hypochondriac

I have found that quite a lot of atheists can't just accept someone who has faith and a lot of them in my experience have a problem with someone having a belief in god. I'm neither a hugely religious person or an atheist but I am quite happy for people to believe what they like even if I think it is nonsense.

Just a simple opinion borne from experience of these type of threads.

Last PM I sent was to the Kraken two weeks ago.

I would say so.

I'm a veteran of these sagas. It goes on and on and on and on and then it's pronounced dead.

Deal is dead. Lets move on.

Get in. 1-1. Last kick of the half.

Portsmouth winning. Disgrace again.

Point taken mate. Lets hope it stays sensible.

It's mostly just myself and FC agreeing...

Yes but this hardly sounds like a similar sort of thing. I mean this guy if we get him will clearly have some of the most talent in our team. Better than De Ridder and Guly at any rate.

Based on?

My ire directing at anothersaintinsouthsea is because I believe he is in danger of misrepresenting my words. I agree with questioning religious beliefs that are harmful to others I agree that whilst religious people can spread their belief where appropriate (just as atheists hav the right to spread their 'belief') that does not give them license to be overly judgemental or preach at others where it is unwanted. My view has been consistent over this issue- people should be able to believe what they want as long as it doesn't harm anyone else. Clearly the things you have listed do terrible harm. Practices like female circumcision are wrong regardless of whether religion is used to justify it or not. Same with refusing blood transfusions but if they are an adult then that is their choice. Different story for under age though as you allude to. With your final point I also agree. I'm not actually arguing with you. A belief in God is clearly not essential in order to be a good person but some people choose to be a good person and believe in God. Good for them is my response.

OK thanks. Can't imagine Blackpool would let us have both!

Why have you adopted that tone and pretended I have said something that I did not say? I suspect you may just be trying to get a reaction but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt at reply politely anyway. FWIW I agree that religious people should not ram religion down other people's throats. If you read some of my other posts I already said what I respected about my father was that he was a Christian but didn't do anything like that. Fanatical Christians who judge others and ram their religion down other people's throats are completely wrong. Equally IMO are those who belittle or insult those who choose to have religious beliefs.

Where has this ince thing come from? We aren't signing him IMO.

Austin was just 19 pages so this easily beats it. If I remember correctly skacel was about ten different threads so we can't measure.

I think even people who belong to those religions would argue with you about that. If you don't view God as a "person" then there are clear distinct differences between the God in Islam and the God in Christianity for example in my experience (though I'm not going into them here!) Not really getting into the viability of religions since to a large extent I agree with many of your points. My argument was that christianity and Islam exists outside of the mainstream church organisations. I know because my girlfriend comes from a Muslim family and my father is a Christian so I have first hand experience! I do think you can respect others to believe what they want though I take your point about the paradox. I am pleased that you have found your own belief system that works for you. My primary problem is with those who seek to belittle others for believing in something which they do not. I was just saying that personally I support anyone that finds a belief that makes them happier, improves their life and hopefully the lives of those they come into contact with.

I like that ambiguity...

Fair play to Lawro. Knows his stuff.

Lets wait and see...

Lets get back on topic.

I can't speak for others but certainly my experience is that to be a Christian you do have to believe in God. I strongly contest that you have to engage in any traditional rituals in order to be a christian though. My understanding is that being a Christian means believing in God and living your life by following Christian values but all the other stuff to my mind is optional. My father has in the past attended the Community church in Southampton- a "church" pretty far removed from my idea of a church at any rate. I don't know about now but when I attended in the past there was no symbolism as such. There were songs sure but it was up to the individual how much they participated or not (which IMO is how it should be!). I respect the faith my father has though I do not share it to the same degree precisely because the last thing he ever does is ram it down people's throats. His belief is that he shows people he is a Christian through the way he lives his life so there is never any need to go out of his way to mention it. I think there would be some disagreements about your statement that religions believe in the same God. My experience is that believers of religions believe in one God but that it is not necessarily the same. In regards to your last point, I would say that the belief in God is pretty fundamental to being a Christian (though of course it is entirely possible to live by the teachings of Christianity though not believe in God.) Thanks for the interesting conversation, I of course can't even begin to know any of the answers but that's how I see it (just to make it blindingly obvious to notnowcato.)

Not at all. I just didn't appreciate notnowcato's tone, especially as he has had numerous run ins with me in the past. I considered it pretty pathetic to pick up on that comment when it was obvious that it was my opinion. It wasn't even a particularly important point in the context of my entire reply. Back to the thread...

Will sign for Spurs tomorrow no doubt.