What are some misconceptions about your religion?

[setvak]

The misconception about people with my belief system is that we're godless assholes. To some extent that's true. I don't have a personal vendetta against Christianity or other religions though, and I assume many other atheists are the same. When I disagree with religious people, it isn't out of hatred but out of frustration, because I was actually a pretty devout Christian for some time until I started asking myself the questions that I kept ignoring. Despite my doubt, I really want to believe in some kind of spirituality, I just haven't found any worthwhile reason to at this point.

Of course, I'm not arguing either way, just pointing out what might be a misconception about atheists.

 

[RebelRising]

I'm an atheist-leaning agnostic, very much of the belief that certainty, with regard to the answers to the universe, the afterlife, and such, is a great flaw of humans, to be so arrogant. To be able to prove or disprove God (which, again, is very different from religion itself) is, in my understanding, scientifically impossible. Therefore, I remain neutral, though conscientiously biased towards the scientific method. Real atheists are not hateful or condescending, but rather ambivalent and gentle in their thinking. They may be sarcastic or argumentative, but once they start making "Churches of Atheism", then you've entirely missed the point of freeing yourself from the theoretical shackles of religion.

Also, I go to a Christian Private school, so I can offer a specific verdict on what I've seen, by and large, from these Christians that I practically live with:

With a history of anti-Semitism, Misogyny, Homphobia, and Totalitarian theocracy, not to mention the untold sub-divisions and cults that color the face of modern Christianity, primarily Protestantism, I can say that the Christians I know are, for the most part, remarkably kind, generous, funny, open-minded, and intellectual. We aren't bombarded with a system that betrays itself as indoctrination, we are encouraged to think objectively in many classes, and they aren't hateful, puritan prudes. In fact, it's considerably liberal in its enforcement of Christian teachings (that might have to do with us being up in New England). I have many friends of diverse backgrounds, tastes, and personalities, and I never lack for company or counsel, whether it's by a peer or a particularly good teacher.

So whenever I turn on the news and hear about extremists murdering abortion doctors or the Westboro Baptist Church shouting "God Hates Fags!", I simply sigh, roll my eyes, and tell myself, "Thank goodness most of them aren't like that."

 

[Gruchul]

It is my belief that any higher power would be about as apathetic toward me as I am toward them. My absence of religion is a product of indifference and aside from the aforementioned belief I struggle to care about the subject. I'm adiaphoristic (nice of them to think of a word for it!)

 

[Arsen]

Christianity.

That we hate those we disagree with.
That we push our religions on others. I became a Christian in a time when I was in perfect solitude and discovered it through reading and listening to life, my experiences, and the final acknowledgement of the human soul.
We are uneducated if we don't accept a common theory most who are faithless agree with.
We see life in black and white.
That our history speaks of murder and various evils (most often hand picked by those who oppose the belief on "that" basis)...despite this being a human nature in many forms.
That the Bible had been changed to the point of becoming complete and utter nonsense.

A big one is this...that we have a lesser intelligence level than many others.

 

[Baggie]

I would just like to point out that not everyone in the same religion believes the same thing. Not saying anyone's said that, but it kind of gets assumed.

For instance, the OP had what most christians believe, probably correctly. I, as a christian, have no problem with the concept of human evolution, feels okay to me. I also have no problem with the big bang, I infact believe it makes perfect sense, even as a creationism device. Homosexuality, fine also.

I also have a beef with a lot of the new testement. I mean we're reading peoples letters to each other, that make accusations without saying why, and people just expect that it's gods word. If we tried to add letters from people into the bible today people would think it was an insane idea.

I have a belief that people who blindly follow the rules and regs of a particular religion, often creating misconseptions and hate, are completely missing the point. God gave us brains, SODDING use them.

 

[jboking]

We do not reject evolution... Let me say that again... WE DO NOT REJECT EVOLUTION!!! Except for, again, the fundamentalists. What we reject is the idea that Humans evolved out of monkies. Because, this implies that humans are not spiritual beings created in the image of God, but that we're a random accident like all the other animals.

