this is why I ain't religious

I'm an atheist too...I mean, the moral standards in the bible are so ridiculous and contradictory. "Do not judge thy neighbor" But hey, gay people, women, people of different races, and those who dont have the same beliefs as you are allowed to be stoned and hated. ugh...

 

To be fair, everyone one violates their own moral code.

 

I'm agnostic, but, just for the record, I know some religious people, christians and jews, who do accept gays. They're mostly young guys though (<30).
If your mom is taking you to church with the intent of making you feel guilty, that's just terrible. At least you seem to be enduring it well.

 

Because religion is outdated and the people who still believe that the bible was actually written 2,000 years ago are just brain washed. It's all bull shit! Especially Mormons do they really think Joseph smith did all of that? I believe in god not religion.

 

True, but the bible, and other religious books, arent just violators of their own moral code, but the things said in those books are claimed to be the truth, and the things said are much more hateful than what most people say. *shrugs*

 

This.^

Also it mentions that the sin of Sodom was their inability to care for the poor and downtrodden/hungry. I'm paraphrasing of course but I remembered reading that and wondering why no one ever mentions that one...

Also they tried to rape angels for crying out loud. That's a pretty f***ed up town. I'd say the fact it was other men they were gonna rape in the story was less about being "gay" and more about control... which is what rape is about. Control.

Anyways I am and always will be a Christian. I could care less if people look at me weird for either that or being predominately attracted to other women.

Moral of the story: Every religion and life stance has extremists.

 

I hope not Justinian20, otherwise I'll be against myself.

I'm a religious guy (and a smart guy :icon_bigg), but I hope you don't see me as some Bible bashing crackpot who has an agenda here. I'm pretty sure you don't think that about me as we've always got on well, so far. (*hug*)

Look, I totally get why so many LGBT people have a major problem with religion. A lot of stupidity is spouted about same sex orientation and transgender issues (in God's name) and it can be extremely damaging. At it's very worst it can drive lovely people to suicide, but let's not fall into the trap of thinking that all people of faith are completely detached from reality and on a mission to destroy LGBT people. It's really not the case at all.

A whole lot of crap is written about the Bible and claimed about the Bible and even I get sick of hearing it, but I don't just take it in and get angry about it. Sometimes we have to channel our anger in a positive way and investigate the claims and counter claims, otherwise we are just as guilty of ignorance. We wouldn't just accept a politicians word, so we shouldn't accept a preacher or authors word either.

 

I just cannot forgive any religion for the amount of human suffering they have caused because of people taking it literally and it being used to gain power over peoples. (You people here probably aren't busy committing some of those horrible things, like kicking children out of their home for being atheist, or LGBT so that's fine by me)
You shouldn't rely entirely on morality. Find the golden mean between absolute morality and empathy. If there really is a God out there, and this God truly is as loving as they say, how come there is so much poverty and suffering in the world? And why would this entity judge you for whatever thing you do in your bedroom if there's the massive Universe to watch over?

 

You need to tell your mother clearly that there are other ways to "socialise" than sitting with your mouth shut at a congregation. Do you resent your mother for forcing you to waste your time by listening to myths?

---------- Post added 11th Jan 2015 at 08:19 PM ----------

To be fair, the Biblical moral code is ridiculous and impossible to follow:

Matthew 5:28 (King James Version)
"But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

 

At one point I used to be religious. Being gay was a huge sense of shame for me because of what was preached. I was taught I was an abomination and would burn for eternity in hell fire. I used to pray to be "fixed" and nothing ever happened. I would wonder why God would ignore someone who wanted to be straight and not an abomination. I eventually broke free from religion completely in college. Without religion I learned to love myself and celebrate who I was as a person. Internally this was fantastic! It gave me the peace and strength to eventually finally finish coming out to everyone not too long ago, regardless of being in a conservative bible thumping area in Indiana.

 

I respect the right of folks to believe whatever it is they want. Folks can believe in and worship fairies at the bottom of the garden for all I care. My problem with religions is that adherents usually also indoctrinate their (and / or others') children in whatever religious faith they have. I think there ought to be a rule, for this new century, that you are not allowed to preach or attempt to indoctrinate someone in any faith, until that person is at least 18 years of age. That way, they can give informed consent to their minds and hearts being tampered with. I think that imposing religion on little kids is tantamount to child abuse, of the mental / spiritual variety. I mean, have we not seen thread after thread here on ec, of folks in anguish about their sexuality or gender? I wonder how many suicides take place in the world as a whole, due to such angst. And we all know full well what the main cause of that anguish is - ancient religious superstitions.

I used to allow others to mentally rape me. Not any more. I know for myself what is right, and what is wrong. I don't need ancient moldy old books to tell me. In fact, the basic standards of morality are pretty obvious and fairly universal across all cultures.

If I believe in something, it is in the ability of human beings to figure things out for themselves. And this belief happens to be based upon evidence.

 

To be frank, whenever I see or hear a debate regarding religion I just hold my hand up and turn away.
Nothing but contradictions and rubbish as far as I'm concerned.

 

I'm with you Op that's why I'm not religious either and the church talks about love but I don't see any love in there all I see is hate hate .:tantrum:

 

I agree. Religion can have a positive influence on some people's life.

 

I used to be very religious too, and honestly had I been straight, might still be.

I think one of the biggest reasons LGBT people tend to be non-religious is they are prompted to question things that hetero-normal people never do. Once you open that door, and start to examine religion from an honest outside perspective, you see its ludicrousness.

IMHO, morality comes from empathy, which we all possess, not some old book. In an age of better education and ever-increasing awareness of the needs of people, religion just becomes counterproductive or irrelevant.

 

You seem to be excluding psychopaths.

 

I ain't religious because I'd rather suffer a thousand deaths than bend the knee to god. Anything else is just a bonus reason. Some people follow god -- I've got no problem with that if it makes them happy and they don't huff kittens or anything like that.

In my experience, religious people were not half as weird as what goes on in other countries. None of them wanted to kill me. Or at least they never showed any signs of murderous intent. My 'problems' were considered sickness and a cross to bear. Church wasn't always a yawnfest because I liked horror stories and motivational speeches.

People are against homosexuality because they're afraid. Religion can be abused as a tool to manipulate people. You have to wonder if some of the people at the top actually believe in god.

 

buddhism isn't against homosexuality.

 

True, but buddhism is hardly a religion anyway, if you look at the idea of blind faith, and what religion's definition is.