Quote:
Originally Posted by MsDemeanor
Nat, you completely missed the entire point of the argument and instead went on the defensive and accused me of attacking all christians.
You put forth a theory that believing in god makes one a better person. I countered that some of the most evil people in our society and in history believe in god, therefore the theory is false. Some good people believe in god, some bad people believe in god, some good people don't believe in god, and some bad people don't believe in god. Your theory is false.
BTW, though I gave examples of christian-based bad people, I assume that the article referred to all gods (and maybe even goddesses?) and religions, not just your version of a christian god.
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Your reference to "Churches stuffed to the gills with folks who pray on Sunday and then go out and hate, extort, abuse, lie, cheat, etc." did seem to be a reference very specifically to Christians and it also seemed to suggest that you weren't just talking about "some of the most evil people in our society" but rather people who go to church.
As far as the theory goes, I thought it was interesting - that the experiment with the kids was interesting - and I don't think you know whether it is false for every person of faith. However it's not "my theory" and I didn't agree with everything in the article.
Personally, regarding my own faith, I do feel that thinking of the earth as something holy, as a mother, does help me to be a better person. It's not important for me whether it's a factual, provable belief or not, because that's not what it's about for me. It's more about beauty, meaning, a sense of connection with the universe and other people and other living things. It nourishes me in a way being an atheist did not. It's fine with me if the earth is just the earth and the universe is just the universe, because these things seem pretty awesome to me, even if you look at them only through a scientific lens.
I don't think I misread your disdain for people of faith or Christians, but I'm not omniscient - so maybe I did. If so, I apologize.
Thanks for clarifying your thoughts.