At 1/17/13 08:02 PM, Ragnarokia wrote: Most people who claim to not teach their children God usually forget such things, and then they wonder why their children don't learn morals and are dicks to everyone. You don't need God when growing up, but you do need a figure to coax you down the right path to be a decent person.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude but I don't think you know what you are talking about. I have friends that have never gone to church in there life and I certainly do not think they are dicks. Perhaps you just had bad luck but most none religious people I have meet are good people.

At 1/17/13 05:22 PM, Provoke wrote: God, the US has such stupid loopholes to every law.

What do you mean by that?

At 1/17/13 05:59 PM, LionzNTiggerz wrote: Most of the time, atheists aren't any more smarter (or more free-thinkers) than atheists. They just grew up with different influences.

Athiests and agnostics generally seem to think for themselves more often than religious people which does represent higher intelligence in some regards as less smart people tend to conform more.

I'm not even going to bring up the subject with my kids. If/when they get curious about it, then I'll, like, actually ask them what they think and try to answer any questions they might have.

At 1/17/13 05:21 PM, Jmayer20 wrote: My view is that she has just as much right to teach here childern that there is no god as religous people do to teach there childern that there is a god.

That's true but I don't care for either one of those options. I'm more fond of the whole "Teach your children how to think, not what to think" approach to parenting.

At 1/17/13 05:37 PM, notYert wrote: religion should be considered and treated like a mental disorder

Actually people need to see Religion more differently as a Private Club of Devotion to something or someone and the big reason why I say this is simple.

The bulk, and yes I do mean the BULK of today's religions point out to one thing and one thing only, they point out to the one thing is of anyone's wild guess.

That guess is none other but God/Goddess itself and that alone just doesn't bold well, thus the big reason why people (who haven't already) need to see Religion more differently, I'll explain a few examples.

What would happen if one group of people saw Freedom as a Religion, what would happen if another group of people saw Technology as a Religion, what would happen if another group of people saw Video Games as a Religion, what would happen if people even saw Bungholioism as a Religion and worshiped Cornholio as there deity in it's wake?

That's the one thing that needs to happen in today's world, especially to those who haven't done so already, why is this? Because it's already the New World Era and this was something that should of happened a long period ago but because it didn't, it might as well happen even as I type this post up for all to know.

At 1/18/13 03:04 AM, Thecrazyman wrote: What would happen if one group of people saw Freedom as a Religion, what would happen if another group of people saw Technology as a Religion, what would happen if another group of people saw Video Games as a Religion,

I think people would have a pretty hard time justifying that view because religion is generally considered a belief system about some sort of supernatural governing force coupled with some form of dogma.

what would happen if people even saw Bungholioism as a Religion and worshiped Cornholio as there deity in it's wake?

If there were such a thing, I'm pretty sure it technically would be considered a religion.

At 1/17/13 07:36 PM, Xenomit wrote: It's just that some people are so weak minded and have such a pitiful will power that they need to have some kind of all powerful being watching over them, so much so that they completely disregard logic and reasoning and rely on faith to live.

Having an imaginary friend can be a powerful way to be in the presence of qualities that complement your personality (or that you admire), just like when you go to a movie and you are inspired by some of the imaginary characters there, except over a longer term.

In a similar way, believing in an imaginary all powerful being watching over you, and having faith in yourself aren't such different things. The problem is if some self-appointed intermediary steps in and starts trying to dictate the terms. Especially if this intermediary starts getting a taste for the power he has over his followers.

Then people stop listening to themselves, and start listening to those in charge instead. They start believing all sorts of random crap because they have been spending their time (lazily) taking their ideas from others, rather than fine-tuning their sensitivity to what is really meaningful, and accordingly, to what is total bullshit.

Talking about religion with anyone who has a different view is going to result in people freaking out. NO. MATTER. WHAT. Seriously, I don't see why people get so butthurt about this, not everyone sees eye to eye and some people need to get their hands off their dick/out of their vaginas and realize this.

Child abuse: if you don't behave, I'll take you down to the cellar and burn you.

Not child abuse: if you don't behave, God will take you down to the cellar and burn you.

KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.

So let me get this straight, everyone automatically attacks the christians for this and automatically assumes were all mental idiots screaming "BELIEVE IN MAH JESUS OR YA BURN IN HELL HALEUJIA PRAISE GOD HUR DER"

Seriously like......what the hell. I'm a christian. Congratulations. Send all of your hate onto me. Because frankly I could care less if you were a terrorists about to blow my brains out. I treat everyone equally, as the bible says to.

Judge no one about their beliefs, choices, looks, personality, their general lifestyle. Since no one knows the pain or way another person feels. Another thing most 'Christians' refuse to understand is "How can you love Jesus, if you can't even love the person sitting next to you."

