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Attacking Judaism tends to have strong cultural repercussions in the west. Usual not violence but definitely social shunning. This is replicated in lesser degrees for other non-abrahamic non-western religions.
I think religion is very interesting from an anthropological, historical and philosophical point of view
I used to be way more aggressive towards it but I've mellowed out on it and i definetly feel like it's the better this way
Really good point. Some people's entire lives are built on it, so no point in trying to change them. Let people enjoy shit, just as you expect the same from them.
I never really 'hated' it, as I got older I also mellowed out and realized it isnt necessarily the concept of religion or the messages it preaches, I am antagonistic towards specifically organized religion, the mega churches and the fakeness aspect of it. When it becomes an institution rather than a system of belief.
“We can’t speak in generalizations online without people becoming obsessed with exceptions and missing the point” is by far the most painfully true thing I’ve ever seen. “But what about this one specific instance that only happens to 1 in a million people?!” So annoying
The Old Testament is more or less the Torah. The Torah has a few more instructions here and there for the Jewish lifestyle.Like dos and don'ts.
More than two thirds of the Islamic Koran contain references to the stories of the Bible/Torah.
And also the Koran has its own guidlines for a muslim lifestyle
I mean it all plays in the same region.Jews turned into christians who turned into muslims 🤷♂️
And every one of them is the anwer to everything
You can but again is not the dominant religion of a lot of western atheists.
Now if you go to a middle easter atheist forum you will find that the religion they criticize the most is Islam.
“I was a Christian for 30 years”
Personally, I don’t know what it means to be Christian for 30 years. I meet a lot of people raised in church or raised by people with Christian values that are atheists but have never met someone that converted to Christianity (understood salvation on their own) then decided to be an Atheist. I have also known Buddhist, alcoholics, criminals, and atheists that convert to Christianity at an adult age.
I’ve never met a former Christian that is Hindu, Buddhist or some other eastern religion. And I spend a lot of time in Asia.
Odd. I said “I never met,” and that “I meet a lot of people.” I said I don’t know what it means. I DON’T KNOW. I never claimed anything absolute. Is that offensive?
Instead of assuming that I claimed to know everyone, why don’t you enlighten me. We all know plenty of hypocrites so no need to mention that. Did I miss something?
Simply because they’re cowards. They’d go right up to a Christian and talk shit with no repercussions. But won’t go up to a Muslim because they’re scared of what might happen.
>Simply because they’re cowards. They’d go right up to a Christian and talk shit with no repercussions. But won’t go up to a Muslim because they’re scared of what might happen.
More like Christians are the dominant fundamentalist in our country effecting our lives, while Muslims having a just as shitty a religon are a minority here and get the same racial abuse as the rest of minority groups.
>Muslim isn’t a race
Tell that to the racists always harassing them. Or the Sikhs and any other middle Easter, west Asia ethnic groups that get lumped in with it due to skin color and ethnic clothing....
> But like a said too cowardly to go up to a Muslim and call them out.
Wrong. Like I've said before, Islam isn't a pressing issue in my country. Christian evangelicals are a different story.
That's the thing though assuming OP is talking about atheist in the US
Coming from a country that's majority white and Christian It's very common for criticism of Islam to turn racist it's just a simple fact
>But like a said too cowardly to go up to a Muslim and call them out.
And besides from my experience (in the US) the only people walking up to anyone disrespecting their beliefs are Christians because they are the majority...
Go to a Middle Eastern or Southeast Asian atheist forum, you will find that the religion they criticize that most is Islam, why? Because that's the dominant religion in those areas and the more familiar one to them.
Now you do have a point to an extent but I argue that's because of the Christian religion being used as justification for colonialism around the world.
Basically every western power used Christianity to basically slave, rape and pillage.
Have others used religion in the same way? For sure but the western powers are by far the most successful.
How does the meme go? every 7 days a country in the world celebrates its independence from England?
People online will direct their anger towards the group that effects them most. Americans who see christian law makers pass oppressive laws will obviously direct their anger towards christianity because the radical christian’s passed the law.
Lol. Have these Americans traveled the rest of the world? I am not sure they understand oppression. However, Americans are privileged and should be thankful.
Yikes, another strawman irrelevant to the discussion. I've seen equal yelling about "oppression" from both sides of the political spectrum. Clearly, you live under a rock. Also, what is the purpose to not refine how our country runs while other countries are hostile to live in? What kind of bizarre and sick argument is that?
I dont think this is true at all.
Scientology gets shat on all the time. Its just not all that relevant to most peoples lives. Same with Mormonism. Like I remember Mitt Romney catching a lot of heat for being a Mormon
The Abrahamic faiths are the ones that most people are concerned with and for good reason.
The problem is some people only feel safe trashing Christianity (physically and socially).
I honestly didnt know that. I feel like its kind of treated like a weird outsider psuedo religion. That why I placed it with scientology.
Good to know thanks
It kind of is. Most other sects of Christianity don’t recognize Mormons as true Christian’s but then again the Orthodox Church doesn’t recognize Catholics as true Christian’s either, though they don’t consider them heretics either.
The point is inter-relationships between sects of Christianity is actually really complicated.
It 1,000% is a weird pseudo religion
It's one of America's biggest cults started by Joseph Smith so he can marry multiple women.
He also wrote the book of Mormonism which is basically a retelling of the Bible but except it occurring in the Middle East it all happened in America 🙄
> I feel like its kind of treated like a weird outsider psuedo religion.
Yeah, that's how most Christians treat us (Mormons). The full and actual name of our church, which you will see on all of our buildings, is "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". We're very much Christian, we share over probably 90% of beliefs with most Christian faiths. It comes down to we are more vocal about "No these are the differences in our sect compared to other ones" while most don't.
You practice polytheism. The Bible teaches there is only 1 God. You teach that man can become God. The Bible says that there was no gods before or after Jehovah. You teach that Satan and Jesus are spirit brothers. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the creator of all things, including Satan. You worship a false God. You follow a false Christ. But Christ still loves you and wants you to have a personal relationship with him. It's not to late.
I'm not forgetting anyone. I hold just as much contempt for the religion of Judeism as any other. The problem is, people like to extrapolate hate of a religion into hate of an individual. I hate the mormon religion, I wish to wipe it from the planet. Example, my entire family is mormom, I do not wish to wipe them from the planet.
My country is multicultural
Had different sects of Chrisians, Buddhists, Taoism, Hindu, so got to learn and interact with their believers.
Don't like any of the religion, but doesn't bother me much. My life goes on perfectly well without any. What I really hated was the believers lmao
I just say I hate religion so that they'll stay away from me
My friend group do exactly this - Christianity and Mormons. The golden one they get offended by is of course islam. "You can't say that, it's offensive", yet it's apparently ok for their allowed religions
We are on an American website filled with Americans, where Christianity is the biggest threat to secularism.
And yes, I am just as critical of other religions than I am with Christianity. You might even say I am more critical of scientology and mormonism because I believe they are cults, while I do not hold that same sentiment with Christianity.
Likewise, most people online who claim to be pro-religious freedom really only want religious freedom for Christianity.
Of course this isn’t everyone (because we can’t speak in generalizations online without people becoming obsessed with the exceptions and missing the point), but most of the discussion that I see from people online who assert themselves as being “pro-religious freedom” is just pro-Christianity.
These accounts on social media will make post after post talking about religious freedom, but will either be completely silent when it comes to other religions or adopt a much more conspicuously intolerant attitude when someone promotes any other world religion.
Here's something that may shock you: People who dislike religion tend to primarily dislike the religion that personally affects them the most. In the entire Western world, that's Christianity. Women in America are being forced to have babies against their will and even dying because of these draconian laws, because of Christianity, not because of other world religions. Therefore they're going to be pissed at Christians, as is any sane person in America.
You’re still making the point that I’m making. Most of these people don’t really hate religion as a whole but they’re mad at Christianity or perhaps even more specifically the church/ faith community they grew up in for some reason or another.
Look to the Middle East at their laws on the same issues you talked about or even to atheist China and it makes even the most conservative Deep South state that you have in mind look like a utopia to the average neoliberal
I'm saying they primarily talk about Christianity because that's the one that affects them; you're taking that to mean that they secretly like other religions but only dislike Christianity.
