Everyday I see the number of religious preachers grow in my town. You cannot walk 500 meters without coming across one. A christian preacher there, a muslim preacher in another place, it is so annoying. It doesnt matter how much I tell them how much I dont care and that I am happy with my own belief, they never learn.

The Christian fundie preacher: "You will go to hell at the end of days if you dont repent! Embrace gods and jesus' love."
My answer: "Hypocrite. You speak of love but promote hate against non-believers."

The Islamic preacher: "Allah is almighty. Islam is the only right way. Feel Allah and embrace Islam or feel his wrath and go to hell."
My answer: "When you speak of wrath, it means violence committed by pseudo-Muslim extremist and you never know if your path might be wrong. By the way, you people know me by the term "mushrik" (polytheist) and should know that we are the exact opposite of manipulatable."
His answer: "Mushrik! Second greatest sin! You will go to hell!"
I just tell him to fuck off.

It is like this at least five times a week.

Question for fundies: Do you ever learn? Do you ever give up? And how are you so confident that your religion is the only true one?

Question for normal people: How do you see this?

people are people, enough said

What Draruto states is correct. 'People are people.' It is stereotypical to believe that all Christians, and all Muslims are Bible/Quran knockers and deliberately demean people just because they don't believe what they themselves do. This is not true by any means.

Example: I myself am a Christian. Well, like any general person who doesn't believe in what I believe in, they're going to think "Well, whippty-doo for you." And that's fine with me. I don't really have a notion on what people think of me for being a Christian. Now, I am not a preacher of my religion, I am simply a follower of it. Therefore, I will still say from presonal experience, that it is, again, stereotypical to believe all preachers of any religion are people who just sit on their ass and yell about how evil you are for not converting (on the spot, or at all). I personally stay away from these people/types of preachers, simply because what they are doing is wrong. It is, like you stated, hypocritical for them to "curse" everyone else and not openly share their own faults and such. Hell, it even states in the Bible itself not to do that. In otherwords, they are sinning just for the way they are acting. Matthew 7:3-5 states “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

Pretty clear. I don't doubt the Quran has something similar.

That doesn't mean people can't preach. If someone is sincere and conducts the Bible (in my case, since I am a Christian) to help with everyday challenges, then yeah, it's good. When some Christians say it is better to preach with conviction, they don't understand what that means. For me, if I go to church and listen my pastor preach about whatever he may be preaching about at the time, then I will tend to feel conviction. He doesn't sit there and go on a tyrade about how this is wrong and that's wrong, and I better be good and tell others to be good or Satan's gonna come and eat them up, or whatever. No, if he did that I would say the same thing you did. I'd call him a hypocrite, and think of him as a crazy person who needs to seriously reset his thinking. He doesn't do that though, because it's obvious that preaching to people to make them fear Hell and convert right then and there, "or else", is not the right way. I feel conviction to do what is right (in just a general sense) when I listen to my pastor apply the Bible to just daily incidents. (It also reassures me to know that he has a good head on his shoulders and has a Doctorates Degree. Most small time pastors, much less people who just yell bullshit out on the street, don't have any such credintials.)

The people you speak of are giving their religions a bad name. That's really all there is to it.

First off. I never said all Christians or all Muslims. That is just you putting words in my mouth that I didnt say. Second off, your last point is how I put it with the answer towards the Islamic preacher (pseudo/wannabe muslim). A true muslim/christian actually knows their religion and sticks to its real principles and not to things they dont know (like preaching, picketing, acts of violence).

I apologize for my inadverent assumption. I believe what was confusing was the vagueness of your clarification between "fundies" and "normal people." (I was under the influence that you were stating all Christians/Muslims to be "fundies", and all "normal people" to be otherwise.) I apologize, as it seems it was not the case.

Also it seemed you mentioned you were a polytheist. May I ask what religion you follow, or is it more of just a belief for you? I'm just curious. Studying religions in college, so I've become more interested in different religions.

It isnt exactly a belief for me but I have my own interpretation of its morals. I believe in the pre-islamic gods and goddesses such as Al Manat, Al-Lat, Nasr, Al Uzza, Manaf, Bakr etc. There are many of us but only few organized groups. As in normal people, I mean liberal/moderate christians and muslims as well as pagans, buddhists, daoists, animists etc. I am by pagan terms very traditionalist or conservative, maybe even a pagan fundie but you cannot compare a pagan fundie to a christian fundie since they have two different world views. One lives out his religion every day without causing harm, the other bitches to unbelievers sometimes causing harm.

Here's what I do when sick of them; quote a verse like Mr. Crow's in their face and watch their reaction. Rinse and repeat. Don't argue, just repeat the verse. Then when you get tired of it shake your head and answer with all the disgust you can muster; "You are an, evil, evil man and you will repent for your sins in hell." then walk away. Once around the corner proceed to burst out in laughter.