At 1/18/13 07:26 PM, zmatt007 wrote:

Judge no one about their beliefs, choices, looks, personality, their general lifestyle. Since no one knows the pain or way another person feels. Another thing most 'Christians' refuse to understand is "How can you love Jesus, if you can't even love the person sitting next to you."

You wouldn't care if I was a terrorist about to murder you because the bible says so?

At 1/18/13 07:31 PM, 372 wrote:

At 1/18/13 07:26 PM, zmatt007 wrote:

Judge no one about their beliefs, choices, looks, personality, their general lifestyle. Since no one knows the pain or way another person feels. Another thing most 'Christians' refuse to understand is "How can you love Jesus, if you can't even love the person sitting next to you."

You wouldn't care if I was a terrorist about to murder you because the bible says so?

Frankly, yes. I don't care about human life. In my eyes were all monsters that plague this earth. We do nothing but ravage it, pollute it, just generally shit all over it and not have a single shred of regret. One less monster on this earth creates a difference.

So what I say to you, is pull the trigger and help me leave this plain of helpless despair.

I have a feeling this is a troll account but I'll bite.
My parents are Christian, and they were very open minded and taught me about other religions. Personally, I think you should teach your kids about the abundance of religions rather than not teaching them about it.
Bah. Do whatever the hell you want with your children. Just be sure to teach them not to shove their beliefs (or lack thereof) down the throats of others, lest they turn out to be ironic shitposting edgy militant religion hating atheist drones.

At 1/17/13 06:51 PM, LemonCrush wrote: I will let my children make their own choices, and answer any questions they may have/

This, just simply this.

I for one will not teach my children about "God". They do not need such things to obscure their educating themselves to become scholars like their father.

At 1/18/13 10:19 PM, Suprememessage wrote: I for one will not teach my children about "God". They do not need such things to obscure their educating themselves to become scholars like their father.

Implying people who do have religions are usually stupid?

My friend, was christian since he was a kid. He is a fucking natural genius. By the time he was about seven I think, he understood Einsteins theory of relativity perfectly. Ten, how the first, second, third, and fourth dimension works and what they actually stand for.

At about 14 he knows about everything about science. In full detail he can tell you how a computer actually functions. Not just the part, what literally runs each part. Since he read a book that completely told you everything about a computer. It was about, I don't know, 8 inches thick? Maybe a little more. With very small print. He's able to remember every little word.

Nano technology is supposed to be futuristic, yet he easily figured out how to do it. To be honest I knew most of these things as a child to. Everytime he discovered something, as soon as he explained it no one could understand it not even the teacher. Though to me it seemed simple to.

At 1/18/13 09:29 PM, Chdonga wrote: I have a feeling this is a troll account but I'll bite.
My parents are Christian, and they were very open minded and taught me about other religions. Personally, I think you should teach your kids about the abundance of religions rather than not teaching them about it.
Bah. Do whatever the hell you want with your children. Just be sure to teach them not to shove their beliefs (or lack thereof) down the throats of others, lest they turn out to be ironic shitposting edgy militant religion hating atheist drones.

Did you even read my opening post? Because if you did then you should know that this is not about my children. In fact I don't even have children. This was just a post that had a link about a mother that is an atheist and how she raises her children. I only called this "Why I Raise My Children Without God" because that was the name of the article that I found.

A number of comments I'll make regarding to why this person raise her children without God as I will mention below, note that this will be in a 2 part post.

At January 14, 2013, TXBlue08 wrote: If God is our father, then he is not a good parent. Good parents donâEUTMt allow their children to inflict harm on others. Good people donâEUTMt stand by and watch horrible acts committed against innocent men, women and children. They donâEUTMt condone violence and abuse. âEUoeHe has given us free will,âEU you say? Our children have free will, but we still step in and guide them.

One thing I'll say about this, people choose paths and have the right to choose for good or for ill, my personal side to this is that I hope they grow for good but if any decide to lead any ill path should there be no way to persuade them away from it then so be it for if they refuse to learn the lesson the easy way they'll learn the lesson the hard way.

Life is all about learning as life is the ultimate teacher and we live to learn in life, even the most harsh lessons in life itself.

At January 14, 2013, TXBlue08 wrote:

:How many times have you heard, âEUoeWhy did God allow this to happen?âEU And this: âEUoeItâEUTMs not for us to understand.âEU Translate: We donâEUTMt understand, so we will not think about it or deal with the issue. Take for example the senseless tragedy in Newtown. Rather than address the problem of guns in America, we defer responsibility to God. He had a reason. He wanted more angels. Only he knows why. We write poems saying that we told God to leave our schools. Now heâEUTMs making us pay the price. If there is a good, all-knowing, all-powerful God who loves his children, does it make sense that he would allow murders, child abuse, wars, brutal beatings, torture and millions of heinous acts to be committed throughout the history of mankind? DoesnâEUTMt this go against everything Christ taught us in the New Testament?

