No? You mean to tell me that at your “cowboy churches” that the preacher nor anyone in the congregation says God Bless You ? You must have slept through every one of the sermons, greetings and see ya laters. And why would you NOT want God to bless someone? Even for you Cody that’s a pretty hateful thing to proclaim especially coming from a self professed Christian.
I replied but that was up to me, not you. Now, Silvia didn’t profess to be a Christian but you DID so you’re the one I’m most concerned about. I’ll bet you never pray for anyone who needs prayer do you?
Well, Bobby, not everyone wants to be like you or even me. Good enough answer? IOW, Bobby, in this "day and age", you really, really have to watch what you say to someone, especially a stranger. Not everyone would handle being said God Bless You to. Could be a very confrontational saying to the wrong person.
Well, Bobby, your wrong again!! I've prayed for my wife, her sister, etc., etc.. I say a prayer each morning before eating breakfast and either wife or myself says a prayer before eating supper. And then, she says a prayer before we go to sleep in bed. Bobby, that's a whole lot of praying each week, each month and each year! And, now that we still aren't attending church yet, we watch Pastor Rick Warren from So California each Sunday morning.
Cody, Gee...Well, I had students exactly like you. No. I didn't walk into a confrontation. A believer CONFGRONTED ME AND MY FRIEND as soon as she heard as stating we were Atheists. BTW, thousands of people -all religions- say "God bless you" .........w/o realizing they don't have the right to say so to people who they don't know. Ciao.
Don, Atheism is not a religion........exactly the opposite "A" = no, theism = god. Certainly we don't go to places to worship See, while all religions use their churches, synagogues and other houses of worship....the Atheists contribute to society in a non advertised way. While I won't tell you how my family (in the past) and my Atheist group (today) contribute to society....we don't need / ask for contributions....I can say I do by helping those kids whose parents can't pay a private tutor.
I do understand what you’re writing about Don. Just as an example: The IUGM (international union gospel missions) now called City Gate has over 250 rescue missions within the association and I am assured that there are at least an additional 300+ Christian rescue missions throughout the U.S. that aren’t associated with City Gate. Now, a good hearted Atheist might go to a Rescue Mission and donate food, clothing, blankets and even money which testifies to your statement about the individual. That said, in all the years and all the Rescue Missions I have walked into in all my years, I have never seen a group of Atheists start and run a Rescue Mission. Now, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any, it just means that if there are some I have never heard of or seen it. Funny thing that goes along with previous posts; when the Seattle Rescue Mission was over-run by street people during an ice storm, a few Atheists answered the call for help and brought food, gloves and blankets. The part I find funny is that when some of them gave, they announced their lack of belief just to make sure everyone knew that he or she was an Atheist who was donating.
Atheism is a religion. You can rationalize it and reason all you like but it is a religion. Oh, and yes, you guys do have bonafide churches. All that said, you are free to believe what you like. Guys are calling themselves girls now so why not someone believing their religion isn’t a religion. Sounds rational to me.
I may have pushed that button a little far but I don’t believe for a second that you haven’t heard nor know of anyone who says God Bless You. One of Rick Warren’s better sermons is on the importance of “God Bless You” yet again, you don’t know anyone who says it? Rick Warren does for one! You say you pray for people yet you say you do not ask God to bless someone? Seems to me you’re just arguing to argue and at the same time trying to placate Silvia with rhetoric.
Thank you for acknowledging that you did "push the button a little to far". And, come to think of it, Pastor Warren does say "God Bless You". As far as praying goes, you pray the way you want to and we will pray the way we do. That's all I can say about that. Hey, at least we pray, right? That's more than many who say they are Christians do. In fact, my SIL (wife's sister) and my 1/2 brother's wife, will include a Bible verse in darn near every single greeting card they send out. We don't do that or pray before eating at a restaurant. Have seen people do that, but we just don't. We've been to dinner with my wife's sister, who is a very serious Christian, and even she didn't say a pray before eating in a restaurant.
First, just what do you mean "I had students exactly like you"??? Second, just wondering, but why would you and your friend be saying you are Atheists?? If a Christian is around, very good chance a confrontation will happen. Lastly, you should reply to the post about you being rude to the person who confronted you and your friend and that sure wasn't from me. Silvia, we live in America and saying "God Bless You" is just Free Speech. Being an Atheist is up to you, but like anything else, if people hear that you are, there can be, and most likely will be, a confrontation by someone who doesn't believe in Atheism at all. You have to look at their side of how they feel also.
Ok, what do I see about this thread.........one of those very, very controversial ones. Guess Silivia thought we'd all agree with her. One word answer........wrong!
I don't usually take part in these discussions, online or in real life, because I find that people who want to discuss the subject as an atheist are, most often, actually antitheists, and these don't result in productive conversations, and are probably not intended to. I can't imagine why anyone would be frightened of an atheist, at least not for that reason. I can understand atheism because, like most Christians, I have experienced times in my life when faith has been difficult. I have no problem with that. What activist antitheists often portray as an unreasonable fear of atheism by Christians is not that at all. As a part of an agenda that has many fronts, we are supposed to accept that the failure to celebrate and applaud certain positions, such as homosexuality, gender confusion, a. host of progressive political positions and, I suppose, antitheism (disguised as atheism), might fit in there as well, we're supposed to accept that is a form of hatred or fear. We're supposed to accept this at the same time that we're supposed to accept that anything goes when a progressive wants to go after someone who disagrees with them, even to the point of making them lose their businesses or job, jailing or killing them. No, I do not fear atheism, nor do I hate atheists, or anyone else as a group, but I do both hate and fear it when these positions are promoted by the government, taught in the schools, and dominate every form of media, while opposing views are banned.