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Lack of open minded religious people

I am just curious how anyone feels toward people of faith. I mean if you don’t agree with the fact that God is the creator etc do you feel tolerant of them? I ask this because the one thing about religious people is that I can be tolerant of their beliefs even though I don’t agree but they can’t seem to show me the same courtesy. Again I’m just curious how others feel about this and welcome any input. Thanks !!!

pamelayoung481 5 May 10
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25 comments

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3

I think this completely depends upon how someone defines "tolerance". Here's my point: "Here in Chicago, Blacks are now tolerated quite well." Or try this on: "We now tolerate gays and lesbians here in Laramie, Wyoming after what happened to Matthew Sheppard." Tolerance is actually a limp-dick way of discriminating against a person or group with a false veneer of public non-verbal approval. If someone or a section of the American public is "tolerated" it means they are not truly "in". They are given a status unequal to those around them and are not openly discriminated against in an active sense but used as a public way of self-gratification in saying "we are willing to tolerate you." Wonderful... thanks for that.

Second class citizens, plain and simple.

3

My tolerance of them has limits. That is because the religious are not open minded at all.

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I'm tolerant as long as you are a decent person, and don't harm or openly judge others. I think to some degree we all have judgements (both good and bad ) about those who are different from us, but I try to be open minded. It does seem that those who are more fanatical about their religions are much more biased in their views and self centered, not happy to just live and let live. And I think some of them are batshit crazy.

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As long as they don't push it on me we're OK, but if they do l will bring down the WRATH OF.........nothingness down on them! ?

2

A few religious people have demonstrated a good deal of tolerance toward atheism. Mostly liberal Christians and post-Christian groups like the Unitarian-Universalists (the latter openly embrace atheist members). There is also an atheistic sect of the Friends (Quakers), Buddhism, Taoism, etc., all of which embrace religious traditions and practice without (in most cases) having an actual deity on offer. They are still shot through with some form of belief in the supernatural, tend toward magical thinking, etc., but can respect those who travel other paths.

Most of them though are asshats when it comes to the existence of their pet deity.

2

I’m tolerant of religious people, if they’re tolerant of me. When they choose not to be, I react proportionally.

2

I have many close friends that are believers of various religions; we have discussions SOMETIMES but our friendship is stronger than our stance on religion

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I don't tend to tolerate fundamentalists. I think that worldview tends to be generally intolerant. You don't have to tolerate intolerance. As Sam Harris points out, fundamentalism is only bad if the fundamentals of the religion are bad.

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I guess it's their conviction that they are right and you are wrong and your eternal salvation depends on listening to them makes many of them forget secular values like mutual respect and manners etc.

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I try to feel tolerant of them - after all, they are the ones with the delusions. We should always be kind to them and show them the error of their ways whenever they are willing to listen.

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I feel empathy towards them. I was one of them and know what they think and how they feel. It is a very messed up place to be. So it is easy for me to put up with them. No they are not tolerant of other peoples beliefs that is what they are brainwashed to do. I do my best to show them I am a good person and know more about their beliefs that they do. This gives them pause and occasionally they actually listen. So what do I tell them that they would bother to listen? I simply share questions that I had as a fundamentalist and how I resolved them. By making it personal, I am not attacking their beliefs(though they may identify with what I am saying very personally) or their religion. I simply tell them questions I had. It works well for me and is non-confrontational.

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I am very tolerant of people of faith. But no, as a rule they are not tolerant in return. But isn't that the nature of their game to begin with? They are taught to worry about us and to go out and convert. That is their number one responsibility out there in the world. They must witness to all nonbelievers. It's honestly one of the first things they are taught after accepting their faith.

Yep. Matthew 28:19- Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of blah, blah, and blah. Evangelicals are the worst- I was raised in that kind of faith up to and including years of parochial school. If you don't "share" the faith you're "hiding your light under a bushel." (Matthew 5:15) They NEVER finish the story of Sodom and Gomorrah when they use it to discriminate against the LGBTI community... the part where Lot's daughters get him drunk and rape him in a cave. They never finish that story, now do they?

