((Hugs))

@KKGator

Love you! You are a joy.

@OldMetalHead @anglophone @LiterateHiker

Thank you!!
You are all part of the reasons I stay.

Anyone who blocks you does themselves a disservice. Also, Matias is a total douche.

@LovinLarge Thank you!
You're also correct about the douchenozzle.

You are awesome!

@Holysocks Thanks!
Rightbackatcha!

You are one of the people that keeps me coming back. I like your no nonsense approach to life!

@Redheadedgammy Same!
❤❤

@KKGator

Thank you so much!

It’s better to be yourself than being a lame Conformist.

Conformists aren’t themselves. They allow themselves to become conditioned into being something they aren’t.

I really like you a lot and enjoy reading your comments. You have many truly admirable qualities. My personal circumstances don't allow me to put the time into relationships that they deserve so I had to end the relationships I started here. It comforts me to know that you exist. Anyone would be very fortunate to have you as a friend.

@LovinLarge Thank you very much. That's kind of you to say.

@Charles1971 My very best wishes to you Charles, you are a fine human being.

I have never met one single person from here in the flesh, so that tells me that using this site for dating, at least in my state of the union, is useless, and so is the site for even making offline friends in my local area. But I have heard that others living in less religious areas of the country do find dating partners and friends from here nearby.

But everyone here is NOT non-judgemental. But here is certainly less so, than most Christian groups.

I would hope nobody here would judge me negatively for being a non-Xtian.

@Organist1
I grew up as a Mormon, and am now assistant manager at a liquor store. Most of us never judge.

@MsKathleen

I blocked enough MAGA idiots that they don't hassle me anymore.

@Holysocks I tell people openly that I'm unequipped for judging anyone. Except 45 (who must who up in every conversation) who is evil.

@LiterateHiker I block people for two reasons: being offensive to me or others, or repeatedly making annoying, ignorant posts. From my perspective, obviously. Everyone can feel free to block me for the same, or other, reasons.

@Organist1 I have already stated why I block people. I suppose that makes ME judgmental. But I would never block anyone just because they disagree with me, or have a different perspective.

@MsKathleen

MAGA idiots called me mean names like "libtard" for being a Democrat. Insulting members is against community guidelines.

@LiterateHiker yes, that falls under the category of “being offensive”, for which I block people, regardless of their target.

@LiterateHiker The name-calling ones seem to lack any substantive thought or rational argument on the issue at hand. So, they resort to name calling and trite labeling, as they did in second grade.

@Holysocks I sometimes find it very difficult not to judge.

@Mcflewster Of course you do. We are conditioned from a very early age to do so. And it is very difficult to overcome. This is why we must admit that we do it. And apologize when necessary.

@LiterateHiker I take being called (which almost never happens) as a compliment.

@MsKathleen We might actually be hard-wired to do that, but it no longer has survival value as it once might have, when early people had to drive out dangerous interlopers.

@Organist1 We are obligated to live with today’s “dangerous interlopers”. Mostly because we have created them, most often through neglect. Mass murderers are not born; they are created.

@MsKathleen Would it be possible to condition people in general not to be offended by a judgement as long as one has the right to reply? If we could achieve this it would be chocks away for critical thinking!

@Mcflewster I don’t know that I want to “condition” people, but perhaps we could teach a more Zen way of dealing with our (emotional) reactions? I did not learn that at school OR home and it took most of my life for me to finally get there most o& the time. As for general critical thinking, I recall being taught that in school. When my daughter attended primary school and the first year of middle school in Michigan, critical thinking was still being taught. When we moved to California early in 1981, at the local Los Angeles school it was not, so I decided to put her in a private school. My son was born late in 1982 and, as I was working, he went to Montessori for daycare. We tried the “California Distinguished School” in our upscale Glendale neighborhood for grade 1. At the first parent-teacher conference after ten weeks of school, the teacher told us “he will be reading at a second grade level at the end of the school year”. I responded that I hoped not, because her was reading at a third grade level when he got there. She also said, ‘he wanders around the room a lot”. When asked if he was completing his work, she said, “oh yes, he’s getting “A”s in everything. So, I told her she needed to give him something to do, because he was bored. By the end of his school year, my cheerful, outgoing six year old was withdrawn and sad. He was basically told to “sit down and shut up” every day of first grade. I insisted that he had to go back to Montessori, and he subsequently went to a Waldorf school for middle school and an all boys’ Catholic high school. Although he was not Catholic, he had to attend religion class. It was a good education, and a good education about Catholicism. And he learned critical thinking, as did his sister. It was expensive, but worth it. Both of my children are university graduates. University was not the norm in my family. None of my brother’s children attended college. My sister’s two both started late, but are degreed. I am proud of all of the kids of that generation who worked for it. Three of my four grand children have university degrees, one of whom has earned her Doctorate, and is currently doing her Surgical Residency in western Michigan. I believe the KIND of education one gets matters…and makes a difference in thought process.

