Atheist

[Piamed]

about as challenging as a fish eater living with a vegan ... no challenge at all , near 6yrs wed, yes its 6, i thought it was 7, but it just seems it

the misses can goto church all she wants, I'll not stop her if that's what she wants, but I've been with her a couple of times, and that was twice too many .

maybe I've seen too many good people suffer to believe in god, some of the most decent people I've meet were atheists, my stepfather for one.

you don't need to be a Christian to have morals or standards. maybe 2 things lacking in some Christians

As usual, I agree with much of what you said Joe. Many of the most decent people I've met are non-believers. Someone calling themselves a Christian does not necessarily mean that they are aspiring to practice their faith in as commited a manner as is possible for them.

Nor does it mean that most of society will consider them exceptionally nice persons. Ones faith is very much a personal thing; only they and God know what they are truly about.

Remember that the term Christian was assigned to those that observers felt behaved in a manner consistent with that of Christ. Unfortunately, the terms use is often subjective.

When we evaluate the behaviour, we should consider whether their behaviour is reminiscent of Christ. If it is not, then are they Christians?

...or any other religion/sect/cult

I agree to an extent. I also think the detailed answer is 'it depends'. Depends on the individuals practices as well as what their beliefs are.

Hmmmmm! I WAS admonished. But at least I have ONE friend. Thank you Iain.

Al.

at least TWO amigo.

i am filipina and i have no religious life. i think its safe to safe i dont belive in the church or in a divine being.

the last time i was in a church to attend was when I was 12 because we were all required to attend the mass as part of out elementary school graduation ceremonies - whihc i must attend because i had to receive that shiny medal that my mom was very proud of.

my take is that religion should be a personal matter, that people should not insist their religion on other people - honestly i think this is very impolite and irritating

nor judge them because they have one or have not one.

frankly i think the world would be happier without religion or religious zealots. religion is credited for having spilled so much blodd in the name of the Almighty One.

I hear where you are coming from. In my view, a church is a collective of people with a common belief system. If the believe system is based on love then it can do much good.

The word zeal is often misused, so in order to retain its original sentiment I will use the following synonyms which have not been abused as much: fervour, zest and passion. For the purpose of avoiding ambiguity, I shall also effect a contextual change of the word religion for the word faith.

Thus, passion and faith go hand in hand.

When people refer to religious zealots, I believe they mean people who have at best a complete misunderstanding about a faith and have become obsessive about an issue to the extent that they are willing to cause harm. They associate their 'cause' with a faith and the average Joe Public cannot discern the difference.

Ummm I'm dating an Atheist before which is don't know that he is. It didn't work out..I'm born again christian and he is atheist can't stand on that. I will not compromise my self dating or living with someone that our beliefs are contradicting... I will will not work at all...

Good thing my husband to be is born christian since then... So we ENTRUST our plans for the FUTURE and our RELATIONSHIP to GOD...

If people in the UK got on buses and tried to preach ANY religion, they would be shouted down and put off the bus in no uncertain terms.
British people would not put up with that nonsense.

Hi Aposhark. I'm assuming that you are speaking in some semblance of a metaphor. People are always campaiging for their faith and/or money on the transport systems. I find that travellers are either receptive or at worst, just ignore them. People in the UK are mostly socially tolerant. Often to the extreme.

If people say a relationship failed on religion they are either useless at relationships, or it was likely other reasons, but blaming religion is the easy option. I have never personally known any couple have problems because of differing religious beliefs.

I have known a relationship to fail where the couple were initially evenly yoked but then the wife became a Born Again Christian. It changed who she was while the husband remained the same. Unfortunately, each then had substantial expectations of the other. That caused the break up. I guess they grew apart.