America would be much worse without Christian influence.
Christianity helped end slavery, inspire the Civil Rights movement, establish universities, hospitals and charities of all types.
That's dying now and America becomes more narcissistic.
What is the root cause of the problems in America today?
- Thread starter Morrison71
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America would be much worse without Christian influence.
Christianity helped end slavery, inspire the Civil Rights movement, establish universities, hospitals and charities of all types.
That's dying now and America becomes more narcissistic.
Certain Christians did. Christianity also reinforced slavery and Jim Crow. I don't like charity for the most part, so Christians patting themselves on the back (per usual) over their charitable work doesn't do much for me.
Christian pastors led the fight against slavery in America.
Being an atheist, it makes sense you don't like charity, as the links I provided above show atheists are much less charitable, on average.
Christian abolitionism - Wikipedia
This shit cracks me up. This arrogant, and, well, ignorant, and, well, prejudiced, and, well, bigoted notion that to not believe in your Christian god is to immediately render oneself much more likely to adopt a self-above-all value system. This, my friend, is Christian supremacism mindset, this idea that your belief immediately makes you better than the non-believer, by ascribing to your belief a better value system, despite that believing in god is hardly a prerequisite for being empathic and selfless. In fact, my life experiences tell me that secular humanists and agnostics and atheists are just as varied in their adoptions of the type of values you want to ascribe uniquely to deists (implicitly Christians) and expressions thereof. In fact, the hubris/greed I’ve witnessed in my life appears more a characteristic of the Christians than the atheists/agnostics/secular humanists.
Now, you may think I’m biased. Maybe I am. But, then, of course, you would be, too — undeniably.
Christian pastors led the fight against slavery in America.
Being an atheist, it makes sense you don't like charity, as the links I provided above show atheists are much less charitable, on average.
Christian abolitionism - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
What were all the Confederate soldiers and leaders? Do you get to excommunicate the ones on the losing side?
More Christian supremacist thinking ^^^ .Christian pastors led the fight against slavery in America.
Being an atheist, it makes sense you don't like charity, as the links I provided above show atheists are much less charitable, on average.
Christian abolitionism - Wikipedia
Well, the social sciences tend to show the opposite.
For how virtuous most atheists/secular humanists describe themselves, they are much less likely to give to charity or volunteer than Christians are.
More Christian supremacist thinking ^^^ .
Look how you want to credit Christianity for the shit that Christianity also defended. I bet you can’t see the narcissism in your pedestaling Christianity as somehow superior to non-Christianity.
Hilarious.
I do think Christianity had a positive influence on the world although not perfect, certainly.
Would you prefer the Roman Empire, with the Colluseum as entertainment?
I’m glad you got a chuckle. You know what’s not funny? Religious people passing judgment. I’m pretty sure that’s not allowed, but almost all of them do it. But hypocrites gonna hypocrite.Sure, for one, weekly Church goers give more to charity and volunteer more than atheists do. By alot.
I always chuckle when people talk about how "good" atheists are. We all do bad things, all the time.
Less God, Less Giving?
Religion and generosity feed each other in fascinating wayswww.philanthropyroundtable.org
You just judged people for judging. You called them "hypocrites."
See how that's hypocritical?
The western Roman Empire collapsed after it embraced Christianity.
ETA: Mostly coincidence, to be fair
As evidenced in this thread? Maybe/maybe not.
Allowing ourselves to believe everything we LIKE only on “OUR” social media is a huge culprit.
Giving up on what “old fashioned” types call values. It really does matter when we teach respect for others and value human life. That the “other guy” has just as much right to walk down the street as you do.
And it doesn’t live in a church or in a school. It still starts in a home and should be taught, demonstrated, and lived in the home. Personal responsibility.
False. They’re less likely to report it. Partly because there isn’t some “brand” they’re trying to promote. Damn near all of my volunteerism and charity count more atheists/agnostics/secular humanists than Christians or other religious folks. We just show up, feed and clothe and help shelter people, we provide services and assistance to people, then go home without even a thought to add to some ledger for the advancement of tribe/brand. Whereas any time a church shows up to do some good the church makes damn sure everybody knows the church is there, which church it is, and then broadcast their give for all to see. I get it, they have building(s) to HVAC and light and plumb and people to salary and all that. We don’t. We just do the stuff then go home.
Acknowledge your bias, Christian. Because it’s quite strong. And acknowledge how your information-seeking appears quite in service to your bias, Christian.
I'm an ex-atheist. I've lived in both worlds.
Atheists are much, much more narcissistic and self-centered. They worship themselves.
It's not even close.
Into the middle ages? It was a painful evolution between the empire and the enlightenment.
That's was probably a good thing, considering the violence of the empire.
I don’t have a “god” telling me not to do it.You just judged people for judging. You called them "hypocrites."
See how that's hypocritical?
Please enlighten us. Why did you choose the religion you chose? Why Christianity? Do gods work and convince us heathens.
