Brother Jeff Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Just posted this rant to Facebook: Just lost another online friend over religion. She couldn't handle my outspoken atheism, she accused me of hating her god, and then she unfriended me and blocked me. Good riddance, I guess. I don't apologize for being outspoken about religion. Religion causes tremendous harm in the world to the world as a whole and to individual believers. It's not something that I can or should be silent about. I don't really give a shit what people choose to believe privately, until they try to force it on everyone else. And hatred -- hatred is NOT OKAY. I don't give a shit what your ancient holy book says, hating gays is not okay! Oppressing women is not okay. Threatening children with Hell is not okay. Teaching ridiculous ancient myths in our schools in place of real science is not okay. Bombing abortion clinics is not okay. Murdering children is not okay. If you are offended by my outspoken atheism, tough shit. Accept me and love me as I am, warts and all, or get off of my friends list. I am NOT going to change to make anyone else happy or comfortable. I agree to disagree with plenty of my friends about politics and religion and other things as well, and I expect the same consideration in return. I will post whatever the hell I want and I'll be as blunt and "in your face" as I want as well. I am doing my part to make this world a better place, and I will not apologize for doing that. If you decide to no longer be a part of my life, don't let the door hit you in the ass. Plenty of people love and accept me exactly as I am, and I'll take them any day over people who want me to change to make them happy or people I feel like I have to walk on eggshells around... Enough said... I would like to expand on that a bit. Other things that are not okay include faith healing and crediting God with healing instead of hard-working doctors and nurses. And prayer… prayer accomplishes ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I am sick and tired of hearing about the alleged power of prayer. Prayer has no power whatsoever other than making the person doing the praying feel good for accomplishing NOTHING. It is not okay for faith healers to bilk gullible religious people out of millions of dollars. It is not okay for Pat Robertson or some other religious nut to blame gays for natural disasters. It is not okay to advocate murdering gays so that we can have an AIDS-free Christmas. It is not okay to condemn all non-Christian people to an eternal flaming Hell where they will be consciously tormented forever. It is not okay to accuse atheists of “hating God” because we don’t share Christian religious beliefs. And the list goes on and on and on… Christopher Hitchens was absolutely right when he said that religion poisons everything. Religion is the greatest tragedy ever to afflict mankind. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amateur Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Keep doing what you're doing, Brother Jeff. Your opinions and writings are valid and valuable and I would have enjoyed reading them even in my born-again xian days. Seriously, I would have appreciated your take on xianity, your pointing out the absurdities of xianity, even back then. If beliefs can't handle some attacks and questions, then they're not very strong. Just keep doing what you're doing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToHellWithMe Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 That's why I don't usually argue against fanatics on facebook. They may unfriend or, heaven forbid, even block me. I want to keep reading their funny shit, so I need to resist. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Jeff, people should know by looking at your posts on Facebook how you generally feel about religion. Why in the world would they be surprised if you expressed it? Just give them the boot. You don't need to explain yourself to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astreja Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Jeff, that rant is fantastic. I think it's wasted on a group of Facebook friends -- It needs a bigger audience. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fweethawt Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 What Astreja said... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thackerie Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 I do give a shit about what people believe privately in their own homes, because usually they don't keep it in their own fucking homes. Yeah, me too. But if we say anything about it, we're the bad guys, right? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earthmama514 Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blau1976 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 I actually thought about posting some religious crap to see how many people would like me or dislike me. Last Easter, I posted, "Remember that Peter Rabbit didn't die for your sins." I actually got a reverend to like that post. He didn't realize that it was a poke on Christianity and thought I was being serious. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellinas Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Jeff - it is good that you are defending your corner - and by default a corner in which we all have an interest. Though I find myself increasingly glad that I do not use facebook or other such social media sites... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Facebook is a tough one sometimes, and other times its great. I think for myself that if someone ceases to be a friend in "real" life, then they also go off my Facebook friends list as well. They are no longer entitled to see or comment upon my posts in Facebook. Just my policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilith666 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 I like your attitude. Keep it up, brother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Just posted this rant to Facebook: Just lost another online friend over religion. She couldn't handle my outspoken atheism, she accused me of hating her god, and then she unfriended me and blocked me. Good riddance, I guess. I know the feeling, Jeff. I'm still trying to get over losing two friends the same day. They were basically the only two people who ever talked to me on Facebook. The other one unfriended me several weeks earlier. So I lost the only three friends I had. I'm not sure what I did wrong. Possibly they didn't like that I pointed out the flaws in their logic. They said "Jesus doesn't want us to talk to people like you." To me that sounded an awful lot like, "Nobody is allowed to disagree with ME and MY god!" People here on exC are just so much more understanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 I just had to do a friends list cleanup on Facebook. Some people basically take it personally if you don't share their interests that are important to them. Then they see no value in a friendship or in even being polite. I don't really understand that because I have many interests. We don't have to discuss religion and why do I have to have a religion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Furball Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Love you jeff. Don't give up the fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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