Westboro baptist church

[lincpimp]

Great thread!!!

I especially like this pic, and the "hidden deep meaning" :http://images2.fanpop.com/image/phot...4-1280-800.jpg

Ok, here are 2 truths:

1. Faith/belief = a personal view point that may be based on a number of tangilbles and intangibles.

Pretty straight forward, if you belive/have faith you must have some reason, and whatever it is that is fine with me!

2. Religion = Pyramid scheme

If this is not obvious you really need to pay close attention to the "governing parties" of any specific religion. Take catholics, the pope is the top of the "pyramid" and he has untold wealth and power. As soon as he takes office he becomes infallible (so his actions cannot be questioned). Plus if you have ever vistied vatican city there is no doubt they spent some money on it, money they got by "extorting" (look that word up in the dictionary before you jump on me) a very large population of generally undereducated and usually quite poor people. You can find the same basic theme in any of the current religions, not as successful as the catholics, but still working the same angle.

The problem is, the religions have manged to incorporate the faith/belief and have twisted it to their own ends. You only need to look to the fact that alot of people in the world are starving and homeless and you do not see the pope selling off all of the priceless art et al to raise money to feed them and improve their quality of life. I think pretty much any "christian" would have to agree with me that Jesus would want the poor taken care of long before he would want a fancy place to gather.

So while I have no issue with people having beliefs, I do take issue with the fact those believers have allowed themselves to be corraled into "following the leader" with their time and money.

Please see that I am not trying to insult or belittle anyone here. But please, take a step back and try to determine if you are part of something that is positive. Organized religion is alot like a sheep dog, it may keep you away from the wolves, but it will ultimately lead you to slaughter....

And cut Neil some slack, he may not have the proper bedside manner to approach this delicate subject, but he obviously has as much or more passion to illustrate his point.

And as far as the term "atheist" goes, it is a single sided term. It can only be used by a "theist" (one who belives in god) to descibe another who does not share that belief. It is a hard concept to wrap ones mind around. I cannot call myself an atheist, as that would require me to not believe in "something", ergo that "something" does exist (imagine not believing in water, for example.) So I consider myself as "normal" or "constant" and those who believe as "abnormal" or "non-constant". Not in a negative way, just they, for some reason, have decided to believe in something that I do not think exists. Consider that any story has 2 sides, and you know your side is correct when....