Intolerance about religion

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Ha, ha, I didn't think seeing things in black and white, no inbetweens was an aspie thing. English aspies are different and see grey as well. No, sorry, English people are different.

Correct.

Not everything is, but a few things are. So the mistake most often made is not believe there is black and white, good and evil, right and wrong, etc, but rather incorrect attribution of right and wrong to situations. Those funeral-picketing religious nuts are nothing short of abhorrent and dispicable, and this hatred would be appropriate if directed at Neo-Nazism. See, there is a proper place of hatred, and that is toward evil things. That evil things are not mistaken for good things and vice versa is, of course, absolutely crucial.

But yes, there is a time to hate and a time to love.


Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

In terms of good/evil, I tend to think there is a dichotomy rather than grey areas. Either a thing is good or it is evil, and any number of factors may be involved in making the distinction. E.g. Killing--indeed, all death--is wrong or the result of evil in the world. Of that there is no question. The question within human interaction is with whom the fault lies. Was causing a person's death unnecessary? Then the blame lies with the person committing murder. Was a person's death the result of threatening or menacing behavior towards others? Then the dead has only himself to blame for forcing the innocent into a defensive position. But in neither case is death considered a "good thing." I like the term "an unfortunate necessity" for when causing harm to someone happens when someone is under duress and feels there is no alternative.

What happens is that more situations end up being extremely complex, with various proportions of interwoven positives and negatives influencing the outcome. Thus all grey areas are really just dangerous mixes of rights and wrongs in which no participant can rightly be said to be justified. For me, I'd rather just pick a side and live with the certainty of the outcome for better or for worse rather than throw darts blindfolded and hope for the best.

You quote Scripture almost as well as the Devil.

ruveyn

Their is always going to be intolerence to religion and vice versa diversty makes life fun and interesting.

I think saying that "You're going to burn in hell for eternity!" is mostly used passively among religious people. They probably don't really contemplate the horror of what that would mean, and if they do and they completely lack sympathy for the person who they believe is going to hell then that would label them as a sociopath, and sociopaths have traits that are probably against their religion. It's like saying that you want to stab someone in the face. You might be exaggerating your feelings or it might seem like a pleasing idea in your mind, but if you actually did it you'd probably feel pretty bad about it. Indifference to people going to hell is a result of psychological defense mechanisms. People choose a dogma to believe in to protect themselves from the fear of death, and they repress details from within that dogma because they can't handle it. Everyone is driven by psychological defense mechanisms and selfish desires to some extent. People remain ignorant and apathetic until they are able to overcome these things.

Hey, as long as they're not hurting anyone or trying to push their crap on anyone else people can believe in whatever fairytale nonsense they want IMO.

What else has he told you?

I agree.

That was tolerance until you got to the end.

"IMO" is not "tolerance?"

Tolerance means you let people do something. It doesn't mean that you like it, agree with it, accept it as legitimate, or fail to act against it. I tolerate Christianity. I also think it's fairytale nonsense at best and a creeping, communicable mental disease at worst. As long as I continue to recognize my fellow human beings' rights to be Christian, however, I am tolerant. Saying it's about as sane as believing in flying unicorns that conjure miraculous toasters is just expressing my belief thereupon.

forced prayer in school will most likely decelerate the religiosity of our youth. It will not solve why some kids with corrupted values (or values-free to begin with) take the lives of others.

As an atheist who is inextricably connected to religious culture (because family is important to me), I just have a problem with the concept that some religious people seem to have that people who are, in their eyes, sinning, need to be aware of the disapproval of the people who believe they are sinning, because this serves the greater good.

I'm an atheist and a relativist. My observation of the universe tells me that it is most likely that there is no supernatural at all, but i understand that not everybody comes to the same conclusion, and that some people lead better lives when they have a system of belief that is founded in what i perceive to be fiction. I understand that their belief is as strong or stronger than mine, and respect their right to believe things.

I just wish they'd respect my right to believe different things.