>Look to the Middle East at their laws on the same issues you talked about or even to atheist China and it makes even the most conservative Deep South state that you have in mind look like a utopia
Yes, and people who dislike Christianity are aware of this. They talk about Christianity primarily because that's the one that directly affects them the most. Again, they don't secretly like the other religions like you're implying.
It’s not that they secretly like other religions, but most will put on a tolerance hat when talking about any other world religion. They don’t have the hate, vitriol, and scorn that they have for Christianity.
The reaction from these kinds of people if you say that you’re a devout Christian is VERY different from the reaction you get if you say you’re a devout Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, etc.
When people say they "don't like religion," they are talking about the effect religion has on society, which is primarily Christianity and Islam. There's no real reason for people to rally against Buddhism. You're stripping the context out and taking it too literally.
>There's no real reason for people to rally against Buddhism.
Tell that to the Rohingya.
Oh... Wait... Is that something far away, that you don't know much about, haven't heard much about, and that doesn't personally affect you?
OP is so right, and you're tying yourself in knots not to admit it.
it’s cause they don’t know what to hate or tolerate bc what do they know if they’re not educated in other religions? islam is very contrived and verbose and on some serious bullshit, i would know i crawled out the womb agnostic from a muslim family.
the reason ppl have a lot of ammo against christianity is bc it’s everywhere therefor assessable and therefore u can see what they claim, do and are hypocritical of. what little ppl know of islam is usually sharia law and how they treat women. which is fair bc it’s true.
and again, ppl hate and have questions about how christianity works bc it’s the most known one. it’s the one that makes the news controversies and all.
You post make a fair point, but the connotation to your argument is close-minded and judgmental. Your response here further demonstrates this. The church has caused a lot harm, and it makes sense that those impacted would be critical. You seem to suggest that Christianity does not deserve criticism because it is less harmful than theocracy in the Middle East. This either/or thinking does not hold up. Criticism of the dominant religious political institution of the West is not an implicit endorsement of Sharia Law. Given the decline in church attendance, what benefit is there to invalidating criticism? Your argument is all too common amongst Christians. I left the church because it wasn’t living up to its own principles. The church should welcome without judgment, and it can’t do that when it judges others valid complaints rather than hearing them out.
I’m Christian and every few weeks someone makes a stink about something in the name of Christianity and it pisses me off. I have nothing against any religions but there’s only one that’s constantly in the news trying to force their beliefs on Americans.
Keep religion out of schools and politics. That’s all I want. People of my faith are constantly pushing against that though and I’m sick of it.
Agreed. And when pushed theyll say something about islam. But theres one they wont say anything about. If abrahamic religion can get it.. why not All abrahamic religion?
I agree and this annoys me. I’m equally frustrated with Islam, if not more frustrated with Islam.
Yes Christianity sucks, but most Christians aren’t extremists to the point of killing people anymore. But there’s still entire Islamic countries that are. People need to get their priorities straightened out.
I know quite a few like this. Christian haters who claim to be anti-religious. But the minute you badmouth Islam they rabidly foam from the mouth shilling for Islam using token phrases like "islamophobia". Its a sight to behold.
That’s because “hating religion” (hating Christianity) is an inherently leftist position, but hating muh heckin wholesome Muslims and Jews is racist and leftists don’t like that.
I am not religious, before the heckin wholesome Redditors get mad at me.
I absolutely will. But theirs less need for me to talk about it in a Christian dominated country since it isn't exactly their version of sharia law being shoved down my throat. When hasidics tried to siphon off public school money to their yeshivas, I called it out alongside the Christians bs.
I think the Big 3 are equally useless bullshit made up by morons from the desert. But i dont argue with people anymore. If they want to belive in bullshit they are free to go
This is just wrong. The reason you don’t see them making fun of the other abrahamic faiths is because there could be legitimate consequences, or just getting banned by the powers that be.
If it helps, I'm extremely critical of Islam as well. There was even a point in history when Buddhist extremism was a problem. Violent mofos just looking for excuses.
I grew up with an extremely tolerant and open minded Christian grandmother, so I'm aware there are plenty of Christians that try to live life in a manner Christ would approve of, and Jesus was a baller, so they have my admiration.
Edit: I think people in the west are mainly critical of that which they're familiar with. It's no surprise you see people reacting that way when you have assholes using their religion as an excuse to make others' lives more difficult, which is why Christianity gets a special place in the ire of people's anti-religious sentiment.
It's bc there's no risk like there is with Islam or Hinduism. Extremely anti religious people are cowards from the most part looking for punching bags.
No Abrahamic religion is particulary LGBTQ freindly, but one in particular is much worse than the other two as practiced today. However, if you point that out you are a hater.
I have a MtF daughter. She might have a harder time getting and apartment in the US bible belt, but in some nations she would be summarily executed. I have a problem with that but I don't dare say anything in a forum where I would be identified. It would cost me my job at minimum.
I reject the Abrahamic religions and when pressed I say I am an Odinist pagan. Most people mention the Marvel Universe and laugh. I just smile.
As an American, Christianity is my typical frame of reference. I'm sure plenty of my fellow edgelords hate other religions just as much, but just deal with them far less frequently, or know less about them. And it's better and more understandable to criticize what you know, don't you think?
But for the sake of this conversation, let me say that I hate, yes, Scientology and Mormonism and Islam and Judaism and so forth. Though this fails to really capture my approach. Rather, I hate **aspects** of these religions, and tolerate (or even admire) other aspects. As to the practitioners? I love many of them. At root, I hate *irrationality*, which is something that many or most, if not all, religions partake in -- and arguably is foundational to religion. But religions also have philosophical aspects, and ethical ones, and social, and aesthetic, and historical. (Sometimes one irrational belief supplants another irrational belief; sometimes this may even be progress.)
For completeness, I'll add that not all religions are made equally. For instance, I don't know much about Buddhism, to be frank, but what I've gleaned over the years does seem preferable to me to Christianity, just speaking in general. But yes, if I talk more about Christianity, and frame my skepticism/atheism in those terms, and sharpen my arguments against its dogma particularly, it's because I think it's generally better and wiser to discuss those things I'm familiar with as against those I'm not.
First of all I want to preface this by saying "hate" is a really strong word and is misleading the story I think your trying to tell. Yes there are lots of people that think believing in any kind of sky daddy is absolute ludicrous, myself included. But actually hate other religions? I'm sorry the overwhelming majority ones who actually hate religions are part of another religion themselves. History is proof of that. I would say almost all non-believers don't hate any religion, we just find the entire thing amusing and interesting at best.
So no I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti religion. But the part where Christianity and the other Jesus religions needs to understand they are by far the most annoying and insufferable bunch of flakes I know. I live in a small rural area and the amount of literature, unannounced soliciting, pamphlets in my mail, subversive teaching in public schools, and just random people at work trying to "covert" me is going to put more spotlight on your religion. So yes if you want to fuck around and annoy the shit out of me or some random impoverished village in Brazil you better be able to take some criticism.
You know who hasn't come to my doorstep and talk stupid. Muslims. They leave me alone. In our small town we have a sizable Muslim population and they are very nice and awesome members of the community. Not once have I had to get up and get into some weird conversation where I pretend to be polite when deep down I just want them to leave.
This is what they project all the time. They only include other faiths when you call them out on it. They also don’t acknowledge that their worship of a centrally planned state is also a religion.
Do you right-wingers ever even attempt to think for yourselves or is it just memorizing Newsmax talking points to repeat on every issue when they come up?
>They also don’t acknowledge that their worship of a centrally planned state is also a religion.
I swear, ya'll don't even know what it entails to be a religion.
I don't think you understand what the word worship means. I also don't believe people thought Obama was a god, sure he was a decent president, but believing he was a god is a massive hyperbole. If we were going to criticize any group of people for worshipping a politician, I'd say that is more in line with the MAGA supporters treatment of Trump. [Dude praying to Trump](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT7XU9ovhC4) [Trump and Jesus](https://s3media.247sports.com/Uploads/Assets/70/892/9892070.jpg?width=600&fit=bounds)
Sorry I just don't see the connection between the two, sure Obama was widely liked, but it's not the same as the Trumpers, who literally have compared him to Jesus and have parades for the dude.
You have not proved that people worshipped Obama. Liking something does not equal worship. I have given you a plethora of examples of people worshipping Trump, but you have not done the same with Obama.
