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How many ATHEIST bronies out there?


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Heh, Dsanders. I remember you used to be Christian, I think it was? Was religion no longer for you or something?

 

Yes and yes. "I was blind but now I see." I've realized that religion was a huge waste of my time. I can't believe I fell for the BS in the first place. 

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Yes and yes. "I was blind but now I see." I've realized that religion was a huge waste of my time. I can't believe I fell for the BS in the first place. 

I was never a particularly religious person myself. I'd rather learn how the world actually works and be happy, rather than live a life in fear and pretend to be happy about it.

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I was never a particularly religious person myself. I'd rather learn how the world actually works and be happy, rather than live a life in fear and pretend to be happy about it.

 

Yeah, worshiping a god who would send you to hell for just the crime of unbelief is a very unhealthy mindset to have.

 

 

 

Once I started reading the Book of Exodus, I simply could not take passages like these seriously:

 

 

7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
 
9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” (???)
 
11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, " ... turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. (He changed his mind after Moses tried reasoning with him like a mother desperately trying to discipline an angry ten year old ...)
 
15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
 
19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
 
21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
 
22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” (This fucking guy; and yet he becomes a priest in the following chapters, because he is so faithful to his god.)
 
25 Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. 26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.
 

27 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’” 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. 29 Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”

 

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Yeah, worshiping a god who would send you to hell for just the crime of unbelief is a very unhealthy mindset to have.

 

 

 

Once I started reading the Book of Exodus, I simply could not take passages like these seriously:

 

 

7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
 
9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” (???)
 
11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, " ... turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. (He changed his mind after Moses tried reasoning with him like a mother desperately trying to discipline an angry ten year old ...)
 
15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
 
19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
 
21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
 
22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” (This fucking guy; and yet he becomes a priest in the following chapters, because he is so faithful to his god.)
 
25 Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. 26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.
 

27 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’” 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. 29 Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”

 

What I don't understand is that the Bible is full of themes of blood and gore, murder, slavery, sexual violence, violence in general, mass murder and genocide and condemns LGBT people and consuming shellfish out of all things for being "an abomination", and then apparently it's A-OK for the whole family. How is it that video games can't get away with the same things, but the holy book for a religion can?

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(edited)

What I don't understand is that the Bible is full of themes of blood and gore, murder, slavery, sexual violence, violence in general, mass murder and genocide and condemns LGBT people and consuming shellfish out of all things for being "an abomination", and then apparently it's A-OK for the whole family. How is it that video games can't get away with the same things, but the holy book for a religion can?

 

Not to mention, stoning an innocent man for picking up sticks on the Sabbath.

 

 

 

Numbers 15:32-36

 

32 Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. 34 They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him.

 

35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” 36 So, as the Lord commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died.

 

 

 

By that same logic, all the congregation should have been stoned to death. Stoning someone to death requires a bit of work. Weren't the Israelites commanded to rest on the Sabbath?

 

You want to know why video games can't get away with that and a holy book can? Hypocrites. Their book is holy, divine, inerrant, and infallible and everything "their god" (it's actually the people "with god") has done is righteous and just. No questions asked.

Edited by Dsanders
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Well, we have to bring in mind that the Torah was likely written during the time the Historical Israelites came back from exile in Bablyon. That might have had something to do with it. Fear of being exiled again...which happened. Unfortunately.

 

But, anyway, still a huge headscratcher for anybody who takes the Bible literally. It's impossible to equate that with 'the God of second chances' of the last few books of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

 

It's fascinating to study it from a cultural and historical background, but I just can't believe that some people take these stories SERIOUSLY.

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You know what I don't get? How praying works. I get the basics of praying, it's your communication with God and such but the pastors at the church I'm forced to go to keep..well adding requirements to it.

 

Apparently you can't talk to God unless you praise him unconditionally first, or you're at full energy to pray in the first place. Your prayer can't also be quick, you gotta be 2 or 3 hours in (even more is encouraged) just going in there, yelling helps strengthen your prayers somehow too.

 

All these different things mixed together on something so simple just really perplexes me to no end. Why all the requirements??

 

Honestly I'm glad I'm an atheist now, so I don't have to do all this BS.

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You know what I don't get? How praying works. I get the basics of praying, it's your communication with God and such but the pastors at the church I'm forced to go to keep..well adding requirements to it.

Apparently you can't talk to God unless you praise him unconditionally first, or you're at full energy to pray in the first place. Your prayer can't also be quick, you gotta be 2 or 3 hours in (even more is encouraged) just going in there, yelling helps strengthen your prayers somehow too.

All these different things mixed together on something so simple just really perplexes me to no end. Why all the requirements??

Honestly I'm glad I'm an atheist now, so I don't have to do all this BS.

It's funny-Jesus himself condemned people who do the same things you mentioned.

