Religion is not faith. If you look at the story of Jesus, he was killed by a group of very religious people, the Pharisees. The Pharisees insists on following rules in order to somehow “earn” God’s favor, contrasted to Grace which is given _free_ to the faithful.

The woman in the church example is one who exibits this “earning” behavior. She was not operating by Christian Grace. If she thinks she *must* do that in order to earn something, anything at all, then hey- even I would think she’s crazy, and I’m a Christian!

Look, I’m just here shaking my head. A lot of non-believers as well as self-proclaimed believers have quite a bit learning to do. Start with the concept of Grace.

I see many people objecting to Christianity, but a warped version of it.

I disagree with you. What is rational? What is belief? What is “form of thought”? Define your terms, because I’m not getting your true meaning.

A commitment to what you’ve just called a “dogmatic love of things natural,” or what I’d further term as our post-enlightenment reason we’re currently trailing along, takes an irrational step to believe in. If it was rational, then we’d inherently have been like that, way back when when we believed in supernatural and mystic things.

But yes, on that point I agree. It’s no better than religion, and in fact is just another story being weaved, that tries to explain things that are unexplainable, but ultimately fails. The main chracter in this story is rationality, the setting is a belief that there is a thing-in-itself (which I suppose I’d agree with, but I question how much our senses can truly make known of this noumenal reality).

We can’t know if the Christian God exists, and we can’t know if the Buddha’s transcendence does, so what does that leave? By your logic, you cannot hate either of them, but simply look at them and find what seems worthwhile in them. Correct? This is what I mean. If you fall into either of them, they become dogmas, and you narrow what you can learn by ruiling out one or the other.

In regards to TransformerGreek: You should not even have a feeling of hatred towards the irrational, but a cool disposition of indifference. Much like if a crazy told you about his pet giant pink rabbit: it wouldn’t even enter your mind to hate the pink rabbit… why would you hate the pink rabbit? — it isn’t real. But then, reality hardly needs explaining. That which is real needs no vindication for its reality; if, indeed, something is real it needs no reason to be real… It seems to me that modern man has remedied the dogma of the supernatural with a dogma of the natural, and when it comes right down to it, both are faith, and both equally detrimental.

In regards to Aheretic: Hate is as constructive a thing as it is a destructive thing. Love, too can be destructive. It is merely a method of what is a loved or hated. The love of murder, would, imho be destructive, while the hatred of murder, by nature be constructive. Now… next part. Love is not irrational if it is a chemical addiction. Nor would I say that addiction is necessarily bad. (and I apologize for everything coming out dialectic) A bodies addiction to protein seems a very good thing, yet, a bodies addiction to nicotine is detrimental: again, it is the circumstances of a thing that deem its qualities, not the thing in itself. As to respect: I agree 100%. Yet, respect is not idle, polite acceptance of any thought. It is the ability to disagree with a thought, and act upon that thought without dogmatic behavior. If a Taoist comes to me, and explains his belief in the Tao, and wishes to have a conversation, I do not have to concede its reality, but merely it possibility, and then have a discussion from there.

Atheism is a religion no more than monotheism is a religion; it is a train of thought which can be upheld in many, often contradictory ways. (much like Christianity and Islam are contradictory, but are both monotheistic).

Last thing: Do unto others maxim is a maxim of western thought, more specifically, Christian based. It is a deeper concept than what most take it for. It does not mandate kindness, it doesn’t even mandate tolerance… it demands consistency.

Love is irrational. Its the commitment that someone is perfect for you, your match. Infact, love is nothing more than a chemical addiction. Addictions are bad for the body as they weaken much of our body. If things that are irrational shouldn’t be tolerated, and should be hated, we should hate love.

And yes, you should just be respectful. There is one law, laid out in all religions, including Atheism, which is treat others as you’d have yourself be treated. Respect should be given until they show they do not deserve it.

The type of religion that should be despised is one of extremism, which is partly why there’s so many problems in the world today.

Yes, many religions have ridiculous customs, but these customs all go back to when the religions were just being formed, or were just something that became normal in them over time. Just because they are there doesn’t mean you must follow them, either.

There’s something to learn in any religion, just like there’s something to learn in anything in general. There is a lot to despise as well, but it shouldn’t be just blind hatred.