cuddly_tomato said:
Actually, you are the one in denial. I have a theory...
Homophobia has often been attributed to people who have some homosexual feelings but can't come to terms with them. They hate that aspect of themselves, and turn it on others who are gay. If you are truly comfortable with heterosexuality or your homosexuality then the sexual preferences of others shouldn't bother you. It is only when you have a problem with your own sexuality you turn into a bigoted ass towards others.
I believe theophobia (hatred of religion/religious people) is much the same. I don't believe in god, but I am comfortable with that. It's a personal thing that I don't feel the need to pontificate about or scream about. I don't insult or belittle those who think differently and I can freely accept them for who they are. Others can't. Others have to scream and shout about how 'bad' religion is, much the same way as homophobic people have to scream and shout about how gay people destroy everything they touch.
There are other similarities. Much like homosexuality, belief is not a choice, it is a state of mind/being. Much like homosexuality, it is something that reaches into the very core of someone, and something that some people feel shame about (even though they shouldn't). And much like homosexuality, religion is something that can cause people to be outcast from social groupings of various sorts during childhood and adolescence.
A lot of the antitheist ranters around here are probably believers, but simply hate themselves for it.
You REALLY wanna go down that road again don't you? ...Fine... For someone who preaches accepting other people's opinion you sure as fuck can't accept mine... Which ironically would be saying a lot based on your theory.
Your theory is wrong however. I'm not saying there are no people who do that, there's stupid people in every "group", atheists included. I have, SEVERAL times before explained my reasons for hating religion. I have a religious background, which I promptly told to go fuck itself once I realized it was all a giant con.
Now, the "cardinal sin" of your theory is that you're comparing two things that can't be compared: homosexuality and religion.
Homosexuality has to do with taste. I prefer strawberries, that guy prefers kiwis. I prefer tits, that guy prefers penises. It's partially genetic, partially development related, as any other "taste" or attraction. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why I prefer blond women and why some other guy likes dudes with a beard, but who the fuck cares? Me kissing or fucking, or anything in between with a girl or a guy affects nobody else in the slightest, ok? if today, the ENTIRE world became gay, nothing wrong would happen so long as we kept having "straight sex" for reproductive reasons. You can't say it's wrong, or right, it's a taste, a preference. You're not saying the rest of the world is wrong for liking anything else.
Religion, on the other hand, is all about "I'm right, based on nothing, so live your lives according to me".
Now, from the very basis religion is wrong, because it demotes, nay, downright forbids critical thinking and learning in general. See, if you look at the sky and see thunder, science will tell you "hey, wonder what causes this? Let's investigate!", while religion tells you "God. Nnono, don't go questioning things... God did it. Now go pray.". If science hadn't came along and said "heeeeeeeey... fuck that... I'm going to figure out how that works... see ya" you'd still be living in houses made of rocks and hay, with a life expectancy of 35-40 years if you were lucky and working on the lord's backyard for a piece of bread a day. EVEN TODAY, ok, even today, religion is the cause we're not as developed as we could be.
So, from that point alone I start to despise it.
Something else I have a big issue with: lies.
I -HAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE- lies, they're the fabric drama and disaster are made of. Religion is entirely based on lies, on telling people "hey! Follow our rules or some mystic guy in space will make you suffer forever". It's based on "what you can't see won't hurt you" mentality. Guess what, it will. A lot. Denial is a variation of a lie, it's lying to yourself, which again is something I hate, BUT, not only because it's pathetic but because it causes problems. If you're too deep in denial (and these people are) to see the real issues, you'll never prepare for them. It promotes people being mentality weak, taking cover under the "god" shell whenever things go wrong. Never having to face things. That alone is pathetic, except these people keep insisting everyone ELSE has to live the way they like. Again, kind of a big issue here.
But we're not done.
Another thing I have an issue with is inconsistency. And religions are very inconsistent.
What proofs does anyone have god exist? Hallucinations don't count. None. There are exactly as many proofs Jesus, God, Allah, Zeus, Xenu, or whatever deity of your choice, existed as there are that Darth Vader, the Easter Bunny, Bilbo Baggins, and Commander James T. Kirk actually existed. None. Not one. Why, then, do these hypocrites will have no issue saying these other fictional characters don't exist (which is fine, because they don't), but that their fictional character is real because it's better or something... News flash: Lord of the Rings has a better story than the Bible and I sure as fuck respect J.R.R. Tolkien more than whomever wrote that overwritten piece of plot-hole ridden tripe (if I had to guess, a very ancient ancestor of Hideo Kojima, hurr durr). But I'm not going to start praying to Sauron, or Gandalf and I sure as fuck don't think they exist. Same way the idea "god" exists is ridiculous.
You know that ironic quote, making fun of atheism? "First there was nothing, then it exploded", implying we don't really know what came before the big bang, and that something HAD to? The irony being, no scientist with half a brain ever said the big bang was the absolute begging, but that's as far back as we can extrapolate. Maybe one day we'll be able to go further back, don't know. Religion's answer to that, ironically, is "First there was nothing, then someone made everything in a week". Right, that's a much better explanation.
Another thing I have issues with is weakness. Being pathetic. And religion is nothing if not pathetic.
It's the weak,praying on the weaker, exploiting Man's inherent primal, survival based, fear of death and nonexistence, because no matter how bad any afterlife is, at least you exist, and even existing in eternal pain is better than not existing at all. People taking cover under the comfortable but fake cloak of denial, dragging us all along with them.
See, while homosexuality has absolutely no bad influence in society, religion undermines science, thinking, psychological development and the ability to deal with problems, halts development (social and personal), is the cause of more death than -EVERY- natural disaster on earth combined, promotes discrimination, praying on the weak, etc, etc.
And to top it ALL off, I only present my views when: a) People ask for it (like, say, in a forum made to discuss people's views...)or b) when these same religious fucknuggets try, again, to impose their views on other people.
So my hate for religion isn't unfounded, and my post isn't uncalled for. Now, can we drop it or do you just have a necessity to argue with me?
