Gott Mit Uns: Open Letter to Atheists and Theists

[DemianHawthorne]

Glad to see my thread is getting some good responses.

I dont' necessarily agree with everything you say here, but the general idea is pretty close to what I believe.

I do think you demean people with faith too much. Just because someone believes in God does not mean they cannot be rational and intelligent. It is primarily, IMO, those who believe in the literal word of the Bible who are guilty of irrational thought.

Religion, not faith, is the enemy here. Most people of faith whom I know can still understand and promote the idea of evolution, both of man and of the universe, my own father among them. Should I belittle him because he still believes in a Supreme Deity? Not at all! It's only when he parrots the doctrines of the Catholic Church that I question him, respecfully.

There have been many respected, highly intelligent scientists throughout history who believed in God. There still are. There are, and have been, many physicians who believe in God and miracles, despite there being no physical manifestation of a soul in the bodies they deal with every day. This doesn't make them evil or stupid. Quite the contrary.

Surprisingly, a very powerful weapon against the zealots is the Bible! It is my experience that those who most deeply believe in the literal word of the Bible have very little true understanding of it. The Bible is filled with contradictions and most of those people tend to pick and choose among the versions which most appeal to them. And of course, it is only the particular version of the Bible which they happen to own which is the one true version: all others are heresy. Yet when you point out that the Bible is merely a translation of older texts and potentially filled with mis-translations and mis-spellings, they claim that God prevents such problems from actually happening. So how is it that there can be so many versions?

No, don't hurl your wrath at people who believe in God, but at those who cannot tolerate any belief other than their own narrow, narcissistic faith.

I never said religious people or people with faith couldn't be intelligent. Some of the smartest men who ever lived where theists after all. What I meant to say, if it wasn't clear was "How many people do you know who despite their religion are extremely intelligent?".

As for religion and not faith being the enemy here. I disagree. I have a problem with both faith and religion because all faith is is believing in something without evidence because you want it to be. Faith is the idea that desire = truth and to me, this is a very dangerous belief. Also I wasn't hurling my wrath and I apologize if it came off like that. I just like to debate and share my views. I tried to keep this fairly tame compared to some of the things I have said. o_O

You don't think theist don't ask those questions? I could list numerous books written by Christians about just those subjects. The various catechisms of the orthodox religions are a reflection of just the questions you accuse us of not asking. But you, in your infinite ignorance, actually thonk people of faith cannot ask questions.This indicates to me you have not truly looked for the answers to the questions, you decided you didn't like the answers.

Why is that when anyone speaks against religion, they are ignorant. Why is there this curtain around faith that makes it immune to dissection and criticism just like any other belief. Also, I do believe you misunderstand because you see to an atheist we he have to discover for ourselves why we are what we are. Why we exist and why we do the things we do. In other words, what is it that makes us us. As a religious person this is impossible to do. Yes you can "ask questions" but because of your belief you cannot help but arrive to the answer of God. If you believe a God created you and existence than the areas of the purpose of life and the purpose of your life cannot escape from this omniscient being. You can question perhaps WHY God created us but it cannot change the fact some infinite powerful being created us and thus has all the answers.

We can agree on that, which is why Christians have debated them for centuries, and before us other people of faith. Truth sets us free, and God is not the answer to these questions. The answers are much more profound than the ones you end up with because the only true answer you have is "I don't know." Those of us with faith don't believe God is the answer, but that he has the answers. A bit like your own belief at one time in your own parents. Faith is not a blind acceptance that God is the be all and end all, but the acceptance of not knowing. One of the best songs I have ever heard says "Maybe questions tell us more than answers ever will." That was written by a man of faith, and spoke to my heart in a time of crisis to assure me that faith is stronger than the storms.

But that's just it! Human begins are amazing creatures when it comes to figuring things out. Will we be able to answer every question before our species dies out, not even close but it shouldn't hamper us from reaching for the stars, but the believe in a deity would merely hold us back, especially when rules and regulations get added in on top.

Now I get it, this isn't about people of faith, it is about your uncle. If you have a problem with him being homosexual you need to deal with your feelings and not try to blame everyone else on the planet.

That's a joke right? I'm homosexual myself. =) Well, I like dominant women but as far as dating goes, guys only.

Now you are spouting ignorance. Grow up. If you were any more intolerant I could nominate you for some type of award.

The root of every inhumane act is religion? Then how do you explain the inhumane acts of animals? Or are you one of those people who think animals do not behave cruelly? If you are I will simply ask you to watch a cat toy with a mouse at some time in your life. Even when the cat is hungry and is going to eat the mouse it does not simply kill it.[/QUOTE]

I don't see how anything I said was ignorant. All of the things I cited above have really happened. The point of the last paragraph however was to show that religion is NOT where we get our morals from since the religious are just as capable of murdering, killing and genocide as anyone if not more so.