I don’t give a flying globule of yak come about the topic of religion. Seriously. I don’t care about it one way or the other. I hate thinking about it. It’s boring. I think that talking about it is boring as hell. I don’t feel threatened by fundamentalists. I don’t feel threatened by atheists. I don’t care that there are people who don’t believe in evolution. I think they’re stupid, but I don’t give a shit about them and never think about them. I have no passion whatsoever on the subject. What someone’s spiritual beliefs are concerns me not at all, unless their belief involves trying to kill me. And I have no desire whatsoever to debate about religion, either on this message board or in real life.
Am I alone in this? It seems like 50 percent of the threads in Great Debates or the Pit are about religion in some way.
I have to strongly disagree with the original post. I don’t really care about religion itself, but I find it great fun to debate, mostly because I feel so secure in my position. On almost any other topic, I can be made to look like an idiot, but there hasn’t been anything a creationist has put forward that can dismantle my position. I know how awful that makes me sound, but I’m not afraid to admit it to strangers on the internet.
I also take offense when the creationists gain ground in government, especially education. The fact that this malarky gets taught in schools makes me want to spit. Think whatever bullshit you want, but don’t pay authority figures to shove it down the impressionable throats of children.
Heh. It’s almost the same with me. Personally, I’m hardcore agnostic and therefore doesn’t care personally about religion, but some religion-related topics are interesting for me - in a somewhat ethnographic way. Also, I’m angry at creationist and other belief-based bullshit influencing governments, education and so on.
Ditto here. I no care. You wish to go to church, swell.
I don’t.
Don’t believe in it myself, but if that’s what floats your boat (or yak’s cock?) then good for you. As long as you don’t try to force your religious beliefs on me we’ll get along swimmingly.
It suggests to me that the OP is a bit insular and unbothered about wider society if something as amazingly widespread and influential as religion is of no interest. Isn’t it intriguing just for being a supernatural story still believed after thousands of years? It’s pretty unique (I think) for remaining relatively unchanged for so long. Advancements in science, culture, philosophy etc. have progressed while the vast majority of the worlds people still live partly in the ancient Middle East. Isn’t that strange enough to take an interest in?
Not for me, not really. Sometimes I will read or hear about some strange Eastern religion or Native American ritual or something that captures my interest somewhat. Certainly the mainstream protestant Christianity versus secularism/atheism debate bores me utterly to death. It’s just not an aspect of life that arises any passion or curiosity whatsoever for me. It’s like what someone’s blood type is or something like that.
Ditto. I’m not a religious person, though I accept that some people are. Live and let live, but I really don’t care that much. Some religious topics can be fun to discuss, but I mostly find myself uninterested.
I think I’ve got pretty good moral foundations, though I don’t rely on religion to form or support them.
I care a great deal about religion because it is so attractive to so many people as an alternative to reality. That makes it dangerous to civil rights and that concerns me greatly. In the interest of full disclosure, I am again active in the local Episcopal church after nearly a decade of apostasy that included several years of plain old atheism. My reasons for rejoining the fold are too many and complex to address here, but among them is that I feel a need to keep a close eye on the local Christians, and the best way to do that is from the pew.
I understand that religion and politics both are frustratring because people cling so damn subbornly to irrational beliefs, and that causes many people to throw up their hands and say they just don’t give a damn. But religious and political beliefs are two of the most powerful forces in the world today, they are often – usually – connected, and it behooves all of us to at least observe them with our own liberties and self-interests in mind.
:dubious: Seems like you care about it in at least one way …
These are the current threads on the first page of Great Debates:
Give up Obama! It’s your only chance!!
Obama voters: will you choose Hillary or McCain
Possibility of being an Atheist Believer.
Florida “I Believe” license plate proposed
lekatt’s recent hijacks (removed from original threads)
If it was Gore as the tiebreaker, would you?
Heaven now, or Heaven later(Christians Only)
In preparation for the next “Willie Horton” ad
Disrepecting corpses - It needs to stop
Next up: Indiana and North Carolina
How to make a creationist become evolutionist
The ice age cometh? Not so fast, buster!
Free Will - Does it exist?
The brain IS the personality
Global Warming = Record snow?
The childishness of the negative proof
It’s because she’s not white.
Wherefore this ridiculous idea that Hillary “lost”?
Reaction to “outed” gay professional athlete
Ethical to buy rice?
“I don’t believe in God” versus “I beleive God doesn’t exist”
Hillary voters: will you choose Obama or McCain
Need proof of Global Warming
Doubts from an Obama supporter
Fork Hillary 3: The Final Forking
NSFW - What Does It Mean to You?
Republicans and Tax Cuts: When is enough, enough?
A Time Travel Conundrum (Shades of Newcomb)
2000 election: SCOTUS decision on Bush v Gore
How much control should the Administration have over the bureaucracy?
Pro-choice “art” from Yale student…
Shin bet to (Ex) pres. Jimmy Carter “Drop Dead!”
Mecca Time to Replace GMT???
Pennsylvania Primary - Let’s get this party started!
When/why did Hillary “lose the love”?
Fostering Developing Nations: Can this be done Ethically?
Petraeus to head CentCom
If you were G.W. Bush, would you issue a blanket pardon of yourself…
“Why can’t Obama close the deal”
What has the new Pope done to screen out gay Catholic Priests & Seminarians?
Would HRC Prefer McCain win in the Fall?
Hillary and Bill Clinton as part of an Obama administration?
US Army using Six Flags attraction to entice children
Proof It’s Price Gouging @ Pump…
Grain price rise and biofuel
Ethical to speculate with rice futures?
“The only thing that explains all these phenomena is…”
So you’re God, what kind of universe do you create?
How is the Zimbabwe election going to shake out – end for Mugabe?
Why Obama lost in PA: gender bias
Definitely not 50% about “religion in some way”. (I’d say 10 out of 50.)
Out of 32 threads that I see in the Pit, only 3 are about religion, and one of those is about ending religious discussion in GD.
I’m an atheist and I don’t care about other peoples’ religious beliefs (as long as they don’t start witnessing at me…it’s incredible that people think they can annoy me into joining their religion) and I CERTAINLY don’t want to have any debates about religion.
BUT I think religion itself is endlessly fascinating. I love learning about theology and religious history. My university didn’t have a Religious Studies major, but if it had, I probably would have done it. In fact, as a senior, I asked my counselor if I could create an RS degree based on all of the religious studies classes I’d taken in other fields (anthropology, history, psychology, etc.) and she said yes, but I’d have to drop my declared major (anthropology) because I had too much overlap. And I didn’t take those boring-ass archaeology classes for nothing.
So. I have a BA in anthropology. But I still think religion is fascinating and yes, I do care about it. Even if I don’t believe in it.
It’s a hot-button issue to me because I was raised in a religious family and I live in the Bible Belt, so I’m surrounded by people who talk and think a lot about something that seems to me like sheer insanity. I have to be vigilant just to maintain some breathing room, yet cautious not to offend, and I do get angry at the arrogance of people who assume all other people believe the same way they do. Especially when they want to pollute my kids with it.
Ditto. I’m also fairly certain that Bush has steamrolled down the war path because he is highly influenced by his religion–he really thinks it’s God’s will to do what he’s doing in Iraq. In light of this, a presidential candidate’s religious beliefs have become very important to me lately.
As an aside, I recently watched The Mist, and while the subplot about the religious freaks in it was a bit over the top, it was still pretty scary in that something like that would probably actually happen in those circumstances.
