By religious people, I of course mean Christans. These high minded, enlightened liberals only focus their ire on what they perceive to be "white" religions. Here Bill Maher attacks religious people as "delusional". His guests aren't so willing to agree though, which is surprising. It isn't often that liberal bigots are called out. Of course Maher will never get the scorn someone like Limbaugh gets, but its a start. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXuA0u4zp5g"]YouTube- Real Time with Bill Maher - Atheism Discussion May 14, 2010[/ame] Bill Maher | Cory Booker | S.E. Cupp | Mediaite As someone who doesn't believe in religion, but doesn't hate religious people, this angers me to no end. Apparently some liberals think their kind of hatred IS progressive.
Maher was surprisingly very O'Reily-esque that episode. I agreed with the black dude, aggressive militant atheism is just as useless as extremeist Christianity or Islam. And the 'liberal media attacks christianity' because Christianity has fucked up a lot of shit throughout history. This is a nation run under the guise of Chrisianity, and it's stupid. Evolve, for Christ's sake. I only agree with Maher in that organized religion can be a hindrance to our collective psyche; on subjects such as drugs, homosexual marriage, abortion, etc. But belittling an entire group of people based on what happened hundreds of years ago is childish. Though a lot of religious people are quite delusional, relative to my perspective on the matter. Keep religion (as in personal spirituality), get rid of the Vatican, I say. Religion will never go away but corrupt institutions can be dismantled.
Christianity has done far more good, than bad. Especially in modern times. The same media goes out of its way to cover for Islam and its doing quite a bit of bad in modern times.
It's really no wonder the largest charity organization in the world is almost universally hated by leftists. The state hates competition? I blame the GOP.
I'm not religious, but my folks are. I see all sorts of good things the local churches do for the local community. However, as far as the whole of history goes, I believe religion in general has done far more damage than good. Maher's comedy is sub-par at best, so he has to go on into "humorous" attack mode to pander to his liberal audience. IMO at least.
Fuck I love Bill Maher That's about all I have to contribute. So, after that positively magnificent (if not superb) contribution to this thread, time for bed... Night night GC
Ignorance is bliss I guess. What do you think about all the Christian organizations that feed and cloth a good portion of the planet? One thing I am glad about, is that liberals are losing the 'arbiters of tolerance' image. Clearly, you're human just like the rest of us.
[FONT="]He's is an atheist and rightly points out that a HUGE portion of the violence done in the world has been in the name of religion. Just because he's of the opinion that religion has done more bad then good doesn't mean he hates religious people, he has several friends who have been on his show that are religious. He disagrees with them but he doesn't hate them. And to be frank, in my personal life I feel attacked by the onslaught of Christian values that are forced down MY throat everywhere I go, on TV, on the Radio, in Music, in judgmental neighbors, and at my front door. You hate the evil liberal media, I hate the constant pervasive undertone that only Christians are moral and thus everyone should be like them. People have the f'n nerve to knock on my door and tell me that my life isn't full because I don't have Jesus, etc. If I walked up to a Christian and handed them a pamphlet explaining to them why they are wrong about their faith they'd be pissed as hell and accuse me of attacking their faith, but why don't I get the same respect back? Why won't you people of faith just leave me alone? I'll tell you why. Certain people of faith are constantly crying a river about how everyone is against them in order to distract us from the fact that they are consciously and systematically invading every aspect of our lives. It's about control, both in the church and in the world. If they keep their flocks afraid of all the wolves, the flock will stay together and have less of a chance to stray; if they cry persecution, the world will look the other way when they push more of their ancient values down our throats. [/FONT]
A huger portion of violence has been done in the world by atheists. Whats your point? Oh, but Maher calls it "state religion". :lol: Nobody said thats its religious beliefs that makes him a bigot. Like was clearly pointed out in the clip and article, he attacks religious people as inferior and almost subhuman. Strange, I'm not religious but came from a religious family and I don't feel this onsluight you speak of. Maybe its just that you've been conditioned to see religious people as inferior and thus feel surrounded by them. Sort of like Hitler and the JEWZ. They're just trying to help. You do seem to have a lot of hatred in your heart.
You can't blame "religion" for the actions of people. Just because some lunatic is blowing up a building becuase he thinks that's what god wants... and you blame his god? How about we blame the actual people? I've heard so many people say "Religion causes more harm then good". Religion doesn't CAUSE anything. People do. [/FONT][FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]Why do we still believe that we can change behavior via policy? Too many people getting drunk? lets abolish alcohol? Too many gun murders? Easy - we can just get rid of guns. Gangs becoming more and more popular? No problem, if we make drugs illegal and lock em all up. Anyone with a half a brain can SEE that that kind of control does not work - only makes things worse. So why do we still believe that we can control behavior through policy? [/FONT][FONT="] [/FONT] [/FONT] [FONT="] Really? You are currently having Christianity stuffed down your throat? I don't know what part of the world you live in, but every time I see religion n the news, its being burned at the stake by a proverbial witch hunt. [/FONT]
I like it when religious folks come to my door for an attempted conversion. I make up weird beliefs and try to convince them while they're trying to convince me. Mormon: The only path to happiness in the afterlife is through Jesus Christ. I know this. How do you feel about God? Me: Well, there's this one-legged leprechaun that hilariously frolics in the cemetery behind my house. I worship that mother fucker.
