Yaputya Leftlegin , unusual for an atheist, inquired about truth:
>>>> And you don't think that's how people other than atheists,
>>>> including religious people, feel guilt?
>>>>
>>>> You clearly haven't read Freud or Jung! B^D
>>>>
>>>>>> I also enjoy the fact that I can behave
>>>>>> decently on my own hook, without the carrot of reward or the stick of
>>>>>> punishment
>>>>>> directing my behavior toward other people, animals, and the world in
>>>>>> general.
>>>>
>>>> So you are now complaining about our secular legal and justice systems.
>>>>
>>>> And how, exactly does atheism contribute to your behaviour being 'on a
>>>> hook'? WTF?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Seconded.
>>>>>
>>>>> T
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Two more atheists who don't get ANY fun from atheism per se,
>>>> but claim it's all about NOT being religious.. defined in the empty
>>>> negative, with no evidence that atheism is the sole alternative to
>>>> the problems discussed.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "He's glad he stays dry on rainy days by never leaving his house,
>>>> others achieve the same with cars, umbrellas, raincoats etc etc"
>>>>
>>>> That's his fun.. not leaving the house. pffft
>>>>
>>>> Atheism, the most trivial, impotent, ineffectual, useless,
>>>> sub branch of pointless Nihilism.
>>>>
>>>> The only fun they have is pretending that they are superior
>>>> to religious people.. the very definition of REACTIONARIES.
and, as evidence that atheism is no fun, not even for atheists,
they quickly snip and RUN FROM any discussion of atheism,
and try and change the subject to something more interesting;
> So which religion is the real truth, fasy ?
So which is the 'Real Science', Physics, Chemistry, Biology..? ;-)
These domains are not mutually exclusive, reality is Holistic.
Ah well, thanks for proving my point that atheists are more
interested in RELIGION than atheism! B^D
Who isn't!?!!! BWAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA
Your question was answered centuries ago, humans are only now
absorbing it:
THE ONE TRUE LIGHT
Some Hindus bought an elephant, which they exhibited in a dark shed.
As seeing it was impossible, everyone felt it with the palm of his hand.
The hand of one fell on its trunk: he said "This animal is like a water
pipe".
Another touched its ear: to him the creature seemed like a fan.
Another handled its leg and described the elephant as having the shape
of a pillar.
Another stroked its back. "Truly", said he, "this elephant resembles a
throne".
Had each of them held a lighted candle
there would have been no contradiction in their words.
The lamps are different but the Light is the same: it comes from Beyond.
If thou keep looking at the lamp, thou art lost:
for there arises the appearance of number and plurality.
Fix thy gaze upon the Light,
and thou art delivered from the dualism inherent in the finite body.
O thou who art the Kernel of Existence,
the disagreement between Moslem, Zoroastrian and Jew depends upon the
standpoint.
- Jalal'u'Din Rumi (1207 – 1273)
All religions which truly teach Love, are true.
HINDUISM
"He must show no anger to one who is angry.
He must bless the man who curses him..."
CONFUCIANISM
"Love is its own reward.. Love offers peace...
A heart set on love can do no wrong."
TAOISM
"Repay evil with good..
Heaven arms with love those it would not see destroyed."
BUDDHISM
"If a man foolishly does me a wrong.
I will return to him the protection of my ungrudging love."
JUDAISM
"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself..
And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land...
thou shalt love him as thyself."
ISLAM
"Verily my love overcometh my anger."
SIKHISM
"Serve ye well all creatures, both big and small.
Give pain to no being that lives and feels."
CHRISTIANITY
"A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another.
As I have loved you, so you shall love one another."
BAHÁ'Í
"..for love is light, no matter in what abode it dwelleth."
It is worth noting that all these great and enduring World Faiths
share this core message.. remarkable given that they appear at
disparate geographical locations and in different epochs.
And yet, in another sense, none of them are true, because while they
appear to have a common inspiration, they are Human Organisations,
and that means they are imperfect instruments.
The religion of love is a part from all religions.
The lovers of God have no religion but God alone
-The Mathnawi II, 1720
By the time Moses came down from Sinai, the Chosen were already
making idols.. Jesus was betrayed by his disciples at the outset.
Given such imperfect material to work with, it is a Miracle
that any of the religions became so useful to society that they
have inspired and sustained civilisations for millennia.
> Religious believers are the real hypocrites,
Yes, just like atheists, believers are hypocrites.
Hypocrites with religion produced great and enduring civilisations,
including all the free, open, pluralist, progressive, rights based
secular democracies, each built by MAJORITY RELIGIOUS populations.
Hypocrites with atheism produced not a single decent democracy.. just
a handful of failed TOTALITARIAN Tyrannies, which killed over
60,000,000 people.. far more than any religion.
> they either think their own religion is right
> and all others are wrong, or they think more than one incompatible religion
> is valid.Illogical in either case.
Your problem is Ignorance. You have a very limited understanding
of religion, and it's progressive nature.