Actually, most Christians I know here in college don't reject that either. God knows and planned for everything, he knew we would evolve from apes.

Also, rejecting the idea that humans evolved from apes means you reject most of evolution as it relates to humans.

 

[tsb247]

This thread is going surprisingly well so far. I suppose I can put my fire extinguisher down now.

 

[kawligia]

I don't subscribe to any organized religion, but I am not an atheist.

I guess that is the misconception: that I must be an atheist or agnostic because I don't go to church on purpose.

 

[scotth266]

I personally hate it when atheists out there feel its their duty to destroy other people's religions.

The funny thing is, those people aren't really atheists at all: they're anti-theists.

Guh, I could go on for days about the misconceptions about Catholicism, but what's the point? The anti-theists on this site will just jump on me, quoting Old Testament with no regards for cultural or societal relevance. It's gotten to the point where I've considered abandoning the Off-Topic section completely, because I'm fed up with the asshattery and ignorance perpetuating there.

On another note, I've only recently noticed a lot of people saying Benedict is a Nazi. This is hilarious, because once I looked up the information that people were quoting, I found that he had only confessed to being in Hitler Youth: it was no big secret, and he had left the organization as soon as he was out of the seminary (which would seem to MILDLY INDICATE that he did not follow their ideals.)

 

[quack35]

The biggest one is probably that it's a religion - it's not.
Atheism is not a fucking religion, Jesus Goddamn Christ.

Just like "no chair" is not a style of chair.
It's a lack of a chair.

I can't even begin to understand how this is difficult to comprehend.

Why does that bother atheists so much, anyway?

 

[Spleenbag]

As a Jew, here's some misconceptions/jokes often made:

No, I don't have a Jew hoard. I like money, yes. Money enables me to do things. That doesn't mean I stash it all over and hoard it for a rainy day... well, I do, but it's not 'cause I'm Jewish, it's because I'm paranoid and thrifty.

We don't all have big noses, or greasy noses. Mine is both of those, unfortunately. But the Jewish girls in my history class don't have big greasy noses, and my friend Andrew doesn't have those qualities either.

While I'm all for jokes about every subject imaginable, I'm going to be internally ticked off if you make Nazi jokes, particularly ones that cast them in a favorable light. Yes, I will laugh along with everyone; no, I'm not really laughing. Unless it was extremely funny and just happened to use the Nazis as a generic vehicle.

And for the last fucking time, there is no Jewish conspiracy. That's incredibly intolerant and offensive, on par with calling all Muslims suicide bombers in my opinion. I don't go around saying that Christians and atheists are plotting to take over the world, why should it be any different from the other side?

I think that's about all.

 

[brainfreeze215]

The misconception of my religion is that I'm an athiest or an agnostic. I'm a diest, and I see God through reason rather than just faith. And, more importantly, I believe that God wants us to solve our own problems so that we'll be stronger for it. God watches from a distance, only occasionally winding the clock.

 

[Snotnarok]

People find it hard to believe that I don't believe in God, it always brings up an argument.

 

[CuddlyCombine]

Christianity-

We do not take a large chunk of the Bible literally. Unless we're fundamentalist, which most of us aren't, we accept a lot of it, especially the stuff in Genesis and Revelations, as being figurative: a metaphor. So, Creation, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel... most of us admit that things didn't exactly happen this way.

Finally, something good!

We do not reject evolution... Let me say that again... WE DO NOT REJECT EVOLUTION!!! Except for, again, the fundamentalists. What we reject is the idea that Humans evolved out of monkies. Because, this implies that humans are not spiritual beings created in the image of God, but that we're a random accident like all the other animals.

Humans didn't evolve from monkeys. In fact, nobody in their right mind believes that. Homo Sapiens evolved from a long line of progressively more intelligent and modern-shaped humans. I'm just confused as to whether you believe that humans have been exactly the same for millions of years.

I'm very tempted to pose the question of the unmoved mover, as I've never seen that answered yet (by atheists or theists alike). But I won't, because people flame over Aristotle.

