Do you feel like religious people are unfairly judged? [Spirituality & Religion]

@SW-User Do you mean only people without opinions are non-arrogant?

@SW-User Wow. That's pretty narrow and critical thinking, to classify MOST religious people as thinking they are better than others. If they do, they [i]shouldn't.[/i] No person is any better than the other. To assume so, would be arrogance.

@EarthlingWise If the opinion involves thinking other people should live the way you do because it's superior, then yeah. 😂 "Arrogant" might be too strong a word here, though. Use it too lightly and it loses all meaning.

@SW-User Ok, but then you assumed religious people and atheists both thought along those lines.

@SW-User If....the key word there. However, that notion is mistaken.

@EarthlingWise From my experience, especially with religious debates online, they do think that way. Whether religious or atheist, they both believe they know "the truth", other people are clueless, blind, ignorant, and should believe as they do. I don't see how that it isn't at it barest form some kind of haughtiness.

@SW-User so only people unable to make up their minds about the existence of a god are reasonable?

@EarthlingWise I think if you claim to [i]know[/i], you are by default not using reason. If you're a theist, that's not really a problem. That's what faith is for. If you're an atheist, I don't know why many atheists seem to be so sure they know there's no God. They can't know that. Unless they too have faith?

But that's not really what I was talking about--I was talking about the attitude that people who don't believe as you do are blind and ignorant. That can apply to any belief.

@SW-User Well, the term 'god' has a definition. If you stretch it too much, it loses its meaning. People determine if they believe or not based on a common definition.

@EarthlingWise Sure. I don't care if people do or don't believe. We can't help what we believe about the things we can't see or know (and that's the difference--between belief and knowledge. One can say we can't know if something that only exists on a metaphysical plane not detectable by the empiricism of the senses and still believe in it, or not). All I'm saying is there's an attitude that people who don't share your views are beneath you, that is the arrogance I was referring to.

@SW-User People who truly love and live for Jesus, don't feel that way. They love everyone, regardless of decisions to not follow Christ. He never said to love someone IF.... He simply said to love everyone. Jesus told His disciples to go out and spread the good news of salvation in Christ. That goes for His followers today. But its not up to us to get haughty about it or force it on people. We tell the good news, but if people don't accept it, that is their prerogative. They are not looked down on. I have many friends whom I love dearly, that do not accept Jesus's teachings. I'm sorry you've experienced otherwise. It seems to me that people can talk about, and present any subject they like, to others on here, and some pretty filthy stuff at that, yet let a Christian present their views, and suddenly we're seen as being "pushy". There's nothing fair about that.

@LadyGrace Right, and that's a better attitude to have. I am not saying I am unable to make up my mind. Most people lean one way or the other. To me, a world without a higher power doesn't make sense, so I believe there is one even though I don't follow a specific religious view. I don't look down on people who come to the conclusion that there isn't a higher power or on people who follow a religion and believe it's the right path to the higher power. People choose what to accept. That's why I don't use the language of "ignorant fools who don't know the truth" when speaking of people who believe different from me. Unfortunately a lot of people I've come across do. When I posted my original answer, I was thinking back to the arguments I've seen on this site where atheists and theists are just insulting each other, calling each other stupid and ignorant, etc.

@SW-User hmm, honestly I never call people stupid and ignorant. Yet religious people have little patience with logical arguments.

@EarthlingWise I think everyone needs to try a little more patience. Part of the problem is that people go into discussions trying to clobber the other person over the head with their arguments when it should be a discussion, dialectic, etc.

@SW-User No, really. But experience has taught me over and over again that discussion is actually not possible with most people calling themselves believers. And worse still, even basic respect and courtesy is hard to be found.

@SW-User [quote]I think if you claim to know, you are by default not using reason.[/quote]

Then that means if you [i]know[/i] the chair you are about to sit on, is perfectly sturdy because you built it, you're not using reason?? This is why we have God's Word. In 1 John 5:13, Jesus said, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, [u]that you may know[/u] that you have eternal life." He didn't leave us to guess. But again....that's up to the individual whether they accept that or not. Faith is not guessing. It's RESTING in Him, as He works on our behalf. Talking to God is like talking to a friend on the telephone.... we may not see Him on the other end, but we know He's listening, because we see thecredultscof answered prayer, not coincidence, and He's never "too busy" to take our call. God honors a believing heart, and when we have faith, it allows Jesus to work miracles in our lives. He saved my daughter from dying, when the doctor gave up on her. She had even made funeral arrangements. Prayer works.

@SW-User [quote]One can say we can't know if something that only exists on a metaphysical plane not detectable by the empiricism of the senses and still believe in it, [/quote]
If it's undetectable, it cannot have any effect on us so whether or not it exists make absolutely no difference.