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Where I come from that is quite frequent. We go to school, learn about science etc., learn to think for ourselves, we build our views of the world and not seldom find out that there is no place for gods in it.
When that Christian is your brother-in-law or grandmother, you don't exactly have a choice but to "deal" with them. I do not have a "strange idea" of what atheism is about...it's about one thing and one thing only, the disbelief that God exists in any way, shape or form. Christian God or any other supposed god. No higher power whatsoever. I got it, trust me.
I honestly couldn't care less if you respect me, but if you want to post on CD, you need follow the TOS and not get off topic and start personally attacking people.
Exactly, but holding that view does not include spewing hate at Christians etc., which is what you had written. Maybe that automatism is common in the US where religion and atheism are hot. In Europe where the majority people don't care about those things anymore, we just think what we think and that's it.
As I said, I have no problem with people as long as they are good. If however a good person, including relatives, start molesting me with their religious stuff, I avoid them. And believe you me I can. It has led to the failure of my first relationship. Since then I have avoided religious women in my private life.
Huh? I did not state only Christians can vote in the poll, that's why it says "religious" and not "Christian."
I stand by the bolded statement. I am biased, I even said that. Vote in the darn poll, it has nothing to do with any religion in particular. People were not voting b/c they would rather post their response as an attack against me.
With all due respect to you and your thread, you seem to have taken on the mantle of victim with your OP and responses in this particular thread. Your bolded statement that you stand behind is polarizing by it's very nature It will be refuted by many and tend to derail the main point of the thread. I suppose if we remove any superfluous words, what you are essentially saying is "politically right leaning Christian = Good. Politically left leaning anti God = Bad. Most people will take issue with this conclusion and comparison, I think.
Originally posted by theunbrainwashed
Because at that point, it is the PARENTS' responsibility to care for their child, not the government. If Christians belieevd in this concept of universal health care, why has it only been a recent invention in the last century and a half? You'd think we'd have had universal health care since the Middle Ages or something if that was the case no, as Christians we have to protect life. Protecting life and maintaining life are 2 different things. God did not want us to live forever being coddled and taken care of by someone else. If He did, he wouldn't have thrown Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden
Charity and coddling are two different things. Helping the poor and sick is a Christian duty. Has been for 2000 years. Telling a sick child to bug off is not. Ever read Jesus' parable about the sheep and the goats? Try it some time.
How do your religious views affect your political views? I feel like the left and right are divided not just along political ideology but along religious beliefs as well. I'm not talking about just the media saying "the religious right" but the whole premise of many views of the left are contradictory to what a Christian would believe.
I'm in the awkward position of being able to speak on both sides of this topic. For many years, I was not a Christian. I dabbled in Wicca for a time as well as Buddhism but was mostly atheist or agnostic. I was never set on any one belief until last year when I was saved. Before this time, I was a bleeding heart liberal on social issues but had many fiscally conservative ideals (such as my views on welfare, etc.). After my conversion to Christianity, when I started reading the Bible, I slowly got more and more conservative in both social and fiscal viewpoints. Today I am what most lefties consider the typical right-wing nut.
Now, I cannot separate my religion from my politics. To me, God is in charge of everything, in every aspect of every person's life, and we are to do what pleases Him, not what we may think is right and not to separate things and say, for example, "Well, I don't believe abortion is right, but if someone else wants to do it, that's up to them" when the bottom line is that God does not want people to be having abortions, Christian or not.
Anyway, that is my background, please do not attack it. I am just giving my viewpoint since I am asking for everyone else's views on how their religion or lack thereof affects their political leanings.
First, your status is: Laughing at the idiots of the world. That right there is pretty awful and quite unChristian, don't you think?
Second, the fact that your God is dictating beliefs to you does not in any way mean that you have to then dictate them to others. The religious right thinks it has God's blessing to run roughshod over everyone else 'for their own good'. I see this as an evil intention that I must oppose.
Third, the left upholds most of the core beliefs of Christianity but the right, in its zeal to apply their 'for their own good' mandate from God reduces everyone else to evil subgroups that must be opposed. Since you already claim to be on the right, I can understand your conclusion, but you should realize it is due to induced black and white thinking that benefits no one.
Fourth, religious beliefs belong only to the believer and should not be templated onto others. Claiming that religious influence drives one's political choices is another way of imposing one's will on the world. As a former Catholic, something I rejected at age 8 and have no intention of returning to, I apply no religious beliefs to politics. I vote for those who will solve the problems, not shop for a halo.
Last edited by mhouse2001; 11-21-2010 at 10:40 AM..
With all due respect to you and your thread, you seem to have taken on the mantle of victim with your OP and responses in this particular thread. Your bolded statement that you stand behind is polarizing by it's very nature It will be refuted by many and tend to derail the main point of the thread. I suppose if we remove any superfluous words, what you are essentially saying is "politically right leaning Christian = Good. Politically left leaning anti God = Bad. Most people will take issue with this conclusion and comparison, I think.
How am I a victim? I chose to follow God and not wallow anymore, I'm not a victim of anything. I don't see how that statement is polarizing, it's my view, having been on both sides. I explained that. I never said leftists are bad, my parents share the views that I used to have and I don't think they're bad people. I'm not grouping people together, I am stating what my personal experience is and how now, as a Christian, I believe a lot of the ideas on the left go against the Bible. That's it.
Stop making it about me and focus on telling your own story.
Charity and coddling are two different things. Helping the poor and sick is a Christian duty. Has been for 2000 years. Telling a sick child to bug off is not. Ever read Jesus' parable about the sheep and the goats? Try it some time.
Yes charity and coddling are indeed two DIFFERENT things. Being FORCED to pay for social programs is NOT charity, it's taxation. You CANNOT force someone to be charitable because they are only doing it because they don't want to be thrown in jail, not because they have compassion in their hearts.
You liberals confuse personal responsibility and charity with social justice and forced charity aka taxation. The two do not mix and never have. Nowhere in the Bible does it say let government take care of your fellow man. It says you take care of your own, meaning YOU personally help contribute to others' well being not by proxy of government
How am I a victim? I chose to follow God and not wallow anymore, I'm not a victim of anything. I don't see how that statement is polarizing, it's my view, having been on both sides. I explained that. I never said leftists are bad, my parents share the views that I used to have and I don't think they're bad people. I'm not grouping people together, I am stating what my personal experience is and how now, as a Christian, I believe a lot of the ideas on the left go against the Bible. That's it.
Stop making it about me and focus on telling your own story.
Which of our views exactly are against the bible?
Since you said you find it regrettable when people are not religious, what is it about your I take it liberal and not very religious parents you don't like?
In addressing your OP with the most honest and compassionate response I can give.
Religion is a very personal belief. It's foundation is predicated on faith that must come from within. This personal faith is made secure and involate by the Constitution. Once you mix your particular brand of faith with the politics of government you diminish both. "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God, what is God's".
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