Why is it that when you just try to have a peaceful conversation about religion, and your beliefs conflict with someone else's, people tend to get extremely angry? People start shouting in anger and even get physically violent just because someone is talking about a belief different than their own. Someone may say that they are a Christian, but when their faith is opposed, they start swinging... I just don't understand this at all. The same thing happens when people are discussing politics... it just seems so ridiculous to me that these things cannot be discussed in a peaceful manner, and I want to know why people get so angry and violent from a normal conversation.

If I called your mother a whore, would it upset you?

Not as much as if she were really a whore.

If I said your God was a lie, would it upset you?

Not as much as if God was really a lie.


I believe all theists have a nagging concern in the back of their minds that they may have been duped by all this religious nonsense. They have to. It is the natural response that comes with not using or outright rejecting empirical data to determine true and false, as best you can.

Because they're just as stupid and ignorant as the primeval people who believed the same bullshit back then.

People get all worked up over computers as well.

Macs/Windows/Linux sucks!

OS/2 is the one true operating system of the future.

Your computer system is clearly inferiour, your web browser has aids, and your mouse ball is clammy. Clearly you must writhe in shame when you realise your technological cretinism.

Why is it that when you just try to have a peaceful conversation about religion, and your beliefs conflict with someone else's, people tend to get extremely angry?

Dissent does not jive well with the ego. For example, how dare YOU HAVE an opion that differs from the one that I HAVE.

Words like "I," "Me," "My," and "Mine" belong to the ego. The ego seeks security through control and has a great need for approval. Most emotional pain comes when the ego finds it does not have control over all it thought it did.

It is the fear that the thing they have believed in and dedicated themselves to for the last 30 years is fake.

Anger is a result of fear.

No one wants their beliefs to be found as untrue. People value themselves according to their adherence to self-imposed ideals. If you adhere to ideals that are illogical/untrue, you are worthless in the realm of the logical and true.

[/Freud]

I get extremely angry when somebody makes a far fetched religious comment.
eg.
-http://www.totse.com/community/showthread.php?t=2133478
-evolution is a hoax
-an other thread i replied to earlier, but i cant find it (i need to take out my rage on it a bit more)
-the question "whar did da big bang cum from? lololol god xists", which fails to answer how a superior being might have originated
-etc

also: stupid women on oprah (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwGLNbiw1gk&feature=related)

If I called your mother a whore, would it upset you?

Not as much as if she were really a whore.

If I said your God was a lie, would it upset you?

Not as much as if God was really a lie.


I believe all theists have a nagging concern in the back of their minds that they may have been duped by all this religious nonsense. They have to. It is the natural response that comes with not using or outright rejecting empirical data to determine true and false, as best you can.

Like dandelions poking their pretty little heads from a field of crabgrass, there are some interesting and valid points among the misconceptions here.

First of all, nothing upsets me. There ARE times when I see a situation and I CHOOSE to react to it from a place of fear (anger being another mask that fear wears), but as a rule I catch myself and return quickly to my default state--joy and peace of mind. When the kid said that he wanted to skull-fuck my mother (who is dead these many years), I was mildly offended, as I am with many displays of poor taste.

"God is a lie"? I would wonder which god you are talking about, and which lies. Many lies have been told about God--just open a Bible and see.

Also, you seem to have trouble distinguishing between religion and spirtuality. There is indeed a great deal of religious nonsense floating aorund out there, and I WAS duped by it--for about twenty minutes at vacation church camp (which was held in a former POW concentration camp, BTW), and turned into a stereotypicakl angry young atheist. My error was assuming that there were no other conceptions of God to choose from besides the neurotic micro-manager in the OT.

Today, I consider myself deeply spiritual but not at all religious, as are many other posters here.

You never get angry huh?

http://www.totse.com/community/showthread.php?t=2115431&page=2

Because my god has a bigger dick than your god.

Control! The Celestine Prophecy uses fiction to explore the psychology of human relationships. This approach identifies four major 'control dramas'(Intimidator, Interegator, Poor me, and Aloof) used by humans to control situations and other people, also to draw energy from other people. People use anger as a tool of intimidation which not surprisingly is one of the major control dramas. Intimidators attempt to use anger as a means to control others and to steal their energy by trying to scare them into submission and if they manage to do that significantly enough, or often enough it will allow them to gain control of the situation or persons and by the others surrendering, they also gain energy from the pride of having others submit to them.

Intimidators often use Interregator tactics in conjunction, using aggressive manners of questioning they seek to put those they seek to control off balance by means which may also include mockery and veiled threats. These tactics should be very familiar to the members of this board! For example: Whenever you experience another poster's aggressive use of ad hominems you experience the effects of an Intimidator/Interregator at work.

Their aim is never revealed clearly, because it is not about a search for truth or happiness. It also is obviously not an altruistic attempt to save one from the perils of wrong belief, rather it is a subconsciously learned process by which they attempt to steal energy from others to shore up their own low self esteem and to hide their insecurities.

The antidote is to take courage, try to be neutral, if you decide to continue communication it will require a willingness to forgive, and acceptance that they "know not what they do", meaning you will probably have to cop a lot of shit. Try to reason with them, however daunting the possiblity being of them recognising their condition. Be prepared, it may be that only thru the exercise of unconditional love that one is able to transcend the rudeness and buffoonery, to experience the joy and peace that comes from seeking enlightenment.

Cheers:)

Why is it that when you just try to have a peaceful conversation about religion, and your beliefs conflict with someone else's, people tend to get extremely angry? People start shouting in anger and even get physically violent just because someone is talking about a belief different than their own. Someone may say that they are a Christian, but when their faith is opposed, they start swinging... I just don't understand this at all. The same thing happens when people are discussing politics... it just seems so ridiculous to me that these things cannot be discussed in a peaceful manner, and I want to know why people get so angry and violent from a normal conversation.

As a fat Dunkins would say, the two things you never talk about are religion and politics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5v644TKHX8

In politics, religion, etc...theres only one side thats right. And that side is so obviously right that anyone that disagrees is just a fucking moron.

I don't tend to get angry when people have beliefs different from my own. However, I will usually get angry when people try to force their religious beliefs on me. I have no problem with people wasting their time on religion, as long as they don't waste mine.

Religion is different from topics such as "favorite rock band" or "best all time actor". People invest their entire lives within the confines of their religious beliefs.

To question one of these beliefs isn't just a matter of questioning their perspective, its a matter of questioning whether or not their entire lives have been wasted on false prophecies. And that would be a jagged pill to swallow.

Not to mention that all major religious texts include a hefty section in regards to stoning/killing others who try to persuade them to believe in other religions/gods.

Hostility and intolerance are inherent throughout religion.

Hostility and intolerance are inherent throughout religion.

so is love, funny how two sided mainstream organized religion is

Why is it that when you just try to have a peaceful conversation about religion, and your beliefs conflict with someone else's, people tend to get extremely angry? People start shouting in anger and even get physically violent just because someone is talking about a belief different than their own. Someone may say that they are a Christian, but when their faith is opposed, they start swinging... I just don't understand this at all. The same thing happens when people are discussing politics... it just seems so ridiculous to me that these things cannot be discussed in a peaceful manner, and I want to know why people get so angry and violent from a normal conversation.

Because, even peaceful discussion is done through gritted teeth. The subject at hand is the fate of your soul, etc. It's nothing to discuss as you would discuss the weather.

I hope that made soonce.