RRS

Are you truly rational?

Question:: 
Hello! I am a 25-year-old Christian. Let me start off by saying that I am not here to get into a debate with anyone nor to change anyone's mind about Christ or bash anyone for not believing in Christ. I saw a video on youtube that made me think. I was listening to a debate with Matt Slim & Kelly today & came across a video from another atheist titled "Rational Responders oopsie". Of course it caught my attention & I watched it. Anyway, he talks about a video that was uploaded by the Rational Responders. The man with whom he was talking about is David Mills & he uses the Bible to pick up dog feces. I watched the video for myself & saw that indeed it was uploaded by Rational Responders. My question is this........how can you claim to be rational when you upload videos such as this & make fun of Christian beliefs & make fun of Jesus? I understand that you don't believe in God & we live in a country that has a freedom of religion, which I am grateful for. I just don't get it! I have an atheist friend who never bashes or makes fun of people if they believe in God nor does he make fun of religion or Jesus. He just believes what he believes, that is rational in my opinion. I must add that I DO NOT agree with the radical Christians who protest at a soldier's funeral or hold signs that say "God hates fags"! I don't agree with those people & I stay very, very far away from those types of people. They are TOXIC! The video, among other things I've seen from you all, made me cry. I would never make fun of you for not believing in Christ or bash you for what you believe in so why do you do it to Christians like me? Why do you make fun of Jesus & religion? You are NOT rational at all! All you are is a bully! I would also like to add that the picture of the World Trade Centers with the caption "Imagine no Religion" should not be applied into Christianity religion. My God has NEVER told me to kill thousands of people for not believing the same thing I believe. That is putting Christians like me into the same category as the terrorists. I am NOT a terrorist. I'm sure you'll have an answer for me on this question & I look forward to reading it. Thank you for your time.
Atheist Answer: 

Thankyou for sharing your feelings, Monica. I'm sorry you were so upset. Among the most imporatnt things about the actions and media you describe is the very fact that you and other regular everyday religious people take them so personally. Sadly, although you would not make fun of atheism there are many Christians who would gladly denounce it, ridicule it and tear it to pieces. Some of us feel the need to respond in kind. It's unfortunate.

For the benefit of others, this is David Mills' video. It was his way of taking up the Blasphemy Challenge.

In brief, the Challenge is an invitation to publicly deny the Holy Spirit, precisely because the Bible says that doing so prevents one from ever being forgiven (Mark 3:29). It's a commitment to disbelief in response to those who say that everyone's a believer underneath, or that we should worship God just in case he exists. It's also an ongoing opportunity for atheists to declare themselves and show their numbers in the face of the majority religion of the Western world.

David Mills went past declarations and desecrated a Bible to show that it holds no special value to him. All the things he said and did were calculated to put him beyond "saving". That's how confident he is that the Christian God does not exist. It's not intended as an insult to Christians, but to Christianity itself. To individual Christians it is simply an emphatic statement of disagreement.

This brings us back to you, Monica.
- Were you upset because Mills somehow did God or Jesus an injury by soiling their supposed words? What possible harm could a mortal do to those two?
- Were you upset because Mills damned himself? If so, that's considerate of you, but Mills is quite confident that he cannot be damned in this way. He's an adult and he can make his own decisions.
- Were you upset because you have learned to revere physical Bibles as they contain the word of God? Whatever is written in a book, Monica, it's still just a book. The words transcend the paper. That's why burning books never accomplishes anything.
- Were you upset because Mills attacked your beliefs directly? Then keep in mind that he did not attack you. His ultimate message to Christians themselves was simply, "I think you are wrong." Not stupid, not bad, not dangerous, just wrong. Anyone can be wrong; this is not an insult at all. (I will admit, as he would, that he was very rude about saying it.)

It's the same idea with the Imagine No Religion poster. Religion is the target, not religious people. Nobody expects the general populace to suddenly turn extremist en masse and join Al Qaeda or the Westboro Baptist Church.

The poster makes two points:
- Some atrocities are committed explicitly in the name of religion. Whether by Muslim terrorists now or Japanese generals in WWII (under the banner of their god-emperor Hirohito) or Catholic and Protestant soldiers in the Thirty Years War or by island tribes millenia ago, religion has many deaths to answer for. While of course atrocities are also committed for other causes unrelated to religion, lack of religion by itself is not motivation to do any such thing.
- Those who fly planes into buildings and ruin soldiers' funerals are working from exactly the same basic texts as other religious people. Only the interpretations are different. While not everyone chooses the interpretations which lead to violence and bigotry, they are always available. Those who defend their religions as valid, justified and in need of protection sadly make it easier for the extremists within those religions to do the same with their own versions.

You have every right to be offended by whatever strikes you that way, but there's no reason to be personally insulted. It's not our intention to upset you, either; that achieves nothing. We're just trying to make points forcefully and encourage people to think.

Anti-God logo

Question:: 
Isn't your anti-God logo very pejorative? I think being atheist does not have to bring a war between religions up. Do this site admins and moderators judge other religions? I cannot see how you want to get respect from people with such a symbol. It's just my opinion. Because by my judgment a serious website with such a polemic subject cannot attack other religions or have "anonymous cowards" tags for people who just maybe don't want to create an account in another website for a single post in their lives?
Atheist Answer: 

The logo is not specifically that of this site, but of the Rational Response Squad for which this site was created. It has God crossed out (rather than Allah, Vishnu, etc) presumably because the RRS is based in the USA where Christianity is the most powerful and influential instance of religion. It indicates a desire to remove God, and by extension religion, from people's lives. Not forcibly, because that would be not only cruel but ineffective. Ideally people will want to abandon religion. It's not a war between religions because atheism isn't a religion, it's merely a conclusion.

Even religious people make their judgements about religion, though they're generally more positive. The moderators here are not in accord over everything. To begin with, membership in the RRS isn't required. Some of us judge religion to be dangerous, some don't. Some of us see some possible benefits in certain specific applications of religion, some don't. The common ground is that we all judge all religions to be created by people, unsupported by applicable evidence and therefore most likely wrong.

Don't take "Anonymous Coward" too seriously. It's not aimed at theists, as some clear atheists have been stuck with it too. It's there to encourage people to register, frequent the site and enter into a dialogue with us, rather than drop in and take potshots. One question and answer is rarely enough to shift anyone's position. Besides, as it says on the right your login details here will work on all other sites in the RRS network. It's worth the effort.

- SmartLX

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