Religion or Atheism? An open forum.

[thir]

Ive never heard anywhere during any of my time here on this earth of any religion that promotes an idea of anything less than self responsibility for ones actions.

What about 'I must act like this because it is in the bible'? Or whatever religious book you have.

I kill gays because they are an abomination in the eyes of god. I blow up planes because my god tells me to. I kill women if they do not wear the clothes (I think) my book says they should.

Do these people feel responsible for their actions? No, their excuse is that it is the will of god!

I am totally in agreement with you D that people have a right to have their religion in peace, and totally in agreement with T that it must be a private matter and must not impose on anyone else.

[denuseri]

What about 'I must act like this because it is in the bible'? Or whatever religious book you have.

Well, let me see, last time I checked, the Bible, in paticular the new testament has Jesus make a little statement about such things that pretty much excludes all the old testament hard core laws that are by all rights no longer applicable even to the most fundamentalist of followers, with a simple..."Love thy nieghbor as theyself" commandment. Similar "words" and conditions are set forth in all the major faiths. So effectively anyone useing violence to achiev their ends, in all of the majior faiths is basically going directly against the major tennents of their own faith. Especially if one is taking a litteral interpetation of said tennents.

I kill gays because they are an abomination in the eyes of god. I blow up planes because my god tells me to. I kill women if they do not wear the clothes (I think) my book says they should.

Do these people feel responsible for their actions? No, their excuse is that it is the will of god!

And their "excuse" as explained above is not jusification in the eyes of their god at all but a sin against him.

I am totally in agreement with you D that people have a right to have their religion in peace, and totally in agreement with T that it must be a private matter and must not impose on anyone else.

Secularism doesnt require privacy to function...just mutual respect and understanding.

[Thorne]

And their "excuse" as explained above is not jusification in the eyes of their god at all but a sin against him.

I find it interesting that theists who do evil things in the name of their god are considered to be sinners and not really doing what their god wants. How do you know what their god wants? How can you know that their god is not speaking to them and actually telling them what to do? Just because it offends you?

That's the great fallacy of religions. Once you accept the concept of a supernatural being who controls the universe and who can do anything He wishes, you can no longer claim that someone else is not doing His bidding. What that person does may be offensive to you, but how can you know that you are right and he is wrong? Maybe God DID tell him to do those things. After all, God did tell Joshua, on more than one occasion, to kill all the inhabitants of towns he conquered, down to the last man, woman, child and cow! Who's to say that God wouldn't tell someone to kill an abortion doctor, or a gay man, or anyone else, for that matter. I know, you don't want to believe that God would do such a thing, but HOW-CAN-YOU-KNOW?