U.S. Atheists Reportedly Using Hair Dryers to 'De-Baptize'

Originally posted by undo
reply to post by Annee

 

would be minor if it were only one incident, but as a cursory reading of this thread and past history of atheism and religion will reveal, zealotry on these subjects is nothing short of deadly.

turn up the rhetoric and publicize it = asking others of like mind to join in social abuse of a sector of the populace based on belief. can see similar examples in places like stalin's russia. i, for one, don't want hitler or stalin, thanks anyway. common sense will suffice.

What are you talking about?

Would you feel/respond the same way to a news show filming an exorcism?

reply to post by Annee


if the person receiving the exorcism thought they needed to be exorcised, no, i would not feel the same way. but if the person receiving the exorcism didn't think they needed it, and were being exorcised anyway, yes, i would view that as seriously abusive. YOU get to decide what to believe and that freedom should come along with enough protection that you don't have to fear being publicly lynched, humiliated, driven to make decisions you don't want to make via social pressure, and particularly on national television, in classrooms, churches and other venues designed to create and nuture memes.

in short, atheists who are being that vocally abusive about it, need to learn from history. learn please.

God will show mock them on the day of judgement. I mean seriously, the signs of God are all around us. I believe the higher your education is especially in the natural sciences the more obvious it is that there is a God.

Yet these atheists choose to mock all religions. The believers of the one, the only God will be laughing at the atheists. If they think a hair dryer is hot, wait till they feel hell.

Originally posted by undo
reply to post by Annee

 

if the person receiving the exorcism thought they needed to be exorcised, no, i would not feel the same way.

Then what's the difference?

Personally - I find it silly to "de" anything you no longer believe. That's like giving it validity.

reply to post by THE_PROFESSIONAL


I'm just curious, what makes hell hot? Wouldn't you agree that the more educated a person is, the more that hell seems like a fairy tale? It's one thing to believe in god, and it is something else entirely to believe in hell, IMO. It would seem that "hell" was created in the mind of man, to scare others into submission or into following the word of a particular religion.

--airspoon

reply to post by THE_PROFESSIONAL


but it's not our job as believers, to decide who goes where and how things will play out when they get there. we don't know diddly about any other person's destiny. please don't make matters worse.

reply to post by Annee


you're allowed to think that way, for yourself. you are not allowed to think that way for someone else, however, as their brain is their brain and your brain is yours, otherwise you'd be a siamese twin joined at the head. it's not a hard concept but it seems difficult because it requires understanding that lack of agreement does not automatically equal coerced eradication of disagreement.

Originally posted by Rafe_
Why would it be wrong to symbolicly de-baptize adults when it is ok to symbolicly baptize babies ?

Because then it means that they believe in religion but are now choosing to be spiritually from it.

When I discovered that Santa Clause was not real I didn’t feel the need to put anti-Santa Clause presents under the tree to counter those years I waited for my presidents from him.

No belief means there should be very little thought/action about the belief.

reply to post by Xtrozero


personally, i don't see a problem with them doing this de-baptizing thing. where it becomes an issue is when they promote it for public consumption in a mixed audience. i don't mind them discussing, debating or reasoning on why they believe as they do, but i do mind them using their belief system as a means to humiliate/embarrass/degrade, other people in a public setting, sure to garner sympathy and enemies alike.


[edit on 18-7-2010 by undo]

reply to post by airspoon


Well actually, something that has been mentioned so clearly in all the major abrahamic religions (the unaltered bible, the unaltered torah, the koran), it is a repeated theme. The koran speaks of numerous signs and they are all true. An illiterate man 1400 years ago cannot write a book 100% accurate, unless the knowledge came from a higher power.

Originally posted by airspoon

I'm just curious, what makes hell hot? Wouldn't you agree that the more educated a person is, the more that hell seems like a fairy tale? It's one thing to believe in god, and it is something else entirely to believe in hell, IMO. It would seem that "hell" was created in the mind of man, to scare others into submission or into following the word of a particular religion.

--airspoon

I don't think Hell in religion needs to be hot. It is talked about as an endless torment and for some that could be endless burning, but for others it might be the Barney song over and over forever….hehe

But if you really think about it I would say it is endless torment in your mind and even looking around you will see people at peace living a happy life and others living a self created life of torment. In a non-religion way if some form of your id or energy continues on after your physical body dies it could be that the torment in life continues on, or peace with one self continues.


