Christian = good and Atheist = bad?

[fundies_like_zombies]

Is that the fundie view?

 

I was thinking bout it today and read simplyraising8.com/2011/12/can-christian-hang-out-with-atheist-mom.html where she said "I do believe that a person can have good morals and be a good person over all and still be atheist. It is also my opinion however that most non believers’ don’t have good moral values.if you find this offensive I am sorry but I say what I think."

 

And I wondered if most fundies and even nonfundie Christians would not be friends with someone because they didn't believe in God?

 

As if the kids go to normal schools they would meet ppl with all sorts of beliefs.

[GoJiRa]

I was reading some poll the other day and most of the people said they trust atheists as much as they trust rapists. How sick is that.

[GoJiRa]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/02/b ... thy-study/

[celestial]

Is that the fundie view?

I was thinking bout it today and read simplyraising8.com/2011/12/can-christian-hang-out-with-atheist-mom.html where she said "I do believe that a person can have good morals and be a good person over all and still be atheist. It is also my opinion however that most non believers’ don’t have good moral values.if you find this offensive I am sorry but I say what I think."

And I wondered if most fundies and even nonfundie Christians would not be friends with someone because they didn't believe in God?

As if the kids go to normal schools they would meet ppl with all sorts of beliefs.

I think the view is even more specific for many of these fundies. It's The Right Kind Of Christian= Good, All Others= Bad. And yes, I'm sure that many of them not only wouldn't become friends with an "unbeliever," they wouldn't become friends with people who don't believe exactly as they do. And they shelter their children specifically so that they do not come into contact with people with beliefs different from theirs.

[pixydust]

When I was a kid we went to an Assembly of God church (btw, that just sounds like a cult!), and it was very much "pentacostals are the only real Christians" and it semed like there was a war between the Pentacostals and the evil Baptists.

To make a long story short (too late), as a pentacostal we were encouraged to "fellowship" with other pentacostals, (cuz we were right!) and to keep non pentacostals at arms length. Many people in our church looked down on my mom for being close to her family (most of them are agnostics and athiests who :o drink).

Later, as a teen, I went to Southern Baptist church (more evangelical than fundie) and we were encouraged to make friends with non-Christians, so we could "bring them to the Lord" by "witnessing with our lives". If we lived our lives right, then they would "want what we had". But we needed to protect ourselves from being pulled into sin by Satan's influance in our friends.

[Effie]

Yes, atheists are immoral and tend to sway to the world's ways. Why? Because we are not thinking and acting like God wants us to. Basically, we are ungodly.

[Swamptribe]

Strangely enough, it's always bothered me that the only reason theists follow some moral code is because they fear punishment, or are hoping for rewards from some supernatural being.

[doe]

Strangely enough, it's always bothered me that the only reason theists follow some moral code is because they fear punishment, or are hoping for rewards from some supernatural being.

My husband recently got into a discussion with a Christian who I wouldn't trust at all. He said the only reason to do good is because of the reward of heaven so if he didn't believe in heaven, then he might as well go out and murder and rape people. I just find that deplorable.

However, I know that not all Christians feel that way. But unfortunately I fear more do than not.

[pixydust]

My husband recently got into a discussion with a Christian who I wouldn't trust at all. He said the only reason to do good is because of the reward of heaven so if he didn't believe in heaven, then he might as well go out and murder and rape people. I just find that deplorable.

However, I know that not all Christians feel that way. But unfortunately I fear more do than not.

I worry about that, too. I have known more than my fair share of them.

[Terrie]

I once ran into someone who had bullied me in high school, who insisted on apologizing to me about her behavior and explained that it was because, back then, she hadn't had God in her life. She then tried to convert me. Really, the topic had changed, but the behavior was the same.

[StarrieEyedKat]

I once ran into someone who had bullied me in high school, who insisted on apologizing to me about her behavior and explained that it was because, back then, she hadn't had God in her life. She then tried to convert me. Really, the topic had changed, but the behavior was the same.

If someone came up and said that to me, I would just respond with, "No thanks, I don't need God to be a decent person."

[slickcat79]

Strangely enough, it's always bothered me that the only reason theists follow some moral code is because they fear punishment, or are hoping for rewards from some supernatural being.

+1

That's a pretty common mentality from people who "despair" over atheists; they wonder how we can have morals and know how to be good without a supernatural babysitter making a list and checking it twice. I think it speaks more to their character that they only know how to have morals in light of divine interference. Makes me want to run fast in the opposite direction in case they have a crisis of faith...

[latraviata]

Is that the fundie view?

I was thinking bout it today and read simplyraising8.com/2011/12/can-christian-hang-out-with-atheist-mom.html where she said "I do believe that a person can have good morals and be a good person over all and still be atheist. It is also my opinion however that most non believers’ don’t have good moral values.if you find this offensive I am sorry but I say what I think."

And I wondered if most fundies and even nonfundie Christians would not be friends with someone because they didn't believe in God?

As if the kids go to normal schools they would meet ppl with all sorts of beliefs.

