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Even the John passage you quote - many people of faith including myself do not interpret that as gate keeping through one valid religious path. I don’t think Jesus is talking about “I am The way the Truth and the Life. No one gets to the father except through me” in a narrow literal human ego Constrained type way. He was God embodied and therefore embodied infinity and ubiquity. If Jesus came now, I suspect he would reference the mother as well as father but the ancient Israelites were a deeply patriarchal society and he used terms they could connect with. God knows everyone’s hearts and connects with people in culturally and personally relevant ways. People of faith of different religions have much more in common than not. We can thank the Coca Cola company for the modern depiction of jolly fat Santa with long white beard that was derived from New York Dutch community’s Sinterklaas tradition and the 19th century poem the night before Christmas. I don’t know anyone religious or non religious who sees Santa Claas as a religious tradition. However, many people, Myself included see it as harmless fun for children until they hit double digits (as long as not too much emphasis on expensive gifts). They get plenty of rigor at DMV schools and light hearted suspension of fun at the end of the year brings joy to many kids. |
How do the atheists and agnostics that you know show that they are kind and respectful? |
The idea of god and his promise of eternal life for people who believe in him bring joy to many people of all ages in many cultures. We can thank Michelangelo for the depiction of God with a long white beard in the Sistine chapel. People don't really know what god looks like. |
Besides belief in god, what are the many things that people of faith have in common? |
| It’s odd to me that no one said “Santa is make believe but god is real”. |
No, not true. Children will stop believing in Santa by the teen years whether you tell them or not. I never told mine, and he just realized it on his own. He doesn't believe in God either, though, and I never told him God wasn't real. Although I never wrapped Christmas presents and said they were from God. |
Not the pp, but I would imagine the same as any other human does. Be charitable, help others. Don't judge and be respectful of other religious beliefs other than your own etc... |
Yes, so not true. I don't believe in God despite my parents being Christian. I came to that conclusion on my own as a young adult. My parents also didn't tell me that Santa wasn't real, I also came to that conclusion by myself age 7. |
Other kids also tell kids that Santa isn't real. My brother told me. I didn't realize that God wasn't real until much later. My brother still believes. |
I think being respectful has a different meaning for people of various religions than it has for people who don't believe. In their case it means pretend you believe in God. |
How did you come to the conclusion that Santa wasn't real? What, if anything, did you do about it? e.g., pretend? tell your parents. tell your friends? |
12:08 (not me) just did |
You can trace the origins of a Santa figure so it’s easy to disprove. That’s not true about God, where we look to divinely-inspired scripture. |
how do you know it is divinely inspired? And which god? Who says you can't trace the origins? That's what textual criticism of scripture provides. You can do it the same way you can as with coca cola ads (which is the origin of santas appearance, not his legend of course). |
We Discuss subjects in calm ways with space for different views and show interest in each others’ lives and life milestones. |