Will the ranting atheists please stand down?

[Anonymous]

you know there are a whole lot of people who make whatever comments they think people will find most offensive in any given situation. Those people are trolls, and they are very very common on any message boards, and especially in the wake of tragedy. Most actual atheists do not find it necessary to mock anyone any more than a religious person does.
I think you are being riled by people who are only trying to get people worked up. Don't let them win.

[Anonymous]

The idea I have seen making the rounds among my religious friends - the suggestion that a loving God would abandon a bunch of six year olds to being shot to death because of political correctness in schools or a phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance is.... repugnant. Jaw droppingly reprehensible.

If that is your God I want no part of him.

[Anonymous]

I don't think any of us would know how we would react or go on in the face of such an unspeakable tragedy. Heck, maybe I would seek out religion in that instance. I really don't know since it hasn't happened to me. It was a tragedy that drove me NOT to believe, so I just don't know what would happen if I lost my daughter, who is a first grader like all the dead children, in such a horrific way.

I usually don't even comment on these threads, but this one really just rubs me the wrong way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The idea I have seen making the rounds among my religious friends - the suggestion that a loving God would abandon a bunch of six year olds to being shot to death because of political correctness in schools or a phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance is.... repugnant. Jaw droppingly reprehensible.

If that is your God I want no part of him.

+infinity

[Anonymous]

I have been thinking all day how much the parish church must mean to the people (as well as synagogue and Methodist church i saw mentioned). To have somewhere to instinctively turn toward for comfort in such times. Bless your brother for what he and his church bring--comfort and faith. It's a beautiful thing in the midst of this tragedy.

[Anonymous]

Can we just agree that there are crazies on both end of the spectrum (religious zealots vs. anti-religion atheists), but the vast majority of folks are somewhere in the middle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Geez pp, get a life. Sadly I know a bunch of families who have suffered tragic losses. And I couldn't imagine being able to carry on like some of them have. But the religious ones really seem to pick up the pieces. And they aren't merely stoic....they publicly acknowledge their kids are in a better place, etc. Someone without faith can't do that. Scientific? No. But I've seen it, so I'm commenting on it here.

Not the PP you're replying to, but I don't believe in the 'better place'. I think those kids are just dead.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, blame the atheists for bringing religion into this.

Learn how to spot trolls. Don't blame atheists for your gullibility.

[Anonymous]

That's fine, PP. the point I am making is that religious people believe they truly are in a better place, and that's how parents are able to get through such a horrific tragedy. I'm not saying there is a heaven or not...I'm just explaining how some folks I know feel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The idea I have seen making the rounds among my religious friends - the suggestion that a loving God would abandon a bunch of six year olds to being shot to death because of political correctness in schools or a phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance is.... repugnant. Jaw droppingly reprehensible.

If that is your God I want no part of him.

This makes me think, and question a lot of things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, blame the atheists for bringing religion into this.

Learn how to spot trolls. Don't blame atheists for your gullibility.

X 1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Geez pp, get a life. Sadly I know a bunch of families who have suffered tragic losses. And I couldn't imagine being able to carry on like some of them have. But the religious ones really seem to pick up the pieces. And they aren't merely stoic....they publicly acknowledge their kids are in a better place, etc. Someone without faith can't do that. Scientific? No. But I've seen it, so I'm commenting on it here.

Not the PP you're replying to, but I don't believe in the 'better place'. I think those kids are just dead.

So there are no consequences to the perpetrators of child massacres? There is no hope of eternal justice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Geez pp, get a life. Sadly I know a bunch of families who have suffered tragic losses. And I couldn't imagine being able to carry on like some of them have. But the religious ones really seem to pick up the pieces. And they aren't merely stoic....they publicly acknowledge their kids are in a better place, etc. Someone without faith can't do that. Scientific? No. But I've seen it, so I'm commenting on it here.

Not the PP you're replying to, but I don't believe in the 'better place'. I think those kids are just dead.

So there are no consequences to the perpetrators of child massacres? There is no hope of eternal justice?

We can't know the answer to that. Wiser philosophers than you will find on dcum can't answer that. We can only hope.

But I'm reminded that if there is a God, God's love is infinite. God's capacity for forgiveness knows no end. Even killers are still children of God. What do you think God does with a killer, firey pits and red devils with pitchforks? I think that's a childish fantasy. I think the only punishment - and the best punishment - is for a person to have a perfect understanding as they pass of the feelings of others. That this killer will feel the terror of his victims, the profound loss of the families, the mourning of the nation. That he will truly understand in that moment what he's done, and regret it, even as God welcomes him with open arms.

I imagine my child. I can't imagine what she could do to make me hate her, to condemn her to Hell. Even one of the Columbine perpetrators mom's has said she still loves her son, despite what he did. We hate the deed but still love our child. If we mere human parents are capable of that distinction, don't you think God would be capable of it too?

[Anonymous]

Not PP, but no. If there's no "better place," there's no "burn in hell" either. Everyone dies, they go nowhere else, and leave only their legacy and the memories of their loved ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not PP, but no. If there's no "better place," there's no "burn in hell" either. Everyone dies, they go nowhere else, and leave only their legacy and the memories of their loved ones.

Right, exactly. So DCUMers get away with affairs, being greedy and selfish without consequence, and mass murderers have the same ultimate fate as their innocent victims: they cease to exist.

OR we are all held accountable in the end, because God's justice is perfect.