s/o Christians practicing Yoga
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Anonymous
this is a fair post. however, if you are a yoga-practicing christian who believes that non-believers are going to hell, then you are a hypocrite. hands down. i can accept that there are christians who do not believe this, and if you are one of them, feel free to bask in your love of yoga. |
Anonymous
How did you make that leap? I'm referring to the atheists who say that Christians: -are sheeple -believe in fairy tales, fairies in the sky, etc -are dumb/silly to believe in some book that some men wrote -use religion as a crutch FWIW, agnostic folks are much more agreeable/approachable when it comes to discussing religion. Some atheists, on the other hand, are downright rabid in their hatred of all things Christian. |
Anonymous
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Actually, some Hindus DO take offense at the cultural appropriation going on in US yoga -- sanskrit chants and whatnot. My SIL is Indian, and she told me she was quite surprised to walk into a yoga class in the US and hear Hindu prayers.
And to make matters more complicated ... yoga is not really purely Hindu anyway. The emphasis on physical postures (asana) is a new thing. There's been a lot of research on this lately, and there's evidence that the physical postures are actually derived in part from British gymnastic practices taken to India in the 19th century. When yoga came to the US, it got mixed up with all sorts of traditional US things, like the religious revivalism of the late 19th century. |
RantingAtheist
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Shh! No judging! Apparently "judging" Christians is the only behavior proscribed by modern mainstream American Christianity. 
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RantingAtheist
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Just to clarify, atheists don't say Christianity is a fairy tale, or that God is a fairy in the sky, but rather that there is exactly as much evidence for belief in gods as for any given fairy in the sky. While you may not like this, this is objectively true. Furthermore, the Bible is some book that some men wrote. It's a perfectly valid opinion to find it silly to believe in that with no evidence. Furthermore, these arguments inevitably arise in the context of threads here about larger issues. For example: "X is wrong!" "I disagree." "But it says so right in the Bible." "Ah, well, I'm an atheist. And the Bible's just a book some guy's wrote. Do you have an argument to support your position?" "Ah! An atheist! Well, you have no morality anyway! And how dare you mock my faith!!!" If talking to people who may not share your particular faith upsets you so, you should withdraw from civil society. Perhaps join a convent. |
Anonymous
I see why you chose your user name. You take offensive easily and seem a bit immature. I'll blame it on your being in your late teen's...it's a rough time for many. In another thread, you said that atheists have "no dogma" and don't all subscribe to the same set of non-beliefs. So, how can you now speak for them all to say that none take the position that I put forth? Could it not be true that some do and some don't? I participate on other message boards and we have many discussions about religion. I can tell you that there are MANY atheists who call religion/God/Jesus fairy tales/fairies in the sky/Sky-Daddy's, etc. Are you now playing ignorant? |
RantingAtheist
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Not sure why you think I've taken offense. Heck, I haven't even had my first cup of coffee yet, so I'm feeling pretty low-key. As for the user name, that was chosen for me.
I have participated in various threads that have devolved into slug-fests. I would say half of the time, this is percipitated by some non-theist making a joke about some specific piece of dogma, but just as often it's some grudge-bearing "Christian" who sees non-theists as some sort of "enemy". I think to any disinterested observer it's clear that the responsibility for the back-and-forth is mutual. Of course, non-theists don't proclaim as one of the central tenets of their moral framework the injunction to "turn the other cheek" to be "meek" and to "forgive their enemies". So there's that. 
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Anonymous
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What 11:29 said. You'd have to be blind to miss the atheist cries of "sheeple" and "sky fairies" on DCUM.
Ranting Atheist, if you don't want to be called a hypocrite, or have us wonder if you're a teenager, I suggest you revise your claim. (And nobody here is interested in your initiative to switch the debate from your own behavior and that of other atheists, to a debate on belief. So let it drop.) |
Anonymous
Hey now, are you generalizing. I know plenty of die hard Christians who are hateful and don't spread love for all of God's children. Just saying. |
RantingAtheist
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Oh, one other thing: I know that in Mark evil spirits are supposed to have claimed that "Our name is Legion" but, really, there are more than one of us who are non-theist here on DCUM. If you keep conflating everyone, you risk coming off as a bit paranoid. |
RantingAtheist
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I'd have to see a link or a quote to know the context, but in general the mud-slinging seems to be fairly two-sided. |
Anonymous
Sure. No one likes an asshole. But it's unfair to attack a whole group because it has some assholes in it. You would not attack all muslims because there are muslim terrorists, nor would you assume every breastfeeding mother is a BF crazy who shuns formula feeders. But on top of that, there are many posters who suggest that it is inappropriate for non-religious posters of any temperament to participate in religious traditions, or to accuse them of being closet theists for doing so. So my points are two: 1. It is unfair to treat any group as a unified whole, collectively responsible for the misbehavior of a few. 2. If we religious people see no problem in appropriating, for secular purposes, the traditions of other belief systems, we should not discourage them from participating unless there is a specific and genuine theological problem (say receiving Catholic communion or attending a service closed to non-members). To me, Christians are all called to spread the word. We can do that in three ways: *To teach our religious beliefs *To live by example *To welcome and support people who are open to exploring faith traditions Of those, *Teaching is really tough. There's not much room at the water cooler for someone to debate faith vs works, the role of women in Christianity, or the implications of the bible on the foundation of a moral economy. *Living by example is certainly achievable, but it only has so much influence on a person's philosophical/religious journey. At some point they take a leap. *The last, to welcome, is really important. Rarely do non-believers step into religion based on a logical analysis of theology. There is always a component based on community, feeling like they belong, seeing that the community positively impacts them and the world around them. They may never have a vision in their bed at night, but they may connect on an emotional level if they are shown love and support. So this is why I believe it is wrong to cut off any person who wants to try out a religious tradition. You never know how it may affect them. I say welcome them and let them see for themselves if they find meaning in it. |
Anonymous
no, I AMA poster who just saiid that of course there are assholes. But if someone claims to be a Christian, then other Christians have expectations of them, because of our shared beliefs and because they represent our faith. I don't think I have to direct 50% of my comments at each group to be fair. I'm not here to hand out "participant" ribbons. I am posting to encourage Christians to be Christian. The best influence I can have over atheists is to show the good side of Christianity, to counter the hateful posts. |
Anonymous
| Encouragement is all well and good, of course. But we haven't seen a lot of that. Instead we've seen you call individual christian posters (never some of the equally deserving individual atheist posters) bad Christians and hypocrites and the like. You might want to think on your own behavior. |
Anonymous
 Good one!...not. yet another attempt to warp history to fit the "greatness of the white man". 
You do realize that Patanjali's Yoga Sutra was written before the "dawn of christ". Let's not forget that it is also in the written in Vedas, Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita. But you'll probably find some "reliable (christian) source" that says they were all copied from the bible as well. |