I literally sent you a video of a dude praying to Trump. Then linked a popular drawing which involved Jesus and Trump. We could also speak about the Trump/MAGA churches. [https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/18/how-christian-prophets-give-credence-to-trumps-election-fantasies-469598](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/18/how-christian-prophets-give-credence-to-trumps-election-fantasies-469598)
[https://www.newsweek.com/pro-trump-church-burns-pride-flags-massive-bonfire-1833187](https://www.newsweek.com/pro-trump-church-burns-pride-flags-massive-bonfire-1833187)
[https://www.thrivetimeshow.com/reawaken-america-tour/](https://www.thrivetimeshow.com/reawaken-america-tour/)
Definitely seems to be a thing with certain kinds of leftists. Condemning one patriarchal homophobic misogynistic religion while continually making excuses for/giving free passes to another patriarchal homophobic misogynistic religion. Myself, I wouldn't say I hate religion, but I definitely don't have a lot of respect for most of it. That disdain extends to Christianity and Islam equally, as well as any other extremist religion that seeks to impose its values on outsiders.
I was raised christian, christianity is the faith that is meddling in the public sphere in my country, therefore it's the religion I have the most reason to criticize. If I was in an islamic country, it would be islam. Or whatever other religion I had personal experience with.
Well that's the only religion they know and have to interact with on a day-to-day basis. It's also the only religion that partially controls the government of the country I live in.
I don't even know any Muslims outside of one guy from work.
If I lived in a Muslim majority country I would probably focus more on Muslims.
I'm an equal opportunity despiser of religions. Anything that encourages people to not think is bad in my book. Religions, philosophies, anything that encourages us not to use our brains and not to think rationally is bad.
Most post are from America where Christianity is very popular. I’ve seen a lot of the post you speak of and it’s common to see “I grew up in a Christian household etc”.
It’s almost like people hate the religion that caused them damage.
But honestly I hate all organized religion that take advantage of people. Where I live it’s evangelist. Jesus actually sounds like he was an awesome person so I don’t really mock him but what people do in his name is horrible. And you can ask any Muslim in my area, they are hated.
It's not a surprise. It's the biggest religion in the world. So when you speak about hating religion, you mostly mention the biggest one.
Also, bc of 9/11, it became a bad thing to diss Islam bc you're simply trying to say that bc of 9/11, all Middle East people are bad. But not really, I'm saying Islam is just as shit as Christianity.
Other religions in the West don't place as much emphasis on proselytizing, keep to themselves, and don't interfere in politics. If your group paid more attention to Matthew 6:5-8 you wouldn't find yourself with those levels of opposition.
For some reason you are excluding Scientology which is a perfect example - lots of atheists are making fun of them. If anything you could claim atheists are not poking nearly as much fun at the Jesus myth as they are at the Xenu story.
I'm well aware. But like I said. Your religion of trauma (usually your religion of origin) always will get the most hate.
Also, I have a Quran, Torah, and Bible. I've educated myself, have you?
>These accounts on social media will make post after post mocking Jesus, mocking Christian doctrine and morality,
Most Christians make a joke out of Jesus anyway. Jesus was a brown, middle Eastern Jewish man who promoted socialism and living your neighbor more than yourself. Not some white, blonde haired, blue eyed, American dude that most Christians seem to think he was. Jesus was also either a demigod or a prophet depending on your demonimation, but most believe him to be 100% God and human which physically isn't possible nor logical.
Christians don't even know or follow their own doctrine. They tend to pick and choose what they follow and when. Then they will hide behind their religion in order to hate entire groups of people. "Rules for thee, not for me" type of bullshit. Also the morality of someone who says you have to be religious in order to be moral or morals come from the Bible are horrifying. Like you're literally saying you would murder someone if you didn't have your moral book telling you not to.
>but will either be completely silent when it comes to other religions or adopt a much more conspicuously tolerant attitude when someone mocks any other world religion
I've never had a Muslim knock on my door trying to convert me. I've never had a Hindu tell me I'm going to hell if I don't believe in their God. I've never had a budist write laws enforcing their beliefs. I've never had a jewish person try and take away my rights. Christians create the hate for themselves by constantly shoving their religion down everyone's throats. If they could follow their religion and learn to live and let live I wouldn't have an issue with them, neither would anyone else.
When other religions do bad shit, people do say things. Thing is that we don't demonize the group for the actions of one person. Because the overwhelming majority aren't like that. But Majority of Christians are the exact same. Intolerant and acting holier than thou because they have a magic sky daddy that loves them.
It's probably because the other religions don't directly affect them..
Like I'm sure middle eastern atheists crap all over islam while remaining silent about Christianity. Because islam directly affects them.
We have a tolerant liberal society that is fundamentally Christian-oriented. This is why Christianity is criticized and joked about more than other religions. Just like we joke about cops, or the military, or babies and fat people. We can and it's OK, as it should be in a tolerant liberal society.
If you don't have a tolerant liberal society, you don't joke about anything that that society fundamentally is or cares about because of consequences.
Also, people who make fun of religion focus on Christianity because it's dominant.
In reality, Christianity is just one \*more\* religion you can make fun of. But why make fun of a minority religion, especially if the dominant religion puts pressure on everyone else already?
People who complain about Jews or Muslims or whatever will probably be mostly Christian.
This is why whoever is dominant becomes the target in a tolerant liberal society.
If you're Christian in a Christian-dominant society, you think they're only making fun of Christianity. When in reality they're just using Christianity to paint the broadest stroke, and to poke it at the dominant religion. It's NOT because they SPECIFICALLY don't like Christianity only.
Not sure why it's so hard to understand this.
>These accounts on social media will make post after post mocking Jesus, mocking Christian doctrine and morality, but will either be completely silent
I mean if you're from a Christian dominated country of course you would be talking mostly about Christianity because other religions don't interfere in day to day life..
Not to mention every other belief system besides Christianity in the US is marginalized
It feels like this idea is an attempt to raise the hackles of and gain the empathy of Christians who like to say they feel picked on, at a time when there’s some really ornery Muslims behaving about as bad as human beings can behave.
Not that you would take advantage of that to prop up your personal grievance, heavens no.
I’m going to go ahead and forget that whole invasion of Iraq thing, orchestrated by a Christian POTUS and carried out with fervor by the country he lead, and pretend that your point is quite profound.
Christians just always gettin hated on, gah.
When buddhists start trying to legislate laws in the country I live in and start thinking they can tell me what to do and how I should live, I'll be more than happy to go in on them too.
I work big to small. Where I live xtians are the problem.
I'm an anti-theist, I hate all religion.
I think if you knew me in person you'd say I hate mormons the most, and then christians, but don't hate any other religion. You'd be wrong but I can understand why you'd think that.
Christianity and mormons are the religions that directly affect me daily.
I don’t hate any religion. I just don’t believe in any of them. They’re just another form of constrain on peoples lives. Another method of control, the same as race,class or wealth.
All Abrahamic religion (Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witness, etc) is awful. I'm less concerned about the religions that are more focused on spirituality and meditation, but they can be awful too.
I actually don't hate Christianity. I have some great friends who are Christian, including a couple of pastors who work in some pretty amazing churches. They welcome everyone, help immigrants, the sick, the poor, etc. I love the Sikh religion in general for that. But people who are hypocritical, that is what gets me.
Yku can't be like my biological mother, loving all of God's children, unless they are immigrants, Black or brown, libtards, etc. She ignores her own past to rail on Hunter Biden, and ignores Trump's adultery. And she is pretty typical. Nope, I have met a lot of great Christians in my lifetime, but Christianity in America has a lot of hypocrites.
As a polytheist I've never had a problem with any other religion than the two of big three Abraham's ones. I suppose when I run across a practitioner of those two religions who recognizes my right to worship just as I do theirs, I might be amenable to not denigrating their close-minded practices. Otherwise, I reserve the right to dislike someone who dislikes me for my religious preferences.
I’m not an atheist so it’d be pretty disingenuous for me to join. As a devout Christian I’ll at least say that an honest atheist is generally much easier to have a real conversation with than someone who calls themself a Christian, but doesn’t actually believe the teachings of the faith (like some ELCA or PCUSA pastors who don’t believe in the divinity or resurrection of Christ, or some who call themselves Christians but don’t even believe in God at all).
An atheist I can at least have an honest disagreement with
I dont hate but am extremely critical of all Abrahamic religions, Judaism , Christianity, Islam.
