What are some misconceptions about your religion?
- Thread starter Superhyperactiveman
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Sorry if it has been said but it's late and the Ambien is doing it's work, so I'll just post a few I've encountered.
Misconception - Christians are supposed to obey the ten commandments. The bible, as I understand it, only has two for Christians.
Misconception - the bible is a science book. Many Christians actually believe in most of what science has to offer outside of what the bible says, as it is clearly proven (whereas a lot is still unproven theory, and therefore somewhat subjective).
Misconception - We hate gays. Yeah, I saw that being one of the first things mentioned, but I cannot emphasize enough that it actually goes against one of our two commandments to hate anyone.
Some misconceptions about Christians are actually also made by them, like the ten commandments thing. One I personally loathe are when Christians use terms like "good Christian", which suggest that there are bad ones. In reality, Christians are imperfect, and we do bad things, but that is why we need Jesus Christ, because we all sin, and through him are forgiven for these sins. Referring to a Christian as being good or bad also casts judgments on others, which is again one of those things Jesus tells us not to do.
I also think it's funny I spotted this thread just as I started watching "Go God Go" in South Park Studios. "OH...MY...SCIENCE!" lol
Misconception - Christians are supposed to obey the ten commandments. The bible, as I understand it, only has two for Christians.
Misconception - the bible is a science book. Many Christians actually believe in most of what science has to offer outside of what the bible says, as it is clearly proven (whereas a lot is still unproven theory, and therefore somewhat subjective).
Misconception - We hate gays. Yeah, I saw that being one of the first things mentioned, but I cannot emphasize enough that it actually goes against one of our two commandments to hate anyone.
Some misconceptions about Christians are actually also made by them, like the ten commandments thing. One I personally loathe are when Christians use terms like "good Christian", which suggest that there are bad ones. In reality, Christians are imperfect, and we do bad things, but that is why we need Jesus Christ, because we all sin, and through him are forgiven for these sins. Referring to a Christian as being good or bad also casts judgments on others, which is again one of those things Jesus tells us not to do.
I also think it's funny I spotted this thread just as I started watching "Go God Go" in South Park Studios. "OH...MY...SCIENCE!" lol
In my country i do not think there are many misconceptions about atheism or agnosticism. Largely because many people are atheist or agnostic, where not exactly a minority, but neither are we quite a majority. There are still many Christians in the UK, along with muslims, New Ageists, Buddhist's Hindu's etc etc... Still, due to there being a lot of non religious people in the UK, there are not many misconceptions about us.
I don't see the issue with choosing only to believe in certain aspects of evolution. I believe in microevolution, but not macroevolution.muckinscavitch said:
Anyway, as others have mentioned, as a Christian, I don't appreciate it when people assume I am a homophobe. I definitely do not hate gays--I just don't believe they should perform some of the actions that they routinely carry out.
I am a Christian. As such, I must say that a great misconception about us, is that we are somehow less intelligent.
Another popular misconception is that a disagreement with the homosexual lifestyle means " Christians hate gays". I have no ill will torwards any homosexual I have ever met.
Finally, a large misconception is that Christians believe in murder, incest, rape, stoning, and other various torture and death devices. This misconception is spread most visciously by many athiests in the attempt to demonize Christianity. While not all athiests believe this, the most vocal athiests usually do.
I have respect for the athiest who says " I don't believe what you believe, but that is no reason we can't get along" versus the athiest who says " The Bible is evil, Christians by extension or directly are also evil, and Christians should be exterminated" Many athiests in this thread have posted that they just want to get along peacefully with Christians, to those I say "Bravo!". But there are many more who spread lies and hate, you need only to look at any one of a hundred past religious threads to see examples of this.
That said, I would like to point out that Christians come in many different styles and philosophical interpretations of the Bible. This means that, knowing someone is a Christian, does not neccesarily mean that you can make an assumption about what they believe.
Besides the fact that the term "Christian" is now used by many people who are NOT Christians, the sheer amount of denominations of Christianity, coupled with people ( like myself) who have taken their own interpretation and combined it with some of the more respected Christian scholars, give us the presumed conclusion that no two Christians believe the exact same thing.
Another popular misconception is that a disagreement with the homosexual lifestyle means " Christians hate gays". I have no ill will torwards any homosexual I have ever met.
