You get a choice, but yes, before the time of the mark of the beast, I believe any religion that is not mine will go to hell.
Sam Harris sounds like a DARE cop. Multiple choice question for GruntHunter: a) hell is too harsh a punishment for not being Christian, but it's out of my hands b) I agree non-Christians deserve hell Which one describes you most? I'm just curious.
More importantly do you think morality or human solidarity are innate in the human species or are they gifts from a supernatural deity?
If it's as it's believed, every single cool person in the history of the universe is down there, so that's alright with me. I have full and absolute respect for pretty much everyone, regardless of Religion, on the condition that they aren't shoving it down everyone's throat. In saying that though, I see organized religion as a cult more than anything.
Lol grunt you do realize you've basically gone from saying noone is forced to believe in Christianity to passive aggressively saying if they don't they go to hell. Makes all those wars fought over religion sound about right don't it.
As an atheist, i really really dislike Richard Dawkins' attitude. his 'i'm right and you're wrong' high horse makes the whole idea of 'atheism' look like a group of pretentious cunts. Bill Maher could use an attitude adjustment as well. I just hate being put in a group of any kind, it's not what atheism is. Stephen Fry is a super understanding guy, he's somebody with a respect for everybody. George Carlin is another fantastic person with some amazing points about religion and society in general.
Okay Stephen Fry on Catholicism, from the Intelligence Squared debate. - YouTube Here is Stephen Fry arguing against Catholicism
But Pac, its true that nobody is forced to believe. We have freedom of religion and its your choice. Grunt was just stating the belief. In our Christian belief, if you dont believe that Jesus Christ came as the son of God, lived a perfect life, and died for the sins of humanity then you go to hell. Thats the Christian belief, passive aggressive or not. At Matty, Christianity cant be sigled out as Catholicism. I am a "Baptist" you would say and I disagree with most of the Catholic practices. I just try to follow what the Holy Bible says. It says that through faith in and forgiveness in Jesus Christ, you get the ticket to God. It tells me to pray to Jesus or God, and thats it. There is no passage that tells me to pray to any "saints" whatsoever. Nor does it say I should confess my sins to some random guy I dont know. You pray for forgiveness to Jesus alone. I also disagree with the Wealthy persona of the Catholic church. All of the Gold lampstands and such, church isnt a place to show off or be flashy. Learn and worship God, thats simple.
It's my belief any Christian is delusional, strongly possibly an idiot, and cholesterol in the veins of society. You're not forced to believe that though. I also believe that if Islam were true (which is equally as provable to the Islamic as Christianity is to Christians) a Christian would burn in hell for not praising Allah.
Except that the Baptist sect of Christianity is even more fundamentalist in regards to taking the Bible literally (which has all sorts of issues tied in). However, they are not the hypocrites that "pick and choose" what parts of the Bible they want to like. The Baptist denomination also has these guys in right? .
At Transhuman: Okay, but I wouldnt insult you for not believing what I do. Edit: at berb, Those people are crazy okay. Thats the problem I have. People who dont believe can take a group of rapist Catholics (not saying they all are) or some people like these in the video and then automaticly stereotype all christians with that. Now I believe Homosexuallity is wrong, thats personal belief not meant to be debated in this thread, but I in no way think those people are right for doing that. Thats what makes us look bad. I attend a small baptist church here in west Texas, and none of the members would condone gay bashing of any type, especially at a funeral.
You just said the divine creator of the universe thinks I'm so inferior to you that he made it so that you could live "forever and ever and ever" in the clouds thinking about all the cucumbers being shoved up my ass while you sip ice-tea. If that's not an insult to me, then I'm going to take all the lobbying Christians do to hinder gays from being married as an insult to me.
Actually no. No human is inferior to any other in these terms. Its my "Belief" that there is only one way to heaven.
Hitchens says this a lot and i stand by it. I'm not in the conversion business, i'm in the thinking business. If you can just get one person to open their mind, it is worth it. I would still like anyone who considers themselves religious to answer this question; 'do you think morality or human solidarity are innate in the human species or are they gifts from a supernatural deity?' It's ultimately the core question in the entire argument about god, and it's a shame that most of you have missed it.
I believe the same as Zombie does, you are not forced to go to any religion, you always have a choice. For us we believe "God" is real, for other people you might believe "Nirvana" is real, or "Allah." It's hard to prove anything, all you need to do for your religion is let you mind walk you through that path it sets.
I just think you develop your own morals as you develop and grow. Its affected on how you are raised and many influences you come across as you move through your life.
Really bad thing to say to somebody who studies physics. Since the dawn of modern civilization man has disproved religion. Now today everybody is an atheist. Everybody has gods in which we no longer believe. The ancient Greek gods, the Mayan gods, the Egyptian gods. Now there are just a few gods, all saying they are the one god. And now we know so much about the universe, about the origin of complex life.