Is EVERY religious person a closet nutcase?
472245
I dont thin nutcase is right word... maybe living in denail or perhaps under a rock.
651065
Not necessarily, I know some very compassionate caring atheists. Unfortunately many deny God either from bad experiences with religon or the cunning of human philosophies but not believing in God does not make you a bad person by default.
775847
but but ... you list social woes while most religious folks clutch onto religion as a personal life raft.  whatever heinous actions are made in the name of their religion matters not.  it's the personal comfort they get from believing they're safe from their deity's wrath and the feeling of being special and a part of something bigger than themselves that cements their dependence on their religion. besides, the woes of the world created by religion are always blamed on an Evil One and evil doers.
471376
Don't forget that all homosexuals are devil-worshiping demons who shall be condemned to the bowels of hell. The whole concept of organized religion is so RIDICULOUS, that you just gotta laugh.
1125029
I think hypocrisy exists in all religions.
489840
There are legit christians, but many are homophobic. They may not be violent, but their words are. They claim "Homosexuality is a choice", but that contradicts the latest scientific experiment on the brains of homosexuals and lesbians (I also know myself, being gay, that it's something you have since birth, I myself discovered I was gay around age 5). Basically, everything they're saying about gay people is false, and they need to grow up. Even though I'm an atheist, I don't mean to offend anyone's religion, but sometimes I think people take advantage of their religion and their bible and "paraphrase" content in it to meet their specific agenda for hate. You can tell they're doing this because they ignore the fact that gluttony is a sin, as well as wearing certain fibers, yet they ignore that, and persecute the gays. It doesn't add up, does it.
814542
Yah they are all out to fuck with your wacky religious beliefs.
597237
I don't think it's true that "religious people" are touchy.  Certainly people here on the Religion & Spirituality section are touchy, but I see just as much of non-religious as religious people getting annoyed at some of the ridiculous comments.\n\nHowever, what do I (and I am religious) care what you think about the sex life, bathroom habits, etc. of any religious figure?  You are absolutely right about the last part of your question--if someone *really* believes in their religion, hearing another opinion (even if in poor taste) can't shake it.\n\nAgain...*who* cares?!
32796
Yes, they are espousing a hatred of their fellow man and a disrepect of privacy that is damaging to their credibility.  \n\nThe reason it's called homophobia is because every fundamentalist parent deeply fears that their child will be gay and they will be ostracized by their religious peers if they continue to love and respect their child.  This is one of the worst things that can happen to a fundamentalist Christian or Muslim.\n\nFundamentalists belive that they should treat their child as a sinning criminal if they are gay&#92;lesbian.  They say they love their own gay&#92;lesbian child as they love a murderer or a rapist or a terrorist.  Read the comments below, if you don't believe.  \n\nThat is the most warped twisted view of how the world should work that I can imagine.  It is also the reason that they insist that gay families should not be accepted as equals in society.\n\nIf a fundumentalist's gay or lesbian child decides to start a family, either by make a lifetime commitment to their same-sex parnter or adopting or concieving a child using in-vitro fertilization, or both, then the parents strict religious beliefs tell them that they must reject their own child and grandchild's family as sinful and an affront to God.  The same family that will carry on their own name, and will live far longer than the parent themselves.  They curse their own family as evil.\n\nOther church members will vigorously support their rejection of their own flesh and blood.  Fundamentalist christians with gay children live a life of pathetic misery due to their own ignorance and often die in shame, without their children beside them, and are remembered without fondness or love.  All Because they cling to one chapter of the bible which condemns homosexuality and also condones slavery and treating women as property.\n\nThat is why when you see homless, or drug addicted, prostituted or disease-ravaged gay kids, they are more likey to come from a fundamentalist family than any other place.  Love the sinner is just a slogan.  Ask these kids.  And I'm not even going into some of the beatings these kids, espeically boys, have to go through from thier fathers, (again, also proscribed in the bible.)
93345
No. Every religion carrys a "bad egg". So just singling out a religion just doesn't make sense.
