Mosques

[Octopod]

This thread is going to break out into a full-scale flame war soon; I think a moderator should lock it.

But, one last thing before I stop posting in this thread

Sorry, I thought that was funny.

Maybe intolerance is the wrong word or maybe I am over-stating it. It's not like I stand out sides of religious centers holding protest signs or take any action at all. I guess it is more just a lack of respect for religion in general, not just christianity, which I never singled out. People of course are free to believe what they wish to and as I stated before, they can build whatever they want there, I really do not give a shit about it. And just as they are free to believe whatever they want I am free to believe that their beliefs are stupid, out dated and fall in the realm of fantasy.

[Limewater]

By my intolerance I mean my intolerance.

Ah. I think you need to go back and re-read your previous posts.

Sorry for the self-reply.

I just wanted to point out that the most of the most racist, intolerant, (and obviously religious and southern) bigots in the United States can make the exact same claim.

[Octopod]

By my intolerance I mean my intolerance.

Ah. I think you need to go back and re-read your previous posts.

The one that said "My intolerance doesn't kill people?" Maybe you should re-read it. I said "My".

Look Limewater, atheism is not a religion, it is not even a belief system. It is a single "belief", fact really but whatever, and a single belief does not make a belief system. Because some communist Chinese soldiers killed some people based on their religion has nothing to do with me. The soldiers and I do not share a belief system anymore than I share a belief system with other people who happen to not believe in unicorns. Buddhist are atheist, does that mean I am an Buddhist because we are both atheist?

[Octopod]

By my intolerance I mean my intolerance.

Ah. I think you need to go back and re-read your previous posts.

Sorry for the self-reply.

I just wanted to point out that the most of the most racist, intolerant, (and obviously religious and southern) bigots in the United States can make the exact same claim.

Yes, atheist are exactly the same thing as racist. Hating religion is the same as hating someone based on their ethnicity or skin color.

I think you are missing a major point. I never said that I dislike christians, I said I dislike christianity. Same with hindus, religious jews, buddhists and so on.

[Octopod]

I don't see a problem about it. Unless that particular church praises enemies of the state. Also; I was going to make a statement about religion in america based off of statistics, but shit look at this mess, wiki.
* Christianity: (58.3% to 82.3%)
* Unaffiliated, including atheist or agnostic (11.6% to 37.3%)
* Judaism (1.2% to 2.2%)
* Islam (0.6% to 1.6%)
* Buddhism (0.5% to 0.9%)
* Hinduism (0.4%)
* other (1.4%)

You do realize that neither of those sets of figures adds up to 100%, right?

Those are not sets of numbers dude, they are ranges.

[Limewater]

Sorry for the self-reply.

I just wanted to point out that the most of the most racist, intolerant, (and obviously religious and southern) bigots in the United States can make the exact same claim.

Yes, atheist are exactly the same thing as racist.

That's not what I said at all. Look back at the comments on this thread. My post about irony was responding to the posters who were making fun "those intolerant religious folk" on one side, and saying, "I wish they would all go away" on the other.

You then responded that your intolerance has not killed anyone, as if that somehow distinguished it from the people complaining about the mosque near the World Trade Center site.

I then just pointed out that the charge of killing by intolerance can even be leveled against atheism. I don't actually blame atheism for what has been done in China any more than I blame Buddhism for the religious persecution going on in Sri Lanka.

I think you are missing a major point. I never said that I dislike christians, I said I dislike christianity. Same with hindus, religious jews, buddhists and so on.

But then that's kind of like saying to a black guy, "I don't hate you. I hate that you're black." Sure, that's different than hating the guy because he's black, but I'm not sure how much that difference is worth. I honestly don't see what hating anything buys you.

[Octopod]

Yes, atheist are exactly the same thing as racist.

That's not what I said at all.

I think you are missing a major point. I never said that I dislike christians, I said I dislike christianity. Same with hindus, religious jews, buddhists and so on.

But then that's kind of like saying to a black guy, "I don't hate you. I hate that you're black." Sure, that's different than hating the guy because he's black, but I'm not sure how much that difference is worth. I honestly don't see what hating anything buys you.

It is nothing like your analogy at all. Race and religion are not the same thing. You are trying your best though to stifle criticism of religion by equating it to racism.

[Limewater]

It is nothing like your analogy at all. Race and religion are not the same thing. You are trying your best though to stifle criticism of religion by equating it to racism.

You're right. Race and religion are not the same thing. (Hey, Inazuma, they aren't even spelled the same!) But that's kind of the point of an analogy. It's intentionally not the exact same thing. Rather it's illustrative.

You claim that hating religion is alright because you aren't hating the people. However, if you take the exact same argument and apply it to race, you come off looking like a racist. That should tell you something; if not about yourself then at least how you will be perceived.

[Octopod]

It is nothing like your analogy at all. Race and religion are not the same thing. You are trying your best though to stifle criticism of religion by equating it to racism.

You're right. Race and religion are not the same thing. (Hey, Inazuma, they aren't even spelled the same!) But that's kind of the point of an analogy. It's intentionally not the exact same thing. Rather it's illustrative.

It is not even close to the same thing. You can make that analogy about anythng if you wanted to.

I don't like dockers. I don't dislike the people who wear them it is just the dockers I dislike.

But then that's kind of like saying to a black guy, "I don't hate you. I hate that you're black." Sure, that's different than hating the guy because he's black, but I'm not sure how much that difference is worth. I honestly don't see what hating anything buys you.

People that do not like dockers must be bigots.

[Octopod]

And even if I did in fact hate christians or whatever religious person, rather than just the religion itself, it would still not be the same thing as racism.