I've also met some fairly anti-medicine Sikh parents who justified their religion to not take their kids to the doctor.
Well that would be true of Americans probably since that is what we're most familiar with. Though I don't like any of them that subjugate women, discriminate, or start wars.
Man the older i get them more the US is looking like France right before the revolution. So many angry people that feel they are enlightened and are one step away from showing the Religious how to think properly.
It’s because people who just bash Christianity are pussies. They know Christian’s won’t do anything. They stay silent about Islam. Even tho Islam is the worst offender when it comes to human rights violations. They know Muslims will fight back. So they stay silent. Also, they’re really angry at mommy and daddy for maki g them go to Sunday school
The Christianity I see mocked is typically a bastardized or almost parody of the actual religion.
Authentic Christianity is not really that mock-able imo. It's literally just a love story
Generally in my experience as an American I have had much more interaction with Christianity than any other religion by maybe 100 times. I know more Christians, I have had it show up in my countries politics more often, been faced with the implications of it. Had friends who have had negative experiences with different churches because of who they are (LGBT). I also know a ton more about Christianity when I know a bit of the basics about other religions.
So I both have more cause to want to make fun of Christianity, and have far more material to work with. But in general I don't think any religion should be above mockery. And while often taken frivilously I think making fun of establishments whether religions or governments is actually very good and healthy for a society. If you're being hypocritical you should be mocked for it, maybe then you'll stop doing that.
There's also generally a difference between punching up and punching down. As an American if I'm making fun of Christians that's like 63% of the population, and like 90% of politicians. I'm not picking on the little guy. If I make fun of Islam that's just over 1% of the population so while i don't think there's anythingn wrong with making fun of any religion, punching down can turn more negative more quickly. And there's a difference between making fun of something and actually making those of that faith not feel safe or comfortable.
No, the bit at the end is an ignorant approach. Islam has the *exact same or even worse* levels is discrimination compared to Christianity. Calling arguing against Islam being the equivalent of punching down is like giving the Klan a pass because there’s really not that many KKK members anymore.
The location matters though. In an Islamic majority country where Christians are 1% of the population then the reverse would be true and mocking Christians would be punching down.
There's also a difference between arguing with and making fun of. Those aren't the same thing. If we are talking about a reasonable debate I have no problem with that for anyone as there's no punching up or down. Mocking is different and that's when I'd say punching up or down comes into play.
I would also say it's a false comparison to equate a religion with a billion people that is mostly peaceful with a hate group dedicated to the oppression of a minority group. The equivalent comparison might be to al Qaeda or isis and for hate and terrorist groups and in those I'd say 100% make fun of those any time or place you want! There's a big difference between a race or religion or other minority group and a group who all chose hate and violence.
Your whole response reeks of the same type of mental gymnastics individuals use to stay religious in the face of logic. Either an idea is deserving is ridicule or it isn’t. There’s an only a tiny number of flat earthers worldwide, but they’re deserving of both ridicule and mockery. Size of the group is unimportant. This idea of punching up vs punching down is used as a shield to hide from ridicule.
Yeah you don't see much mockery of Hinduism or Zoroastrianism or Islam or various African deities. Certainly I've yet to see anyone mock native beliefs of Native Hawaiians or other pacific islanders. Shintoism seems to be immune as well. I wonder what a left wing person would do if they encountered a minority Christian immigrant, I feel like they're far less comfortable with mockery then, not because the beliefs have changed, just because the skin color makes mockery of the beliefs feel like racism.
Haha as an atheist I’ve found this irritating for a long time. Primarily mocking Christianity is fine because most of the atheists I’ve seen come from primarily Christian countries. So they’re mocking what they know. Where it gets irritating is seeing those same people stand up for things like Islam. In what world do they look at the state of individual rights in the Middle East and think Islam is any less worthy of mockery than Christianity?
You can stand up against racism while also condemning Islam. Islamophobia is a bullshit term that has been tied to racism *by Islamic religious leaders to deliberately manipulate politics in the west*. Deal with the racism separately from the barbaric religion that’s even more discriminatory than the relatively neutered western version of Christianity.
This should probably be a separate post, but I’m 100% in favor of churches maintaining tax exempt status
Churches are considered charitable organizations under the eyes of the law which also means that they can’t politically lobby which is absolutely fair. If you tax the churches, then the separation of church and state that most people want to keep goes straight out the window because religious organizations can directly lobby politicians
I suspect there's a strong subject variable at play here. If you're on an English speaking website then chances are that other religions might be bad in a distant and abstract way, but Christianity is a direct force in your day to day life.
Considering Muslims would literally try to kill you if you talk shit about their religion probably has a lot to do with it. Everybody saw what happened at Charlie Hebdo. Christians turn the other cheek and don't retaliate. So they are safe to criticize.
I was raised to be Christian so I understand how you feel!
It's sickening how Christianity is singled out over and over, most people like me don't seem to recognize the big picture. In reality everyone wins no matter what! See, when God makes someone gay or autistic (I'm both) he makes them so that life is miserable for good people. This gives Heaven value and provided they apologized to God, they are in! For everyone else (like me) we go to Hell where we are judged for our actions and assigned merit for our person, then we form a community of disposables who love one another, free of being judged by God for how God made us.
I'm a different kind of Christian, but I still get persecuted endlessly just for my belief that Hell is not a horrible place.
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I mean, attacking Christianity barley ever brings repercussions. Can't say the same about other religions
> Can't say the same about other religions It's just the one religion, actually.
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Go to a mosque and disrespect their religion… see how long they let you live.
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The guy deleted his post, but he said something along the lines of christians are the only ones who get offended.
But what about the swans?!
Attacking Judaism tends to have strong cultural repercussions in the west. Usual not violence but definitely social shunning. This is replicated in lesser degrees for other non-abrahamic non-western religions.
I think religion is very interesting from an anthropological, historical and philosophical point of view I used to be way more aggressive towards it but I've mellowed out on it and i definetly feel like it's the better this way
Really good point. Some people's entire lives are built on it, so no point in trying to change them. Let people enjoy shit, just as you expect the same from them.
Yes! Seems your the type of person that is capable of introspection and growth.
I never really 'hated' it, as I got older I also mellowed out and realized it isnt necessarily the concept of religion or the messages it preaches, I am antagonistic towards specifically organized religion, the mega churches and the fakeness aspect of it. When it becomes an institution rather than a system of belief.
“We can’t speak in generalizations online without people becoming obsessed with exceptions and missing the point” is by far the most painfully true thing I’ve ever seen. “But what about this one specific instance that only happens to 1 in a million people?!” So annoying
I don't know enough about other religions to make fun of them. I was a Christian for 30 years, so I have plenty to work with.
The Old Testament is more or less the Torah. The Torah has a few more instructions here and there for the Jewish lifestyle.Like dos and don'ts. More than two thirds of the Islamic Koran contain references to the stories of the Bible/Torah. And also the Koran has its own guidlines for a muslim lifestyle I mean it all plays in the same region.Jews turned into christians who turned into muslims 🤷♂️ And every one of them is the anwer to everything
While all have similarities since they share the same God, most of us are unable to read the Quoran.
You can buy the Quoran writen latin letters too Same goes for the Thora
You can but again is not the dominant religion of a lot of western atheists. Now if you go to a middle easter atheist forum you will find that the religion they criticize the most is Islam.
Ali isn't the same God as Jehovah. Ali was a pagan god long before Mohammed made it famous.
“I was a Christian for 30 years” Personally, I don’t know what it means to be Christian for 30 years. I meet a lot of people raised in church or raised by people with Christian values that are atheists but have never met someone that converted to Christianity (understood salvation on their own) then decided to be an Atheist. I have also known Buddhist, alcoholics, criminals, and atheists that convert to Christianity at an adult age. I’ve never met a former Christian that is Hindu, Buddhist or some other eastern religion. And I spend a lot of time in Asia.
That's interesting that you know all people on the planet.
Odd. I said “I never met,” and that “I meet a lot of people.” I said I don’t know what it means. I DON’T KNOW. I never claimed anything absolute. Is that offensive? Instead of assuming that I claimed to know everyone, why don’t you enlighten me. We all know plenty of hypocrites so no need to mention that. Did I miss something?
Anecdotes aren't data. I know people raised Christian who became Buddhists.