Being blocked for not being atheist "enough", strikes me as being as stupid as xtians ragging on others for not being christy-enough.

Glad you decided to return.

@KKGator there have been times when I took things (here) personally. I like to think that I have matured. Thank you for being glad.

I completely agree. There used to be several people in several chat rooms ever night too. The conversations were fun and friendly. Now-a-days, no one enters the chat rooms and I find a lot of criticism of everybody and everything: A negative vibe. But occasionally, I find something interesting to comment on or to post.

@MyTVC15 Negative vibe?
Hey I can't help it if the place is infested with pigheaded, narrow-minded, reactionary right-wing, fascist, nihilistic atheists!

@Storm1752 There are some here that WOULD like to help you out of this train of thought. No Guarantees!

Ditto Ditto Ditto

YOU SURE? If you are that's fine!

I am quite tired of the “atheists vs believers” excess, myself. This is why I am drawn to the posts of @Skado, who tries to make the conversation about (a) the evolution of belief and thoughtful posts about an alternate perspective from both sides of the “argument”.

I agree wholeheartedly. The last thing I want to discuss on an agnostic website is religion.

I choose c. It's one of the important letters in the word cheese.

@Holysocks And " Blessed are the Cheese-makers for they shall always have cheese toasties," LOL.

@Triphid
They might have been referring to dairy producers of all sorts...

Good Questions!
Because I love finding out things about all people IF they will let me
To do the above.

@Mcflewster But, to learn first one must be open-minded enough to actually learn rather than merely dismiss that which does not suit your personal agenda, would agree or disagree with that?

@Triphid I think I am open minded but please test me.

@Mcflewster Test yourself and start by teaching yourself to think outside the box.

@Triphid Can we test each other On Chat ? i.e not public

@Mcflewster On chat, why are you afraid that my testing will show you up or something?
Public or not at all IS my method.

@Triphid That is a good resolve .I want to be as open as possible.
However in trying to show this bravado I may have hit upon a method that if a third person read whatever was written it is possible IMO that it may upset or disturb that person. So I regretfully withdraw my offer and ask that you judge me by whatever I have already written. Openness is eventually good but perhaps should not be bragged about in a forum. Need a response to this.

I'm here because if I wasn't, I would be somewhere else.

There is nothing wrong with having a subconscious.

Surely it is very difficult not to believe in anything

@Mcflewster You're right, it is difficult. But part of that is the semantics. I don't believe in gravity. But if I hold a book out from my body and let go, it drops. So, I have to accept that gravity works. But dammit, nobody can prove how it works. So I refuse to "believe" it. I simply have this "hot button" about believing shit.

Thank you for such a full report!

I believe in burritos and flatulence. Try denying the existence of either one!

@Holysocks why would I want to, and just for good measure what has that got to do with anything? The existence of burritos and flatulence, presumably as a cause and effect (I don't know myself as I don't eat junk food) is not in question. Are you aware of any Aburritoists?

@David1955
I don't believe in aburritos or antiflatulates. Give me gas! As for junk food, you should visit for a meal. Some of the healthiest food is finger food.

I think that strict atheists come here to prevent someone persuading them not to be an agnostic but stay a simple {non complicated }atheist (no offence intended).

@Mcflewster what a silly statement.

@David1955 A bit silly, but perhaps not offensive if there are a few atheists who do not want to progress their thinking???

@Mcflewster and i suppose to 'progress' their thinking means to become an agnostic. That's amusing since agnostic is a problematic position -- or rather non position -- as minds like Bertrand Russell pointed out. No, it just won't do, friend.

@David1955 I see NO PROBLEM in agnosticism in fact I think it is rather NOBLE and takes a certain kind of bravery.

@Mcflewster Bravery? To have a non position? To secretly fear the God they grew up and its judgement so agnostic is safer. Bravery? To be functionally an atheist about 99.99% of human gods but agnostic about the God you were born into? There's consistency. Bravery. Sure. The 'nobility' of having a bet each way, a variation on Pascal's Wager? Not noble to me.

@David1955 I am not betting 'each way' although I do not understand that term.

I just believe ONE of them will persist, TWO in the medium term but eventually it will be obvious that one could win out. Last pocket of religionists will " go down with the ship"

@David1955 If all betting people declared an oath that they were for ever AGNOSTIC about who would win a race (and 99% of betting people are agnostic before the race) ,then all gambling and its consequences would cease. Spreading AGNOSTICISM is not good bot the 'Bookies'