Do True Christians Enjoy the Right to Freedom of Religion?

Hi Salt,

You make a good point.   The  Oxford Dictionary defines Religion as:

Ok, so Christianity is a religion.  But I don't understand how atheism can be categorized as a religion.  According to the definition, a religion is:

"• The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods."

 My understanding of atheism is that there is no belief in any superhuman (supernatural) gods or controlling power.  How can the non-belief in a god or gods be the belief in a god or gods?

Queue up the fundy double talk - sit back and watch.

Hi Salt,

There is no such thing as not believing.  Christians believe that God exists.  Atheist believe that God does not exist.   Both are belief systems.  Therefore, both can be called a religion.

The main difference is that Christianity goes much further than world religions.  Where world religions worship gods which are man-created.  Christians worship God who is eternal and preexisting.

Some might say that atheists do not worship a god.  They do.  Their god is the world and the secular society, their god is their own desires which drive their lives, their god is their own desire to be in full control of all things in their lives.  We Christians turn control of our lives over to God -- and follow Jesus Christ.  Yes, we are sheep -- His sheep -- and because of that, we have eternal life in Christ.

John 10:27-29, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."

Court Rules Atheism A Religion
http://www.wnd.com/2005/08/31895/

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

well, well, well.. ole bill has suddenly turned into a legalese christian. now that is serves his needs..

bless his hypocritical little heart.

this week alone, bill has put out a huge 'copy and paste' reply and referred to legal definitions and court ruling.. the very thing he chastises other posters for doing.. imagine everyone's shock and surprise.

billiee said

There is no such thing as not believing.  Christians believe that God exists.  Atheist believe that God does not exist.   Both are belief systems.  Therefore, both can be called a religion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The reason it's called a belief system is because of a belief, in whatever.

If there's no belief in whatever, there's no system. I personally don't believe

in Big Foot so there's no system about it.

If you could classify the non existence of an animal, what classification would

that be? How do you call it a Religion when there's nothing religious about it.

Void of a subject for the belief leaves nothing to believe. To not believe in God

is no more a Religion than to not believe in Peter Pan. Atheists have nothing

to attach a thought of belief to, just a void and goes no further than that.

I don't believe billiee knows what he's talking about, that's a system because

I have the physiology to back me up. His thought process proves that

everyday

I don't know why some insist on calling atheism a religion, unless they think it bothers atheists, but what the hey, if it blows their skirts up they can have at it. As I've always said, if it is a religion it's the best one out there.

Bill DHL™ starts out with the false premise, "there is no such thing as not believing".  I don't believe a lot of things.  I don't believe every day.  Right now, I don't believe the idiotic premise that "there is no such thing as not believing." 

I believe that Santa Claus exists.  Does that mean I have a religion?  I don't believe the Easter Bunny exists.  Is that a religion also? 

How does one go about "worshiping" secular society?

This is the kind of nonsense the fundamentalists roll out to explain ridiculous ideas. 

I now understand why they think the response, "Duh", is brilliant.

Hi all,

It sure is fun to stir up my four atheist Friends -- and watch them run helter-skelter over one another.   Sort of like stirring up an ant hill and watching all the ants scurry around.

Yes, sir, I do enjoy a wee bit of entertainment at the end of the evening.  Most often, I watch an episode of the Bill Cosby Show to relax before going to bed.  But, my little ants are more fun.

Bless their little hearts!

Bill

you ever seen someone trip, fall on their face, get up, and act like nothing happened or they 'meant to do that'?

Pffft...  If atheism is a religion, then "off" is a TV channel.

billieee thinks that lie covers his stupidity, all he does is double down on

the lie. Really, he's done this more than a few times.

First, lets look at grammar (I know, everyone's favorite subject) for a second.  If I say, "I believe", then the negative of that statement is, "I do not believe."  If I say, "I believe god exists", then the negative of that statement is, "I do not believe god exists," not, "I believe god does not exist."  This is because the subject of the sentence is "I" and the verb is "believe."  When you negate a statement, you negate the verb, such as, "I went to the store" becomes "I did not go to the store", not "I went to not the store." 

So, a negative belief does exist, and there is a difference between, "I believe god does not exist" and "I do not believe god exists."  In the first statement, a positive decision for the non-existence of god has been made.  In the second statement, no positive or negative decision has been made.  There is no belief stated in, "I do not believe."  Consider, "I do not believe in god nor fairies" versus "I believe in god, but not fairies" versus "I believe that god does not exist, but I do believe that fairies exist."  The difference may seem insignificant to the uneducated, but the words we use and how we use them is very important. 

Second, if we are going to use court rulings for justification of our statements, then we must state that bans on gay marriage are unconstitutional and a bad thing since there have been cases in several states where this very judgement has been rendered. 

Third, how can Invictus be an atheist, since all evidence from his postings indicate he is a Roman Catholic.  Roman Catholics believe in the same god that protestants do, don't they?

4 minutes ago

Johhny No Cred's narcissism is in full bloom today.

Solar eclipse as seen from space

I was right..........the earth is flat. were still on earth aren't we..??

Originally Posted by Salt:

Third, how can Invictus be an atheist, since all evidence from his postings indicate he is a Roman Catholic.  Roman Catholics believe in the same god that protestants do, don't they?

The jury is still out on that one, Salt. I believe in the God of the 73 book

manual pdf. Not saying anything is wrong with the abridged paperback

model. I just see my God has more to say.

Your initial post, shown here, shows that you have given thought to this issue.  And, as such, it deserves more that just a quick "back atcha!" kind of response.   So, I have taken the time to give you the kind of response your post deserves.

You will find my response in the new discussion titled "What Is A Christian? - What Is An Atheist?"

In that discussion, you will also find a response to your later question about why I sometimes lump Vic into the "atheist pool."  And, I am quite sure that his response to what I have written there will fully justify what I wrote.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

Dove, crusty, check your PMs.

_____

You better send ole Billy one too or he'll pray a Pox on you!

I'm sure he's tried that a few hundred times already.