Chuychanga

I am an athiest. Not believing in God makes me strive to be a better person. It means I have to be kind and forgive simply because it's the right thing do do even though I don't believe in the consequenes of hell and damnation.

I look at my son everyday and I realize what a spcial place the world is and how fulfilling my life is because of him. It doesn't take God to make me appreciate that.

I will teach my son to love other people, to forgive, to be loyal and honest, to be humble, to be the first one to accept blame when things go wrong and the last one to accept praise when things go right, and to strive to help people who can't help themselves. He can learn those lessons in church or he can learn them from me and my wife. Either way, it's the right way to live your life.

You cannot choose to believe something. You can choose to go to church, choose to worship, choose to call yourself a believer and a Christian, but even if I did all those things deep down on the inside I still would not truly believe in God. If there is a God, don't you think he could see through that? So why would I bother to try to deceive him like that?

I am a good person. I'm trying my best to leave the world a better place than I found it. I live my life according to the same life lessons many of you learned in church. I don't live that way because God expects me too, I do it because it's simply the right and most honorable thing to do. Despite that, there are many who think I will burn in Hell. If God would send me to Hell, with all the good I've done in the world (much more than many so-called Christians) then I wouldn't want to worship that God anyway.

I'm not ashamed of being an athiest. I don't try to push my views on Christians. I understand that religious people hold their beliefs very sacred and I respect that. It's not about, "I'm right, you're wrong." It's about, "This is me, respect it even if you disagree with it and I will do the same for you." I do not think any less of someone for being a Christian, or any other religion for that matter.

All that being said, I have flown with Rick. You did my upgrade OE a while back and we had a fantastic time flying together (think Barry Manilow). We never talked about our differences, honestly you probably never suspected that I might be an athiest. It just never came up. However, it was a great trip and we got along really well. I enjoyed flying with you and have enjoyed chatting with you a few times since then. I tell all my FO's you're probably the best Captain I've ever flown with and I tell them all they if they want to have a really good time and learn a lot they should try to find trips with you.

So all you young athiest FOs out there, don't let Rick scare you off. He's great to fly with. You will figure out fairly quickly that he is a devout Christian, but that doesn't make him uptight or square. I've never laughed more on a trip.

There are a lot things I can bitch about within the Christian label. Corruption, hypocrisy, greed, arrogance, deception, self-righteousness, etc... Rick Childers is none of those things. I diagree with his fundamental beliefs, but I respect him and I admire the way he lives his life and conducts himself in this world that we all have to share.

There are six billion people in the world. We can't all believe the same things. There are going to be differences. The sooner we learn to be respectful and tolerant of each other, the better off the world will be. Fanatics at either end of the spectrum will only make things worse for everybody.

Mario Smith

Oh yeah, if you think that the most vile thing in this world is someone praying for you, then that's pretty crazy.

Mario Smith

Chuychanga,

This Roman Catholic thinks the world could use a whole lot more people that think as you do. Mario

MiyamotoMusashi

Again, you've misread me. I don't know that I can put it any simpler, but I'll try. Praying for someone is one thing, but saying you'll pray for them as a means of belittling their beliefs is another. Can't you see the difference?

I'll try it another way, in case that didn't sink in:
It's not the prayer I find vile and condescending, it's the use of the prayer, see?
Example 1:
"Oh, you have cancer? I'll pray for you!" is kind, caring, and good.
Examlpe 2:
"Oh, you're Hindu? I'll pray for you!" is vile, condescending, and transparently ignorant/intolerant.

Ok, if you still don't understand what I'm trying to say, you probably never will.

As for you first post, you said:
to which I replied,
And the rest of it I have cut, because it wasn't addressed to you directly, but rather to everyone. I think you took it as an attack on you, which of course, I didn't intend.

Reading the rest of it, it's obvious now what happened, but what I'm confused about is your flip-flop from having no need for religion to being religion's champion. Whats that all about?

Mario Smith

It is you who have misread me. I guess you're not very good with sarcasm. No flip flop here--reference the winking smiley face.

MiyamotoMusashi

Ah. No, the sarcasm just didn't come across to me, sorry.
Put that way, it still dosen't make any sense. No scientist believes that the universe exploded from nothingness; there had to be something there to begin with to explode from. You can call that thing God, as Plato and Aristotle did (ref: Prome Mover post) or you can look to natural explinations, or you can do a combination of both.

For my part, my eyes are wide open. The Christian Creation Mythology is untenable, given the knowledge we have now, 2000 years later, but that dosen't mean that the rest of Christianity is flawed. I don't understand people who have to throw the baby out with the bathwater, or who can't separate the two in the first place. There's good stuff in the Bible, just not science.

Mario Smith

and Moto, to be perfectly clear you asked if there was anything more condescending and vile than what you describe in your example two.

I, and probably 99.9 percent of the people here, can think of about a million things more condescending and vile than that.

MiyamotoMusashi

Ah, well then. If I'm not very good with sarcasm, then you're not very good with literary exaggeration. Do you treat the Bible to the same strict literary interpretation? Of course there's things more vile than blaspehmous prayer, don't be stupid. But it's still vile. I think you know what I meant, but are just trying to pick nits because you know exactly the kind of bad behaviour I'm talking about. Since you're so opposed to my view on the subject, could it be that you're one of the offenders?

I can think of no other reason why someone would be so defensive about behavior that is so cleary, and obviously, wrong.

Red Swingline

I've been meaning to comment how impressed I am that we've made this discussion last for 11 pages, without getting too personal (I'm sure the latest uniform thread won't be nearly as successful). Let's take it easy and keep it going. When you can't hear someone talk, it makes misunderstanding so much easier.

__________________


Sean Curry, IAH

Mario Smith

Your inconsistencies and internal contradictions are amazing. Please for everyone here give us your definition of "blasphemous prayer."