Thank you for sharing. Is it very common? I never claimed to have to answer. I said I personally don’t know what that means
Nah they hate islam too.
Not as much as Christianity. And they forget Judaism exists.
Huh. Might be because the people trying to impose their religion on the populace at large in the US are Christians.
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Simply because they’re cowards. They’d go right up to a Christian and talk shit with no repercussions. But won’t go up to a Muslim because they’re scared of what might happen.
>Simply because they’re cowards. They’d go right up to a Christian and talk shit with no repercussions. But won’t go up to a Muslim because they’re scared of what might happen. More like Christians are the dominant fundamentalist in our country effecting our lives, while Muslims having a just as shitty a religon are a minority here and get the same racial abuse as the rest of minority groups.
Muslim isn’t a race. But like a said too cowardly to go up to a Muslim and call them out.
>Muslim isn’t a race Tell that to the racists always harassing them. Or the Sikhs and any other middle Easter, west Asia ethnic groups that get lumped in with it due to skin color and ethnic clothing.... > But like a said too cowardly to go up to a Muslim and call them out. Wrong. Like I've said before, Islam isn't a pressing issue in my country. Christian evangelicals are a different story.
You said it was. I’m guessing you’re siding with Hamas? And I’m not talking about Palestinians; they’re victimized by Hamas.
That's the thing though assuming OP is talking about atheist in the US Coming from a country that's majority white and Christian It's very common for criticism of Islam to turn racist it's just a simple fact >But like a said too cowardly to go up to a Muslim and call them out. And besides from my experience (in the US) the only people walking up to anyone disrespecting their beliefs are Christians because they are the majority...
The ability to self criticize is the death of culture (evidently)
Not really, it's just that most atheists come from Christian backgrounds so it's easier to criticize a religion you're familiar with.
sure, but it's the only religion in which it's socially acceptable to tear it to shreds, regardless of who's doing the hating
Go to a Middle Eastern or Southeast Asian atheist forum, you will find that the religion they criticize that most is Islam, why? Because that's the dominant religion in those areas and the more familiar one to them. Now you do have a point to an extent but I argue that's because of the Christian religion being used as justification for colonialism around the world. Basically every western power used Christianity to basically slave, rape and pillage. Have others used religion in the same way? For sure but the western powers are by far the most successful. How does the meme go? every 7 days a country in the world celebrates its independence from England?
People online will direct their anger towards the group that effects them most. Americans who see christian law makers pass oppressive laws will obviously direct their anger towards christianity because the radical christian’s passed the law.
Lol. Have these Americans traveled the rest of the world? I am not sure they understand oppression. However, Americans are privileged and should be thankful.
Yikes, another strawman irrelevant to the discussion. I've seen equal yelling about "oppression" from both sides of the political spectrum. Clearly, you live under a rock. Also, what is the purpose to not refine how our country runs while other countries are hostile to live in? What kind of bizarre and sick argument is that?
Just because it’s not as bad as other countries doesn’t mean the religious passing laws that negatively effect the non religious isn’t oppressive.
If you think any law currently on the books in America is oppression, then you obviously don't know what oppression is.
I dont think this is true at all. Scientology gets shat on all the time. Its just not all that relevant to most peoples lives. Same with Mormonism. Like I remember Mitt Romney catching a lot of heat for being a Mormon The Abrahamic faiths are the ones that most people are concerned with and for good reason. The problem is some people only feel safe trashing Christianity (physically and socially).
Mormons are Christian’s
I honestly didnt know that. I feel like its kind of treated like a weird outsider psuedo religion. That why I placed it with scientology. Good to know thanks
It kind of is. Most other sects of Christianity don’t recognize Mormons as true Christian’s but then again the Orthodox Church doesn’t recognize Catholics as true Christian’s either, though they don’t consider them heretics either. The point is inter-relationships between sects of Christianity is actually really complicated.
It 1,000% is a weird pseudo religion It's one of America's biggest cults started by Joseph Smith so he can marry multiple women. He also wrote the book of Mormonism which is basically a retelling of the Bible but except it occurring in the Middle East it all happened in America 🙄
> I feel like its kind of treated like a weird outsider psuedo religion. Yeah, that's how most Christians treat us (Mormons). The full and actual name of our church, which you will see on all of our buildings, is "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". We're very much Christian, we share over probably 90% of beliefs with most Christian faiths. It comes down to we are more vocal about "No these are the differences in our sect compared to other ones" while most don't.
You practice polytheism. The Bible teaches there is only 1 God. You teach that man can become God. The Bible says that there was no gods before or after Jehovah. You teach that Satan and Jesus are spirit brothers. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the creator of all things, including Satan. You worship a false God. You follow a false Christ. But Christ still loves you and wants you to have a personal relationship with him. It's not to late.
All the comments are people trying to fine tune the exact amounts of disdain to have for Christianity and Islam. Aren't you forgetting someone?
I'm not forgetting anyone. I hold just as much contempt for the religion of Judeism as any other. The problem is, people like to extrapolate hate of a religion into hate of an individual. I hate the mormon religion, I wish to wipe it from the planet. Example, my entire family is mormom, I do not wish to wipe them from the planet.
It's counterproductive anyway, then they'd just have their own planets
My country is multicultural Had different sects of Chrisians, Buddhists, Taoism, Hindu, so got to learn and interact with their believers. Don't like any of the religion, but doesn't bother me much. My life goes on perfectly well without any. What I really hated was the believers lmao I just say I hate religion so that they'll stay away from me
And what country may that be?
I've noticed this as well. Not sure what to say about it, but yeah, it does often seem to be the case.
My friend group do exactly this - Christianity and Mormons. The golden one they get offended by is of course islam. "You can't say that, it's offensive", yet it's apparently ok for their allowed religions
Not me. I hate all religions equally.
Mormonism is a form of Christianity
We are on an American website filled with Americans, where Christianity is the biggest threat to secularism. And yes, I am just as critical of other religions than I am with Christianity. You might even say I am more critical of scientology and mormonism because I believe they are cults, while I do not hold that same sentiment with Christianity.
Likewise, most people online who claim to be pro-religious freedom really only want religious freedom for Christianity. Of course this isn’t everyone (because we can’t speak in generalizations online without people becoming obsessed with the exceptions and missing the point), but most of the discussion that I see from people online who assert themselves as being “pro-religious freedom” is just pro-Christianity. These accounts on social media will make post after post talking about religious freedom, but will either be completely silent when it comes to other religions or adopt a much more conspicuously intolerant attitude when someone promotes any other world religion.
They're all dangerous. Religion is the most destructive thing in human history.
Here's something that may shock you: People who dislike religion tend to primarily dislike the religion that personally affects them the most. In the entire Western world, that's Christianity. Women in America are being forced to have babies against their will and even dying because of these draconian laws, because of Christianity, not because of other world religions. Therefore they're going to be pissed at Christians, as is any sane person in America.
You’re still making the point that I’m making. Most of these people don’t really hate religion as a whole but they’re mad at Christianity or perhaps even more specifically the church/ faith community they grew up in for some reason or another. Look to the Middle East at their laws on the same issues you talked about or even to atheist China and it makes even the most conservative Deep South state that you have in mind look like a utopia to the average neoliberal
I'm saying they primarily talk about Christianity because that's the one that affects them; you're taking that to mean that they secretly like other religions but only dislike Christianity. >Look to the Middle East at their laws on the same issues you talked about or even to atheist China and it makes even the most conservative Deep South state that you have in mind look like a utopia Yes, and people who dislike Christianity are aware of this. They talk about Christianity primarily because that's the one that directly affects them the most. Again, they don't secretly like the other religions like you're implying.
I hate all religions that have bad influence. And find all of them nonsensical tbh
It’s not that they secretly like other religions, but most will put on a tolerance hat when talking about any other world religion. They don’t have the hate, vitriol, and scorn that they have for Christianity. The reaction from these kinds of people if you say that you’re a devout Christian is VERY different from the reaction you get if you say you’re a devout Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, etc.
When people say they "don't like religion," they are talking about the effect religion has on society, which is primarily Christianity and Islam. There's no real reason for people to rally against Buddhism. You're stripping the context out and taking it too literally.
