Are Christians afraid?

[BodaciousB]

hello everyone!
i was a regular poster at no-god.com but the activity on that site is low, very low!

so low and behold, a google search for "atheist forums" landed me here.

i do feel quite left out here though! you see, all these posts here have so many things i have comments for, but the comments are 4 and 5 pages long! my comments, allthough original are long since expired.

for my first post i will post an observation of mine.

recently i have been lisetning to christian talk radio. Yeah i know! boring stuff! this new hobby of mine was brought on laying in bead one night.. i was flipping though the tv channels and i landed on a christian channel with a guy talking about evolution.

the guy on tv was talking about national geographic's article on bacteria evolving to be immune to medication. the article was showing 50 cells, 1 red one and the rest white. upon being exposed to an anti-biotic, the 49 white died, and the red one lived on and reproduced to make 50 red cells. thus, making the species immune to the anti-biotic! the article stated "this behavioer is the best known proof of evolution."

the guy said that that very article proves evolution wrong! because that red cell was allready immune to the anti-biotic! i hit the floor laughing, and when the host of the show turned to the man and said "that proves it right there," i thought my lungs were about burst.

i dont want this post to lead toward evolution, like all the other ones! this is just the story of how i came to listen to christian radio.

christian radio is the perfect option for me. on the rare occasion that i do land in church, i always feel the need to give a speech... allthough i have not at a church, the urge is there to jump up on stage and grab the microphone. i cant do that with a radio!!!!

listining to this chrisian radio, i have noticed that the religion is based on CONSTANT threats. threats of unhapiness and unfullfilment in life, and even worse, eternal damnation after your death.

every 3rd segment on the radio is how to defend you religion agenst atheists and scientists(usually makes for a hillarious show, also, see the above evolution example.)

they reference everything in the bible as "Truths." not only do they claim that there perable(or bible story, like noah's ark) is true, they must call it a truth instead of a parable. there trying to beat this stuff into your minds. they seem to think that upon questioning, you will find falacy in the "truth". i cant imagine why they would think that!!

not only that, in between each segment, they hit you up for money!!!

it seems to me that the religion thrives on threats. and the church is afraid of loosing to atheism.

*this is more of a rant than an article, i will post many articles in the future =)

[Rhinoqulous]

Welcome, BodaciousB. Enjoy our fair forum. I too enjoy watching religious tv from time to time, especially Jack Van Impe.

Rhinoq

[Little Earth Stamper]

American religions are afraid of losing to other religions (Which includes other sects in their religion), which is why they don't mention them.

Atheists make up a minority of American citizens and have pretty much no power over policy.

The reason the right-wing religious machine atacks us so often is that we are easier to attack.

With an atheist, you can bring up things like moral reletivism. Most people haven't thought hard about moral reletivism, and why it's a silly argument.

But what about the Quakers? What if you have a liberal Christian sect that says we shouldn't give money to Televangelists? Those liberals worship the same god, read the same book. Their morals aren't reletivistic, but are based on scripture. Often, their interpretations of scripture make more sense then those of the talk-show guys.

There is no effective attack against Christian enemies.

Thus, the most effective way to keep sucking money out of your congregation is to talk about atheists, and when you absolutely must bring up liberal religious people, link them to atheists.

It's a way to keep power.

[Advocatus Diaboli]

Another thing they have always done is make it look like they are the ones being persecuted - like atheist humanists have all this power when we really have zilch.

You can look at something Franklin said to see this has been going on for some time:

"If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Romish church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. These found it wrong in the Bishops, but fell into the same practice themselves both here [England] and in New England."

[GodlessHeathen]

Another thing they have always done is make it look like they are the ones being persecuted - like atheist humanists have all this power when we really have zilch.

You can look at something Franklin said to see this has been going on for some time:

"If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Romish church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. These found it wrong in the Bishops, but fell into the same practice themselves both here [England] and in New England."
I get the feeling that you're a big Benjamin Franklin fan. Me, too.

[Advocatus Diaboli]

I am a fan of almost all the "key" founders. If I had to pick one above the others, I would pick Jefferson. But Franklin was more modern and more approachable (and perhaps more clever).

If I could pick someone to bring into the world today - to talk with - of all of them, I would pick Franklin. I have actually imagined me showing off the modern world to him to see what he would have to say about it. Just so you know, he is somewhat disconcerted riding in an automobile.

[Switch25]

Welcome BodaciousB!!

Hope you enjoy the raving atheist forums, but make sure to post every now and then because it seems that every time someone new comes they don't post after introducing themselves.

[Tenspace]

I am a fan of almost all the "key" founders. If I had to pick one above the others, I would pick Jefferson. But Franklin was more modern and more approachable (and perhaps more clever).

If I could pick someone to bring into the world today - to talk with - of all of them, I would pick Franklin. I have actually imagined me showing off the modern world to him to see what he would have to say about it. Just so you know, he is somewhat disconcerted riding in an automobile.
I had the same problem with Jesus. He kept screaming and running in circles, babbling about Silver Bird, Silver Bird! every time an airplane flew overhead.

Ten

[GodlessHeathen]

I am a fan of almost all the "key" founders. If I had to pick one above the others, I would pick Jefferson. But Franklin was more modern and more approachable (and perhaps more clever).

If I could pick someone to bring into the world today - to talk with - of all of them, I would pick Franklin. I have actually imagined me showing off the modern world to him to see what he would have to say about it. Just so you know, he is somewhat disconcerted riding in an automobile.
I'm a fan of almost all of them, too. However, my favorite would be Franklin. He always kind of seemed to me to be the "cool old guy" among the founders.