+432 Being an atheist is okay. Being an atheist and shaming religions and spirituality as silly and not real is not okay. Being a Christian is okay. Being homophobic, misogynistic, racist or an otherwise hateful person and blaming it on your religion is not okay. Being a reindeer is okay. Bullying and excluding another reindeer because he has a shiny red nose is not okay, amirite?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I love you.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I still think being an Atheist is still sorta ignorant. Is it not better to claim that you just don't know and never will know until it actually happens

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Don't Christians claim to know that their God is the ONLY God.. there are hundreds of religions in the world yet they are ignorant and arrogant enough to think theirs is the only true path to salvation? I feel the same about any religion that suggests their religion is the "only" true path to peace. That's ignorance at its best.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic_atheism I do believe that agnosticism is the most "sensible" position but I personally believe that there is no God, therefore I call myself an atheist.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I am Agnostic, it's what I was referencing to.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

There is no "most sensible position". There are positions that are more ignorant, less ignorant, but there's no best answer, only whatever works for people best without negatively impacting the lives of others

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Most of the people I know, theists or not, are agnostic. I just don't see how one could possibly prove/KNOW the existence of God 100% and honestly claiming that you're an exception and that you understand exactly how deities work doesn't strike me as sensible. If someone has a different opinion and doesn't infringe on others then I'm hardly gonna fight them on it though.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Not to say that YOU are claiming these things, or even that your comment is wrong, because I agree with it. I just feel that it makes the most sense for everyone to be some degree of agnostic.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I guess, but the thing about faith that probably gives them complete confidence is that (and I can only speculate, since I'm agnostic myself) they've been taught from an age so early they'll accept it as fact, something extraordinary happened to them that seems too unlikely for coincidence, or they convince themselves of a God's existence to fill a need or desire in their lives for a sense of justice that it may otherwise lack. There are probably more and better reasons, but those are all I got off the top of my head. Everyone's position will seem the most sensible to themselves, so it's kind of like deciding the best song in the world. While some can be typically thought of as worse, some can spread a bad message, others can be really good. However, it's something we have no standard to base it off of, so everybody has a different perspective on the matter.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

You make good points. I am very open to the beliefs of others, I guess I just have a bit of bias as a human being.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

We all do. It's impossible to be a human being without bias. It's too perfect a concept to be nurtured into any organism by imperfect organisms

by Anonymous 11 years ago

this is very true, but some people need to understand that there is a difference between being homophobic and opposing gay marriage for religious reasons

by Anonymous 11 years ago

"There's only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you've got to be kind."

by Anonymous 11 years ago

The only time I have a problem with religion is when they try to impose their religion on my personal way of life (through marriage, through laws, through education, through healthcare, etc) any other time I live and let live.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

There are so many religions. Surely you find some of them ridiculous. How about "Heaven's Gate"? Back in 1997 a few dozen of them committed suicide believing it would allow them to hitch a ride on a spaceship that was trailing a comet. That's pretty goofy, right?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

About as goofy as talking snakes, burning plants that can talk, having sex with a woman while in the form of a swan, a serpent in the sea that wraps around the entire planet, etc.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I think there is nothing wrong with being homophobic or racist as long as you don't show it.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

It's impossible not to manifest beliefs. They influence one's actions that may have been made unconsciously. Ex. A manager doesn't promote a black because he is racist, but it blames it on the fact that he's a bad worker.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I love how pretty much no one commented on the whole reindeer part in the post.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Why do I keep coming to this site looking for original content?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

No belief should go unquestioned, including religion. I'm not going to censor myself to comfort your ignorance. When a significant portion of the population believes the planet is a few thousand years old, I have a problem with religion. No one is going to learn through censorship. I don't respect ignorance. I don't respect your religion. And I don't have to.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

As a Hindu, I'm inclined to disagree with your comment. Now, I'm not trying to mix oil and water here, but not EVERY religion believes that Earth was created a few thousand years ago. Hindus live by a set of guidelines taught by our gods and goddesses through stories/fables. We believe in reincarnation and promote exploration of the mind and senses. Hinduism is very tolerant and curious about different beliefs and cultures. We find god in everything. Many times in India, I'll spot a tree with a simple garland around it and people will be pinning money to it. People cannot convert to Hinduism, you can only be a Hindu if you are born into a Hindu family. My main point is that not every religion believes in censoring others, the creation story, or is ignorant. It's actually kind of ignorant to believe that.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

It's a nice thought but doesn't really work because shaming religions as silly can be a very effective way of moderating religion and thus reducing homophobia so the first part of your post is blocking the second part from being rectified.If you can shame people out of believing in the bible literally by ridiculing the silly parts,it opens them up to moderating their beliefs and disregarding Leviticus which I'm sure plenty of them wanted to do anyway because they're forced into being homophobes out of fear of reprisal from their god for not being.Intolerance of intolerance is a justified form of intolerance.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Shaming a religion would be like shaming someone for living a particular lifestyle, so by that same line of thinking we should shame people who are promiscuous to deter them from that behaviour or people who consume substances, or people who over indulge in all aspects in life.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I agree that people shouldn't be shamed for being promiscuous even though they often are (use of the word slut etc) but it's a false analogy because no one is being hurt as long as they are sensible and use protection. Substance abuse is obviously harmful though so that's more directly applicable.I don't see the problem with shaming that either though.I have no idea if there's any noticeable success rate with shaming it but if there is,why not do it?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

So we should also shame people who choose to eat vegan, or vegetarian? My point is that we shouldn't look to shame people but instead find the positive and continue to build on the positive

by Anonymous 11 years ago

That's also a false analogy for the same reason.Being vegetarian/vegan isn't harming anyone.In fact,the reason for it is more often than not an attempt to minimise harm. I would never condone any vitriole directed directly towards moderate Christians who are doing no harm and it's unfortunate when they are unintentionally caught in the crossfire of any bible-bashing but there are priorities to be made.I repeat what I said.Intolerance of intolerance is justified intolerance. Not sure whether by the last bit of your post you mean that we should attempt to turn things around to a nice happy place or if you mean we should simply focus on the positives of religion and ignore the bad things.If its the former then shaming fundamentalism with the intention of moderating it is doing just that,no? If its the latter then that's just irresponsible.'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing' and all that.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I do not wish to argue for either side, I just simply want to say that I love this post and you.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I don't tell people that their religion is stupid, but I do say that about religion in general. The way I see it, believing in any specific faith is foolish because there are thousands to choose from and none of them is more credible than any other. To believe for some reason that you've found the one out of ten thousand that is correct is just ignorant. There is no reason to believe that Christianity is any more likely to be true than, say, Taoism. Or even scientology. At least scientology is original. The story of Jesus Christ has been told in a dozen variations by different civilizations throughout time; why is the current variation any better than the previous ones? None of this is meant maliciously, I'm just stating my opinion on religion in hopes of sparking a lively debate.

by Anonymous 11 years ago