@fmf saidScientologists are encouraged to break all ties with family and friends who are not themselves Scientologists.
Does being serious about one's theist beliefs preclude having close friendships with atheists?
However, none of my Christian friends or family members appear to have any problem with maintaining close relationships with atheists.
12 Jan 23
@fmf saidI think it would depend on having similar lifestyle choices in common.
Does being serious about one's theist beliefs preclude having close friendships with atheists?
For example, a theist might avoid drinking, strip clubs, smoking weed, etc....where an atheist might see nothing wrong with those things. (As an example)
But, as debates here have proven, an atheist could generally have the same code of morals or ethics as a theist, in which a friendship is likely.
@chaney3 saida theist might avoid drinking, strip clubs, smoking weed, etc....where an atheist might see nothing wrong with those things.
I think it would depend on having similar lifestyle choices in common.
For example, a theist might avoid drinking, strip clubs, smoking weed, etc....where an atheist might see nothing wrong with those things. (As an example)
But, as debates here have proven, an atheist could generally have the same code of morals or ethics as a theist, in which a friendship is likely.
There can be a close friendship between two people without them drinking and smoking and going to strip clubs together.
13 Jan 23
@fmf saidYou missed my point.
a theist might avoid drinking, strip clubs, smoking weed, etc....where an atheist might see nothing wrong with those things.
There can be a close friendship between two people without them drinking and smoking and going to strip clubs together.
That's surprising, it seemed very clear to me.
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13 Jan 23
1 edit
@chaney3 saidWas there even a point?
You missed my point.
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@chaney3 saidI got your point. It just seemed a bit shallow, that's all, if you don’t mind me saying so.
You missed my point.
That's surprising, it seemed very clear to me.
The question is a spiritual one that can't be addressed by simply allotting supposedly good and bad behaviours to people - in a clichéd way - and then claiming that those good and bad behaviours are incompatible... in the hope that you are demonstrating something meaningful about the compatibility of religious and non-religious beliefs.
@chaney3 saidI don't think this is necessarily true.
I think it would depend on having similar lifestyle choices in common.
Speaking personally, if I take my three closest and longest friendships stretching back 40 or more years, we don't have similar lifestyle choices in common, far from it.
One of us has gone from being a Christian to being a Muslim. One has gone from being a Christian to being a Buddhist via 20 years of agnosticism. The other has always been an atheist.
None of these close bonds have been affected by my loss of faith, for example. Nor by changes they have undergone.
Friendships may be rooted in "lifestyle", but I am not convinced close friendships necessarily are.
22 Jan 23
@fmf saidNo.
josephw, any thoughts on this one?
That is, no there's nothing I know of in the Bible that prohibits theists from having close friendships with atheists.
The Bible says not to participate in ungodly behavior with the ungodly. Not all atheists are ungodly.
I know a few Christians that closely resemble the ungodly. Christians are warned in the Bible not to associate with professing Christians that live in ungodly ways.
The sword cuts both ways.
22 Jan 23
@josephw saidThere is 2 Corinthians 6:14–15: "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" Although, "yoked" arguably refers to marriage.
That is, no there's nothing I know of in the Bible that prohibits theists from having close friendships with atheists.
22 Jan 23
@josephw saidWhat would not associating with "professing Christians that live in ungodly ways" achieve? For whose benefit would it be to disassociate from them?
Christians are warned in the Bible not to associate with professing Christians that live in ungodly ways.