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 Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:42 am
Maybe it's just the household I'm living in, but I've noticed a lot of hostility towards any form of theism lately. One of my family members is convinced religion will be extinct in the not so far future and mentioned an article that predicted it to be completely gone in 9 countries within a certain period of time. I'm afraid I don't know the source. To be honest, it quite upsets me. So, I wanted to know your opinions on:
- Hostility towards theism
- Religion in the future
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 9:30 am
I haven't encountered all that much hostility towards theism in general so much as hostility towards specific religions. As to the second part, I think it's bullshit. Religion may become less powerful and influential but I doubt it will ever disappear completely as long as humans have emotions and ask questions. There will always be someone who believes in things that others don't or can't.
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Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2013 6:53 pm
I think its there. And I think its there because many people equate Theism with Christianity. They believe that anyone who believes in a God believes drivel similar to the extremists that are shown most often in the media.
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Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:20 pm
It doesn't come from my household or my circle of friends, but I often encounter hostile "Atheists" Anti-theists and general non believers, who are absolutely appalled by any way of thinking that doesn't rely on a strictly material paradigm. This has become something of a stress source for me. these people tend to be like minded with me in other ways, lgbt activists and feminists, whom I agree with in other matters, so maybe that's why it's such a problem for me. These people tend to see belief in anything immaterial as a corrupting influence, and religion as a unilateral source of sexual repression and sexism. This tends to be based on what they see of judeo christian religions, and even then doesn't represent the whole of these religions. Sorry for ranting, i guess i'm blowing off steam. sweatdrop
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Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 1:33 pm
No problem Adalyna. Perfectly reasonable response I think. Like you, when I see that in the world, it's mostly coming from a place of assuming all religions are like Abrahamic ones. That's it's own special sort of ignorance deserves a good rant now and then. I also hate it when people assume that the onely reason for any religion is to comfort people who are afraid of death.
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Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 2:19 pm
I won't lie and say fear of death isn't a driving factor, but friendly debates with a non-believer friend have made me realize that a world without magic, or mysteries, or the spirits, three things I personally hold as sacred, is tantamount to a kind of living death for me, regardless of the existence or lack thereof of the afterlife, and I'm still scared of dying either way.
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Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 4:22 pm
Adalyna I won't lie and say fear of death isn't a driving factor, but friendly debates with a non-believer friend have made me realize that a world without magic, or mysteries, or the spirits, three things I personally hold as sacred, is tantamount to a kind of living death for me, regardless of the existence or lack thereof of the afterlife, and I'm still scared of dying either way. Which is again reasonable. And for my own self, the afterlife (or possible lack thereof) just isn't a concern for me and never has been so that argument is right out for me. As for the other comforts, much of what my Gods require is less then comfortable or comforting and in some cases, I'd really rather not but I've made my oaths and must follow through on them.
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 7:27 pm
You get occasional people in M&R who equate theism with fundamentalist Christianity, and will make posts asking theists to respond - and then levelling a whole bunch of questions that depend on a literal reading of the bible.
And you're like "dude I'm a theist, not a Christian, what are you on?".
It's a massive straw-man. I mean even "monotheist" doesn't equate to "fundamentalist Christian". I think they catch it off Dawkins or something.
The thing is, some of these people will say something like "no one believes in Zeus any more" to justify why Christians shouldn't believe in their god. And you're all "well actually...." and they look at you like you're a ******** lunatic. They hold even more contempt for you, and some of them even think you're joking. So it's not just Christianity, but it's like they think Christianity is the only modern religion or something, so they don't even bother with the others because really who would be so foolish as to worship Thor? We know where lightning comes from now, honestly....
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