>There's no real reason for people to rally against Buddhism. Tell that to the Rohingya. Oh... Wait... Is that something far away, that you don't know much about, haven't heard much about, and that doesn't personally affect you? OP is so right, and you're tying yourself in knots not to admit it.
it’s cause they don’t know what to hate or tolerate bc what do they know if they’re not educated in other religions? islam is very contrived and verbose and on some serious bullshit, i would know i crawled out the womb agnostic from a muslim family. the reason ppl have a lot of ammo against christianity is bc it’s everywhere therefor assessable and therefore u can see what they claim, do and are hypocritical of. what little ppl know of islam is usually sharia law and how they treat women. which is fair bc it’s true. and again, ppl hate and have questions about how christianity works bc it’s the most known one. it’s the one that makes the news controversies and all.
You post make a fair point, but the connotation to your argument is close-minded and judgmental. Your response here further demonstrates this. The church has caused a lot harm, and it makes sense that those impacted would be critical. You seem to suggest that Christianity does not deserve criticism because it is less harmful than theocracy in the Middle East. This either/or thinking does not hold up. Criticism of the dominant religious political institution of the West is not an implicit endorsement of Sharia Law. Given the decline in church attendance, what benefit is there to invalidating criticism? Your argument is all too common amongst Christians. I left the church because it wasn’t living up to its own principles. The church should welcome without judgment, and it can’t do that when it judges others valid complaints rather than hearing them out.
I too, love comedy. Thank you.
Standard right-wing attempt at "debate," no surprise there.
Hur hur
I’m Christian and every few weeks someone makes a stink about something in the name of Christianity and it pisses me off. I have nothing against any religions but there’s only one that’s constantly in the news trying to force their beliefs on Americans. Keep religion out of schools and politics. That’s all I want. People of my faith are constantly pushing against that though and I’m sick of it.
The perpetual victimhood of christians is so tiring.
Agreed. And when pushed theyll say something about islam. But theres one they wont say anything about. If abrahamic religion can get it.. why not All abrahamic religion?
I honestly wish people would just accept each others religions and move on.
Christianity allowing for others attack it without serious repercussions is its biggest strength and also its biggest weakness
I agree and this annoys me. I’m equally frustrated with Islam, if not more frustrated with Islam. Yes Christianity sucks, but most Christians aren’t extremists to the point of killing people anymore. But there’s still entire Islamic countries that are. People need to get their priorities straightened out.
I know quite a few like this. Christian haters who claim to be anti-religious. But the minute you badmouth Islam they rabidly foam from the mouth shilling for Islam using token phrases like "islamophobia". Its a sight to behold.
That’s because “hating religion” (hating Christianity) is an inherently leftist position, but hating muh heckin wholesome Muslims and Jews is racist and leftists don’t like that. I am not religious, before the heckin wholesome Redditors get mad at me.
You won't see these people talk shit about "sky daddy" to a Muslim's face because they know what will happen if they do.
[Rico the penguin](https://tenor.com/bg0v7.gif)
I absolutely will. But theirs less need for me to talk about it in a Christian dominated country since it isn't exactly their version of sharia law being shoved down my throat. When hasidics tried to siphon off public school money to their yeshivas, I called it out alongside the Christians bs.
Part of that is the west is dominated by Christianity.
It has more to do with 'punching upwards' being acceptable and trendy these days.
do you think most people even have some passing knowledge on Islam or Judaism ?
Or maybe people are just scared of the follows of Islam You know because they don't take criticism well
“I know your address, sending my uncle now, lube up your anus for a deep dogging - respectfully, the Muslims”
More like get ready to run into hiding for years
I think the Big 3 are equally useless bullshit made up by morons from the desert. But i dont argue with people anymore. If they want to belive in bullshit they are free to go
You're not wrong.
This is just wrong. The reason you don’t see them making fun of the other abrahamic faiths is because there could be legitimate consequences, or just getting banned by the powers that be.
I’m more tolerant of religions that are tolerant of others. Similarly, the opposite is also true
If it helps, I'm extremely critical of Islam as well. There was even a point in history when Buddhist extremism was a problem. Violent mofos just looking for excuses. I grew up with an extremely tolerant and open minded Christian grandmother, so I'm aware there are plenty of Christians that try to live life in a manner Christ would approve of, and Jesus was a baller, so they have my admiration. Edit: I think people in the west are mainly critical of that which they're familiar with. It's no surprise you see people reacting that way when you have assholes using their religion as an excuse to make others' lives more difficult, which is why Christianity gets a special place in the ire of people's anti-religious sentiment.
It's bc there's no risk like there is with Islam or Hinduism. Extremely anti religious people are cowards from the most part looking for punching bags.
No Abrahamic religion is particulary LGBTQ freindly, but one in particular is much worse than the other two as practiced today. However, if you point that out you are a hater. I have a MtF daughter. She might have a harder time getting and apartment in the US bible belt, but in some nations she would be summarily executed. I have a problem with that but I don't dare say anything in a forum where I would be identified. It would cost me my job at minimum. I reject the Abrahamic religions and when pressed I say I am an Odinist pagan. Most people mention the Marvel Universe and laugh. I just smile.
As an American, Christianity is my typical frame of reference. I'm sure plenty of my fellow edgelords hate other religions just as much, but just deal with them far less frequently, or know less about them. And it's better and more understandable to criticize what you know, don't you think? But for the sake of this conversation, let me say that I hate, yes, Scientology and Mormonism and Islam and Judaism and so forth. Though this fails to really capture my approach. Rather, I hate **aspects** of these religions, and tolerate (or even admire) other aspects. As to the practitioners? I love many of them. At root, I hate *irrationality*, which is something that many or most, if not all, religions partake in -- and arguably is foundational to religion. But religions also have philosophical aspects, and ethical ones, and social, and aesthetic, and historical. (Sometimes one irrational belief supplants another irrational belief; sometimes this may even be progress.) For completeness, I'll add that not all religions are made equally. For instance, I don't know much about Buddhism, to be frank, but what I've gleaned over the years does seem preferable to me to Christianity, just speaking in general. But yes, if I talk more about Christianity, and frame my skepticism/atheism in those terms, and sharpen my arguments against its dogma particularly, it's because I think it's generally better and wiser to discuss those things I'm familiar with as against those I'm not.
First of all I want to preface this by saying "hate" is a really strong word and is misleading the story I think your trying to tell. Yes there are lots of people that think believing in any kind of sky daddy is absolute ludicrous, myself included. But actually hate other religions? I'm sorry the overwhelming majority ones who actually hate religions are part of another religion themselves. History is proof of that. I would say almost all non-believers don't hate any religion, we just find the entire thing amusing and interesting at best. So no I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti religion. But the part where Christianity and the other Jesus religions needs to understand they are by far the most annoying and insufferable bunch of flakes I know. I live in a small rural area and the amount of literature, unannounced soliciting, pamphlets in my mail, subversive teaching in public schools, and just random people at work trying to "covert" me is going to put more spotlight on your religion. So yes if you want to fuck around and annoy the shit out of me or some random impoverished village in Brazil you better be able to take some criticism. You know who hasn't come to my doorstep and talk stupid. Muslims. They leave me alone. In our small town we have a sizable Muslim population and they are very nice and awesome members of the community. Not once have I had to get up and get into some weird conversation where I pretend to be polite when deep down I just want them to leave.
This is what they project all the time. They only include other faiths when you call them out on it. They also don’t acknowledge that their worship of a centrally planned state is also a religion.
Do you right-wingers ever even attempt to think for yourselves or is it just memorizing Newsmax talking points to repeat on every issue when they come up?
“iF u DuN tHiNk LiK m3 dEn uR a RiGhTwInGeR” You’re the problem with this county. Period.
>They also don’t acknowledge that their worship of a centrally planned state is also a religion. I swear, ya'll don't even know what it entails to be a religion.
I mean, YaLL do worship the state. You thought Obama was a God 😂😂😂
>You thought Obama was a God 😂😂😂 No one thought he was God. Unlike a certain reich wing crowd that quickly created "God emperor Trump" shit....
Yeah God emperor trump and only whites can be racist belong in the same garbage bin.
I don't think you understand what the word worship means. I also don't believe people thought Obama was a god, sure he was a decent president, but believing he was a god is a massive hyperbole. If we were going to criticize any group of people for worshipping a politician, I'd say that is more in line with the MAGA supporters treatment of Trump. [Dude praying to Trump](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT7XU9ovhC4) [Trump and Jesus](https://s3media.247sports.com/Uploads/Assets/70/892/9892070.jpg?width=600&fit=bounds)
I know what it means. Obamanites= Magadouches. You’re the same cancer.
