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Please tell me if I should start a new thread since this is obviously the A&A sub-forum. But I would like to see it stay here just so that I don't have to keep flipping back and forth between the two. And we all know that there are Christians who are reading this thread anyway, right?
I found this an interesting question and I was wondering on the opposite end how many Christians have atheist friends and how that is handled.
For me, I only have a hand few of people that I consider to be my friends. I enjoy many acquaintances, but true friendship is another story. Of my friends, I can only think of one that I believe to be agnostic. We talk of both religion and lack there of. We have respect for each other and would never judge the other based on something other than the person's heart. Christ commanded us to love one another, not to judge one another.
I am sure that this is going too far OT, but I was also wondering how the Christian handles homosexual friends if they have any? I think that the same would apply. I know that I have a few. Their life style is not one that I would choose, but they are some of the greatest people I know and I do not judge them. They also do not judge me for being hetero.
Please tell me if I should start a new thread since this is obviously the A&A sub-forum. But I would like to see it stay here just so that I don't have to keep flipping back and forth between the two. And we all know that there are Christians who are reading this thread anyway, right?
I found this an interesting question and I was wondering on the opposite end how many Christians have atheist friends and how that is handled.
For me, I only have a hand few of people that I consider to be my friends. I enjoy many acquaintances, but true friendship is another story. Of my friends, I can only think of one that I believe to be agnostic. We talk of both religion and lack there of. We have respect for each other and would never judge the other based on something other than the person's heart. Christ commanded us to love one another, not to judge one another.
I am sure that this is going too far OT, but I was also wondering how the Christian handles homosexual friends if they have any? I think that the same would apply. I know that I have a few. Their life style is not one that I would choose, but they are some of the greatest people I know and I do not judge them. They also do not judge me for being hetero.
I was thinking of starting a thread exactly like that.
Why don't you so it and provide a link here to that thread and link in that OP back to this one.
I hope I'll have a little more time to post later on.....
EDIT: I'll also say that I bet the 'tone' is different in the Christian thread, and I'll expand more on that after that thread is up and running.....
I'm curious, do most atheists have non-atheist friends?
I'm personally disappointed because I don't think most Christians have non-Christian friends, and I think they should.
Anyway, I'm curious to know how those friendships function. Does religion or the lack thereof come up often?
And since were here in the security of cyberspace, what do you really think of their faith?
And what I mean is, I know (at least for me) that I find the lack of an acknowledgment in at least the possibility of a God to be incredible. I don't see how anyone could say 'There's zero evidence God is real', just because in my opinion, there is at the very least shreds of evidence in His existence.
So, on the flip side, do atheists think things like 'Well, ol' Bill's a nice guy but how anyone could believe in some god-thing out there in the sky somewhere just makes me wonder about his mental condition'?
So, how do you handle your religious friends (if you have any) and what's really going through the atheist mind when you consider the faith of a loved one or friend?
Well for me most of my friends are catholic (I went to a catholic high school, thus most of them are catholic). Even my best friend, I thought he was just a non-practicing yet I just learned last month (after 8 years of friendship) that he's an atheist leaning agnostic. A few of my friends are fairly devout, and others are agnostic, but from my experiences religion isn't talked about.
I think it has more to do with the region than the religion. Though phrases like "Oh my god" "god damn", etc are used, actual conversations and prosletyzing on the topic are rare.
In real life I don't have a ton of people I would call "friends." Acquaintances I have many and many of them are friendly indeed. The people I call "friends" in real life are mostly the people I grew up with, my family, and a very few people who I have met since getting out of the military. To me, there is a broad difference between an acquaintance and a friend. The most distinct thing that I tend to find with "friends" is that there are few, if any, double standards involved with said friendship.
Of the friends that I do have, I couldn't really tell you what their beliefs are (for the most part) because it is a more or less unimportant factor in our friendship. I am conjuring up several of my childhood friends in my mind and I am trying to think if any of them "believe" in the same sense that so many of the people profess to "believe" on this forum and I am coming up with a blank mind. Perhaps it's because that as far as I'm concerned their beliefs would not really matter to me.
