If we condemn Christianity based on the Christian Right

[Zalatix]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by seabeyond (a host of the General Discussion forum).

then what do we say about atheism in light of Ayn Rand?

And don't say we don't condemn Christianity on here. Some are quite happy to say nasty things about them.

[A HERETIC I AM]

1. As one who read "The Fountainhead" while still being a Christian.....

and it was quite a long while before I became Atheist and rejected Christianity, I say....


Fuck em' both.

[mmonk]

2. Christianity needs to speak up or be marked.

[Zalatix]

9. Reverend Jesse Jackson? Al Sharpton? They're speaking up.

[mmonk]

15. Yes, they are.

But way too many Churches are silent during these dark times.

[FarPoint]

3. I say just Tax them all.

All political religious factions ...all who attempt to force religious practices into goverment as law or standard. Yes...taxation is the answer.

[cynatnite]

4. Atheism and Ayn Rand aren't exactly considered hand in hand by society...

The Christian right have consistently upheld their religion as the end all and be all. They have used their religion to justify their callous narrow-mindedness from sea to shiny sea. They have proven themselves to be hypocrites.

Also, considering the nasty history that Christianity has over the centuries, it is easy to say quite a lot of negative about the religion.

[Zalatix]

8. What about China and the USSR?

The religion, or lack thereof, isn't the problem. It's the individuals who incorrectly adhere to it.

Oh and I'm not saying there's no good atheists. Just that there are bad actors in atheist history just as there are bad actors in Christianity.

[cynatnite]

12. You can't erase the bloody history of Christianity...

Plenty of blood has been shed in it's name.

Atheism is no belief in a god. That's not a religion or a philosophy. Atheism itself is not something that wars are raged over. Sure, there are plenty of bad atheists, but you won't find atheism to be something to kill people over...unless you count the religious types who did the killing because someone was atheist.

[Wind Dancer]

13. +1000

Well said.

[Zalatix]

14. You can't erase the bloody history of any group.

China and the USSR persecuted countless people for believing in a God, they are clearly examples of what you say never happened.

I don't see why you feel the need to deny what history has shown.

Intolerance and inquisition behavior can strike in any form.

[MrScorpio]

5. If most so-called christians were actually Christ-like...

I think that we wouldn't have too many problems with that.

[mitchtv]

6. I am so tired of persecuted Xians

Atheism is the absence of faith. I have nothing to say to that, except they don't fall for folk tales

[Geoff R. Casavant]

7. Ayn Rand's offensiveness is not the result of her atheism.

You'll note the same right-wingers who extol Rand's economic theories are the same right wingers who extol Christianity. Her economics are divorced from her theology.

[LadyHawkAZ]

10. I don't condemn it based solely on the Christian Right

All religions have an infinite number of reasons to condemn them on their own merits. The stupidity, bigotry and insularity of their followers is more or less a side issue.

Atheism, on the other hand, is not the worship of Rand. Atheists aren't homogenous- put 10 atheists in a room and you have at least 8 totally separate beliefs on almost any given subject. We don't have the Book of Ayn containing commandments we're supposed to follow, or spend Sundays listening to a guy in a dress preach Randism. We don't base our lack of belief in a deity on the Word of Rand. She was a follower, not a prophet, of atheism. Atheists, when we're stupid, are stupid individually and on our own account. The Christian Right is stupid in Borgs because God told them to be. There's not really an equivalency.

[Zalatix]

11. The problem is the Christian Right, not Christianity.

Ayn Rand ironically attacks altruism which is the highest law of Christianity (the New Testament, that is).

Altruism is the highest law of liberalism, too.

Jesus was a Socialist, not a Capitalist or a Crusader or an Inquisitionist and most certainly NOT a Limbaugh fan.

[seabeyond]

16. this post belongs in religion. locking. nt