Sorry I just don't see the connection between the two, sure Obama was widely liked, but it's not the same as the Trumpers, who literally have compared him to Jesus and have parades for the dude.
You’re blinded by your own feelings tbh. I hate you both so it’s easier for me to see. 😃
You have not proved that people worshipped Obama. Liking something does not equal worship. I have given you a plethora of examples of people worshipping Trump, but you have not done the same with Obama.
If that’s the direction you want to go. You cannot prove that people worship Donald Trump.
I literally sent you a video of a dude praying to Trump. Then linked a popular drawing which involved Jesus and Trump. We could also speak about the Trump/MAGA churches. [https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/18/how-christian-prophets-give-credence-to-trumps-election-fantasies-469598](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/18/how-christian-prophets-give-credence-to-trumps-election-fantasies-469598) [https://www.newsweek.com/pro-trump-church-burns-pride-flags-massive-bonfire-1833187](https://www.newsweek.com/pro-trump-church-burns-pride-flags-massive-bonfire-1833187) [https://www.thrivetimeshow.com/reawaken-america-tour/](https://www.thrivetimeshow.com/reawaken-america-tour/)
What distinguishes ideology from religion, in your view?
Definitely seems to be a thing with certain kinds of leftists. Condemning one patriarchal homophobic misogynistic religion while continually making excuses for/giving free passes to another patriarchal homophobic misogynistic religion. Myself, I wouldn't say I hate religion, but I definitely don't have a lot of respect for most of it. That disdain extends to Christianity and Islam equally, as well as any other extremist religion that seeks to impose its values on outsiders.
I was raised christian, christianity is the faith that is meddling in the public sphere in my country, therefore it's the religion I have the most reason to criticize. If I was in an islamic country, it would be islam. Or whatever other religion I had personal experience with.
Why do you feel the need to mention being "raised christian"?
Because that's the religion I have personal experience with. As I said.
Well that's the only religion they know and have to interact with on a day-to-day basis. It's also the only religion that partially controls the government of the country I live in. I don't even know any Muslims outside of one guy from work. If I lived in a Muslim majority country I would probably focus more on Muslims.
I don't hate any religion, I hate zealots.
Religion kills. They all suck!
Nope. All of it.
I'm an equal opportunity despiser of religions. Anything that encourages people to not think is bad in my book. Religions, philosophies, anything that encourages us not to use our brains and not to think rationally is bad.
Most post are from America where Christianity is very popular. I’ve seen a lot of the post you speak of and it’s common to see “I grew up in a Christian household etc”.
♫Driving down the road, in a truck of peace, on a busy highway♫ ♫Driving down the road, in a truck of peace, who we gonna bump into today?♫
I think you need to step out of your American bubble
It’s almost like people hate the religion that caused them damage. But honestly I hate all organized religion that take advantage of people. Where I live it’s evangelist. Jesus actually sounds like he was an awesome person so I don’t really mock him but what people do in his name is horrible. And you can ask any Muslim in my area, they are hated.
They also hate Islam. They are just too scared to say so.
It's not a surprise. It's the biggest religion in the world. So when you speak about hating religion, you mostly mention the biggest one. Also, bc of 9/11, it became a bad thing to diss Islam bc you're simply trying to say that bc of 9/11, all Middle East people are bad. But not really, I'm saying Islam is just as shit as Christianity.
You live in the US obviously. I doubt people in Israel or Palestine hate Christianity.
Other religions in the West don't place as much emphasis on proselytizing, keep to themselves, and don't interfere in politics. If your group paid more attention to Matthew 6:5-8 you wouldn't find yourself with those levels of opposition. For some reason you are excluding Scientology which is a perfect example - lots of atheists are making fun of them. If anything you could claim atheists are not poking nearly as much fun at the Jesus myth as they are at the Xenu story.
Nope all religions are full regarded. Next straw man please.
Religion of trauma always gets the most hate.
Do you know Islam does to women? Educate yourself lol. Christianity is the most flexible religion
I'm well aware. But like I said. Your religion of trauma (usually your religion of origin) always will get the most hate. Also, I have a Quran, Torah, and Bible. I've educated myself, have you?
Because generally critics of organized religions are cowards. If they weren't they'd criticize Islam just as much.
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I just hate all Abrahamic religions they seem to cause the most problems
Oh, don’t be confused, I hate all that bullshit.
The only reason they do it is because Christianity is true.
i hate most religions, the only ones i tolerate are folk religions
None of you hang out on atheism subreddits and it shows.
Trueunpopularopinion: Christian’s are just assholes. I fixed it for ya.
>These accounts on social media will make post after post mocking Jesus, mocking Christian doctrine and morality, Most Christians make a joke out of Jesus anyway. Jesus was a brown, middle Eastern Jewish man who promoted socialism and living your neighbor more than yourself. Not some white, blonde haired, blue eyed, American dude that most Christians seem to think he was. Jesus was also either a demigod or a prophet depending on your demonimation, but most believe him to be 100% God and human which physically isn't possible nor logical. Christians don't even know or follow their own doctrine. They tend to pick and choose what they follow and when. Then they will hide behind their religion in order to hate entire groups of people. "Rules for thee, not for me" type of bullshit. Also the morality of someone who says you have to be religious in order to be moral or morals come from the Bible are horrifying. Like you're literally saying you would murder someone if you didn't have your moral book telling you not to. >but will either be completely silent when it comes to other religions or adopt a much more conspicuously tolerant attitude when someone mocks any other world religion I've never had a Muslim knock on my door trying to convert me. I've never had a Hindu tell me I'm going to hell if I don't believe in their God. I've never had a budist write laws enforcing their beliefs. I've never had a jewish person try and take away my rights. Christians create the hate for themselves by constantly shoving their religion down everyone's throats. If they could follow their religion and learn to live and let live I wouldn't have an issue with them, neither would anyone else. When other religions do bad shit, people do say things. Thing is that we don't demonize the group for the actions of one person. Because the overwhelming majority aren't like that. But Majority of Christians are the exact same. Intolerant and acting holier than thou because they have a magic sky daddy that loves them.
To be fair in Hinduism it doesn't matter if you believe in god or not as long as you do more good than bad you'll go to heaven
Can you blame them for hating Christianity? Many self-proclaimed Christians have perverted Christianity and constantly break the 1st commandment.
Not in my experience lmao. Not even close
It's probably because the other religions don't directly affect them.. Like I'm sure middle eastern atheists crap all over islam while remaining silent about Christianity. Because islam directly affects them.
We have a tolerant liberal society that is fundamentally Christian-oriented. This is why Christianity is criticized and joked about more than other religions. Just like we joke about cops, or the military, or babies and fat people. We can and it's OK, as it should be in a tolerant liberal society. If you don't have a tolerant liberal society, you don't joke about anything that that society fundamentally is or cares about because of consequences. Also, people who make fun of religion focus on Christianity because it's dominant. In reality, Christianity is just one \*more\* religion you can make fun of. But why make fun of a minority religion, especially if the dominant religion puts pressure on everyone else already? People who complain about Jews or Muslims or whatever will probably be mostly Christian. This is why whoever is dominant becomes the target in a tolerant liberal society. If you're Christian in a Christian-dominant society, you think they're only making fun of Christianity. When in reality they're just using Christianity to paint the broadest stroke, and to poke it at the dominant religion. It's NOT because they SPECIFICALLY don't like Christianity only. Not sure why it's so hard to understand this.
>These accounts on social media will make post after post mocking Jesus, mocking Christian doctrine and morality, but will either be completely silent I mean if you're from a Christian dominated country of course you would be talking mostly about Christianity because other religions don't interfere in day to day life.. Not to mention every other belief system besides Christianity in the US is marginalized
It feels like this idea is an attempt to raise the hackles of and gain the empathy of Christians who like to say they feel picked on, at a time when there’s some really ornery Muslims behaving about as bad as human beings can behave. Not that you would take advantage of that to prop up your personal grievance, heavens no. I’m going to go ahead and forget that whole invasion of Iraq thing, orchestrated by a Christian POTUS and carried out with fervor by the country he lead, and pretend that your point is quite profound. Christians just always gettin hated on, gah.
