PM replied....

I was raised in the Christian faith. Both my mother and father were born again Christians and still are practicing Christians. I was baptized and born again in my teens. We went to Church three times a week. I have always believed in God, went to church, and prayed often. The religious right has made me sick. I know I should not judge others and I really try NOT to, but I cannot help and wonder if they realize what type of role models they are. How many people have they turned away from the faith?

We are supposed to love EVERYONE. We are all brothers and sisters. Many wars have been over RELIGION. Is that what God would want us to do? Kill others in his name? Would Jesus go into other countries and kill innocent men, women, and children like we are doing now? Is that Christianity? Would our father in Heaven sit idly by while our poor people in New Orleans drowned waiting for help? Would Jesus want to cut income to the elderly and the poor only to increase the price of their medicine? Are we supposed to hate other religions and people from other races, cultures, and countries?

I just don't get it. People who claim to be Christians are watching our country go down from the greed of our power hungry government and claim they are the party of MORALITY. My Bible must have been printed by someone else because it certainly doesn't match the one everyone else is reading.

I have watched this regime in office brainwash my father into thinking they are the MORAL party and he really believes they are doing the best they can. He buys into the "terrorist" fear, and all welfare people are poor because they want to be, on and on and on. Then he sits and reads his Bible.

I question my faith EVERYDAY. Is it all hogwash? Have I been brainwashed all my life? Is there a God? I don't know anymore. If all those people who claim to be Christians who are for war, against stem cell research, for capital punishment, hate gays, hate Iraqis, hate Mexicans, hate Afro-Americans, hate anyone who doesn't like Bush, are headed for Heaven, then I don't think I want to go there. It is not the Heaven my Bible speaks of.

I agree with many things you have said, but, what would you have anybody do? The politicians run the country, those with good hearts join up and then they also are corrupted. Most of the politicians don't have any balls to really fight, they just pay lip service.

Now most are I believe actually afraid of Bush to do anything. He seems to be able to manipulate the press, the people and who the hell know who else he has control over. No wonder he keeps that shit eating grin all the time.

Interesting replies. I don't agree with mga on the reply about not having faith being a harder path, e.g. easy way out. I feel it is the easy way out when you don't believe. Sometimes it is hard to keep the faith when things you don't fully understand are going on around you. I think sadie proves that in her response. But maybe that's the whole point. I wasn't trying to convert anyone or put anyones beliefs down. Interesting at how you appeared to take offense to my post mga. That wasn't my intent. I just wanted to get everyones take on it. Your not going to get someone to quit an addiction unless they want to quit. Same thing with religion.

I don't think mga is trying to get anyone to quit religion. It is a personal belief and one has to respect that. I can see why people don't believe as well as I can see why some do. You can't shove something down someone's throat and expect them to like it. Usually the opposite is true. So many "Christians" are driving the masses away. We are supposed to bring them into the fold. That begins with respect.

And who are you to make that claim? You come in and ask Why not "play it safe" and believe in god? "And believe in god"? That right there is an attempt to convert. Why couldnt you ask "have faith". Its always about GOD and christianity. This is exactly our point. Believing in god makes you no different than not beliving in god. See......here we are once again having to defend our thoughts because they dont convey the "right" way. You say the word atheist and it brings consequences and a 1000 questions. So let me guess, without you saying it Im and idiot right?



Thats a broad statement to say. So I guess its the learning thing. I dont want to learn christianity. Ive read the bible. King James, New, old testament. Ive read them. I dont doubt everything in it. I think its a good book. It teaches good things. I dont think there is a higher being. I dont think there is a heaven and hell. I dont think there was a Moses or Noahs ark. I dont think we were created by a "creator". For some reason we live in this society that has to have answers to everything. Thats why its called faith. You "hope" you are right. Thats faith, and thats cool with me. It will take and act of your "god" to change me. It will have to come to me and show me its real. In all fairness according to the constitution I shouldnt have to look at "in god we trust" on the dollar. I shouldnt have to see Santa Clause. I shouldnt have to see the ten commandments everywhere. But I dont care. Im not one of those who shake the tree. I live and breathe in a free country(at least for now) where you and I can do that for now.



Whats that supposed to mean. Im intrigued. I want to think you mean we are stupid but I dont know if you are talking about the current crooks.



That to me requires proof not respect. If there is an all mighty perfect god then why do we have kids without limbs, defects, abnormalies. According to the christians I know say god is perfect and doesnt create gays because its an abomination (thats not the issue here just making a statement). This is where some of my doubts are.

If both were shown to be true, would that make you change?

Not making a judgement, just asking a question to continue the discussion .

lol...moses? maybe there was a man who lead jews around the dessert...a burning bush and ten commandments? ummm....i don't think so.

noah's ark? i mean...c'mon...it makes for a nice children's tale, but physically impossible to achieve. ummm...are you now going to tell me the world is only 6,000 years old too?

and, on the subject of noah and the great flood....apparently "god" must have made a mistake the first time around and decided he would wipe the slate clean and start over again. hmmm...seems like a major flaw if this supreme being makes mistakes...then corrects them by death and destruction.

ummm...no, thanks....he doesn't sound like someone i want to follow around.

Hey, I said that. I was using that as an example of "what Christians are SUPPOSED to do" - rather than turn people off (by example) or away.

It is ok though because I know you were't questioning me. I don't preach nor tell people what to believe.. LOL

No. I will never believe a religion again. I have no problem with someones faith. I have problems with religion. To me, religion is a bad thing and faith is a good thing. Religion is to blame for just about every war. Its the common concept of "I think Im right and you are wrong".

There is No Such Thing as a Religious Democracy

by Dr. Gerry Lower | Sep 5 2006 -

Abraham's Religions or Science and Natural Philosophy?

What if we, the people of the western world, chose to explain Abrahamic religions away and right out of our lives? Here we are speaking of Judaism, Old Testament "christian" Romanism and Islamism. Would the world go immediately to hell, or is that where western religions have kept the better part of the western world for the better part of two millennia?

What if we came to see that the ancient western religions no longer contribute to comprehension and control, that they are, in fact, a detriment to comprehension and control? What if we came to see western religions as the source of self-righteous and belligerent despotism in the western world? What if we came to see religion for what it is, an ancient, inherently fear and ignorance-based, greed-driven, self-terminating stage of cultural evolution?

It is, in fact, entirely possible to do so, i.e., explain Abrahamic religions away in evolutionary terms. The primary evolutionary purposes of religion (unbeknownst, of course, to the religious) is two-fold, i.e., the provision of human unification at the tip of a double-edged sword and the provision of human maturation via the acquisition of human knowledge (science and natural philosophy) and the implementation of their political philosophy, democracy.

READ MORE HERE

Catherine