Well she'd better consult the FBP statistics on religious affiliations of inmates only 0,027% is atheist.

(2007)

[BlackHawk]

This reminds me of a conversation I had with my best friend's husband. According to him, he doe snot have morals, but ethics. Morals belong to a theistic religion, of which he doesn't belong. But not having morals does not make him a bad person, because he has ethics. It was a bizarre conversation that I'm still digesting, but it's something to think how a fundie would view these statements.

Personally, I'm with an atheist whom I choose to spend the rest of my life with. I don't think I'd be with him if he wasn't a good person. Anyone can be good or bad.. but good and bad are subjective to the society you live in and the personal stance you keep on things. I don't firmly believe in a broad "good" and "bad".

[Terrie]

If someone came up and said that to me, I would just respond with, "No thanks, I don't need God to be a decent person."

That was pretty much my view of things. I thought she was rather pathetic, honestly, if she needed to explain her behavior via a "relationship" with God. I would have been MUCH more accepting of her apology if she'd come up to me and said "I'm really sorry for what happened back then. I was an immature little shit in high school, but I've grown up and realized that my behavior was wrong."

[Hane]

One of the Pagan members of my UU church posted a link to a pagan homeschooling family blog. On it, I found this link:

http://thepaganhousehold.com/guest-post ... stian-area

I really sympathized with the writer. Here in southern New England, there's a lot of religious diversity, but so few people are comfortable coming right out and saying "I'm a Pagan" or "I'm an atheist." In the writer's part of the world, being a born-again Christian is as much a cultural norm as speaking English.

Several years ago, I was at an annual meeting with workmates I normally interacted with only online or over the phone. During a "getting to know you" exercise, one rather prickly woman demanded to know, "Are you a Christian?" Taken aback (I was a practicing Catholic at the time), I stammered out, "Well--yeah." (Heck of an inappropriate question to ask--it even gobsmacked our boss.) I learned that she had a reputation for being tough to deal with, and not often forthright. But, in a web design exercise we were given, she did one all about angels and the Bible and stuff--it was so sweet and fluffy you'd never think she'd designed it.

I once was working late and had to use the copying machine. I found it all overheated and paper-jammed with copies of--you guessed it--Bible stuff from someone's church. Cussing, I un-jammed the machine (it took about half an hour), let it cool off, and made my copies. Then I took the big fat wad of holy crap and set in top of the machine with a Passive-Aggressive Note reminding people to fix their own paper jams, particularly if they were using the copier for personal stuff. (I was pretty sure who the culprit was, but resisted the urge to dump the mess on her desk.)

A young-Earth creationist Baptist church used to rent space at our YWCA back in the '80s. They regularly defaced feminist posters that contained words like "womyn," until they were told to knock it off or lose their lease.

[browncoatslytherin]

If someone came up and said that to me, I would just respond with, "No thanks, I don't need God to be a decent person."

that is an excellent comeback

[lilwriter85]

l think a lot of fundies would never be friends with atheists or agnostics. Some fundies will probably try to convert any atheist or agnostic they meet. I have heard and encountered some mainstream Christians who view atheists as bad and wouldn't want anything to with an atheist or an agnostic. I have dealt with people who really wanted nothing to do with me because I'm an atheist and they think I don't have morals. A friend of mine who is agnostic managed a Subway a few years back and there was one employee who quit his job shortly after my friend said he was agnostic. The guy that quit is the son of a local minister of a mega church which is non denominational. My friend said that the guy told him that he couldn't be around agnostics or atheists because they didn't have the same value system as him. My friend later found that the guy ended up working at daddy's church.

[Tanaqui]

One of my Aunts (in her 20s) told my mom "You're such a nice person, even though you're not Christian" and my cousin (at around 12) told me "I thought you were a Christian because you're so nice". Little cousin was shocked when I told her that there were bad people who were Christians as well as perfectly nice non-believers. She also told me that she would cry in church because her grandmother told her I was going to burn in hell.

I've found that attitude really common in the South, though those are the only two times I've actually heard the words said. In HS the Bible Girls were always asking me about witchcraft and to write about Satan in their year books because I didn't go to church. I can't even begin to count the number of times I've heard, "You don't go to church? So, you worship Satan?". Yes, non-church goer = devil worshiper. Of course.

My favourite conversation was with a girl in my HS literature class

Bible Girl: "So, what church do you go to?"

Tana: "Um, I don't go to church."

BG: (confused look) "Why not?"

T: "Because I'm not a Christian."

BG: (loooong pause, confused look, actually watching her trying to process the information and seeing DOES NOT COMPUTE flash across her eyes) "Soooo, are you Catholic, then?"

T: ::sigh:: "Honey, no. They're Christians, too."

These days I proudly call myself a Heathen which tends to shut up the curious long enough for me to get away. I find it wonderful how nobody bothers me about it here in Scotland. The exception is the Jehovah's Witness that comes around once in a while, but she mainly plays with my Siamese and gives me magazines for the religion section of my library. It's cute really, she starts talking about the end of days and then Malachi pops his head out the door and she turns to mush and totally forgets why she's on my doorstep.