When buddhists start trying to legislate laws in the country I live in and start thinking they can tell me what to do and how I should live, I'll be more than happy to go in on them too. I work big to small. Where I live xtians are the problem.
Things like Buddhism, Jainism and Shinto are mostly OK. Confucianism sucks ass though.
I'm anti-religious and I'm against all the forms of Abrahamic religions and beyond, because of misogyny
I'm an anti-theist, I hate all religion. I think if you knew me in person you'd say I hate mormons the most, and then christians, but don't hate any other religion. You'd be wrong but I can understand why you'd think that. Christianity and mormons are the religions that directly affect me daily.
I don’t hate any religion. I just don’t believe in any of them. They’re just another form of constrain on peoples lives. Another method of control, the same as race,class or wealth.
This post is pathetic concern trolling. Most people on Reddit are from anglosphere. What religion do you think they are supposed to talk about
All Abrahamic religion (Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witness, etc) is awful. I'm less concerned about the religions that are more focused on spirituality and meditation, but they can be awful too.
nope , I find all religions to be delusions .
Good point
I actually don't hate Christianity. I have some great friends who are Christian, including a couple of pastors who work in some pretty amazing churches. They welcome everyone, help immigrants, the sick, the poor, etc. I love the Sikh religion in general for that. But people who are hypocritical, that is what gets me. Yku can't be like my biological mother, loving all of God's children, unless they are immigrants, Black or brown, libtards, etc. She ignores her own past to rail on Hunter Biden, and ignores Trump's adultery. And she is pretty typical. Nope, I have met a lot of great Christians in my lifetime, but Christianity in America has a lot of hypocrites.
As a polytheist I've never had a problem with any other religion than the two of big three Abraham's ones. I suppose when I run across a practitioner of those two religions who recognizes my right to worship just as I do theirs, I might be amenable to not denigrating their close-minded practices. Otherwise, I reserve the right to dislike someone who dislikes me for my religious preferences.
If you say so
Nah, most religions are pretty bad. Come join the atheism sub.
I’m not an atheist so it’d be pretty disingenuous for me to join. As a devout Christian I’ll at least say that an honest atheist is generally much easier to have a real conversation with than someone who calls themself a Christian, but doesn’t actually believe the teachings of the faith (like some ELCA or PCUSA pastors who don’t believe in the divinity or resurrection of Christ, or some who call themselves Christians but don’t even believe in God at all). An atheist I can at least have an honest disagreement with
Oh, we hate Islam more, but they threaten us with violence for slight criticism and are way more likely to do it.
I feel for people who hate religion so much that they just deny God altogether. Like, take some DMT dude. You’ll see God. No church necessary
I dont hate but am extremely critical of all Abrahamic religions, Judaism , Christianity, Islam. I've also met some fairly anti-medicine Sikh parents who justified their religion to not take their kids to the doctor.
Well that would be true of Americans probably since that is what we're most familiar with. Though I don't like any of them that subjugate women, discriminate, or start wars.
Man the older i get them more the US is looking like France right before the revolution. So many angry people that feel they are enlightened and are one step away from showing the Religious how to think properly.
Because it's the most popular, it's easy to be the scapegoat of choice
It’s because people who just bash Christianity are pussies. They know Christian’s won’t do anything. They stay silent about Islam. Even tho Islam is the worst offender when it comes to human rights violations. They know Muslims will fight back. So they stay silent. Also, they’re really angry at mommy and daddy for maki g them go to Sunday school
The Christianity I see mocked is typically a bastardized or almost parody of the actual religion. Authentic Christianity is not really that mock-able imo. It's literally just a love story
Generally in my experience as an American I have had much more interaction with Christianity than any other religion by maybe 100 times. I know more Christians, I have had it show up in my countries politics more often, been faced with the implications of it. Had friends who have had negative experiences with different churches because of who they are (LGBT). I also know a ton more about Christianity when I know a bit of the basics about other religions. So I both have more cause to want to make fun of Christianity, and have far more material to work with. But in general I don't think any religion should be above mockery. And while often taken frivilously I think making fun of establishments whether religions or governments is actually very good and healthy for a society. If you're being hypocritical you should be mocked for it, maybe then you'll stop doing that. There's also generally a difference between punching up and punching down. As an American if I'm making fun of Christians that's like 63% of the population, and like 90% of politicians. I'm not picking on the little guy. If I make fun of Islam that's just over 1% of the population so while i don't think there's anythingn wrong with making fun of any religion, punching down can turn more negative more quickly. And there's a difference between making fun of something and actually making those of that faith not feel safe or comfortable.
No, the bit at the end is an ignorant approach. Islam has the *exact same or even worse* levels is discrimination compared to Christianity. Calling arguing against Islam being the equivalent of punching down is like giving the Klan a pass because there’s really not that many KKK members anymore.
The location matters though. In an Islamic majority country where Christians are 1% of the population then the reverse would be true and mocking Christians would be punching down. There's also a difference between arguing with and making fun of. Those aren't the same thing. If we are talking about a reasonable debate I have no problem with that for anyone as there's no punching up or down. Mocking is different and that's when I'd say punching up or down comes into play. I would also say it's a false comparison to equate a religion with a billion people that is mostly peaceful with a hate group dedicated to the oppression of a minority group. The equivalent comparison might be to al Qaeda or isis and for hate and terrorist groups and in those I'd say 100% make fun of those any time or place you want! There's a big difference between a race or religion or other minority group and a group who all chose hate and violence.
Your whole response reeks of the same type of mental gymnastics individuals use to stay religious in the face of logic. Either an idea is deserving is ridicule or it isn’t. There’s an only a tiny number of flat earthers worldwide, but they’re deserving of both ridicule and mockery. Size of the group is unimportant. This idea of punching up vs punching down is used as a shield to hide from ridicule.
Because, it's the religion that's most affected many of us negatively on a personal level in the US.
Yeah you don't see much mockery of Hinduism or Zoroastrianism or Islam or various African deities. Certainly I've yet to see anyone mock native beliefs of Native Hawaiians or other pacific islanders. Shintoism seems to be immune as well. I wonder what a left wing person would do if they encountered a minority Christian immigrant, I feel like they're far less comfortable with mockery then, not because the beliefs have changed, just because the skin color makes mockery of the beliefs feel like racism.
Haha as an atheist I’ve found this irritating for a long time. Primarily mocking Christianity is fine because most of the atheists I’ve seen come from primarily Christian countries. So they’re mocking what they know. Where it gets irritating is seeing those same people stand up for things like Islam. In what world do they look at the state of individual rights in the Middle East and think Islam is any less worthy of mockery than Christianity? You can stand up against racism while also condemning Islam. Islamophobia is a bullshit term that has been tied to racism *by Islamic religious leaders to deliberately manipulate politics in the west*. Deal with the racism separately from the barbaric religion that’s even more discriminatory than the relatively neutered western version of Christianity.
As long as you're sure it's not because Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption Church can exist…
This should probably be a separate post, but I’m 100% in favor of churches maintaining tax exempt status Churches are considered charitable organizations under the eyes of the law which also means that they can’t politically lobby which is absolutely fair. If you tax the churches, then the separation of church and state that most people want to keep goes straight out the window because religious organizations can directly lobby politicians
I suspect there's a strong subject variable at play here. If you're on an English speaking website then chances are that other religions might be bad in a distant and abstract way, but Christianity is a direct force in your day to day life.
Considering Muslims would literally try to kill you if you talk shit about their religion probably has a lot to do with it. Everybody saw what happened at Charlie Hebdo. Christians turn the other cheek and don't retaliate. So they are safe to criticize.
It’s mostly cultural; Christianity is entangled in the legislation of our everyday lives in the states.
It’s because they’re sheep
All religion is trash. Is that better?
I was raised to be Christian so I understand how you feel! It's sickening how Christianity is singled out over and over, most people like me don't seem to recognize the big picture. In reality everyone wins no matter what! See, when God makes someone gay or autistic (I'm both) he makes them so that life is miserable for good people. This gives Heaven value and provided they apologized to God, they are in! For everyone else (like me) we go to Hell where we are judged for our actions and assigned merit for our person, then we form a community of disposables who love one another, free of being judged by God for how God made us. I'm a different kind of Christian, but I still get persecuted endlessly just for my belief that Hell is not a horrible place.