Ab Preachers – Are They Influencing Your Beliefs?

[naomi24]

The sole intention of some here appears to be to preach their own particular flavour of religion. Is it working? Has anyone been tempted to find out more - or does it have the opposite effect?

[missnemesis]

>>> But to me, one outpouring of intolerant scorn is pretty much the same as another.

[missnemesis]

Where did the rest of my post go??? WTH???

[missnemesis]

I'll try again.....

I couldn't agree more jno. There are indeed 'preachers' on both sides in here and I am influenced by neither.

I may not personally agree with what GL and TA say however I also do not feel the need to treat their posts with the derision and contempt that is regularly meted out to them.

[aelmpvw]

if you visit the 'religion and spirituality' topic you shouldn't be surprised if you're preached at

[LazyGun]

Anyone would think that pouring intolerant scorn in a derisory or contemptuous way is a bad thing :)

I am glad that you and JNO are such balanced and nuanced individuals, MissNemesis, able to face the drivel offered up by the evangelical outrunners who post in this forum with equanimity.

For me, its like a scab on intellectual discourse. I know you shouldn't scratch it, that it probably only makes it worse, but it feels so much better when you do. I will continue to treat their sermons with the contempt and derision that in my opinion they deserve. You feel free to remain unaffected and equable about the whole process :)

[missnemesis]

I am not surprised at being 'preached at' AEL. What I am surprised at is the complete intolerance of many AB members who feel the need to hijack threads to the point that they are not just sharing their own life/religious (or not) experiences but allowing their own particular brand of vitriol take over the thread.

This can, and often does, lead to there being little or no chance for those who are of a religious persuasion to be able to 'discuss' their beliefs properly.

[missnemesis]

Did no-one ever tell you LG that if you keep picking at a scab you'll end up with a scar ;-)

[DTCwordfan]

All they do to me is affirm the stupidity and often crassness and bigotry of religion. There are many religious folk that I know for whom I have respect, both in terms of the clergy and laity but the lot that appear on here, bar sandy and a couple of others, are some of the worst that their respective religions can offer.

[argorstran]

Missnemesis I fully agree with your post @ 12.00

[sandyRoe]

I'm sure we all know the saying, 'different strokes for different folks'. There are different ways too to promulgate your faith. For some it might be the in-your-face, cut + paste, approach while for others the insidious ear-worm method might promise better results. We shall just have to wait and see.
Preachers of the goodly Godless creed won't influence my faith.

[sandyRoe]

* Preachers of the goodly Godless creed, no matter how sincere and well meaning, won't influence my faith.

Wish we could edit our posts here

[The Builder]

I have to say they tend to have quite the opposite effect on me Naomi. There seems to be no room for question or debate from didacts.

Except, perhaps, in the case of Sandy's gentle proddings, which do at least make one reflect. Far more potent than being hit over the head with a thick Bible ;o)

[LazyGun]

I certainly do not favour the cut and paste approach, but I do not like the sound of an insidious earworm at all Sandy. Cotton buds at the ready!

Several hear, such as missnemesis and argorstran and jno appear to be arguing that people with religious beliefs or experiences are somehow not allowed to post, or that their posts are treated with disdain and vitriol. I disagree.

There are categories of posts that usually get my attention and prompt me to post, full of bile and scorn, because i am a bitter and twisted individual, probably caused by my atheism :)

1. Unattributed Cut and Paste sermonising. It is intellectually dishonest, it is not necessarily a heartfelt expression of the poster, and it stifles debate.

2.Posts that offer up mysogynistic or homophobic or racist slurs, derived from their religious faith. Such views are not deserving of any kind of respect, genuinely held or not.

3. Posts that attempt to justify real world violence because of supposedly blasphemous acts or cartoons or whatever.

4. Posts that deny scientific fact and present some faith based myth as fact instead.

5. Posts that attribute human triumphs as gods deeds, and human tragedy as mankinds fault.


6. Posts that pass moral judgement on others, based upon some particular sects version of biblical belief.

I make no apology at all for treating posts such as these with the contempt and vitriol they deserve.

If however you want to post or discuss the importance of spirituality or your religious belief, or how profoundly such faith affects your view of the world around you, I do not think I have ever been intolerant or vitriolic about those kind of posts - if I have, I would apologise - but I do not believe I ever have been.

So discuss away by all means. I might wish that those wanting to sermonise, or pass moral judgement just shut up, but we do have free speech, and they are entirely within their rights to carry on posting, just as I am to rebut the nonsense that spews out :)

[Old_Geezer]

Your reaction will depend on your starting position. If you already have firm anti views getting preached to is unlikely to change them, and may seem a darned cheek to have inflicted on you. If you were already curious/undecided it may encourage you to look into the arguments further. If you are already converted it'll just give you something to nod along with. As for me, I think I'm too long in the tooth to be easily persuaded by it all. Most of the arguments I've considered in the past whilst coming to my own conclusions, so a restatement of someone else's blind faith isn't going to achieve much.

[modeller]

You can not preach Atheism ! It is not a belief . There's not a 'holy ' book called Atheism.
If a believer points to an empty glass and say it's full and I disagree .
Thats not preaching ! If they insist on saying it's full and I ask for proof
That's not preaching !
There are many crimes in this world which I disagree with but that's not preaching.

Now preaching is : quoting garbled. contradictory, ambiguous, fictional screeds from books written by the ancients thousands of years ago whose knowledge of the real world was limited to their known surroundings.

[ludwig]

// But to me, one outpouring of intolerant scorn is pretty much the same as another. //

It shouldn't be. Intolerance and scorn directed at something harmful or bad should be viewed differently from intolerance and scorn directed at something harmless or good.

[EDDIE51]

No effect what so ever on me.

[keyplus90]

////if you visit the 'religion and spirituality' topic you shouldn't be surprised if you're preached at////

Very good and valid point there.

[chakka35]

missnemessis - you obviously haven't noticed that religionists are never prepared to 'discuss their beliefs properly' on this site. Time and again, for some years, I and others have put (politely) to believers various aspects of their faith and asked them to explain them.

Speaking for myself, I am genuinely interested to know how their minds get around the many anomalies, contradictions and absurdities contained within their religion. But I have never managed to get such a discussion going: my question is always met with blank silence or an irrelevant sermon.

We can test this if you like. Tell me what your religion is and I will offer you a topic for discussion. See where we go from there.

[keyplus90]

Chakka - If you really are interested (as you claim) and are after a sincere knowledge or information about why people believe what people believe then you have to take their view with open mind. However if you already know (or you believe you know) and are not willing to consider anything apart from what you think you know then obviously there is no point.

However having said that, I am willing to stay and answer any of your questions does not matter how long it takes and how far the thread goes. You may ask any question, scrutinise anything about anything to do with Islam. But it has to be for the sake of saying, listening and accepting others view if it MAKES SENSE with an open mind.