But, for the sake of argument, let's say that I did actually have a friend who believed in the sense we're talking about. Because this person would be considered a friend, I would suspect that the path would be open to mutual respect vis a vis other factors in our lives aside from religion or irreligion that true friends go through, help one another out with, and the like.
What I would not expect from a friend who professed themself a believer is to keep a haughty double standard in what they believed without taking into account or respecting what it's like on the other side of the fence. For example, if I had a friend that did want to bring up religion and they wanted to tell me how I should find Jesus; I should be able to talk to him about losing Jesus. If, for example, I had a friend who believed and wanted to talk to me about going to church, than the door should swing both ways and I should be able to talk to him about not going to church. If, for example, they wanted to argue that Atheists have done a lot of harm in this world, then they should also hear about how God(s) and the people who follow them have done equal or greater amounts of harm. If, for example, I had a friend who believed and wanted to say that someone less than apt defined the very being of an Atheist based on one part of their life or an event in their life; than it should be equal to point out someone and their events and moments and define them as purely Christian, Muslim, Jewish, etc... even if they are less than suitable. If, for example, I had a friend who disagreed with my opinions, I would expect them to have replies with substance and openness not with short, snippy, provocative remarks that this friend should know would set me off. If we could not see past those differences and I were called militant about my non-beliefs (if militant is apparently a derogatory term) than I should be able to equally point out my friends' militant beliefs. Unless, of course, we are talking about militarism being a good thing; in which case the door would again swing to and fro in either direction.
But, more than anything, if I had a friend who was in a position of superiority over me, I would hope that they had the capability of seeing the two differences and being cognizant and aware enough to not only recognize what is happening as these things are pointed out to him but to provide equal and fair treatment to reconcile the situation and keep that friendship.
Yet, it seems like such a hassle, such a waste, and such a trivial matter to fight over religion while in a friendship - especially when if the topic were avoided all together, there would be no disagreement. And so it seems that the friends I have are those that don't feel an impetuous need to bring up religion as part of the friendship because it is truly something that should not affect it. When the revolving door continuously slams shut in the face of a friend, there seems to be a knack for him to be an enemy.
Thankfully, I am able to recognize what a friend is and I'm glad that the ones I do have are able to recognize the difference.
I understand that and can relate. I agree with you that the friendship can not have ultimatums or conditions or it isn't a friendship at all.
Obviously, being a believer, I am very concerned for my friends' eternal salvation and so I can't say that it never comes up, but it rarely is brought up by me. Well, maybe it's 50/50. But my friends know what I believe and they aren't afraid to challenge me on it.
I have no idea if/what most of the people I know believe.
It virtually never comes up in conversation.
My region has a lot of catholics, so I assume that many are. However, I would never presume to ask about their beliefs.
Religion or lack thereof is the most personal of all beliefs and it is absolutely none of my business what others profess.
I have friends who send their kids to catholic school but have no idea if they believe other than for baptisms/marriages/funerals.
My friends have never asked me what I believe.
I don't understand why such a private matter would even come up in conversation.
I don't trust people/friends that don't believe in God and only half way trust the ones that due. But if you put people in the right circumstances they will all question if there really is a God and start trying to believe. They better not wait to long.
I don't trust people/friends that don't believe in God and only half way trust the ones that due. But if you put people in the right circumstances they will all question if there really is a God and start trying to believe. They better not wait to long.
I've had and still have catholics and jews and atheists as friends, we don't talk religion and if we do we try to respect eachother's beliefs or lack of beliefs. If you try to convince the other person of what you believe, that would mean you don't agree with their beliefs; so it's best to leave that subject alone ... or thread carefully and respectfully when you do discuss it. As long as you accept that others are not 100% like yourself, it should be no problem, it's when people try to convince and manipulate others that problems arise. Live and let live...
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