Eddlad:
Kindly share how religion inspire this, I also wouldn't mind a scripture verse to support.

What would you have rather done or said and how did or how has atheism inspired it.

krattoss:
do u have problems on reading and understanding?

where did he mention Bible?....


u are asking what would have been said or done?


so common sense will not tell u to symapatize with an afflicted person? but only thank god it isn't u?

johnydon22:
[b]Being in a religiously saturated society i couldn't help but notice the selfishness exhibited by people...

A man once had an accident and was rushed to the hospital, a woman rushed to the scene and seeing the car had a striking resemblance to her husband's car was tensed and afraid until she saw the man involved and realized it wasn't her husband.

She was beside me, she sighed and said "Oh thank God it's not my husband, accident is not our potion"

The question that came to my mind and i asked her was "Whose potion is it and is accident the potion of that man? Will his family also thank God for it and is your husband worth saving than him"

She gave me a glaring look and walked away. Imagine the selfishness, she doesn't care someone had an accident she is happy its not someone that concerns her. And this we see in everyday people.

This uncanny selfishness and inability to relate to the suffering of others i find to be a disturbing trait instilled into people by some religious doctrines. It is as wicked as it is disturbing for one to rejoice and give thanks to their God for the misfortunes of others.

This i saw in one thread opened in the religion section where someone emphasized that by logging into nairaland and seeing the number of victims of tragedies and bad circumstances you should be happy and give thanks to God . . . https://www.nairaland.com/2770877/sad-watch-video-tell-me

for what?

Leaving them experience tragedy and not you?

you are more deserving than others?

Such ideas are not only disturbing, it is extremely selfish, wicked, evil and a detriment to fully exhibiting human compassion in the face of other people's misfortunes because you will be busy thanking God that it is not you..

Thanking God for saving you from misfortunes shows you think God determines who misfortunes befall or not, so you are more deserving to be saved and not the countless million others out there ..


I ask is it right to bank on the tragedies of others to celebrate our own good
fortunes?

Is it right to rejoice over the misfortunes of others because it led to us being promoted; like a testimony i listened to where a man said he got promoted in his office to his dream post when another of his colleagues got fired without cause, it was a happy turn of event for him and so he was rejoicing and so was the church with him.

and they all forgot someone was really crying for loosing his source of
livelihood.

Have watched many Christians pray for the wealth of others to be given to them, yet in the delusional superstition of unnecessary fear they will accuse others of hoarding their wealth in the spirit therefore branding some unsuspecting fellow a devil.

who among you two is the devil here...?


Isn't it enough to agree that in the wonderful random world of ours that evil and good keeps the balance. that misfortune and tragedies befall both good and bad persons alike, that none of us is more deserving than others.

By this we would be open to relate to the sufferings of others, to the pains of others, to the cries of others thereby letting our sense of human compassion reach out to those in these tragedies.

Why should people encourage others to swim in such delusive disturbing and overly selfish mindset as Thanking their respective God in the face of other people's misfortunes because it was not them[/b]

bytemeister:
This trend is so common among religious folks, THANKING GOD IN EVERY SITUATION YOU SEE YOURSELF simply connotes ANYTHING can HAPPEN to ANYBODY ANYTIME...I thought the purpose of a father figure is to guide and protect one so y'd I subject myself to some sky daddy who will not stop me from dying either by accident of sickness.Seriously I don’t know if God exists, but it would be better for His reputation if he doesn't

johnydon22:
Just like was asked in the Paris Attack brouhaha..

"PRAY FOR PARIS" why should one pray to a God who did nothing to stop the attack in the first place..

krattoss:
do u have problems on reading and understanding?

where did he mention Bible?....


u are asking what would have been said or done?


so common sense will not tell u to symapatize with an afflicted person? but only thank god it isn't u?

Eddlad:



He said religion, no specifics, if some are guilty of this he should have clarified.

Can you tell me how common sense Inspires sympathy? Common sense as you know it is as a result of other people's experience, ideas, knowledge and religious inclination. It doesn't stand on its own.

By atheism standards how does my lack of sympathy reflect poorly on me, sympathy never returned back the hands of time ever, or has it?.

Eddlad:



He said religion, no specifics, if some are guilty of this he should have clarified.

Can you tell me how common sense Inspires sympathy? Common sense as you know it is as a result of other people's experience, ideas, knowledge and religious inclination. It doesn't stand on its own.

By atheism standards how does my lack of sympathy reflect poorly on me, sympathy never returned back the hands of time ever, or has it?.

keenn:



Nigga, u got it all twisted

According to wiki, 'common sense is a basic ability to perceive, understand, and
judge things, which is shared by ("common to" nearly all people
and can reasonably be expected of nearly all people without any
need for debate'

There is no need for thought, aforementioned ideas, teaching...for a person to have common sense. It is basic and therefore intuitive.

A child doesn't need to read in a book or told to drop a hot iron, common sense should, and experiences similar is shared by all races irrespective of experience, ideas, knowledge and religious inclination as u wrongly stated, it is basic.

krattoss:
hence thank god?