 

I don't really pray anymore, I just meditate after I take a bath to some music in the early afternoon. Specifically, just how I'm doing for the day so far and how I can improve myself. No supernatural things involved, though sometimes I take things out of some holy texts and reflect on them (though I don't pray to God).

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  • 11 months later...

Yea that would be me, I still believe to this day that if religion hadn't existed, then we would have had no wars, hitler wouldn't have existed, 9/11 wouldn't have happened, etc.

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Yea that would be me, I still believe to this day that if religion hadn't existed, then we would have had no wars, hitler wouldn't have existed, 9/11 wouldn't have happened, etc.

Most of the time religion has nothing to do with modern wars. Pretty sure WWI started because all the European powers created alliances and a duke got assassinated, not because people were Christian. And Hitler? What? How does Nazis have anything to do with religion? They came to power because people were dirt poor and Germany was in an economic crisis while the UK and France were beating it while it was down, and they believed Hitler would help them regain Germany's former glory (and blame the Jews).

 

Most wars are strictly because of foreign tensions, economic issues, imperialism, and a whole lot more. Religion doesn't really factor into a whole lot of conflicts even if we included the fundamentalist Islamic surge in the Middle East and the Crusades.

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Ayyy, science life. I was never all that into religion when I was kid, mainly because I just didn't like having to do stuff like go to church and whatnot, but now I'm just straight atheist. You can believe whatever you want to though.

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Well, I wouldn't call myself completely atheist, although I am not a religious person in the slightest.

I would consider myself a spiritual person. I don't believe in any gods, nor do I believe in religious texts.

I would say seeing is believing, though.

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Firstly, yes, I'm an atheist. Count me. *raises hoof*  :D

 

Yea that would be me, I still believe to this day that if religion hadn't existed, then we would have had no wars, hitler wouldn't have existed, 9/11 wouldn't have happened, etc.

While it's not necessarily true that lack of religion might have prevented these things, I do agree there is a good chance they wouldn't have come into being. The thing about religion is that it is fundamentally sectarian or partisan. It's divisive because it downplays what we humans have in common and emphasizes things that "set us apart." So, while you can't directly blame say Christianity (whichever flavor that may be) for WW2, you'd have every right to point to it as part of what made up the strong German nationalist identity that drove the idea of perceived superiority. In other words, part of general Christian doctrine is that they are "set apart" and "holy." In practice that just feeds a superiority complex and generates distrust and dislike of those who are not "set apart" or "holy." I'm assuming because I'm in a thread with other atheists that I do not have to address the age old debunked argument of "but atheists believe the same thing."  :P

 

So you very well could propose that if most people were atheist for the last several hundred years then we might have had humanist cultures develop that would have prevented the economic and political situations leading to these travesties. I know atheism doesn't mean humanism or humanitarianism but it tends to develop in that direction anyways because it means we focus on making life better for all humans rather than one specific sect or tribe. It is possible for an atheist to believe in self over others but I do not believe such a person would be honest with themselves about what we've learned through science.  :fluttershy:

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Religion doesn't really factor into a whole lot of conflicts even if we included the fundamentalist Islamic surge in the Middle East and the Crusades.

How isn't religion a causing factor in the Crusades and ISIS?

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(edited)

How isn't religion a causing factor in the Crusades and ISIS?

 

I know you're awaiting a reply from Sealand, but I'd like to put in my own thoughts. Oh the joys of open discussion.  :D

 

I partially agree and disagree with religion being a part of these things. I say that because religion was tied into it but did not exactly drive the Crusades and ISIS. In these cases, religion was used as it normally is - as a smokescreen to justify other motives. Both of the Crusades and ISIS came into being (the Crusades as a movement and ISIS as a political entity) due to economic motives. ISIS did not come into being merely because of Islam - though it is strongly supported by that doctrine. It came into being because harsh foreign military action in the region forced people to defend themselves and, in the absence of a strong national identity, the people flocked to a religious identity to unify. The Crusades were more or less a power grab. So religion was involved but it was more of an excuse. You could of course argue that if the religion didn't exist at all then the Crusades and ISIS would not have existed as they did and that would certainly be true. But in the absence of some kind of humanitarian culture, I think they still would have manifested with different names.

Edited by BlackWater627
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How isn't religion a causing factor in the Crusades and ISIS?

I wasn't saying they weren't. I was saying even if we added in those religious wars, most of the wars we have had for the last millenia or so wasn't really about religion at all, especially during the post Middle-Ages. Most of these wars were purely for economic, social, or political reasons (ex: your military power is threatening to our safety, I want your rich resources, you're impeding our trade), or used religion as a facade for one. The exceptions are usually just civil wars like the English Civil War or the Iranian Revolution.

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Very atheist- My parents are both very catholic though. That didn't stop me from getting really bored at Church or questioning why the god they believe in doesn't seem to help anyone ever anyway.

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