Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A revelation came to me more clearly today. I understand why atheists gleefully jumped right in front of the whole gay marriage debate last year and passionately defended it. It wasn't out of some grand desire for equality and justice for it. It wasn't a moral crusade. It was only because the issue gave them a vehicle to easily scapegoat Christians, hence the constant "bigot" term tossed around and stubborn refusal to even try to understand the other side of the debate.
Tell me, where was the atheists in 80s and 90s when the gay culture was really under attack during the AIDS epidemic? I certainly didn't see great waves of protest when the defense of marriage act was signed. Well of course, a Christian coming out speaking against homosexuality in that era would not have received any criticism. You couldn't scapegoat us then.
The world can change all it wants. God's Word is forever. And because of that, homosexuality is still and will always be a sin.
It's really sad to think that you probably believe that the only reason atheists support gay marriage is to tweak the nose of Christians and not because simple common decency teaches people not to mistreat and discriminate against others over harmless personal behavior .
A revelation came to me more clearly today. I understand why atheists gleefully jumped right in front of the whole gay marriage debate last year and passionately defended it. It wasn't out of some grand desire for equality and justice for it. It wasn't a moral crusade. It was only because the issue gave them a vehicle to easily scapegoat Christians, hence the constant "bigot" term tossed around and stubborn refusal to even try to understand the other side of the debate.
Tell me, where was the atheists in 80s and 90s when the gay culture was really under attack during the AIDS epidemic? I certainly didn't see great waves of protest when the defense of marriage act was signed. Well of course, a Christian coming out speaking against homosexuality in that era would not have received any criticism. You couldn't scapegoat us then.
The world can change all it wants. God's Word is forever. And because of that, homosexuality is still and will always be a sin.
Wrong.
Where was I in the 80's-90's? I was an unborn/infant/toddler/preschooler/middle schooler. I could hardly go out and protest, and to be honest, growing up in a small backwater town in Alabama, I didn't really know all that much about those things. Of course, I can' t speak for all non believers.
For me, and I can't speak for all non believers here either, I believe in things like equality. I believe that a loving gay couple should have the same rights as a loving straight couple. I believe that they should be served and treated like straight people. Obviously you don't, and if it were up to you, gay people would still be forced to hide in the closet. If it were up to you, non believers would still be forced to hide who they really were. People like you are the problem, Jeff, not the solution.
Honestly, I could not care less about what YOUR thoughts on gay marriage are, mainly because they are not YOUR thoughts, but simply someone else's thoughts parroted back (Pastor/church). You still never answered my question from earlier either. (Might have been on another thread, I'm not sure)
How can you use ancient thinking for modern times? You say we can't use modern thinking against your Bible, yet here you are, using your ancient thinking for our modern times. Hypocrite much?
It's really sad to think that you probably believe that the only reason atheists support gay marriage is to tweak the nose of Christians and not because simple common decency teaches people not to mistreat and discriminate against others over harmless personal behavior .
Not a good testament to your religion .
That was the least of my thoughts. I do not care if it tweaks the religious or not. I simply believe that gay people deserve the same rights as everyone else.
It is a sad testament to his religion that he can't even be bothered to think as gay people as being on the same level as him. Not very Christ like if you ask me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Do you understand what persecution and unwanted intrusion into your religious life means ? The best you can do is that a few atheists post negatively in response to you posting your Christian beliefs some of which are offensive to normal people ?
Who's definition of persecution and unwanted intrusion are we supposed to go by? Yours? What it means to you may mean something totally different to someone else. Some equate negative comments to hostility. Hostility equals persecution to a lot of people. Whether if you agree with that or not is irrelevant. It's a pointless thread to begin with. Christians could give examples all day, and you'll refute their definition of persecution, because it doesn't match up with your thought process. It is really an illogical means of reaching out to a culture that you don't believe in. And anyway, the title of your thread is "Atheists mistreating Christians"...are we to believe you equate mistreating to persecution? Mistreatment covers a very broad area and by all due respect, it is not up to you to decide whether if a Christian is actually feeling mistreated or persecuted by something an Atheist has said or done to them. If they feel that way, they do. Why worry about examples? Would it even have an affect on your life to begin with?
A revelation came to me more clearly today. I understand why atheists gleefully jumped right in front of the whole gay marriage debate last year and passionately defended it. It wasn't out of some grand desire for equality and justice for it. It wasn't a moral crusade. It was only because the issue gave them a vehicle to easily scapegoat Christians, hence the constant "bigot" term tossed around and stubborn refusal to even try to understand the other side of the debate.
Tell me, where was the atheists in 80s and 90s when the gay culture was really under attack during the AIDS epidemic? I certainly didn't see great waves of protest when the defense of marriage act was signed. Well of course, a Christian coming out speaking against homosexuality in that era would not have received any criticism. You couldn't scapegoat us then.
The world can change all it wants. God's Word is forever. And because of that, homosexuality is still and will always be a sin.
Did your day to day life change? My question has nothing to do with Atheists although I am sure several couples getting married were Atheist.
Marriage equality is not a Christian, or Atheist issue. I have never viewed it as such, and most couples I know don't see it that way either.
Recently, I listened to a Pastor, calling for death to LGBTQ. I was horrified, as I hope you would be.
I think it is entirely possible to speak out against marriage equality, and not call for people being killed.
Did your day to day life change? My question has nothing to do with Atheists although I am sure several couples getting married were Atheist.