As a Christian, I see the Mormon faith as an unwanted Doppelganger in the religious world. To the late person, a Mormon = christian. I mean, they believe in Jesus right? It's not really that simple. IMO, Mormons make us all look crazy. But do I hate them? Of Course not. I believe the Mormon church is more like a cult than an actual church, but I do not hate it's members. In fact, I feel sorry for them. I hope that one day they will figure it all out, however I do respect their right to worship however they want. And I can't ask anything else but reciprocity. It's funny, A country founded on Religion, and made TOLERANCE of all religions the actual law of the land..... yet in the modern day the people with the most intolerance is Atheists. Mahr is a perfect example.
I was raised Presbyterian so I can distinguish between the Mormons and the normals (joke). But all the Mormons I've encountered are all nice people. Or they seem to be. The last time I was confronted with one he had all this "inspirational" shit to say and handed me a card with all these deep, philosophical, soul-searching questions on it, and then I turned it over and on the back there was a picture of their elaborate palace in Salt Lake City or wherever. Must be some good money in Mormonism too.
Oh, I agree completely. For me, the Mormons are the most obvious example of the idea that even if you think a religion is a crock of shit - it's still possible (and probably likely) that it can still produce a positive effect on society. Mormons are some of the nicest people on the planet. Now, I'm not an expert on mormonism, but from what I've heard - they have a storied history of corrupt elders and really shady shit going down in the tabernacle. However, what good would it do to project my distrust of the way the Mormon church operates - onto everyday pious mormon believers? Did they do anything wrong?
First off. You are offensive and insulting. All the time, but this time it's to me so I'm going to answer you. I'm pretty offended that you put words in my mouth and you FUCKING compared me to FUCKING HITLER. What the hell is wrong with you? I am so offended but that's what you wanted isn't it? You attack anyone who argues against you so that they will go away. If we all go away then nobody posts against you and that means you must be right. Right? It can't be that we're all sick and tired of your inability to have a RATIONAL argument and think you wear 10ft thick blinders. Here is my history. My parents raised me as a person of faith. I, at the age of 13, no longer believed in what they were teaching so I started ditching church. My parents forced me to go, and talked to the minister about my 'crisis of faith'. So those Aholes called me up to the front of the church and told all of my friends, and their families, that I was demon possessed. They proceeded to lay hands upon me and when I refused to 'go out under the power of god' because it was BULL FUCKING SHIT he tried to push me onto the floor. I stood my ground, so they told everyone that they should pray for me and that I was suicidal. This BS pretty much ruined my relationship with my family for a long time, because nobody would take my side. I went to church off and on (forced to) until I was old enough that they couldn't make me go anymore. They went to just about every style of christian church in their quest to find the right one, so I'm fairly versed in the christian faith. There is a lot of other shit to be pissed at, I'm not going to go into it all, but it's not all to do with the evangelicals. But yes, I do have an issue with Christianity and all religion in general. It's my right to have issues with them. So when the people who attack those with no faith, call them names and act smug and superior it pisses me off. It's my right to say so and I shouldn't be called Hitler when I do so. People like you are the problem with the world. Now on to why I feel put upon by Christians. -The pledge of allegiance. The words under god were not originally in the pledge they were added by Christians. I don't believe in god but I do love my country. Why must I say under god when it's against my beliefs. Why is it OK for that to be there when it infringes upon my rights of freedom of religion? -Christian values dominating the country. From denying homosexuals equal rights, to defining what is and isn't OK for me to do with my own body. Sure not everyone who believes in these things is a Christian, but you can't tell me that a huge portion of them aren't. -The fact that in order to run for government your faith is questioned. If anyone dared to say they weren't religious you can be damn sure that the Christian groups would attack them for it. -National Prayer day, Christmas, Easter. and the argument that these are now secular holidays is BS. -People coming to my door, and putting pamphlets on my car and if I object to it, they say things like they must be trying to help since I'm so angry. -People telling me that I'm Hitler because I don't like religion. -People on normal network TV shows(not news or reality or obscure cable networks), always being religious. Don't think I've ever seen an openly atheist on any normal network tv show like Law and Order. Even if there is an example or two, by far, if a character on a show says anything about religion it's either they reference god in a positive manner, pray to him, go to church, turn to god in times of trouble, or have a crisis of faith. Lastly, I'm not looking to find religion, but yes I see it everywhere, because for some f'n reason religion is trying to find me. They will not leave me alone. I feel harassed, and I'm not the only person to feel that way. So please, stop trying to cast me as some freak like Hitler. Stop attacking people. Stop searching for evidence that supports your view while ignoring evidence to the contrary. I have seen religion do a lot of good, but I have experienced a lot of bad from it too. I could go on and on with more reasons and better ones probably but I ran out of time and this is a pretty wordy post.