Evangelical Christians - Hatred For Jesus - The Something Awful Forums

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Polybius91: Jun 4, 2012; Cobrastan is not a real country.

Morroque posted:

I sometimes wonder if the rise of what we call "atheism" is not due as a reaction to that. Even among the people I knew who went through a bout of "atheism," their beef wasn't exactly the existence or non-existence of God. It might have come up at some point or another, but it wasn't the primary motivator. Often they had problems or criticisms with their churches, or had issues with the the actions of other parishioners; but, they were not in a position of power, so they could not seek or spur proper redress for those issues or criticisms. Eventually, there's a final straw or you just can't take it any more. "Atheism," then, becomes a means to an end; both a way of voting with their feet, as well as openly taking a position which allows for the airing of their concerns. In some cases that I know of, it is often their deep faith which is the mechanism that forces them down that path. It really hurts when you see something you hold in high regard, like the Gospels, be ignored, construed, or applied to corrupt ends.

I can only speak for myself, but I can say this was true in my case. My parents were never really spiritual and never really pushed it on me, and I was never very spiritual either to begin with. I didn't grow up in the South, but in many ways the rural Midwest (or at least my part of it) isn't much better. When I was around 12-13, after I learned about evolution, radiometric dating, and similar concepts, Evangelical Christianity with its Garden of Eden and "let there be light" suddenly started making a whole lot less sense to me - not to mention that I could never reconcile the whole idea of anyone ending up in a place like Hell was described as for any reason, let alone simple disbelief in a religion. I couldn't wave away the smell of bullshit and decided that, hey, this whole "religion" thing is a bunch of nonsense that people made up thousands of years ago because they didn't have any better way to explain things, and they made up the concept of Hell to make people afraid to leave. I didn't dislike the "nicer" religions such as Wicca as much, but I still put them on about the same intellectual level as Kent Hovind and Patricia Pulling.

I realize it was a very fedora-and-neckbeard view of religion, but in my defense, I was still an idiot kid. Even though my views are a lot more nuanced now, my early experiences have colored with my life, and I've never really had much love for religion.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2015 10:24

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 09:24

Polybius91: Jun 4, 2012; Cobrastan is not a real country.

Mr Ice Cream Glove posted:

Man the summer sure is hot

I know a way to beat the heat, go to a creation museum.

http://visitcreation.org/

There are 49 to go to!

I clicked the link and brought up the world map. Oh God, it's spreading beyond the US :cry:

# ¿ Aug 15, 2015 19:14

Polybius91: Jun 4, 2012; Cobrastan is not a real country.

Woolie Wool posted:

I find it kind of ironic and amusing that nerd atheist communities are so steeped in science fiction and fantasy, both of which employ a mythic mode of storytelling to spin tales of a quasi-religious nature and evoke feelings of divinity.

Funny enough, that's just about as good a summary of LessWrong as you could ask for.

Who What Now posted:

Give a brief overview of your dissertation and we'll go from there. Seconding that it sounds really interesting.

And thirding this.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2016 02:16

Polybius91: Jun 4, 2012; Cobrastan is not a real country.

McDowell posted:

Thanks, I do see a shrink and take an SSRI, but I really think there is something to be said about the UFO Two. They weren't brainwashing kids or anything sinister - anyone who really is interested in their information can look into it while it is available online. Everything is a little subculture these days, the contradiction in race war-driven, Trump-voting 'Christians' has to be reconciled with the real message of what the Kingdom of God is and how it has strict requirements for entry. Zapffe's 'Last Messiah' has been somewhat realized. Some people would rather enjoy their 'Holy War' meme.

Okay but what about Earth's simultaneous 4-day 4-corner timecube

# ¿ Sep 19, 2016 04:34

Polybius91: Jun 4, 2012; Cobrastan is not a real country.

McDowell posted:

All religions or belief systems are less than truth, now that Ti & Do are gone even their information is being 'adulterated' so this effort of mine is futile. I'm not suggesting any kind of utopia here on Earth - indeed coming to terms with the impossibility of such a thing is a stepping stone to the bigger picture. While religions illustrate our existence as a battleground between good and evil, it seems to me our time on Earth is a debugging process where individual determinations of truth/error or right/wrong are evaluated. One can see how mainstream evangelism is a program that perpetuates the error of ego and dominion.

Piell posted:

Who the gently caress are Ti & Do?

# ¿ Sep 19, 2016 16:49

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