Re: Atomic "Think of it this way; if there is not a god, how did a need for a god evolve into the human pysche?"
If you ask me, which you did, I would say god evolved because man didn't have the scientific knowledge or knowhow to explain certain phenomenon. Also, the thought of dying and life being over is pretty depressing, so the idea of having a place to go after death is comforting.
If I believed in a god, my god would be clear in defining religion, and wouldn't let people create so many and then kill each other in her name.
I'm not here to debate if god exists though. I spoke up because I don't like people being insulted or talked down to based on their beliefs.
By the way, there is plenty of generalizing and stereotyping going on here, from both sides. People are generalizing about Christians and atheists, and none of it is productive.
What's important regardless of what you believe is tolerance. I am a tolerant atheist. I don't believe in god, and this belief isn't because of how religious people behave. I don't mind when people are religious. I do mind when they become hateful, violent or ignorant, which may or may not be linked to/caused by their religion. And I do mind when they shove their beliefs in other peoples faces. I am not going to tell anyone to stop believing in god. I will tell them to stop saying things like "god hates fags."
Re: Atomic "No one is born an atheist. We are born with an inherent knowledge of our creator."
Think about this statement, seriously... You are taught religion. People are taught different religions. If your statement is true, why are there different religions?
Re: Christians are non-violent
Yes, the teachings say turn the other cheek, but in reality through history, many wars have been started in god's name.
wtf? This post is subtly offensive and condescending to non-christians. It's not appreciated. It's the equivalent of linking to a page that proves god doesn't exist.
But Onyxium: It's sad to see that you label people as ignorant when you disagree with them.
Without reading the article, this seems like a bit of an ignorant point of view. I'd say they probably think it's "beautiful" because for however many generations they've kept doing it, and if you're the first one to have teeth, you'll be the odd one out, the strange one. Because of the diseases, the norm has been changed and is now a cultural thing. I don't think that they have this desire to cause pain to children, and seek out how to justify it, it's just become a new cultural norm.
No, I don't want to ban the police from having guns. Don't try to paint me out to be stupid because I disagree with you.
You seem to view life as a constant battlefield where you're always endanger... I feel when average people need to think this way it means America is in a very poor state. Why do you feel this way? Do you feel threatened when you walk down to the corner store? I would never want to engage in a gun fight. I think filling the streets with guns in the hands of paranoid people will only lead to more unnecessary death.
I also disagree with the notion that the VT killer would definitely have procured guns in a different matter. Do you think the columbine killers would have gone through other criminals to get their guns if they couldn't swipe guns legally purchased by their parents? This is all speculation and could be argued forever, but I'd like to think that raising these questions will at least cause people who are "pro-gun" to consider an alternate point of view.
Also, there is no way you can conclude that "violence against women is a myth" because more men are murdered with guns than women. I'm sorry to be blunt, but that question is full of ignorance and is painfully oversimplifying things.
There's a lot of strange "logic" going on in these comments. People act like the students at VT constantly felt unsafe because they weren't legally allowed to carry guns, and that they were all preoccupied with their desire to carry guns. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a student who'd say "If only VT wasn't a gun-free zone, then I would have had my gun with me and everything would have been fine!"
Why is there no mention that the guns used at VT were legally purchased and owned? Surely the neatorama readers present here would never break the law and kill people, but that's not a valid argument to suggest that all people who legally purchase guns do so for self-defense! The counter example is right in our faces!
It is my opinion that we'd be better off with no guns. Then, murderous people wouldn't be able to get guns (or at the least it would make it MUCH more difficult) and perhaps there would be less incidents of legally owned/purchased guns (and less guns in general) being used for murder. Is that logic so far-fetched? Would school shootings of the past have been so "effective" if the killers didn't have guns?
"Think of it this way; if there is not a god, how did a need for a god evolve into the human pysche?"
If you ask me, which you did, I would say god evolved because man didn't have the scientific knowledge or knowhow to explain certain phenomenon. Also, the thought of dying and life being over is pretty depressing, so the idea of having a place to go after death is comforting.
If I believed in a god, my god would be clear in defining religion, and wouldn't let people create so many and then kill each other in her name.
I'm not here to debate if god exists though. I spoke up because I don't like people being insulted or talked down to based on their beliefs.
What's important regardless of what you believe is tolerance. I am a tolerant atheist. I don't believe in god, and this belief isn't because of how religious people behave. I don't mind when people are religious. I do mind when they become hateful, violent or ignorant, which may or may not be linked to/caused by their religion. And I do mind when they shove their beliefs in other peoples faces. I am not going to tell anyone to stop believing in god. I will tell them to stop saying things like "god hates fags."
Think about this statement, seriously... You are taught religion. People are taught different religions. If your statement is true, why are there different religions?
Re: Christians are non-violent
Yes, the teachings say turn the other cheek, but in reality through history, many wars have been started in god's name.
But Onyxium: It's sad to see that you label people as ignorant when you disagree with them.
http://forum.vampire-awakening.com/viewtopic.php?t=847&start=0
You seem to view life as a constant battlefield where you're always endanger... I feel when average people need to think this way it means America is in a very poor state. Why do you feel this way? Do you feel threatened when you walk down to the corner store? I would never want to engage in a gun fight. I think filling the streets with guns in the hands of paranoid people will only lead to more unnecessary death.
I also disagree with the notion that the VT killer would definitely have procured guns in a different matter. Do you think the columbine killers would have gone through other criminals to get their guns if they couldn't swipe guns legally purchased by their parents? This is all speculation and could be argued forever, but I'd like to think that raising these questions will at least cause people who are "pro-gun" to consider an alternate point of view.
Why is there no mention that the guns used at VT were legally purchased and owned? Surely the neatorama readers present here would never break the law and kill people, but that's not a valid argument to suggest that all people who legally purchase guns do so for self-defense! The counter example is right in our faces!
It is my opinion that we'd be better off with no guns. Then, murderous people wouldn't be able to get guns (or at the least it would make it MUCH more difficult) and perhaps there would be less incidents of legally owned/purchased guns (and less guns in general) being used for murder. Is that logic so far-fetched? Would school shootings of the past have been so "effective" if the killers didn't have guns?
At first I thought it be completely filled with water!