The Atheists I know on a secular forum I frequent belong to category #2. You are right that they are bound and determined to bury God. And Christians. There definition of “peace” is everyone thinking like them. If they cannot convince you to do so, you are to be marginalized.
How could you possibly know what most atheists are or are not? You don’t know most atheists; there are millions.
Let me guess----they’re not so sure about attacking Islam?
People who argue on emotions act irrationally.
So what lead you to revert to atheism? Important to know if we’re to work together for peace.
That’s interesting. Why, may I ask does it matter if we harm others or not? Would you say human persons have an inherent dignity?
Interesting; I compare my experience of atheists with your account, and my experience has been different: most atheists are like anybody else: willing to be confrontative, argumentative, and perhaps even more than most willing to stick out like a sore thumb or be expressive of individuality.
Do humans only have dignity because they have a “big role” to play? Or is there something about human nature that deserves to be treated without harm?
I’m sorry to put a quote like this here, but Catholics in particular and Christians in general must be made aware of what is happening and how others are thinking. The above opinion is not an isolated one.
From what I understand about Catholic morality and natural law, much of what the Church believes in terms of good behavior vs bad behavior can be arrived at through rational means.
Dignity is a trait that everyone should strive to build. I believe no one was born to be bad. Evil deeds are the product of several factors (family upbringing, environment, etc). Regarding dealing with human nature, everyone deserves to be treated in a humane way.
Or maybe he did. Hitler was raised in a pre-vatican 2 catholicism based in Europe. In those days there were a lot of anti-semitic inuendos taught. Now we can say he didn’t practice the core of Catholic teaching but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t hear things that didn’t excuse his hatred. The Church didn’t say it was ok to murder them but he found what he needed to fuel his hatred. If anything his catholic upbringing did nothing to quell whatever anti-semitism he had brewing in him.
That is not true there is much you can say to an atheist without bringing in the formal teaching of god. I for example try to be good not because I fear anything but because I believe philosophically it is the right and correct thing to do. With an atheist you have to come at them from a logical and philosophical point of you. There are plenty of texts and articles and writings where good acts can be rationalized without using fear of an almighty being.
Certainly what Hitler did in many ways led to the need for Vatican II in order to repent from the kind of attitudes that led to the extermination of European Jewry. It is one thing to note that anti-semitism has no part in the Magesterium of the Church, which is of the Holy Spirit. But to not acknowledge the role of antisemitism in Catholicism as it has been practiced by many Europeans both from the pews and from the pulpits over the centuries is to engage in revisionist history too.
There is nothing in the ideology of Marxism that would serve in any way to constrain a Stalin or a Mao, or the hordes of other petty dictators that have looked to either fascism or Marxism as a model for their own countries in this last century and a half of the rise of the secular point of view as the dominant ideology of the world.
Yes.
While this is true, I think it is a Talmudic saying that notes that it is the fear of God, rather than wisdom, that is the more instrumental protector of the moral order.
Problem is that those are not so obvious. People say a lot of times that so-called “gay marriage” isn’t harmful despite evidence to the contrary. The phrase “how does it affect you” is also used against folks as they are sued for refusing service, something which any business owner should have the right to do for any reason.
Right, but my question remains. From an atheistic perspective, what about human nature warrants humane treatment?