As for my religion, I can't say that there are any misconceptions about it, as I don't have one.

 

[Indoolio]

We do not reject evolution... Let me say that again... WE DO NOT REJECT EVOLUTION!!! Except for, again, the fundamentalists. What we reject is the idea that Humans evolved out of monkies. Because, this implies that humans are not spiritual beings created in the image of God, but that we're a random accident like all the other animals.

um.. so, what I get out of this is that you accept evolution, but only the parts you want to accept. It is just like accepting driving laws, but then not fully stopping at a stop sign, or going 5km/h over the speed limit and saying you never break the law. While you arn't totally defeating the purpose of the laws, you are still breaking them by not stopping at the stop sign.
So with evolution, either accept it, or deny it; don't just pick and choose the parts you like. Essentially, by picking and choosing you are saying everything was just randomly created by random genetic mutations over the history of life; most being horrible and ending that specimen's life, but a few chance ones actually improve chances of survival. But then, out of no where, humans appeared, suddenly and perfectly.
Now, if you said that humans evolved from monkeys, with gods guidance in the evolution so that we were created in the image of god, it would make sense that you don't reject evolution. But by saying that humans are an exception to evolution is defeating the purpose of not rejecting it in the first place.

You have something of a point, but a general misconception of the theory of evolution. The theory itself is essentially the idea of natural selection. That the genetic traits of one creature is passed on to it's offspring.

The idea that humans evolved from monkeys is a much more specific, and a much more speculative scientific theory in regards to a certain species. When theories popped up about dinosaurs actually being the ancestors of birds, as opposed to reptiles, were they ignoring evolution as a whole?

Well there is evidence suggesting that humans evolved from monkeys, it is entirely speculative. Keeping that in mind, it is also completely possible to observe evolution in small steps, as it happens in relation to us and our time in history, and still believe in a divine origin of life.

 

[GrandAm]

I hate when someone finds out I'm Christian, they automatically assume I hate gays. That bugs the crap out of me. Yes, there are a couple of passages in the bible that say negative things about it, but I'm all for homosexuality.

I agree. I am Christian. Raised Roman Catholic as a matter of fact. I have spent enough time on this Earth to run into may gay people. I acknowledge that gays are biologically built the way they are and do not hold to the idea it is some form of "birth defect". It is like saying because I have green eyes, I have birth defect.

If people as adults treat each other with respect and dignity, I don't care what genitals they find attractive. Be it same/opposite sex desired.

I served in the US military where they have official don't ask don't tell policies. I have known many closed gay people because nobody asked and nobody told. I have to say every one of them were absolutely professional and excellent in what they were trained to do. That is not to say they were better than their hetero counterparts. It is only an experienced opinion that gays in the military does and can work without bias.

Coming back to the religion part. There are many parts of the bible that are willingly ignored or interperated to mean something else by those that say the bible is accurate. There is a passage in the bible that requires a parent to stone their child to death if it ever says no. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080110180705AAZ5kzj .
Given that the same old testimate wants children dead for saying no, but is acceptable that gays will burn in hell I ask this question, how many parents or potential parents can say they would stone their child to death if they say no. I couldn't. I would burn in hell before stoning my child to death.

As a Christian I do believe in "do onto others" and "Judge not least..." It is not my place to deride, condemn, or hurt anyone that disagrees with me above man's sociatal law.

I do however reserve the right to crack a joke. Lesbians are my favorite as long as they are attractive and will let me video the act. The ones with mullets are fine because I am not going to ask them out anyway. Male on male are cool because they are removed from competeing with me at a bar, even though I still find the idea of male A*** sex "icky!"

Yellow Cake Uranium...Skeet, Skeet, Skeet...

 

[Thaius]

I am a Christian, and it would seem that pretty much everything about my beliefs tends to be twisted or misunderstood in some way.