As the Rumi quote shows, the understanding that all religions
share a common Light is centuries old. Some truths take humans
a long time to grasp, and some of you take longer than others...
Let me illustrate the Evolution of this understanding in the
two largest world religions, Christianity and Islam;
In 1960, for the first time, representatives of the Vatican
and the Sharif of Mecca met, and agreed that they both worship
the same God! 8^o
Then, at Vatican II, after 14 centuries of denying it,
The Christian Church publicly accepted what Islam had
told it 1,443 years ago; YHWH, Allah and Jehovah are names
in different languages describing the SAME God,
Christians, Muslims and Jews are brothers.. and the Vatican
declared this relationship to be fundamental, in Nostra Aetate.
When Benedict became Pope, he declared Nostra Aetate to
be the "Magna Carta" bedrock on which Christian rapprochement
with Islam would rest!
The Church representing the largest number of Christians:
# "DECLARATION ON THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH
# TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS
#
# NOSTRA AETATE
#
# PROCLAIMED BY HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI
# ...
# 3. The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems.
# They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself;
# merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth,
# who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to
# even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith
# of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God."
Of course the Christian Bible and the Torah,
has proclaimed the Unity of God for millennia,
long before there were Christians to argue over it;
"Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad."
"Hear oh Israel, the Lord thy God, the Lord is One!"
And Islam similarly proclaims it in the Muslim's daily
statement of faith in ONE GOD...
"la illaha illa Allah"
... based firmly on the Qur'an which stated this fundamental
unity, now accepted by the Christians, 1,443 years ago;
# "And argue not with the People of the Scripture
# unless it be in ( a way) that is better,
# save with such of them as do wrong;
# and say: We believe in that which hath been revealed unto us
# and revealed unto you;
# our God and your God is One,
# and unto Him we surrender."
#
# - The Qur'an Sura 29 verse 46
Now, like you, many Christians, and many Muslims, and Many Jews remain
IGNORANT of the truth, of what is revealed in THEIR SCRIPTURES.
Of course you can find Muslims, or Christians who ignore
the scriptures, and claim they alone possess the Truth..
those were the ones who, in Jesus' time, failed to recognise
him as the Messiah they awaited, and crucified him.
History has shown they were wrong.
History has shown the atheists are just as wrong;
http://www.atheistnexus.org/photo/2182797:Photo:17475?context=latest
> "Atheist" is a label that is disingenuous
Exactly how I, and apparently most people, find atheists to be.
# Atheists Identified as America’s Most Distrusted Minority"
# - American Sociological Association, ASA NEWS
#
# "A survey by sociologists at the University of Minnesota
# found that atheists are “America’s most distrusted minority.”
#
# "From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households,
# university researchers found that Americans rate atheists
# below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and
# other minority groups in “sharing their vision of
# American society.”
#
# Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are
# least willing to allow their children to marry.
#
# Even though atheists are few in number, not formally
# organized and relatively hard to publicly identify,
# they are seen as a threat to the American way of life
# by a large portion of the American public.
#
# Many of the study’s respondents associated atheism with
# an array of moral indiscretions ranging from criminal
# behavior to rampant materialism and cultural elitism.
#
# Edgell believes a fear of moral decline and resulting
# social disorder is behind the findings.
# “Americans believe they share more than rules and
# procedures with their fellow citizens—they share an
# understanding of right and wrong,” she said. “Our
# findings seem to rest on a view of atheists as
# self-interested individuals who are not concerned
# with the common good.”
> - if you don't believe in the tooth fairy
>
> do you deserve a special name ?
Clearly belief in the tooth fairy is not significant enough
to warrant one.. belief in God is.
> People with delusions are called psychotic
Indeed, the atheist states of the last century were deluded
in thinking Man was the measure of all things, the utopian
visions of the fascists, the atheistic communists, Nazis,
Maoists, Khmer Rouge.. all failed catastrophically.
the free open progressive secular democracies built and sustained
by MAJORITY RELIGIOUS societies operating on Spiritual Values,
have all been successful.
Join the dots..... if you are capable of logic and rational thought.
> but people without delusions are not labelled "apsychotic".
Do you think anyone cares for the Useless, Empty Rhetoric of
atheism, the most ineffectual, impotent, irrelevant sub-branch
of pointless Nihilism?
> "We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever
> believed in.
Yawn... you cretins seem to believe that you SHAPE reality
with your semantic slogan chanting and weasel words..
> Some of us just go one god further."
> -- Richard Dawkins
Clearly Dawkins is as ignorant of Sura 29 verse 46 and
Nostra Aetate as you are.
Christians and Muslims, who believe their SCRIPTURES,
do are not disbelievers of the other's God.. it is the same One.
>
http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/dawkins.htm
The last group who quoted from the Great Atheist Leaders Dogma
rather than THINKING FOR THEMSELVES:
http://www.thearchetypalconnection.com/images/RedGuardsLow.JPG