Eddlad:


......Let me start again, but with a different twist,what does one gain by applying common sense?

bytemeister:


seriously it's mind boggling. You see GULLIBILTY and CREDULITY are considered undesirable in every department of human life EXCEPT religion

Eddlad:


The error lies in the Op's writing, I merely sought to point out that religion doesn't make sadists(for lack of a better word) out of people, people can be that on their own without being strong-armed or coached.

voltron:


I tmay be mind-boggling for you but for the devout faithful.. it is Divine Wisdom and Infallible Judgement only GOD can fathom.. we are nowhere near God's Infinite Wisdom to disagree with it.. we must accept it in good faith.. perhaps if they did not die, some other victims elsewhere will. that is Christian Logic for you

plaetton:


I beg to differ sir.

Biologically and psychologically, religion and faith emanate from the most primitive part of our brains,..the part where our basest and most primordial instincts reside.
This is where selfish, fearful beast resides.
It defines reality in extremely narrow, self-centered terms.

This is no wonder that religion , superstition, oppression, violence and war go hand in hand.

In my own life, far too many times I have see decent people become narrow minded, hateful, fearful, superstitious and selfish , the deeper they go into religion and faith.

tartar9:
that's xtianity for you SMH

Raymondenyi:
Christianity doesn't change people from who they are; the compassionate ones like me; will always be; and try helping pople (dat has been my person).. the uncompassionate ones, will rather thank God their neighbour suffered a bad fate, perhaps becausE they had a quarrel... it takes Extra grace for true Christianity to reflect in people's life...

But I think u should know; Christianity doesn't teach dat; most people abuse the faith..
Jesus thought us to Love; and that is our greatest gift.... but even in church this greatest gift christ promised I grossly lacking...

dorox:
You can imagine how disgusted I felt some years ago when a neighbour friend of mine said to me; "thank God. I thought it was you". She had come to express her condolence other members of my family thinking it was I that died in a car crash and not my brother.

plaetton:


Great post johnnydon22.

This what I battle with Christians all the time.
But no matter how many times and in how many different ways I try to task their minds on this issue, they never seem to get it.

I have always said false and fraudulent religions seem to have very strong safe-lock mechanisms and other psychological redundancies that prevents them from thinking beyond some , often self-centered, parameters.

It amazes me that the religion founded in the name of Jesus has become the MOST selfish moral philosophy on earth.

Scholar8200:
Every system of belief (+Christianity) has its own set of fanatics. It will be wrong to assess any religion based on the actions of a relative few. (It is common knowledge that many come to church these days not because they want to serve God but because they want protection/prosperity and this is one of the major contributions to the state of things today.)

If , for example, 1 out of 12 are as covetous as Judas Iscariot, then it will be wrong to judge a group of 12000 as being covetous simply because we met about 1000 who were covetous! Besides, this write-up, either deliberately or inadvertently, overlooks the compassionate deeds of people who practise religion today and rather focuses the omission of others!

First we should ask, " what teachings/doctrines do they believe?" and we dont hang on one or two but we look at the whole picture. Secondly, we should ask, "who is/was the key person and how did such live?" and finally, " does this system of believe have /or has ever had genuine followers and were they like the ones we are condemning?"

P.S. As regards God not doing anything for Paris, let's also ask:
1. Why did God not do anything when Nebuchadnezzar overran Israel destroying the Temple of God too and killing ruthlessly?
2. Why did God not do anything when the Philistines destroyed Israel and captured the Ark?
3. Why did God not do anything when Jesus was arrested, scourged, and crucified?
4. Why did God not do anything when Stephen was stoned to death and other disciples were martyred?
5. Why did God not do anything when General Titus in Ad70 destroyed Jerusalem?
(bear in mind that the victims in no 1-2 where descendants of God's friend, Abraham)

Once you answer these sans prejudice (and there are answers too), you would have the answer to the Paris and indeed the world question. Until then, that question on Paris is similar to the Pharisees telling Jesus: "He saved others Himself HE cannot save"


Your concept of God (Ironically for an atheist) paints a picture of a lawless, indulgent grand father whose job is to leave us to make our choices but show up to deny us of their consequences if -ve! And when he fails to do this he does not exist!!!

hahn:




With common sense you can get more understanding of the world and empathy to people around you. Common sense should tell you not to put your hands in fire for too long just as it should allow you put yourself in other people's shoes thus producing sympathy.

Op, the reality is that in this game we call life in order to get to the top you must step on someone head at the bottom. The fact that we are naturally selfish is one that most humans tend to want to act like it is not true about us. Just as the eagle needs the chick for survival, the rich man needs the poor man to survive and so on. Religion offers it's practitioners the opportunity to blame their own selfish desires on the "will of god" just to make them seem more humane.

Our lack of empathy in Nigeria is majorly as a result of such religious mirages as well as a non functional system. If the woman on your story could call "911" and request for an ambulance for instance, she probably would have done so. But then, such doesn't exist in Nigeria and when you report such a case to the police you might end up getting arrested and into a lot of trouble.

We are really at a quagmire in this country and everyone is simply trying to watch out for their own head

dearpreye might have something to say about this