My response to this is that the massacre in Newtown is one of those things that just wasn't meant to happen, in fact Nancy Lanza should of took much closer at the signs of violent behavior of her son, this means she should of done something about it when the moment was right and as sad as it sounds she ends up missing that moment which in turn resulted in her own death not meant to take place.

In fact people should of looked at the earlier signs of such violent behavior after the Virginia Tech Massacre took place, if that was done and if Nancy Lanza took better heed of the warning signs, she alone could very well prevent the unthinkable in it's wake.

At January 14, 2013, TXBlue08 wrote:

:If God is fair, then why does he answer the silly prayers of some while allowing other, serious requests, to go unanswered? I have known people who pray that they can find money to buy new furniture. (Answered.) I have known people who pray to God to help them win a soccer match. (Answered.) Why are the prayers of parents with dying children not answered?

:If God is fair, then why are some babies born with heart defects, autism, missing limbs or conjoined to another baby? Clearly, all men are not created equally. Why is a good man beaten senseless on the street while an evil man finds great wealth taking advantage of others? This is not fair. A game maker who allows luck to rule mankindâEUTMs existence has not created a fair game.

Oddly enough, I heard about that saying from a movie years ago as it may not be the most populate but had an interesting reference from the film called "The Warrior's Way" to why one of the characters said "God ain't fair".

Why certain people are born with heart defects and such it happens for a number of reasons and some of those reasons are due to the major mishaps of doctors, it should be noted that many of such mishaps where rather unintentional to begin with, whatever the case it's just sad to hear these things take place and humans aren't the only ones taking these mishaps as well, some other animals also have mishaps like these and I wouldn't even doubt similar taking place on other planets as well.

At January 14, 2013, TXBlue08 wrote:

:God does not protect the innocent. He does not keep our children safe. As a society, we stand up and speak for those who cannot. We protect our little ones as much as possible. When a child is kidnapped, we work together to find the child. We do not tolerate abuse and neglect. Why canâEUTMt God, with all his powers of omnipotence, protect the innocent?

Again people have the right to make choice witch explains why people are meant to have free will, for good or for ill matters not and again I will also say the fact that I only hope for people to live good lives, even so there are some people that follow ill live-hoods and if there's no other way to persuade them away from it then let them take the fall by there own hands for only then they'll learn the lesson they where meant to learn in life the hard way.

My 2nd part of the post as I can't put it all in one post, I apologizes for making such a long post.

At January 14, 2013, TXBlue08 wrote:

:God Does Not Teach Children to Be Good. A child should make moral choices for the right reasons. Telling him that he must behave because God is watching means that his morality will be externally focused rather than internally structured. ItâEUTMs like telling a child to behave or Santa wonâEUTMt bring presents. When we take God out of the picture, we place responsibility of doing the right thing onto the shoulders of our children. No, they wonâEUTMt go to heaven or rule their own planets when they die, but they can sleep better at night. They will make their family proud. They will feel better about who they are. They will be decent people.

And ironically as this sounds, it doesn't teach people to be bad either, in fact it's people who teach kids to be good or bad, regardless if it's the parents and whatnot, never the less it's up to the individual to decide witch path in life to take, again I'll say personally hope they lead good lives as I have mentioned above.

At January 14, 2013, TXBlue08 wrote:

:God Teaches Narcissism. âEUoeGod has a plan for you.âEU Telling kids there is a big guy in the sky who has a special path for them makes children narcissistic; it makes them think the world is at their disposal and that, no matter what happens, it doesnâEUTMt really matter because God is in control. That gives kids a sense of false security and creates selfishness. âEUoeNo matter what I do, God loves me and forgives me. He knows my purpose. I am special.âEU The irony is that, while we tell this story to our kids, other children are abused and murdered, starved and neglected. All part of GodâEUTMs plan, right?

:When we raise kids without God, we tell them the truth-we are no more special than the next creature. We are just a very, very small part of a big, big machine-whether that machine is nature or society-the influence we have is minuscule. The realization of our insignificance gives us a true sense of humbleness.

:I understand why people need God. I understand why people need heaven. It is terrifying to think that we are all alone in this universe, that one day we-along with the children we love so much-will cease to exist. The idea of God and an afterlife gives many of us structure, community and hope.

:I do not want religion to go away. I only want religion to be kept at home or in church where it belongs. ItâEUTMs a personal effect, like a toothbrush or a pair of shoes. ItâEUTMs not something to be used or worn by strangers. I want my children to be free not to believe and to know that our schools and our government will make decisions based on what is logical, just and fair-not on what they believe an imaginary God wants.