You must know these people are often not the most intelligent of guys and will try to argue their way around it desperately instead of ignoring you as they should. It's a pretty good troll.

People are people; there's no need to take them all seriously.

In Christianity, it says to promote God and help people find truth in his word.

As a Christian, I try to show people how great my god is, but I truly don't mind if they don't believe in him. If they say "You're God sucks, go to Hell!" kind of thing, of course I'll defend Him. But if they simply state "I respect you for what you believe in, but I can't believe that", then I respect them. I have many atheist and agnostic friends, as well as a Buddhist and Hindu friend.

If I were the perfect Christian, I would force my religion on them, cast out my brother as a Hell-bound homosexual, and send most of my friends to Hell.

Believe what you like, my roleplay friend.

Haha.
Interesting...most seem to be Christians who are posting (beside one and Anhii).
Can't break the pattern can i?

I too am a Christian. I agree with both of my fellow Christians.
I feel as though I need to share my faith. For me it is simply this:

If you found out something absolutely amazing (Like the cure for cancer or something) and it would save lives, would you stay silent?

For me it is a definate no. You see, if I didn't share my faith I would consider myself very selfish. On the other hand it definately depends on how it is done. I prefer to do it one on one with those that are willing to listen. Obviously in your case, some one telling you about God is not going to change your opinion as of now, so it will not be helpful. I think Christians should always be aware of whether or not the conversation will drive the person towards or away from Christ.

Also you asked how you can know your religion is the one true one. For me there is a lot of proof. If you are genuinely interested checkout www.creation.com. It has lots of compeling evidence, also the Bible of cource. I know alot of people say it is unreliable, however there are so many different witnesses that wrote that one book (way over three, which is what you need in a court of law). Not many other religious books can say as much. The Dead Sea scrolls also helped show the accuracy. The Bible was written over two thousand years ago (most people agree with this I believe). It has stayed the same, in between 1947 and 1956people found the old scrolls and they were 99% accurate (sometimes small words like "the" and "and" were re-arranged, meaning was still the same). This helps prove that the Bible is still the same as when it was written, which is pretty amazing. If you want to look into this as well checkout:
http://www.centuryone.com/25dssfacts.html


I also just want to say sorry about your experience, while the person my not be meaning to, obviously they have offended and annoyed you, so yeah sorry that that happened.

Shané, could I ask you something? How would you experience it if say an atheist walked up to you and starts yelling in your face "You're living in a lie! You're wasting your life! I've come to rescue you from the deceit of the church! I will hand you the truth that shall set you free!"

We're assuming this guy would have the best intentions, having found a 'cure' for the 'fear' of the afterlife he wants to share this. He also sincerely believes the non-existence of any kind of god is the truth and sees all theists as people who are being lied to.

Would you feel comfortable with him standing on the streets yelling like that? Would you like it if a guy like that came to your door, insisting on convincing you that all you believe in is wrong? Wouldn't you feel offended? 'cause y'know, that would be exactly the same thing as these preacher guys are doing for non-Christians. I'm not going to argue with you what the truth actually is (can only see so many religion vs. science debates before getting sick of them) but I thought I'd clear that up.

I'm fine with it if people actually ask me if they can have a talk and bring it in an original way (also not condemn me to burn.) I've spoken with people like that and it was quite interesting in order to learn and discuss different philosophies. To those extents I'm willing to talk. If I ever 'see the light' I would convert on my own terms. However people must respect a no and don't make me feel like I'm wasting my time talking to them. That's pretty much the whole point of this topic.

Well this wasnt supposed to be a religion vs science debate in the first place. More like religion in general. It is true that people dont like it to be yelled in their face and these people who try to force their own religion on others by yelling at them are blankly stupid. Something like that would be absolutely against my belief. I believe in helping others and respecting those who show at least some respect towards me. Surely its defend the existence of the religion but we dont really need converts for that. Most of our families have at least three children. If someone takes interest in my belief then I shall tell them, but it is their choice if they want to convert. No one is forcing them or scaring them into believing. I avoid judging someone in a negative way unless it is meant in a good way (such as telling someone that they shouldnt get angry so easily). I would rather just do the positive judgements. Even though an atheist, Kestrel is a highly respectable person. I havent read enough from the others to read out their good or bad qualities.

Aniihya wrote: Even though an atheist, Kestrel is a highly respectable person.

That's pretty tactless, Aniihya. Consider the sentence again, it could be taken in the wrong way.

Anyway, lots of preaching in this thread.

