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I had another conversation with a Xtian at Walmart today--she started it! We live in Missouri and she said (apropos nothing as I strolled by her as she was strolling by with a woman who was apparently her mother), "I encourage you to vote 'no' for Prop. 3." Prop. 3 is for reproductive freedom, including the right to abortion. "Yes" is for freedom and "No" is for banning abortion.

I said the same thing to her as I said to the woman who called me yesterday asking me to vote "No": "You're talking to the wrong woman as I will definitely vote "Yes."

She seemed to surprise and launched into why I should vote against the proposition--mainly, because her sister had an abortion and died from it. (Incidentally, this was the SAME thing the woman on the phone said.)

I replied, "I am sorry about that, but thousands of women have died getting backstreet abortions. A ban won't stop abortions. There are thousands of women who have had legal abortions who didn't die. Because one woman died does mean others should not have access to safe abortions."

She said a couple of more things and then came up with the clincher: "What would god want you do do?"

I literally laughed out loud and said, "I'm an atheist and what a nonexistent god 'thinks' means nothing to me."

Now, she REALLY looked surprised and started a spiel about the Bible. I stopped her and said, "There is nothing in the Bible which says anything about abortion." She looked surprised but did not contradict me as she had no verses to support her point. I told her that I was raised Baptist and taught Sunday School for a decade and that I know more about the Bible than the vast majority of Xtians, i.e. they don't understand that there are two versions of creation--one is which man and woman are made at the same time and a second in which Eve is made from Adam's rib.

She said she knew about the two versions (which was a patent lie on her part) and tried to get in the last word by saying, "I just ask you to pray and ask for guidance."

I laughed and replied, "Why would I pray to a god who doesn't exist? Ya know, I prayed a lot in my time in church and yet, here I am."

She fell silent and walked away. I bet that I was the first atheist she had ever knowingly spoken to.

Gwen_Wanderer 7 Oct 30
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3

Honestly, if I lived closer I would pay cash money to accompany you on your Walmart excursions! Even in my deeply red area people haven't been so bold. Sometimes maybe the JWs but I put up a sign so they only capture me when I'm working in the front yard.

What a weenie she was, not trying to fake bible quotes at you! Good job, though, and thanks for the chuckle.

I have met some "characters" for sure! This woman was confused by my knowledge of the Bible and I kinda felt sorry for her. Men handle such situations differently, including yelling at me. She fought valiantly for her god, but honestly she was out of her league. When she said she knew about the two versions of creation, I asked her how she explained the discrepancy. She did not even try to answer.

@Gwen_Wanderer The confusion is a much better sign than the shouting that she may start questioning, so you've performed a public service in leading her to breaking her religious ties.

@Lauren perhaps! I won't say she was impressed about how much more I knew about the bible than she did, but it might have instilled a worm into her brain!

3

Lucky you in that you get to confront these nutjobs. Actually, there are far more than two versions. Some protestant groups have their own version and, Growing up Catholic, we were taught if it didn't have nihil obstat or imprimatur it wasn't real. Even a lot of protestants object in having the old testament included with the new testament (all of which you know already). A lot of atheists became so from actually reading the 'bible' from cover to cover. It might be god to challenge those who promote the book to do so and pay attention to the actual wording.

And the differences in bible, i.e. the Catholic and Protestant versions, are proof that the Bible has been influenced by translation and simply the editors. Why did the Protestants leave out Judith and the Maccabees?

Reading the Bible was the first step in me leaving Xtianity. No wonder the Catholic Church would not allow the flock to read the book for themselves for so long.

@Gwen_Wanderer Those are only a few of the versions, the Coptic church and Orthodox Church also have their own versions as well as all the multiple translations of each. There are over 450 English versions of the Christian Bible. Most Christians don't realize the oldest Christian sects are Ethiopian.

@glennlab Most Protestants don't even know that the Catholic version is different. The ironic thing about this is that even if they did know, they would say the Catholic version is "wrong" when it came first! Also, when King James had the Bible translated into English, some verses were intentionally changed, i.e. the "witches" in "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" should be "poisoner." The Jews did not have "witches," per se. The "witch" of Endor is a seeress, not a witch. There are some crossover in people who practice magic, but English witches were different from magicians who preceded them.

The translation could have been because "witches" often practiced herbalism, but that is not magic.

4

I hate when that happens.

I enjoyed it!

7

As to the, "my sister died" argument. ( Which is probably fake as you surmise. ) It is worth pointing out, that a lot more women, especially in theocracies, still die of pregnancy/child birth each year. And despite vast advances since the nineteenth century, when childbirth was known as, "Going to the gates of death." it is still far from safe, even in the most technically advanced countries.

I am quite sure that Xtians believe that dying due to issues of childbirth is just "god's will." I am also sure that most Protestants do not know that Martin Luther said it was of no importance if women suffered in childbirth because that's what women were "here for."