[edit on 18-7-2010 by Xtrozero]

Originally posted by undo
reply to post by Annee

 

you're allowed to think that way, for yourself. you are not allowed to think that way for someone else, however, as their brain is their brain and your brain is yours, otherwise you'd be a siamese twin joined at the head. it's not a hard concept but it seems difficult because it requires understanding that lack of agreement does not automatically equal coerced eradication of disagreement.

I still have absolutely No idea what you are talking about.

And you related it to the movie "War Games?

here's an example of what happens when, instead of addressing why they disagree with islam, they instead use ridicule, humiliation and disrespect to promote the message and the zealots come out of the woodwork.



if the message is that islam is just another fairy tale, try proving it. if the message is that islam is absolutely correct, try proving it. but for gads sakes, turn down the rhetoric before this thing explodes. you'll have no one to blame but yourselves (and that goes for both sides of the conflict).

Originally posted by undo


personally, i don't see a problem with them doing this de-baptizing thing.

I don't mind it as much as find it strange for what they proclaim to be.

i don't mind them discussing, debating or reasoning on why they believe as they do, but i do mind them using their belief system as a means to humiliate/embarrass/degrade, other people in a public setting, sure to garner sympathy and enemies alike.

I agree that when religion personally affects their life at that point they should express their desires for it not too. Such examples might be prayer or religious ideals forced on their childern in public schools (not just prayer time for others), tax money spent for religious reasons etc..,

When I see them joining groups with the desires to perform their own anti-religious rituals and customs it looks more and more like a religion, godless or not, to me all the time hehe.




[edit on 18-7-2010 by Xtrozero]

reply to post by Annee


sorry, i misunderstood your post to which i was responding. apply that post of mine to the general topic of the thread, as that was how it was intended.

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
Think this was already posted, but yes, I agree. It's never a good idea to attempt to humiliate someone for their beliefs.

I don't know if the PURPOSE of these "de-baptisms" is to humiliate people for their beliefs. It seems more like a ritual, much like baptisms themselves, that a group of people want to do to make a statement. That's all baptisms are. So, I don't really see any difference.

If people are offended by this, I think it's really their problem.

I was baptized as a child and I don't feel a need or desire to be de-baptized, but I would definitely support people to do it, just as I would support people to be baptized, if that's what they want. It's not hurting anyone. We have to remember freedom. I think we should err on the side of freedom when approaching subjects like this.

It's actions like these "de-baptisms", though, that illustrate how SOME atheists treat atheism as a religion, complete with rituals and meetings and all the stuff I hate about religion. They give rational atheists (like me) a bad name, in my opinion.

But I do find the story hilarious.

[edit on 7/18/2010 by Benevolent Heretic]

Not to defend Atheists, but Jesus was baptized by choice. He is the example we should follow. Newborn babies being baptized does not make any sense at all.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


i can laugh at myself, same as the next person. where it becomes an issue is when it is used to embarrass and ridicule others. that video of the swedish cartoonist i posted above, is an example of going off the deep end (cartoonist depicted muhammad as a dog) and the resultant backlash. it wasn't necessary. it was designed to embarrass, humiliate and infuriate the islamic people and, this de-baptizing thing is another example of the same kind of thing.

why is it necessary? i believe in freedom of expression as well, but isn't there such a thing as social responsibility, for reasons of peaceful cohabitation?

Originally posted by undo
here's an example of what happens when, instead of addressing why they disagree with islam, they instead use ridicule, humiliation and disrespect to promote the message and the zealots come out of the woodwork.

Lol, just what is going on in the video? Is that Swedish cops or rent a cops? It is so funny how we, on one hand, take simple words said even one time, such as Don Imus joking about a black female basketball team, and then is deemed a life long racist by everyone even when he promotes intercity children projects in the 100,000s of dollars as his main charity. This happens all the time where even one statement by anyone of us is set into stone overriding a lifetime of achievements and ideals.

On the other hand we allow many to get a free ride to anything they want to say about religion, and then they seem surprise or justified when it pisses people off…hehe geez

It would be like someone putting their finger an inch from my face and saying “I’m not touching you! I’m not touching you!” over and over and then they become surprised when I beat the crap out of them.

[edit on 18-7-2010 by Xtrozero]

Satire is a part of life.

Usually people only get upset when it "touches" them.

But laugh loudly the rest of the time.