Before I start listing misconceptions, I would think that gamers, of all people, would understand this process: a gamer kills someone, people blame games, and people think all gamers are murderous psychopaths. A similar thing happens with Christians: some random person claiming to be a Christian does something stupid, and everyone assumes 1. they are acting according to their beliefs, and 2. they are an accurate representation of the majority. This is one of the most common mistakes that cause these misconceptions.

People think we're ignorant. But really, people, you think some of the great minds of Christianity like C.S. Lewis blindly believed? There is an entire field dedicated to proving Christianity: just because we have faith doesn't mean our belief is blind. We live in a society that rejects and persecutes us: we all reach a point where we have to really look at our beliefs and see if we believe them for ourselves.

People think we're intolerant. This is also taken out of context and twisted against us. To take a popular example, homosexuality. To state my personal beliefs about it, I believe that God designed men and women with a specific design for their sexuality, and homosexuality is a twisting of that design. However, that does not mean I hate homosexuals. I do believe homosexuality is a sin, but no one is perfect: there is no more reason to hate homosexuals than to hate a kid who lies to his mom. Sin is sin. Point being, though I disapprove of homosexuality, I have nothing against those who practice it.

People think we're narrow-minded. This is rooted in truth, but still twisted against us. We believe there is such thing as absolute truth, both physical and moral, and any educated person will know that they have to study something before accepting it as truth. We are not unwilling to accept things if we see the logic in them, but our belief in absolute truth does mean that we will not just randomly accept things. The fact is, truth is narrow: one thing is true, and any statement otherwise is false (if I say "I'm typing on a typewriter right now," that is not true: believing so is not narrow-minded, it's simply logical).

People think we want to push all our beliefs on others. There are different explanations for different issues, so I won't get into anything specific, but this is not true of most Christians. We are opposed to some laws and such based on basic moral principles, but if something simply gives people freedom to act as they want, it's only a problem if it will negatively affect others who believe differently. As for Christians trying to convince others of Christianity, people tend to assume the worst for some reason. It's not some sort of contest, we're not trying to "recruit" people into some club. We really believe that we know the truth, and it's amazing: wouldn't you want to share that? That's all it is, we just want others to experience what we have: like when you tell others about a great movie, but much more important and life-changing.

Those are the ones I could think of off the top of my head. Long, I know, but very true. To avoid this thread being turned into a religious flame post, message me if you have anything to say about it.

 

[LooK iTz Jinjo]

confrontational asshole atheists

There's the misconception about my [lack of] religion right there. No we are not all confrontational arsehole's.

 

[David_G]

I'm an Eastern Orthodox Christian. My religion is a little bit different than the Catholic church, i.e the churches are designed differently, there aren't benches inside the church, we celebrate Christmas on a different date and we believe that Jesus is the head of the church, and there isn't a pope. There are a lot of bishops in a lot of countries where the main religion is the Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

But, other than that we have the same believes as the Catholics and other Christian churches. I know this was a little off topic, but I felt to clear this up before I posted any further.

Most of the Christians I know, myself included are the laid back types, believe in God, but don't go to churches unless it's something like a wedding or a baptism. So, I'd like to clear up the misconception that all Christians go to church every week, and are die hard believers in God. To be honest, I have questioned my belief once, and I have questioned whether God exists. But, I have stayed a Christian because it's nice to believe that there is something watching over us.

Also, I'd like to clear up a misconception that everyone has already cleared up, but I'd like to mention again. That is the matter of pushing our believes onto people. That is a lie, of course there is some crazy wacko going around criticizing other people's believes and asking for stuff to be banned (i.e video games, music, stuff like that) but you have to realize that they're the minority of the Christian religion, the majority is very sane.

 

[Mcupobob]

Athiest here and the generaly misconception around here is that we don't belife in the possiblity of god and only belife in evolution and the big bang theory.
again I belife that evolution,the big bang, and god are all just theorys intill proven scientifc law.

OT: is that because i'm an athiest alot of people think i'm out to destroy american vaules and im a hard core liberal even though i'm not. Not sure if it is the case with other people but it happens to me sometimes.