, kings, or people raised to some high, 
unassailable position, from which they may not be challenged. For 
example, I recently told off PZ Myers, who I otherwise almost always 
agree with, when he started acting in a way I thought was stupid and 
counter productive. He defended a rather badly made, crass and 
inappropriate display that some other group of atheists thought to erect 
as a counter to various religious displays. His position, "It served our 
goals, so who cares if it was inappropriate, crass and badly done?" 
Mine, "If we want to claim to be better than the fools we deal with that 
show up here and make excuses for their immorality and lack of ethics, 
by claiming that the act, 'served the greater cause', so the fact that 
it would otherwise be considered wrong was irrelevant." I wasn't too 
genteel about saying it either. I would do the same for any statement 
made by any "leader" we might talk about. The only thing most of you are 
likely to do is send letters of praise to the people that act like fools 
in your system of beliefs, or ignore it, as inconsequential.

However, I don't comprehend the later. Such people are *obviously* 
adding to the evil committed in the world, misleading people into 
believing its acceptable to commit such acts, and generally undermining 
the very things you claim to stand for. I am willing to fight against 
that, by exposing such acts. You... ignore them? Claim they are not your 
problem? Maybe, if you are really ambitious, pray that the slow decline 
into lies, bigotry and hatred of such people will stop, when all 
evidence would seem to suggest that such prayer does nothing? Where is 
your statement to one of these people that they are abhorrent monsters 
that don't deserve to call themselves Christians?

Oh, wait, I forgot, such people don't allow, or actively delete comments 
that might make them seem less than godlike to the morons that read 
them.... But, then we fight someplace else. You don't fight at all. We 
fight with words and talk about morality. You, if you do fight, fight 
the people that are logically on your side on this issue, or worse, opt 
to not fight, because you hate the places that actually *allow* people 
that don't agree with you to post their views (i.e., you are just like 
the people you should be fighting with us). And somehow, the entire 
problem is not too much religion in the hands of lunatics, madmen, 
bigots and the immoral, its a lack of religion among those that don't 
fall for their lies in the first place...

Mind you, I use "you" in this context as a vehicle to make my point. I 
have no idea how many of these traits you personally share, though, your 
views on the subject of why the world is like it is today says a lot of 
me about how many of those things you personally are likely to do, 
believe, think or act on. Such people, and your past statements would 
seem to imply you are at least, in part, one of them, imply a state of 
blindness that only *starts* at blind faith, and merely progresses down 
hill from there.

-- 
void main () {

    if version = "Vista" {
      call slow_by_half();
      call DRM_everything();
    }
    call functional_code();
  }
  else
    call crash_windows();
}

<A HREF='http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?refid=16130551'>Get 3D Models,
 
3D Content, and 3D Software at DAZ3D!</A>

Post a reply to this message