Marriage equality is not a Christian, or Atheist issue. I have never viewed it as such, and most couples I know don't see it that way either.
Recently, I listened to a Pastor, calling for death to LGBTQ. I was horrified, as I hope you would be.
I think it is entirely possible to speak out against marriage equality, and not call for people being killed.
For Jeff to keep up his narrative of persecution, it HAS TO BE a Christian vs Atheist issue. Otherwise, we heathens are simply good people who want equality, which would not fit into his terribly inaccurate portrayal of non believers.
I suspect he would not even be entirely against gay people being killed, because he would just assume that they were "bad people" who deserved it.
It's really sad to think that you probably believe that the only reason atheists support gay marriage is to tweak the nose of Christians and not because simple common decency teaches people not to mistreat and discriminate against others over harmless personal behavior .
Not a good testament to your religion .
No it's sad because it's true. And I can back it up. How many atheist threads on this forum are there about the current state of the Native Americans? I'm willing to bet it is close to ZERO. Talk about lack of equality. We came, stole their lands, forced them on reservation and to this day, their quality of life is Third World. 30% live below the poverty line and less than 50% have proper plumbing. Maybe it's just me, but I see that as a much more serious problem than Bob and Steve not being able to get a marriage license in a particular state.
Quote:
Discrimination against Native Americans is far more ingrained in the American way of life than just the presence of the Washington Redskins, the thousands of other American teams with racist caricature mascots,and people appropriating/insulting Native American culture from time to time. Native Americans face serious and perhaps insurmountable economic, social, and political hardships in the United States, many of which start as early in their lives as their basic elementary school education. Americans need to be aware of that.
Tell me, where was the atheists in 80s and 90s when the gay culture was really under attack during the AIDS epidemic?
I can tell you where this one was. He was marching arm-in-arm with two gay friends through London demanding equal rights for gays....and being spat at by 'Christians'. See pal, that's how long gays have been fighting for their rights and their dignity - right from the 80's, and they have only just received them, after all this time. And you know who kept their rights from them Jeff? It was people like you.
A revelation came to me more clearly today. I understand why atheists gleefully jumped right in front of the whole gay marriage debate last year and passionately defended it. It wasn't out of some grand desire for equality and justice for it. It wasn't a moral crusade. It was only because the issue gave them a vehicle to easily scapegoat Christians, hence the constant "bigot" term tossed around and stubborn refusal to even try to understand the other side of the debate.
Tell me, where was the atheists in 80s and 90s when the gay culture was really under attack during the AIDS epidemic? I certainly didn't see great waves of protest when the defense of marriage act was signed. Well of course, a Christian coming out speaking against homosexuality in that era would not have received any criticism. You couldn't scapegoat us then.
The world can change all it wants. God's Word is forever. And because of that, homosexuality is still and will always be a sin.
For once you are right, the only reason that we support evolution, gay rights, the environment and any other rights or issues you do not agree with is to attack the 11% of Christians in America that believe in a literal Bible. And also we agree with you that most Christians should not be allowed to call themselves Christians because they do not agree with you on every issue.
We should take the Bible as the only literal truth and also obey all the commands of your God, except perhaps the ones that you cannot currently defend in which case we can ignore because either Jesus said something that could be interpreted as that it no longer applies or that because people were extremely wicked back then.
In the 12 years that same sex marriage has been legal in Canada and several of your States the world has not ended, churches are still free to not perform same sex marriages without reprecustions and many citizens have been provided many of the benefits that they were denied earlier, although those lack of benefits such as spousal benefits at work were being quickly chipping away as employers realized that discrimiation is wrong. Yes not everyone was ready to support LBGT back in the 80s, same as not everyone was ready to support civil rights in the 60s. The question is when the issue does come out into the mainstream does one support it or fight it and try to keep the status quo which might not be fair.
But for to be so arogant to make the statement that the reason we support gay rights or any other issue is to attack Christians is absolute nonsense, and one of the more outrageous claims you have made and you have made many. You think that we mistreat you because you are a Christian however what about the opposite, you lie about us, you make false statements about us, you claim that many Christians are athesist because they do not agree with you and now you are claiming that we are mean spririted people whose only concern regarding human rights is how can we sock it to the Christians, and Christians meaning only those who have the narrow literal view that you do.
If God's word was forever than all those terrible rules of the OT should apply or else it is not forever. If I remember correctly the Bible does not say that gays should have rights other than the right to marry, I beleive it says they should be put to death and if you think I would support that concept just because it would fall in line with your literal Bible you will have a long wait.
No it's sad because it's true. And I can back it up. How many atheist threads on this forum are there about the current state of the Native Americans? I'm willing to bet it is close to ZERO. Talk about lack of equality. We came, stole their lands, forced them on reservation and to this day, their quality of life is Third World. 30% live below the poverty line and less than 50% have proper plumbing. Maybe it's just me, but I see that as a much more serious problem than Bob and Steve not being able to get a marriage license in a particular state.
Tell me Wallflash, why are you and your fellow atheists not out there passionately fighting for the rights of Native Americans?
Some of us do fight for their rights, Jeff. I am part Poarch Creek, and live in an area close to a reservation. I have volunteered, and helped them in the past and present. My wife has helped out as well. She has worked with some of the kids by tutoring and counseling some. She has also been part of a group trying to help with alcoholism is Native American communities. My company helps out as well. I can only do so much. The better question is, why aren't YOU at your church asking them to help out if it is important to you?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