@rmc1171 Exactly. I'm actually an ordained minister (once ordained, always ordained. I still use my powers to marry people.). But I never taught that anti-LGBTI crap. I was one of those "progressive" preachers - everyone's welcome. LOL!

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THE RELIGIOUS PEOPLE ARE THE SAME AS THE ONES WHO HATE TRUMP...if you don't think as they do they insult / threaten / ridicule...you.

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I mean isnt tolerance just quiet approval just for the sake of self i mean the germans were tolerant of Hitlers eugenics ideology which was heavily influenced by Christian dogma.

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I never criticise faiths either. It's just that most faiths attack everything and everybody that doesn't fit into their narrow book. The Westboro Baptist Church comes to mind...

But I've known some benign Christians in my life who didn't proselytize.

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I feel like people can believe whatever they want, and most of it doesn't directly effect my life. But when it does... Well, let's just say I've lost friends because of either their beliefs making me question then as a person, or me trying to share my views with them. That's the most common thread I've personally experienced with religious people... They love telling you what they believe, until you start asking hard questions.

*them

0

Most religions are completely ego-centric. Its a type of self preservation. One of the best inoculations against the god virus is knowledge of other religions.

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I'M NOT a religious person...haven't been for...geeeeez...more years than i can remember. Maybe since I was 16. I don't make a big deal about it...I don't tell people, unless they ask me. I look at religious people this way...if that's your thing...so be it...it doesn't mean you're a bad person. But MOST times...it's like...they think...WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU...YOU DON'T BELIEVE??? NO...I am NOT into the GANG mentality sort of thing. I like Chevys...If you are a Ford guy...fine. THAT is what it is to me! I agree with SCOTTK...THEY'RE NOTHING BUT A GANG. And this...EXPLOSION of BELIEVING has only really taken off like this since some time in the late sixties...we used to call them JESUS FREAKS. NOW...THEY'RE ALL RESPECTABLE. HAHAHAHA.
I DON'T KNOW about here in Va. I've llived in New York all my life, I've just moved here recently...but...BAPTISTS seem to have taken over EVERYWHERE...and their followers can't see that it's just a 'GET RICH QUICK' scheme. LOOK AT MEGACHURCHES!!! UNREAL.
NOPE...not into religion...at all!!!

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For me, religion is nothing more than a GANG mentality. It is for people who find it hard to belong anywhere else. If you don't belong to my gang, than you are not worth anything. The whole religious experience is nothing more than that.

scottk Level 3 July 10, 2018
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I usually just feel a great deal of pity for them as they are devoting so much of their lives believing a faith (belief without evidence) claim is truth based (demonstrable with evidence). If they are vocal and assert a faith claim as containing a truth value, I will usually take them to town with facts and examples of how preposterous "their faith reveals Truth" assertion is to a mind not damaged by indoctrination.

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I just don't respect their views but i give respect to the whole of who they are as another human being who at the very least could use compassion then i proceed to imagine throwing them off a dock in cement shoes. Naw im just kidding bout thar last bit.

Kinda sounds like what the Inquisition did to women they imagined to be witches... such as a birthmark in the wrong place. They WOULD dunk them in water- if they lived it was witchcraft... if they died they weren't witches otherwise they would have saved themselves through witchcraft. It's ridiculous what some people do in the name of faith... and dangerous to the general public if we continue to let them do it.

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I try to be tolerant of everyone. I don't always know what religion people are or aren't as that's not my business, unless a more personal relationship occurs. And even then, as long as they don't push their beliefs on me, or do the holier-than-thou act, it's cool !

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I hate it when in conversation they act like believing in gawd is the default position and atheism is weird ... while the truth is the other way around.

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I see about the same amount of open mindedness and tolerance on both sides.

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Some religious people believe they have the answers for "salvation" and they want you to believe what they believe.

gater Level 7 May 10, 2018
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