Originally posted by Suzianne
I wasn't saying never talk about God or religion. But you have to point out how your non-belief in God makes you wonder how important can God be "since he doesn't exist" in every thread. This stifles conversation, it does not help. I think we all get how you do not believe in God. Well, surprise, surprise, but some of us do. And some of us wi ...[text shortened]... get used to the idea that some of us here in the Spirituality forum [i]will talk about God.

Actually no I am not trying to shut down or stifle conversation.

And I do actually ignore many threads for the very reason you are stating.

If a bunch of you want to talk about who's god could beat up whom or the 'correct'
interpretation of bits of the bible, or whatever, you will generally find
me totally absent.

I might pop in and have a read, but I seldom if ever post.

Because I have nothing to say on the subject, and I don't just go around saying god
doesn't exist in every post in every thread.


However...

When the discussion is about something relevant, like the morality of homosexuality,
then I take an interest.

And I am sorry but the fact is that while by no means all homophobia can be lumped at
religions door, a lot of it can be.

And the fact that when I start thinking about the morality of the situation I don't
have to start trying to work out how to interpret much translated bronze age ramblings
to work out what a god thinks makes a difference.


A secular example might be the arguments about guns in the USA.

Every argument about gun laws in the USA ends up going ten rounds of 'what did the framers'
intend when they wrote the constitution...

Who cares!

They were living in a different time, with different circumstances and technology and morality.
Why waste time trying to work out what they intended and just get on with working out in
this day and age what is best?



The fact that atheism and secular law and morality has no inherent bias against homosexuality
and no built in roadblocks to trying to reduce attacks on and dehumanising of homosexuals is
both topic relevant and significant.


And that is true irrespective of the existence of god/s.



I understand that you are feeling like I am jumping on top of you constantly saying god doesn't
exist over and over again...
And I will do what I can to address that.
But I am not convinced that I am really doing that nearly as much as you seem to think I am.

I will try harder to ensure I am less repetitive and more relevant and on topic, but I assure you
I am not intentionally trying to shut down conversations or derail threads.


EDIT:

(Okay, GF? Have I labeled this post accurately enough to not have to stop and debate the
existence of God, right here, right now? )

I've said my bit and am moving on.

I apologise again if you feel hounded. The truth is that your posts, while I often disagree with them,
are more interesting than most, and thus more likely to draw a reply.

I understand that you are feeling like I am jumping on top of you constantly saying god doesn't
exist over and over again...
And I will do what I can to address that.
But I am not convinced that I am really doing that nearly as much as you seem to think I am.

I will try harder to ensure I am less repetitive and more relevant and on topic, but I assure you
I am not intentionally trying to shut down conversations or derail threads.

I've said my bit and am moving on.

I apologise again if you feel hounded. The truth is that your posts, while I often disagree with them,
are more interesting than most, and thus more likely to draw a reply.

Maybe I'm being more sensitive to it than usual because you've just come back after a hiatus and I forget how your particular style used to stir me into a frenzy. 🙂
I appreciate the (somewhat more than usual) gracious reply. You are a worthy opponent in this forum. I do not see a reason to be at each other's throats as we seem to have done at times in the past. I'm most irritated when you try to stonewall me and get all logical like Spock without acknowledging that you have emotions too. I can appreciate the human-sounding conciliatory tone once in a while. 🙂 I realize that, at times, I can try your patience with apparently vacuous dialog concerning God coming from what otherwise appears to be a reasonably intelligent human. But I feel that I've integrated my religious beliefs quite well for a liberal activist, if I do say so myself, and there's precious little that bothers me more than to be compared to other, more fundamentalist "backwards ass, knuckle-scraping bone headed idiot fundamentalist theist", as you call them. I don't have a problem associating with someone of 'the other side', if you will, as long as there is at least an attempt at some sort of mutual respect. And that includes not being called a "bronze age peasant" most of the time.

And now I'm done. 🙂