I don't mind preaching, because I know they don't have evidence. If they said "Look, here's God. Standing next to me. He's made out of a metal/moondust alloy that defies everything we know about physics and, by the science, shouldn't exist and defies logic and laws of matter and such. It is also sentient and can answer any question before you can ask it, oh and it can create anything you can imagine just to prove it further. Look, God's just made a bonsai tree out of cheese. Decorated with tinsel. And unicorn horns."

That would be a good example of proof.

As of yet, though, they still haven't done anything to prove what they say is true. Which means it isn't true. That's how the world works.

If I say I can fly and start screaming that everyone in the street is going to eternal damnation for the rest of forever because they wont let me whisper in their ear the secret to human flight, they'd say "prove it, a-hole" and I'd be all "you just gotta believe!!! BELIEVE MAN!"

And they'd pan my head in with big heavy books.

About aeroplanes.

Okay then I will rephrase the sentence. "There are many atheists who do not really care about the whole argument or at least approach it rationally like Kestrel. And then there is the evangelical atheist who "preaches" his atheism to other people calling them morons because they have a religion although that type of atheist is a moron himself, like you Sheoul." Just look how disrespectful you are to others in the creationism vs. evolution thread. Then you got owned by Nemo who proved that facts dont constantly change. Do you follow?

By the way, what you just said, I can say about an atheist. You have no proof that there are no gods. You only have proof that the bible and quran are wrong. Luckily I am neither a Christian or a Muslim.

Now enough with the douchebaggery. Either we handle this in a civilized manner or I will let this thread be closed.

Hey guys, can you do me a favour and leave my name outta this? I don't identify myself with the label atheist; I just happen to believe there is no such thing as a higher power. This belief doesn't determine my identity, so I can't say I care about anything supposedly tactless. What does bother me is being used as an excuse for mudslinging and comparisons.

Fine with me.

I don't typically get involved in this kind of thing usually because I see it degenerate into pointless name calling or one bashing the point of view of another.
I am a Christian and don't believe in preaching it.
If you want to know what I believe that is wonderful I'm happy to share it with you but I also believe the only converts are willing converts.
I believe differently than alot of people in organized religion though.
In that I believe not one religious sect has all the answers.
I've taken bits from the different religions and applied them to my own belief system.
I won't go into it further but it's good to see that this thread has been kept to the spirit intended.
Kudos to the OP and most everyone that has posted.

Aniihya wrote:By the way, what you just said, I can say about an atheist. You have no proof that there are no gods.

Burden of proof is on the person making the claim, Aniihya.

Only a moron would just accept anything as truth without any proof to back it up, especially considering all the evidence to the contrary.

Kestrel wrote:I don't identify myself with the label atheist; I just happen to believe there is no such thing as a higher power.

Not to cause offence, but that's exactly what Atheist means. It means the opposite of Theist, it's from latin or greek, the A denoted the lack of theism. It's not some label, it's a word that defines the lack of belief in a higher power.

Just an irk.

I'm very aware of what the word means. In fact it is even stronger than you describe. Moreso than lacking a belief, the atheist believes high powers do not exist, never have existed and never will exist. In other words; the atheist believes the exact opposite of the theist.

Regardless of definitions; my point is that I don't feel spoken to when someone addresses 'atheists.' Let's make a comparison; If someone addresses 'all atheists' it's usually the same as a girl saying "Men are insensitive dicks!" You don't reply to that with "No YOU suck, you woman-person!" You prolly know damn well whether she's saying this about you or another individual or group. In the latter case(s) I call it the 'all men are assholes except you-syndrome' and when you think about it it is just that. We know this and don't get offended by this (or at least I hope you don't) because as we entered puberty and began struggling with our identity; it was forced to grow past "I'm a boy" or "I'm a girl." If the same girl, give or take 15 years ago told you "All boys are stupid." you might have been immensely offended and thrown a fit.

I don't derive who I am from being an atheist, or a guy. They influence the final product, sure, but are not my entire being. Therefore I do not feel spoken to, which is my point.

Well, Sheoul. Only a moron radical atheist would bash religion, just because even some people do not need proof for spirituality. In my case it is different than what you hear from Christians. I do not need to see the gods to say that they are there, I know that they are there and there is no proof against it. There is no proof that there are gods but there isnt any proof that there are no gods. There is only proof that the bible is horribly wrong in many aspects. But someone who believes in a deity is no moron until he tries to force this on someone else. You are trying to force your opinion of atheism onto me by calling me an idiot and making statements that make you look like a hypocrite.

PS: If you check sites on the internet about if there is a god or no god, you will only find atheist sites only showing proof against Christianity and Islam. But the arguments they make wouldnt apply to polytheism. Since some polytheist religions do not believe in omnipotent gods but rather in influential gods who have the ability to influence things that happen but not control them.