Finally, a large misconception is that Christians believe in murder, incest, rape, stoning, and other various torture and death devices. This misconception is spread most visciously by many athiests in the attempt to demonize Christianity. While not all athiests believe this, the most vocal athiests usually do.
I have respect for the athiest who says " I don't believe what you believe, but that is no reason we can't get along" versus the athiest who says " The Bible is evil, Christians by extension or directly are also evil, and Christians should be exterminated" Many athiests in this thread have posted that they just want to get along peacefully with Christians, to those I say "Bravo!". But there are many more who spread lies and hate, you need only to look at any one of a hundred past religious threads to see examples of this.
That said, I would like to point out that Christians come in many different styles and philosophical interpretations of the Bible. This means that, knowing someone is a Christian, does not neccesarily mean that you can make an assumption about what they believe.
Besides the fact that the term "Christian" is now used by many people who are NOT Christians, the sheer amount of denominations of Christianity, coupled with people ( like myself) who have taken their own interpretation and combined it with some of the more respected Christian scholars, give us the presumed conclusion that no two Christians believe the exact same thing.
In no particular order:
1.) That atheism actually qualifies as a religion.
2.) That I'm immoral by default ("only religious people have proper morals!").
3.) That I try to convert people.
4.) That my life is meaningless.
5.) That I hate religion (I just want a strong separation between religion and state/science).
6.) That atheists don't believe in anything (we just don't believe in gods, otherwise we're a very diverse group).
Maybe I'll think of more, dunno.
1.) That atheism actually qualifies as a religion.
2.) That I'm immoral by default ("only religious people have proper morals!").
3.) That I try to convert people.
4.) That my life is meaningless.
5.) That I hate religion (I just want a strong separation between religion and state/science).
6.) That atheists don't believe in anything (we just don't believe in gods, otherwise we're a very diverse group).
Maybe I'll think of more, dunno.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2466/3930447063_cce63bcb3f.jpg this pretty much sums up my thoughts on this
I have been baptised, so officially I'm Catholic. Which I don't want to be. I don't give it that much credit, I just don't want 'The Church' to earn money over my back. They get money for everyone registered (here in The Netherlands) and I principally don't want that. I have been looking for a way to unregister myself from my 'faith'. That's pretty hard to do. Christianity is the biggest mass hysteria ever. It originated from a time when people also believed the earth was flat and lightning was a message from the gods. Right. And I am to follow some fairy tales from over 2000 years ago? I think that 1000 years from now (if we still exist) people will look back to us and say to each other: 'Isn't that cute, those people acctually believed those stories. How primitive.'
I'm a Muslim. And God knows how many misconceptions people hold against us, seriously.
Let's start with the suicide bomber notion. I know that most of the people here aren't morons and therefore understand that most of the Muslim population believes that strapping a bomb to yourself and running into a crowd is extreme and pretty un-Muslim.
Allah tells us to protect human life and take good care of it, including our own. It's a gift from God that I'm alive today. This is why we are not permitted to drink or eat pork, because the Quran dictates that these things are bad for your body. Suicide bombers are effectively destroying this rule by killing themselves in order to 'cleanse' the world of 'heretics'.
Um. Feel free to ask questions? I don't know how these things go.
Let's start with the suicide bomber notion. I know that most of the people here aren't morons and therefore understand that most of the Muslim population believes that strapping a bomb to yourself and running into a crowd is extreme and pretty un-Muslim.
Allah tells us to protect human life and take good care of it, including our own. It's a gift from God that I'm alive today. This is why we are not permitted to drink or eat pork, because the Quran dictates that these things are bad for your body. Suicide bombers are effectively destroying this rule by killing themselves in order to 'cleanse' the world of 'heretics'.
Um. Feel free to ask questions? I don't know how these things go.
Well, I wouldn't say I belong to any religion per se, but I do "believe in weird s***" to quote Neil Gaiman. Not to say I believe in supernatural stuff; the fact that something can't be explained usually doesn't mean anything ither than people being too stupid to explain it. If you can't understand how baking is done, a chocolate cake qualifies as an "inexplicable phenomenon". But to answer the actual question:
One misconception about Christianity I'd like to eradicate is the idea that Satan is the opposite of God. That's not the case, an evil Trinity would be the opposite of God. Satan is the opposite of the archangel Michael; Michael is a good angel, Satan is an evil one.
