Atheists & agnositcs: How do you view religious people?

Ziggy said:
Do you think they are misguided or naive, brainwashed, stupid etc. or do you respect their beliefs?

Conversely, relgious people, how do you view atheists and agnostics?
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I think athiests are closed minded and walking around half asleep if they can't see/sense a higher consciousness at work in the universe.
 
How do I view religous people as an agnostic? My mother and Brother are both Catholic and so are a lot of my friends. When I worked in Dewsbury a lot of the teachers I worked beside were Muslim.

I find it interesting, To such a point I borrowed some DVDs from friends at work inorder to find out more about muslims and the culture\beliefs they follow.

People seem intimidated by the fact others have a belief system that circles around a God. And I find it very strange the way those people feel the need to belittle peoples faith.

If you're agnostic, Be agnostic. If you're aethiest be an aethiest, But just let people who believe do so without getting in their face and being mean and cynical. Obviously same needs to be said for the other side of the Coin. believers in God, Need to not try and not be cynical towards none believers ala magick and his protroll post.

Btw "Magick" Are you aware of christian views towards magic?
 
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I know a lot of different types of people, religious, atheist, agnostic and I accept them, not because of their beliefs or unbeliefs, but simply because I have something in common with them and find them decent company...I don't judge them for that is not for me to do.

I do give a wide birth to people with "extreme" views, whatever they may be, I just find these people have closed minds and are quite impossible to have a decent conversation with...
 
jbloggs said:
I know a lot of different types of people, religious, atheist, agnostic and I accept them, not because of their beliefs or unbeliefs, but simply because I have something in common with them and find them decent company...I don't judge them for that is not for me to do.

I do give a wide birth to people with "extreme" views, whatever they may be, I just find these people have closed minds and are quite impossible to have a decent conversation with...
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Whats extreme though, women being able to work started out as an "extreme" view, as did freedom, slavery being bad(most if not all religion doesn't have a problem with it though), black people being equal to white people, etc, etc, etc.

People with boring "safe" views well, unsurprisingly, bore the hell out of me.

For me, honestly I don't care what someone thinks or believes in, i find religion laughable and those that follow it stupid. But then most people don't follow or aren't religious and thats what irks me.

Its non thinkers who irk me, whatever they SAY they believe in, its people who just go along and just pick up idea's/viewpoints from other people without ever actually thinking it over for themselves.

People who believe in god and when asked why, because their parents do, why are you Catholic/Muslim/Christian... because my parents are.

Why is prositution bad, errm, because most people just agree it is without any thought over it, why is treating everyone the same the right thing to do, makes no sense, its just one of those common views people say they have when most people don't actually treat everyone equally anyway.

Lots of people have a set of morale rules they use in life, and FAR to many people didn't come up with any of them on their own, someone tells you sex is naughty and bad and shouldn't be talked about, you just accept it and never talk about it openly with people, or any other situation people who just let other people impose their views on you.

The thing I tend to find is ask most people who are "religious" and they really don't know the first thing about religion, I'll happily talk about someones religious beliefs IF THEY HAVE ANY, its the people who can't tell you anything about religion, but still claim to believe in x,y and z that get no respect from me.

Those people are rife though, religious and not, those who don't believe in religion but have never really thought about if there was a god, just decided their wasn't.

What I think is a higher portion of "religious" people are those who are easily influenced and question very little in their lives, more people I come across who are religious seem dense and boring, and never think about anything than those I meet who don't believe in a god.

Which generally leads me to the conclusion that in general, smarter people who REALLY question the existance of god and the people who try to persuade them their is a god, decide there isn't.
 
I generally view religious people with indifference. I might not agree with any or all of them in particular, but as long as they aren't trying to force a change in my opinions or beliefs then I have no problems.
 
I don't judge people on their religious beliefs, I judge them on what sort of people they are.

That doesn't mean to say that I respect all religious beliefs equally, however I do respect the right for people to hold those beliefs.
 
If it doesn't affect me then I don't care. If it does then I do.

I do hope in the future humanity lets go completely of religion. Would help out a bunch.
 
My ex was a muslim and whenever something religous came up i just didn't respect her opinion.

Since then i've learned to accept what other people think. No point in arguing!
 
Castiel said:
Why would they lie?
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People lie for various reasons. Money is a fairly common one.

How would an author be mistaken about his own work?
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Mistaken about the source of his own work, ascribing it to his imagination rather than divine inspiration. EDIT: Or, in the case of Conan (or Star Wars, etc, etc) magic. Maybe someone used a spell to transmit the story of Conan through time into a compatible mind so that he would never be forgotten, but since Robert E. Howard lacked the necessary training in magic he thought the stories came from his own imagination instead.

seems a very weak argument.
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Seems fine to me.

Why would I be wrong to make a distinction, what evidence do you have to oppose my opinion.
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Your distinction is arbritrary. You make it for no reason.


Haven't I?. I understood it perfectly.
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I disagree.

It is a tenuous step from making existence claims about one thing (fairies, Pixies, Superman) to a general denial of the existence of all possible deities.

I do not think the god of, say Pope Benedict exists. But I cannot speak of the non-existence of God in general. No evidence decides that, my opinion does.

Thus the fairy argument is ridiculous.

Besides who says I don't believe in fairies or at least that some basic truth lies in mythology whatever it's source.
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If you can't speak of the non-existence of any particular deity, you can't speak about the non-existence of any particular fairy, superhero or any non-falsifiable explanation for anything.

Your opinion does not make the fairy argument ridiculous.
 
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Inquisitor said:
You're completely missing the point. A theist doesn't believe any account he's given. He selectively believes what makes sense on a personal level. That may very well disagree with what you think makes sense.

The reason I believe CTs have far less credibility than theists is because I believe their reason for holding their beliefs is flawed. I can't make that judgement on a Christian/Jew/Buddhist/Hindu/whatever because their line of reasoning is something I can't relate to. Clearly religious people have reasons for believing what they do, and those reasons are beyond me. Hardcore CTs, on the other hand, believe what they do either because they want to be "in the know" and superior to people who aren't, or because they hate establishment and want to be justified in doing so.

As for your example, I of course can't prove that it's false, but I can point out that neither you nor anyone else has reason to believe it, so the point is redundant.
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But there are people who believe it and they must have their own reasons for doing so. Why are a theist's reasons automatically valid and a conspiracy theorist's reasons automatically invalid? In some cases they are the same reasons.
 
I'm also agnostic in terms of my belief in god. However, if there is a god I'm 100% convinced it's not the god described by any of the religions that have existed to date.

I see religious people as regular people that have been exposed to prolonged religious teachings by members of society who if qualified should know better.
 
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If anything I envy religious people, as they believe that when they die they go to a better place. Whereas I believe when I die nothing will happen, I'll just cease to exist for eternity. Feels bad man :(.
 
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