What a perfectly ridiculous argument. I would prefer hubris/greed fully embraced as awful for society. I would prefer society coming to terms with serving our planet, our natural world, than some human-centric god idea. I would prefer deconstructing the inherent competition religious sectarianism breeds, inviting the hubris/greed crap. I would prefer we honor the feminine as much or more than the masculine, as we have seen how the imbalance favoring the masculine leads us to violent, destructive, antisocial.
But, really, I just wish Christianity would address the very, very deep supremacist problem inherent to it. It is aligned to the mythologizing america as “the best” and belief that it’s “greatness” is coupled with its Christianity. It’s what the right taps into, why someone like Tucker carlson is popular, on and on. Christians believe THEY are the reason America is “good” and “non-Christians” are why America has problems. Your words in this thread are heavily laced with this fundamental belief, both implicitly and, in some cases, explicitly.
It’s disgusting. Honestly, I think it’s the darkness. Extricating ourselves from religious sectarianism is, I think, the light.
I wanted to live the perfect philosophy. First, I studied Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Camus then I studied Augustine, Pascal and Aquinas, then I reverted to the Catholic Church in 2016.
I thought Christianity had the most evidence in Jesus and the resurrection compared to other religious founders that were myths (Zeus, Thor, Odin) or charlatans. (L. Ron Hubbard, Joseph Smith, Mohammad.)
Yes, which was my point. People who are religious, are not supposed to, but still do.You're still doing it, though.
It’s cool, you can just repent and all is forgiven. How convenient.
Damn, when I was on page 4 I started smelling something. Got to page 5 and the stench grew. Now I see it was this post full of shit that was stinking up the place. What a load of it. Sheesh.
What is happening in America has nothing to do with politics, religion, the media or social media. Instead the problems are the result of the very basic ideas that gave birth to this country.
Freedom, capitalism and a competitive spirit.
These are generally great things and they allowed this country to grow at an amazing rate.
However, I believe that they have mutated into something ugly -
Freedom - I have the right to do whatever I want. I'm right and you will agree with me or you are an idiot. There is no reason for me to respect the opinion of others because, you know, Freedom. The key here is that it is MY FREEDOM, not yours. You do not have the right to do things that offend me. NO, you may not get an abortion, you may not own a gun! Those things are interfering with my freedoms!
Capitalism - Companies are now driven by solely by wealth creation. The owners demand high rates of return on their investments. Profit is King. Cost cutting, ruthless competition, mergers, risk taking - all business 101. If you grow 10%, well, then why didn't you grow 15%? FIX IT! You must do whatever is necessary to create wealth! If you have no wealth, you are irrelevant.
Competitive spirit - I must WIN at all costs. There is no such thing as a win/win - I must win and you must lose. Business, politics, media, social media, sports, wealth generation - even things like sharing the road with other drivers. I have to have a better house, a better car. If I don't win, I am a loser. Winning is everything today in all walks of life.
I believe we are the victims of the very thing that once made this country great.
Freedom, capitalism and a competitive spirit.
These are generally great things and they allowed this country to grow at an amazing rate.
However, I believe that they have mutated into something ugly -
Freedom - I have the right to do whatever I want. I'm right and you will agree with me or you are an idiot. There is no reason for me to respect the opinion of others because, you know, Freedom. The key here is that it is MY FREEDOM, not yours. You do not have the right to do things that offend me. NO, you may not get an abortion, you may not own a gun! Those things are interfering with my freedoms!
Capitalism - Companies are now driven by solely by wealth creation. The owners demand high rates of return on their investments. Profit is King. Cost cutting, ruthless competition, mergers, risk taking - all business 101. If you grow 10%, well, then why didn't you grow 15%? FIX IT! You must do whatever is necessary to create wealth! If you have no wealth, you are irrelevant.
Competitive spirit - I must WIN at all costs. There is no such thing as a win/win - I must win and you must lose. Business, politics, media, social media, sports, wealth generation - even things like sharing the road with other drivers. I have to have a better house, a better car. If I don't win, I am a loser. Winning is everything today in all walks of life.
I believe we are the victims of the very thing that once made this country great.
Everyone is flawed, though. Everyone.
Judging Christians by their worst isn't really fair, IMO.
Not all Christians are like that.
Nope, facts. Fùck you for reducing my lifetime of experiences living all over this country to flat dismissal. You’re another Christian supremacist. Darkness. You support darkness.
You just summarized, more or less, that article I keep posting, that almost nobody will address. I think a lot of people don’t want to admit that our issues aren’t easily ascribed to our pet binaries: religious vs non-religious; left vs right, etc.
Fùck off punk. Admit it, you think you’re better than others because of your religion. Admit it. It’s a theme of your posting.
Individualism is the root cause of a great deal of our problems.
It's what causes families to break up. It is what makes us show no consideration for other people. It is what prevents us from doing good things for the common good. It is what makes us opposed to the idea that we have any responsibility to anyone other then ourselves at all.
It's what causes families to break up. It is what makes us show no consideration for other people. It is what prevents us from doing good things for the common good. It is what makes us opposed to the idea that we have any responsibility to anyone other then ourselves at all.
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