Association of your values with Devil / Satan: is it offensive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It certainly doesn’t offend me, an atheist, because Satan doesn’t exist.

I believe that you should consider the intent of the people saying the word rather than your interpretation of the word. For religious people, Satan / Devil is the worst thing that they can think of. If you were in the middle ages, you would be tortured to change your belief system, then burned alive. There are parts of the world where atheists face similar type of treatment at the hands of religious people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Geez, are you the same poster who went on and on about feeling duped by that Shen Yun show? Atheist here, and I think you need to get a grip and let it go. Who the heck cares whether your belief system is associated with the devil in some people’s religions? Since I don’t believe in it, whatever, it’s like being associated with the tooth fairy or something.

They 100% are. And for those that are confused, no one in OP’s thread in the Entertainment forum said he didn’t have morals. You do not need to be religious to have morals. Otherwise we wouldn’t have millions of stories of religious men acting without morals.

Thank you for admitting the bolded part. I never claimed anything about what was said on the other thread. I just wanted to separate this discussion from that thread because there were several people saying that atheists should not be offended by any association with the Devil (because the Devil doesn't exist for them). It happens that I personally don't agree with that line of thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Geez, are you the same poster who went on and on about feeling duped by that Shen Yun show? Atheist here, and I think you need to get a grip and let it go. Who the heck cares whether your belief system is associated with the devil in some people’s religions? Since I don’t believe in it, whatever, it’s like being associated with the tooth fairy or something.

They 100% are. And for those that are confused, no one in OP’s thread in the Entertainment forum said he didn’t have morals. You do not need to be religious to have morals. Otherwise we wouldn’t have millions of stories of religious men acting without morals.

Thank you for admitting the bolded part. I never claimed anything about what was said on the other thread. I just wanted to separate this discussion from that thread because there were several people saying that atheists should not be offended by any association with the Devil (because the Devil doesn't exist for them). It happens that I personally don't agree with that line of thought.

No one on the other thread said you didn’t have morals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Geez, are you the same poster who went on and on about feeling duped by that Shen Yun show? Atheist here, and I think you need to get a grip and let it go. Who the heck cares whether your belief system is associated with the devil in some people’s religions? Since I don’t believe in it, whatever, it’s like being associated with the tooth fairy or something.

They 100% are. And for those that are confused, no one in OP’s thread in the Entertainment forum said he didn’t have morals. You do not need to be religious to have morals. Otherwise we wouldn’t have millions of stories of religious men acting without morals.

Thank you for admitting the bolded part. I never claimed anything about what was said on the other thread. I just wanted to separate this discussion from that thread because there were several people saying that atheists should not be offended by any association with the Devil (because the Devil doesn't exist for them). It happens that I personally don't agree with that line of thought.

No one on the other thread said you didn’t have morals.

I never claimed I was attacked for lack of morals on a different thread. I replied to a poster on this thread saying that association with the Devil may be interpreted as not having morals.

[Anonymous]

I’m an atheist who thinks very highly of the Satanists for the good work they do for the community and keeping religion out of where it doesn’t belong, like public schools and buildings. Evil lives in the hearts of evil-doers, and there are plenty of them among the religious and non-religious alike.

[Anonymous]

It might be easier to decide whether you would be insulted if - for the sake of argument - we remove the religious context. Let's say someone addresses you using the word "kutabare". Would you feel insulted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It certainly doesn’t offend me, an atheist, because Satan doesn’t exist.

I believe that you should consider the intent of the people saying the word rather than your interpretation of the word. For religious people, Satan / Devil is the worst thing that they can think of. If you were in the middle ages, you would be tortured to change your belief system, then burned alive. There are parts of the world where atheists face similar type of treatment at the hands of religious people.

Could you list the countries where atheists are burned and tortured? I’ve never heard of this.

[Anonymous]

OP get a grip and find a real problem. At this point everyone would rather hang 9ut with the cast of shen yun than listen to you kvetch about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not the association with satan, of.course that is meaningless. It is the suggestion that atheists have no or bad morals that is offensive.

I believe that is the implication: you don't believe in God, you likely don't have a moral compass.

Yes but as stated the satan part is meaningless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It certainly doesn’t offend me, an atheist, because Satan doesn’t exist.

I believe that you should consider the intent of the people saying the word rather than your interpretation of the word. For religious people, Satan / Devil is the worst thing that they can think of. If you were in the middle ages, you would be tortured to change your belief system, then burned alive. There are parts of the world where atheists face similar type of treatment at the hands of religious people.

Could you list the countries where atheists are burned and tortured? I’ve never heard of this.

Thank you for your interest in the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_for_non-violent_offenses#Apostasy_and_blasphemy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP get a grip and find a real problem. At this point everyone would rather hang 9ut with the cast of shen yun than listen to you kvetch about it.

This is a real problem for me. Nobody forces you to read or contribute to the thread if it is not a real problem for you. If you want to hang out with Shen Yun cast, you may have to travel to their next performance. The best next thing would be to meet Falun Dafa followers in parks. They can teach you myriads of things that apply to real problems. You will learn just how bad atheism and evolution are. If you are sick, their leader can heal you so you don't have to use modern medicine. There is also the part where Trump was the best president ever. They are definitely more pleasant than me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not the association with satan, of.course that is meaningless. It is the suggestion that atheists have no or bad morals that is offensive.

I believe that is the implication: you don't believe in God, you likely don't have a moral compass.

Yes but as stated the satan part is meaningless.

Can you explain why it is meaningless? I believe that any association with Satan / Devil by a religious person is extremely meaningless to them. They definitely imply that there is something really wrong with the item (value, person, group of people) they associate the Devil with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not the association with satan, of.course that is meaningless. It is the suggestion that atheists have no or bad morals that is offensive.

I believe that is the implication: you don't believe in God, you likely don't have a moral compass.

Yes but as stated the satan part is meaningless.

Can you explain why it is meaningless? I believe that any association with Satan / Devil by a religious person is extremely meaningful to them. They definitely imply that there is something really wrong with the item (value, person, group of people) they associate the Devil with.

(sorry for the repost: used the wrong word)

[Anonymous]

There's also the fact that the Satanic panic stuff that occurred in the 80s and 90s caused real harm to people. I'm always suspicious of people who go on about Satanic stuff given it always is used hysterically and has been used to absolutely destroy people's lives for no reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP get a grip and find a real problem. At this point everyone would rather hang 9ut with the cast of shen yun than listen to you kvetch about it.

I do think this is likely the Shen Yun poster. The dig at atheists is specifically a dig at the Chinese communist party. Go hang out in china. People are weirdly superstitious and very "spiritually" oriented even if they don't follow an organized religion (and don't want to). I think most American atheists would not consider most Chinese people "real atheists".