I've seen this come up in several threads that involve religion. Usually, an atheist says something like, "I thought Christians were all about tolerating other beliefs." In the US, approximately 80% of the people say they are Christians. Why was there a law passed that forbids praying in public schools? Why can't atheists be a little more tolerant? Of course, it isn't ALL the atheist's fault...the Christians didn't do anything about it when voting time came...but the point is that atheists have no tolerance for theists. The US began as a country with only Christians, but no Catholics. The Christians there wouldn't allow any other religion into the country. Gradually, they became more tolerant and allowed other denominations of Christians in...including Catholics. After a while, the tolerance expanded to everyone that believed in any god. At this point, everyone was still tolerant of each other because they had something in common. When the tolerance included atheists, though, everything collapsed for the Christians. Atheists are offended by people praying in public for some reason. The First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." The rest is about freedom of speech, press, and non-related stuff. What I am trying to say here is that when praying in public schools was prohibited, this Amendment was violated. Basically, in the US, it is "illegal" (I don't have any better words at the moment) to make laws against the public exercise of religious activities. Did you know that religious tolerance started in America? The Christians who started the country up "invented" tolerance. n other countries, there were "official" religions. The US people were sick of that, so they invented tolerance. When atheists barged into the country (no offense meant), they were offended and tried, and continue to try, to change the country according to their expectations. That would be like a Christian going to Saudi Arabia and expecting everyone to stop praying to Allah six times a day because it is annoying. Seriously, it is getting ridiculous. Back to the question...what happened to tolerance? Why are atheists blaming Christians for the lack of tolerance in this country? The question for the Christians is...why aren't you doing anything about it?
Mostly the only problem I've encountered with intolerance would be on moral issues. For instance, I might give an logical reason why to take a certain stance on an issue, and people will say not to listen to me because I'm Christian. I can understand that "The Bible says so" isn't an argument in this country, but I also understand that we must listen to the words, and not the religion, of others. Fortunately, that's not really a problem I've encountered on AG, as people who would come onto debate forums have the tolerance to listen to the words of others. So I didn't really direct this at anybody here.
@BigP: I've had the same problem, only for me it would be because of my lack of religion. 0-8 years old: considered myself weakly Christian 8-10 years old: Beliees in some sort of God 11-now: I am skeptical of the existence of a God. I believe it is possible. Some people, for some reason, don't think that anyt argument in a religious debate is invalid if you aren't religious. Luckily, I haven't encountered that problem here insofar
Religious fervor is probably the most dangerous side effect of human free will. People who truly believe in a cause tend to be unpredictable and have the potential to be enormously destructive. If nothing else, a lack of understanding mixed with a fair amount of respect/fear for extremists is enough to convince most people to at least limit the religious grip. In my understanding of history and also through my own experiences, religion and differences in beliefs tend to generate a much more dynamic environment than would otherwise be. (ie there is a lot of good AND a lot of bad and less in the middle) This is why so many infamous conflicts have arisen because of religion and yet the same religions can offer incredible good in the form of morals and guidance etc.
Personally, I feel that a religiously dynamic environment is not very conducive to the learning process. It doesn't add very much and can potentially detract quite a bit. The point of school is to gain knowledge, not pray to your god(s) or show off your faith. I'm sure this point and not atheists' existence has much more relevance as to why praying was removed from our schools.
Also, I find public praying to be akin to PDA. It might be my business what you're doing with your time, but it has that quality about it that makes it hard to get out of your head once you notice it. Makes it kind of irritating.
For the record I believe that some kind of governing force probably does exist, though I don't know as to its amiability towards us. I haven't seen a religion that I can agree with. Not exactly atheist, what would you call it?
For the record I believe that some kind of governing force probably does exist, though I don't know as to its amiability towards us. I haven't seen a religion that I can agree with. Not exactly atheist, what would you call it?
I think that's agnostic, but I'm not sure.
When you DO pick a religion, just make sure it's not scientology lol...jk