581647
"Liberals"? Let's assume that all Christians are Conservatives: then yes.\n\nHowever, no, not all feel that their faith is being threatened by these things: only the close-minded and unoriginal ones.\n\nQuestions like this bug me out. The girl who put "cuz they believe stupid things!" is a complete twat, and the guy below me...look, don't pray for any body's salvation except your own.
926101
what? religion has nothing to do with the "worst" class of people. I loved Pope John Paul, and I'm not Cathlic. I was very sadden when he passed away.  \n\nI truely believe  most of the people that commit terrible crimes are no religion at all. What about, kidnappers, rapist, murderers and terrorist?  do you think they are Cathlic? Shame on you.
681791
You raise an interesting question. There are quite a few insecure people attracted to some type religion. However, both Jesus and Mohammad were good and they tried very hard to get others to do the same. Nothing wrong with that.
843412
You are 1000% correct. I too used to be an athiest, but gave it up when I finally grasped that it is simply another form of "fundamentalism." And if you require proof of that assertion, just tune into these pages and look at the bible-thumpers sending everyone to Hell and preaching hate at the tops of their lungs. And look at the athiests spewing the same arrogant, self-satisfied (dare I say, "self righteous?") garbage. What they fail to grasp is that they are flip-sides of the same coin that says -- "I KNOW THE TRUTH, AND IF YOU DON'T AGREE WITH ME YOU'RE A TOTAL LOSER AND blah, blah, blah..."\n\nThere are only two rationally defensible positions to take on religion: Agnosticism and Fideism.\n\nThey both say, "I don't know, because the topic is unknowable."\nThe agnostic says, "Though I don't know, the preponderance of evidence does not lead me to believe -- so in my life I will operate as though God does not exist, and freely admit that I could be wrong."\n\nLikewise the fideist says, "Though I don't know, the sense of personal immediacy I feel affirms God's existence to me. And while recognizing that objectively, I too may be wrong, I will nevertheless treat the existence of God as a personal fact."\n\nThe thing that unites and elevates both agnosticism and fideism above the nonsense is that each recognizes the importance for ordinate intellectual humility in the face of what we do not, and cannot, know. You'll never find either group making threats, or hurling insults at the integrity of another's belief systems. And if we all behaved this way, the world would be a safer, saner, and altogether more hospitable place to live. There's just far too much shouting going on.\n\nWonderful to meet a kindred spirit. Cheers, mate.
342409
no, people just use religion as a cover for their bigotry. if it weren't for religion, they would just find something else to fall back on.
1022548
Hmm... I'm not sure under which category you fall, but you're only partially right.  Often those who *don't* force their beliefs on others are classified under the few who stand out as the overbearing fundamentalist Christians who take no time for another person's beliefs or understandings.  Those who turn to an atheist and openly say "You're going to Hell" are misguided, cruel, and closeminded about the possibility that he or she may not be 100% right about their perception of the world.  The other Christians who don't lash out follow a better guideline -- educate others about your faith and defend it, but don't waste time arguing that their thoughts have no merit, even if they don't believe in God.  One person will not listen to another if either have no intention of gaining knowledge in their discussion.  It's a pointless argument that many Christians sadly utilize.\n\nSo for those Christians who truly don't force their opinions on anyone, the reason they aren't liked is because of a generalization.  A non-Christian looks at all the fanatics shoving ideas down their throat, and in a flash accuses all Christians of being so.  It's a sad truth.
287085
I actually can't give a satisfying answer to your question, but I want to sympathize.  All of the most outspokenly religious people I know -regardless of age/gender/beliefs- act very self-righteous and devout in public but are really hypocritical in their personal lives.  I think this combination of righteousness and hypocrisy stems from their firm belief that they and only they follow the true religion and all others may be worthy of pity but are going to hell nonetheless.  They do not realize that morality and religion are not co-dependent; you can be moral but not believe in their god, and you can believe in their god but be completely amoral as well.