One misconception about Christianity I'd like to eradicate is the idea that Satan is the opposite of God. That's not the case, an evil Trinity would be the opposite of God. Satan is the opposite of the archangel Michael; Michael is a good angel, Satan is an evil one.
I have a roommate who is a fundamentalist christian. I have never met a religious person who irritates me more than he does. Just the other day he explained to me that the facts science provides us are falsehoods god himself created in order to persuade us to stop following him. He wrapped up that argument by saying that dinosaurs are an incredibly well crafted illusion by god to get us to believe in science and weed out those who are unfaithful.
Never in my life have I ever wanted to put my foot up a religious persons ass for spouting their beliefs as much as this guy makes me want to. Normally I just slam my door in their face, but I'm being forced to live with this guy so I can't unfortunately.
Never in my life have I ever wanted to put my foot up a religious persons ass for spouting their beliefs as much as this guy makes me want to. Normally I just slam my door in their face, but I'm being forced to live with this guy so I can't unfortunately.
My brother is just as insufferable, luckily he is so devout that he's moved to Israel, so that solved itself.Kajin said:
I was raised Catholic, and I've heard some nice ones. Like how Catholics aren't really Christians.
I've also heard BS about other beliefs, like how when I was young, I thought that Atheism was indistinguishably different from Satanism. Hell, I don't know if my parents really fully understand Atheists to this day. It was only 8 months to a year ago that my dad alluded to such notions again.
I've also heard BS about other beliefs, like how when I was young, I thought that Atheism was indistinguishably different from Satanism. Hell, I don't know if my parents really fully understand Atheists to this day. It was only 8 months to a year ago that my dad alluded to such notions again.
That has offended a lot of people. I really need to clarify that. I don't actually believe you are all confrontational assholes. I know a lot of athesits who are perfectly pleaseant people. What I meant was that they are out there and bound to find this post eventually.LooK iTz Jinjo said:
Though I have to give everyone a pat on the back. Everyone's being more or less mature about all of this.
You know what bugs me? Those who claim to be Christian, Muslim, Jewish etc that don't even follow the rules of their own horrible god. I'm sorry but if you truly believe in god you have to hate gays. Otherwise you are against the will of your own god. There are several other examples of where we have shopping list theists. "ooo that sounds nice I'll believe that, or take that literally, ooooo but not this part no, that must be a metaphor, god couldn't really have meant that".
Yes. I'm an atheist. Proud of it. Proud because it shows I am more logical than much of the planet. Hate me all you want for my logic, confidence (read: NOT arrogance, no one can be 100% sure there is no god(s), though I'm sure none of Earth's religions are true) and reasoning.
Yes. I'm an atheist. Proud of it. Proud because it shows I am more logical than much of the planet. Hate me all you want for my logic, confidence (read: NOT arrogance, no one can be 100% sure there is no god(s), though I'm sure none of Earth's religions are true) and reasoning.
How about we go through the mistakes religious people (Specifically those of a Christian based faith) make about atheism?
Firstly, it's definition. It is not a belief in a lack of God, it's a lack of belief in a god. There IS a slight semantic difference there.
Secondly: Now, I'm pretty sure all atheists believe in evolution. However those of religion don't seem to take any of the current knowledge of evolution into account when they 'debunk' it. Firstly, evolutionists (As much as I hate that term it's easier to describe than saying 'someone who believes in evolution') do NOT believe humans evolved from apes. Modern day apes are in fact a relative to us, like a cousin or brother, where we once shared a common ancestor which may have in fact had only little resemblance to both ourselves and apes.
Thirdly is this arguement: "Why would you believe we evolved from amoeba?"
Again, we don't, or at least we shouldn't. Any evolutionist should instead realise that amoeba are also a modern lifeform, highly evolved in comparison to the very early single celled creatures that forms around the origin of life.