In other words people need to come to realization why Religion is meant to be a Private Club of Devotion, to fully say it, it's meant to be a Private Club of Loyalty & Devotion to begin with.

The real trouble is the sheer fact that people keep expressing about Religion as nothing more and nothing less but a Public Influence, this in turn has in fact cause more harm then good and further more also has caused Disloyalty and even Betrayal in it's wake.

Really I don't want to disrespect anyone on a personal level, I really don't but seriously cmon' there is obviously a difference between what can be proven with reason and logic and bunch of different books of stories claiming to be the word of the maker of the universe. I'm not saying that science has all the answers, I'm just saying it's done a lot more good and spread a lot more TRUTH then thousand year old politically involved religious factions. And i'm sick of people telling me I'm disrespecting them for saying nothing but the truth. That's all religion seems to do, is make people choose to be ignorant. The holy books all have obviously made-up facts in them such as the world being 6,000 years old. It's just blatantly apparent that no other-worldly knowledge was used to forge the bible, or any other holybook for that matter. Whether they contain words of wisdom or important morals lets face it, their all ridiculously human.

I don't know I just feel like the concept of religion are leading to the teachings that we're not animals. I mean yes I know why people think our conscious mind is cool and maybe otherworldly-feeling, but honestly humans aren't the only animals who can thinl. We're just the best at it.

Is it so wrong to suggest its time to...move on?

At 1/19/13 03:13 PM, Jmayer20 wrote: Did you even read my opening post? Because if you did then you should know that this is not about my children. In fact I don't even have children...

I was more replying to to everyone ITT who mentioned how they will raise their children.

At 1/17/13 07:56 PM, HikarutheHedgehog wrote: Gotta love all the assholes in this thread who think that their opinion of whether God exists or not is fact instead of an opinion like it really is.

This.
You should not state anything as fact, because their will be arguments.
Also this lady just wants attention.

At 1/19/13 12:03 AM, abbiegale wrote: Actually, it is a matter of religious consciousness; whether at some point in your life you seriously questioned all you have been taught and have believed about your religion (or lack of it), regardless of what conclusion you have come to. Being religious doesn't automatically mean that you swallow everything you're told undisputedly, and being an atheist isn't immediately equal to having a critical mind.

Thats pretty much what I typed, what was the point of replying to me saying the same thing?

My mom, despite having a very strange and motley patchwork of beliefs (Spiritualist, Buddhist, Christian Science) and working as a singer in churches and temples of all sects, decided to send me to a Lutheran school until I was in 6th grade, when I transferred to a public education system.

Her logic was that many people brought up without religion are oftentimes susceptible to being the most dogmatic religious people if the idea of religion is introduced to them at a later age. So rather than planning for me to be Christian my whole life, I was sent to a private school in order to be desensitized to biblical teachings (although my mother never said anything cynical about Christianity until I was much older).

In some ways I see her logic. It's important for people to know about religion and different influences, so that they have some understanding of how communities, religious, social, or political, function before they're old enough to make their own choices. Helping children perceive the world around them, including the biased information thrown at us, is important to building good judgment.

Certainly there's nothing wrong with raising children to be atheists or agnostic. Certainly there should be no uprising against this woman for having decided not to pass down religion to her children.

At 1/19/13 06:42 PM, abbiegale wrote:

At 1/19/13 06:26 PM, BumFodder wrote:

This gives me the impression that you think atheists tend to be smarter. I just don't agree with this.
I'm sorry if I misunderstood what you meant.

You're not very atheist are you.

At 1/19/13 04:24 AM, zmatt007 wrote:

Nano technology is supposed to be futuristic, yet he easily figured out how to do it. To be honest I knew most of these things as a child to. Everytime he discovered something, as soon as he explained it no one could understand it not even the teacher. Though to me it seemed simple to.

I'm not implying that religious people are stupid, in my early years I was religious. I'm merely saying that religion would take time away from my children studying or doing other productive things.

At 1/19/13 03:24 PM, Thecrazyman wrote: One thing I'll say about this, people choose paths and have the right to choose for good or for ill, my personal side to this is that I hope they grow for good but if any decide to lead any ill path should there be no way to persuade them away from it then so be it for if they refuse to learn the lesson the easy way they'll learn the lesson the hard way.

Are you saying that if you had a son and you caught him trying to rape a girl, you would just let him because it was his choice and he will burn in hell later? You wouldn't try to stop him? You would just wait until he was done and then punish him.

Tbh, other than the Earth, I don't see why people would pray to something or some sort of out of the world creator. Even if there is some shit like that out there, the obvious, more important one is planet Earth and your parents / ancestors. They created us right? So why pray to some hebbee jeebie guy high up in no mans land :S

As an atheist, I will raise my children to think for themselves and explore all the evidence for and against religion.

It's not my job to tell them what they should or should not believe in.