Apparently christianity is bullshit...

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Id be interested to know where you draw the line where belief in the bearded guy becomes mental illness. Reason being is that religiosity is kinda hardwired into the human brain. Does god exist? You know probably not. At least not the type of god usually implied. Are we going to stop believing in him? No. Humans generally need some sort of meaningful narrative to the cosmos. Irrational perhaps. But its not mental illness if its generally not detrimental and is the norm.

Eh that's taking the conclusion way way too far. Some human brains are predisposed to religiosity, it's true, but you can't extrapolate that to all of humanity.

Fair enough but my question still stands. Where does pent draw the line?
Because while strength of belief may vary having one is fairly common.

[P3nT4gR4m]

So the delusional belief that some dude on a power trip is giving you instructions on behalf of an invisible giant has absolutely no potential for abuse?

Fair enough, it's a free planet but if someone's free to believe in retarded shit, I'm fucking sure I'm free to rip the piss. People are free to believe whatever the fuck they want, I'm under no obligation (moral or otherwise) to respect those beliefs.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Theres the potential for abuse in anything. But the majority of people who have that delusional belief are fairly harmless.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

So the delusional belief that some dude on a power trip is giving you instructions on behalf of an invisible giant has absolutely no potential for abuse?

Instructions?    I can't even listen to my boss, and he's RIGHT THERE.

People are free to believe whatever the fuck they want, I'm under no obligation (moral or otherwise) to respect those beliefs.

That's true.  Here in the States, we have lots of people who feel the very same way.

You can tell who they are, too.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

So the delusional belief that some dude on a power trip is giving you instructions on behalf of an invisible giant has absolutely no potential for abuse?

Fair enough, it's a free planet but if someone's free to believe in retarded shit, I'm fucking sure I'm free to rip the piss. People are free to believe whatever the fuck they want, I'm under no obligation (moral or otherwise) to respect those beliefs.

Some people hold a delusional belief that they are smarter and more rational than other people, and therefore have a right to make decisions for them. That is every bit as dangerous.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

So the delusional belief that some dude on a power trip is giving you instructions on behalf of an invisible giant has absolutely no potential for abuse?

Fair enough, it's a free planet but if someone's free to believe in retarded shit, I'm fucking sure I'm free to rip the piss. People are free to believe whatever the fuck they want, I'm under no obligation (moral or otherwise) to respect those beliefs.

Some people hold a delusional belief that they are smarter and more rational than other people, and therefore have a right to make decisions for them. That is every bit as dangerous.

More dangerous, really.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I just want to know why it's okay to be biased against people for something they choose, instead of something they were born as.

Specific things, yeah, if those specific things are harmful to others (teabaggers, moral majority, KKK, Nazis, etc). 

But I could just as easily say "All people that listen to rap are criminals and thugs" and be just as accurate as referring to people who believe in God(s) as "faithfools". 

Also, on a totally unrelated note, "faithfools" sounds like "Clintoon" or "Obummer".  It's almost clever, which makes it worse than not being clever at all.

More to the point, it's part of a uniform.

Allll of this. Every last bit. It's just another means to avoid actually thinking.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

So the delusional belief that some dude on a power trip is giving you instructions on behalf of an invisible giant has absolutely no potential for abuse?

Fair enough, it's a free planet but if someone's free to believe in retarded shit, I'm fucking sure I'm free to rip the piss. People are free to believe whatever the fuck they want, I'm under no obligation (moral or otherwise) to respect those beliefs.

Some people hold a delusional belief that they are smarter and more rational than other people, and therefore have a right to make decisions for them. That is every bit as dangerous.

More dangerous, really.

Yes, I'd have to agree with you on that.

[P3nT4gR4m]

So the delusional belief that some dude on a power trip is giving you instructions on behalf of an invisible giant has absolutely no potential for abuse?

Fair enough, it's a free planet but if someone's free to believe in retarded shit, I'm fucking sure I'm free to rip the piss. People are free to believe whatever the fuck they want, I'm under no obligation (moral or otherwise) to respect those beliefs.

Some people hold a delusional belief that they are smarter and more rational than other people, and therefore have a right to make decisions for them. That is every bit as dangerous.

More dangerous, really.

Yes, I'd have to agree with you on that.

Yay, we're agreed on something!

Theres the potential for abuse in anything. But the majority of people who have that delusional belief are fairly harmless.

Religion these days is, admittedly, fairly harmless but I'm convinced the reason for that is because less and less people are falling for it. When everyone believes it, historically, it's been a different story. Thing is, if the stories are true, then surely it's the most important thing, to the point that very little else matters. To my mind it would follow that instead of a theocracy being a bad thing, it would be the only sensible course of action. Only theocracies, historical and current, are generally deemed to be a very very bad thing. Why is that?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Religion these days is, admittedly, fairly harmless but I'm convinced the reason for that is because less and less people are falling for it.

Actually, I think it's because most people see the benefit of secular rule over that of squabbling religions.  At least in the West.

[Demolition Squid]

Theocracies are deemed to be a very very bad thing by some people. I feel its important to point out that - although I'm not one of them - there's a large number of people who would violently disagree, particularly outside of western societies.

There's also entire schools of theological thought which argue that the church should stay out of matters of governance for reasons ranging from 'concern with the material world to such a degree is unseemly' to 'God's will shall come about no matter what, so engaging with the process is presuming control where you should cede it to His divine plan'.

And all of this is entirely separate from whether it is justified to talk about people as though they are subhuman because they have a different answer to an unanswerable question than the one you believe in.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Yeah, okay, I've probably said a lot of things that point to faith-people as subhuman. This is tongue in cheek. Really, I hope you all know that I wouldn't literally kill someone in cold blood. It's just how I rant. I see them as dupes. People who have fallen for a line in bullshit. The bullshit itself, however, I tend to view as insidious. I was taught it as an impressionable child. Took me years to snap out of it so I can totally understand why a lot of people didn't.

I realise this is coming across as a u-turn or backtracking and that's fine. I'm kind of working through my thoughts right now. It isn't the believers I'm really down on, they're like, I dunno, mentally injured or something. It's the institution that did it that I'm not comfortable with.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I see them as dupes. People who have fallen for a line in bullshit.

So, sorta like sheeple?

[P3nT4gR4m]

Not a word I'd use (annoys me prolly as much as faithfools does you) I always thought it related to people who were more like "someone think for me pls" than necessarily a religious connotation.

What I mean is "dupes" in that they've fallen for a line in bullshit. Same idea as if they fell for a 419 scam or similar. Thing is (and this is where I'm kinda u-turning) it is a very good and (more importantly) very well delivered line in bullshit. Most are brought up with it from birth so I guess you don't really have to be an imbecile to believe it.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Not a word I'd use (annoys me prolly as much as faithfools does you) I always thought it related to people who were more like "someone think for me pls" than necessarily a religious connotation.

What I mean is "dupes" in that they've fallen for a line in bullshit. Same idea as if they fell for a 419 scam or similar. Thing is (and this is where I'm kinda u-turning) it is a very good and (more importantly) very well delivered line in bullshit. Most are brought up with it from birth so I guess you don't really have to be an imbecile to believe it.

Also, it isn't falsifiable.  In the end, it's a matter of personal preference.