Finally: "You can't make life out of nothing (unless you're god)"
That's the thing, there must have been something there. One hypothesis is that a mixture of chemicals collected together, then after a bolt of lightning or superheating from a volacano or something caused this mixture, or at least part of it, to turn into self replicating proteins, becoming cells, becoming multi-celled organisms and so on. Of course, without time and space travel technology we can never know for sure, but at least the hypothesis I've given is a little more realistic and provides a little more thought than than "God did it."
Hopefully that's cleared up a bit of confusion around evolution and what we actually think. The amount of times I've been told I'm an idiot for thinking I came from amoebas and apes by a Christian is innumerable. That's why I DON'T believe that.
Firstly, it's definition. It is not a belief in a lack of God, it's a lack of belief in a god. There IS a slight semantic difference there.
Secondly: Now, I'm pretty sure all atheists believe in evolution. However those of religion don't seem to take any of the current knowledge of evolution into account when they 'debunk' it. Firstly, evolutionists (As much as I hate that term it's easier to describe than saying 'someone who believes in evolution') do NOT believe humans evolved from apes. Modern day apes are in fact a relative to us, like a cousin or brother, where we once shared a common ancestor which may have in fact had only little resemblance to both ourselves and apes.
Thirdly is this arguement: "Why would you believe we evolved from amoeba?"
Again, we don't, or at least we shouldn't. Any evolutionist should instead realise that amoeba are also a modern lifeform, highly evolved in comparison to the very early single celled creatures that forms around the origin of life.
Finally: "You can't make life out of nothing (unless you're god)"
That's the thing, there must have been something there. One hypothesis is that a mixture of chemicals collected together, then after a bolt of lightning or superheating from a volacano or something caused this mixture, or at least part of it, to turn into self replicating proteins, becoming cells, becoming multi-celled organisms and so on. Of course, without time and space travel technology we can never know for sure, but at least the hypothesis I've given is a little more realistic and provides a little more thought than than "God did it."
Hopefully that's cleared up a bit of confusion around evolution and what we actually think. The amount of times I've been told I'm an idiot for thinking I came from amoebas and apes by a Christian is innumerable. That's why I DON'T believe that.
While I'm not trying to be confrontational (I think I may have misread this)... What do yu mean by this? I'm a Catholic (kinda) and I believe in Jesus, which makes me a Christian...Signa said:
OK, misconceptions about me as a Catholic...
Gays are bad - no. The only types of gay people I hate are the flamboyantly camp ones, who I hold with the same level of hatred as Fundies, Suicide Bombers and Gangstas - the people who embody the worst traits of their group in such an obvious way it's what everyone thinks of. Luckily, I have mates who are perfectly normal human beings and sleep with guys, so I can think of them.
That we don't believe in Evolution - This is why I led with the "gays are bad" misconception. Everyone sees the Fundies going on about it and assumes that ALL religious people are like that. I believe in evolution. The last time I went to church, the sermon was on how religion and science can coexist perfectly (including facts and lines from the bible that support evolution, which both sides tend to forget. Wish I could remember them now...). It basically boiled down to "Evolution happened, pretty much how Darwin said it did" "Because God did it." I fail to see the downside for anyone in that compromise.
That if you don't believe what we believe you'll go to Hell - Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. If you're a good person, you'll go to Heaven. Only the worst of the Fundies believe that if you're not a Christian you'll go to Hell. Eeeeeeeeeeeevery Christian I know believes that Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Taoists etc will all end up in Heaven (or their version of it, which is exactly the same place!) if they haven't been cunts to people. I personally also believe that Bhuddists get reincarnation if they aren't ready for Nirvana (which I think is how it works?), because that's what they want, but I'm unsure of the churchs official position.
As a side-note (because I've never heard of this before this thread), I also believe that animals, like people, have the ability to get proper souls that go on to Heaven. Partially because the idea of "Doggie Heaven" still appeals to me as a man in my mid-twenties, and also because I hate the idea of there JUST being humans in Heaven - I LIKE playing with my dog to get away from people for a bit, and I'll be damned if that's gonna change just because I'm dead.
Not much, really. Most of the time the mention of taoism provokes less a misguided rant as to why it's wrong and more a blank stare and a
'huh?'. Kind of annoying after a while.
I could rant some on wicca, though. I've learned a great deal from my mom about it.
'huh?'. Kind of annoying after a while.
I could rant some on wicca, though. I've learned a great deal from my mom about it.