Atheists vs. Christians

On another thread a poster brought up an interesting issue. As an atheist it's been his experience that he's more likely to adhere to a life of truth, love, humility, compassion, justice etc. than many Christians he knows.

I started thinking about it in these terms: If you took a group of atheists who profess belief in living a life of truth, love, humility, compassion, justice etc. and a group of Christians who professed the same, which do you think would better adhere to these principles on the whole? Reflecting on my experience, I'd have to pick the atheists. I don't think it'd even be close.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
On another thread a poster brought up an interesting issue. As an atheist it's been his experience that he's more likely to adhere to a life of truth, love, humility, compassion, justice etc. than many Christians he knows.

I started thinking about it in these terms: If you took a group of atheists who profess belief in living a life of truth, love, hu ...[text shortened]... flecting on my experience, I'd have to pick the atheists. I don't think it'd even be close.

Take it to the science forum ... they deal with statistics over there ...

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
Take it to the science forum ... they deal with statistics over there ...

lol. I'm sure they'd appreciate it.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
On another thread a poster brought up an interesting issue. As an atheist it's been his experience that he's more likely to adhere to a life of truth, love, humility, compassion, justice etc. than many Christians he knows.

I started thinking about it in these terms: If you took a group of atheists who profess belief in living a life of truth, love, hu ...[text shortened]... flecting on my experience, I'd have to pick the atheists. I don't think it'd even be close.

Which group would you be in again? I didn't quite catch that.

Originally posted by knightmeister
Which group would you be in again? I didn't quite catch that.

He didn't say, nor is it relevant. Single examples do not statistics make.

[edit]
Which group would you expect to do better (at following thier stated principles)

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
On another thread a poster brought up an interesting issue. As an atheist it's been his experience that he's more likely to adhere to a life of truth, love, humility, compassion, justice etc. than many Christians he knows.

I started thinking about it in these terms: If you took a group of atheists who profess belief in living a life of truth, love, hu ...[text shortened]... flecting on my experience, I'd have to pick the atheists. I don't think it'd even be close.

Hi, ToO;

At first you may agree that the parents "transfer" their religion to their kids, so by a way the children are preorganised to become Christians, Muslims etc.; but the atheists are usually people which they choose on their own to become atheists for several reasons. And they act so because they use every source available questioning everything rationally without religious prejudices. An atheist cannot stand any dogma blindfolded, so if he is really commited to be frank, honest and decent as you described then he will be such a person only because he follows his own morality. But this is only my opinion, and I surely have some good religious friends that they are frank, honest, decent etc. following the way of Jesus or Allah.
On the other hand I am stunned whenever I realise that the Christians/ Muslims etc. may well become real monsters in the name of their "god" and consider somebody as their enemy merely because he has other beliefs/ religion.

Anyway I would pick the really desent ones out of these two groups that you mentioned, no matter if them individuals are religious or atheists; and I would pick them judging them out of their actions and their attitude, not of their beliefs.

Originally posted by twhitehead
He didn't say, nor is it relevant. Single examples do not statistics make.

[edit]
Which group would you expect to do better (at following thier stated principles)

It sounds like he's either mixed with a lot of Atheists in his time , or been to a bad church and had a bad experience. Either way , his judgement on this is unlikely to be scientific and neither will anyone else's on this includng my own. I doubt if any one of us has mixed with more than 0.000000000001% of all the Atheists/Christians in the world.

I think the question is relevant because he mentions his "experience" and if he is actually an Atheist then his experience and opinion will be biased against Christians. However, if he was an Atheist then that would imply that he does not believe Jesus was who he said he was and that would then imply that he thinks Jesus is a liar , which then implies he is a hypocrite for quoting/preaching Jesus at us all these months.

Then again if he is a Christian what's he doing attacking Christians? That's the thing with ToO , you always sense there is something there underneath that doesn't add up or is disingenuous. And I tend to want to challenge disingenuousness. I realise you might prefer to ignore the integrity or motivation of the poster (why?) , but for many it is an issue.