I also pointed out to her that MY sister gave birth to a child who had Down Syndrome and dwarfism who died at birth. Had she known beforehand that the baby would not have survived, she would not have been allowed to have an abortion. I don't think she would have opted for abortion is she had down about the other issues, but why make a woman go through nine months of a pregnancy knowing that the baby will not survive? One person's story is a logical fallacy is not support for an argument.

7

The bible is very pro-abortion read numbers 5 for a start...

13

From what I remember, the bible is actually pro-abortion. Something about if you think the kid might not be yours? Go to the Rabbi, get a potion to give her and if it is a cuckoo, problem solved.

6

Nice one! 🙂

9

You handled that well. I wish it wasn't necessary.

Nice to see you back in my alerts and accessible. I missed you. 🙂

Betty Level 8 Oct 30, 2024

I am happy to be back in your alerts, as well! I am sure that you don't want to miss any of the vast wisdom I dispense. (Grin.)

When I am not in a hurry, I actually enjoy "conversing" with such people.

7

One of the problem I encouraged in Christian apologetics was that it relied almost exclusively on the bible itself and few other contemporaneous documents.

Yes, there are many gods and being convinced one's own is the only one is rather arrogant.

Christian apologetics believe that dinosaur bones were planted by the devil to fool people! They are the biggest of the crockpots.

7

Good on you. I don't know what it is. Conditioning, indoctrination, an inability to think and reason or perhaps it is a just a decline in intelligence??
Seems like the more we advance, our I.Q declines proportionately.
Still Christians seem to be the worst affected closely fowled by the other Jewish cult, the Muslims.

I am sure that this woman didn't graduate at the top of her class. I think conditioning and indoctrination is the biggest reasons and fear fuels the fire. When I was young, hellfire spurred me to try to toe the line. Even when I admitted to myself that I didn't believe any longer (and maybe never believed), I didn't tell anyone for fear of losing friends and alienating family.

10

I think you had all the right answers and she appears to think her buybull has them. Her falling away here is that she knows there are no scriptures for her to go to. I'm voting yes on 3 because women need to be in control of their own bodies. Pics of pregnant woman with an arrow pointing at her belly and the words "this is a different person" do not draw me into their argument. As for people voting yes on 3 we are getting a lot of mail in the mailbox asking us to vote yes. I would say that means they know they cannot argue the issue person to person.

Do I want you to have control of your body or do I think government should? This should not be a political issue.

This is a global issue. NONE of the anti abortion lobby will offer lifelong support for the mother, child and family.
In some cultures the disabled or girls are routinely killed after birth. Is this practice a more desirable outcome to abortion??
I for one think NOT!

"Do I want you to have control of your body or do I think government should? This should not be a political issue."
I agree, should not be an issue because we sorted it already.

This was all sorted out during trials etc after WW II, namely the Nuremburg trials. Eg Consent is required from the patient for all medical treatment. This consent must be informed and freely given without coercion. It seems we have forgotten that state directed medical treatments are not a good thing. All our nations signed off on these declarations.
But us humans love re-inventing the wheel. So I forecast another world conflict where more trials will be conducted after it's completion. They will confirm what was said at Nuremburg. Then, in another 80 odd years, we will do it all again (if the "West" wins this next war, which I doubt).
Re abortion in the US, actually makes me sick considering they enable slaughtering children in "brown" countries. So all the hand wringing over the sanctity of life is a sick slde show

@puff Thou shalt not kill babies because once they are old enough we need them to kill and get killed in wars benefitting the very wealthy.

@rogerbenham It is not about killing babies. It is not about killing at all as that pertains to life. Life is all about breathing, starting once born. Once we stop breathing, we call that death.
On your theme, it's about extinguishing potential new soldiers/ cannon fodder.

You are 100% right--the choice should be determined by politics.

This woman expected me to be a Christian--that's the long and short of it. Had she not, I don't think she would have said a word about the proposition.

@vocaloldfart There is a quote from a Catholic nun which has been circulating for some time that she if people are not willing to care for the unwanted babies to be born, that is pro-birth, not pro-life. She is right.

@rogerbenham What you said is So very true.

@rogerbenham, @puff Man is the apex predator. There are no predators left to prey on man EXCEPT man himself., and by Jingo , we do a marvelous job of that predation.

@Gwen_Wanderer What a marvelous and absolutely necessary topic for discussion.
With your permission, I will post it in Atheist Universe for discussion.
With Welcome to community and "post no longer available", which yields "frequently Asked Questions" Both stop any discussion what so ever here I am forced to use another forum.

@vocaloldfart Sounds good--just give me credit!

@Gwen_Wanderer you have an Atheist universe ID OR HANDLE?

@vocaloldfart Nope. I don't spread myself around much.

@Gwen_Wanderer may be an idea to look at another forum. This one is dying.
Posts are deleted after posting and comments are disabled on most posts ,
A good time to look elsewhere me thinks.

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