Originally posted by knightmeister
It sounds like he's either mixed with a lot of Atheists in his time , or been to a bad church and had a bad experience. Either way , his judgement on this is unlikely to be scientific and neither will anyone else's on this includng my own. I doubt if any one of us has mixed with more than 0.000000000001% of all the Atheists/Christians in the world.
...[text shortened]... ignore the integrity or motivation of the poster (why?) , but for many it is an issue.

And why dear KM you have an attitude "Christians-Lions"? What bad quality did you noticed at ToO's primal question?

Originally posted by black beetle
Hi, ToO;

At first you may agree that the parents "transfer" their religion to their kids, so by a way the children are preorganised to become Christians, Muslims etc.; but the atheists are usually people which they choose on their own to become atheists for several reasons. And they act so because they use every source available questioning everythin would pick them judging them out of their actions and their attitude, not of their beliefs.

As far as who I'd choose to associate with, I'd also pick out those who best walk the walk.

But this is really more of a question of which group would you would think would walk the walk based on your own experiences. For me, in general, I think that superficially Christians might fare better, but I've experienced a much higher percentage of atheists who have deeply held moral principles. Come to think of it, I'd have to say the same for all the other major religious groups, though for some of them it'd be based on an extremely small sample.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
As far as who I'd choose to associate with, I'd also pick out those who best walk the walk.

But this is really more of a question of which group would you would think would walk the walk based on your own experiences. For me, in general, I think that superficially Christians might fare better, but I've experienced a much higher percentage of atheists who have deeply held moral principles.

I don't know; Mao and Stalin were dedicaded atheists, Hitler killed the Jews "in the name of Lord", your President Bush Jr invaded Iraq because "the Lord told him to do it"; I wish I could know. Do you?

Originally posted by black beetle
I don't know; Mao and Stalin were dedicaded atheists, Hitler killed the Jews "in the name of Lord", your President Bush Jr invaded Iraq because "the Lord told him to do it"; I wish I could know. Do you?

I agree that you have to judge each individual on his own actions.

However, I think you can also look at groups as a whole and glean characteristics of that group. I just thought that this was an interesting observation and upon reflecting on my own experience, was wondering about the experiences of others.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
I agree that you have to judge each individual on his own actions.

However, I think you can also look at groups as a whole and glean characteristics of that group. I just thought that this was an interesting observation and upon reflecting on my own experience, was wondering about the experiences of others.

I have no religion and I detest religionism and the religionists, Christians included.

Originally posted by black beetle
And why dear KM you have an attitude "Christians-Lions"? What bad quality did you noticed at ToO's primal question?

He's been around for a while preaching the (selected) teachings of Jesus to us , so I thought it would be worth clarifying if he actually believed that Jesus was the Son of the Living God or not (which was what J. taught)

I can't think of anyone else on this forum who has not made it relatively clear where they stand (Atheist or Theist) on this. He's the only one who refuses to be drawn on it. Can you think why this might be?

Are you not suspicious of someone who seems to talk with such authority about Jesus's teachings but will not even say if he believes he was who he said he was? You should at the very least find it highly curious.

Originally posted by knightmeister
He's been around for a while preaching the (selected) teachings of Jesus to us , so I thought it would be worth clarifying if he actually believed that Jesus was the Son of the Living God or not (which was what J. taught)

I can't think of anyone else on this forum who has not made it relatively clear where they stand (Atheist or Theist) on this ...[text shortened]... he believes he was who he said he was? You should at the very least find it highly curious.

If you have something to post on this topic, then post it, otherwise move on. You've hijacked enough threads with your witch-hunt.

Originally posted by black beetle
I have no religion and I detest religionism and the religionists, Christians included.

You have no religion? Everybody follows something they believe to be true. The word religion derives from the greek to follow I think.