After reading the signs, a gay man ran up to one of the Christians and grabbed him, squeezing so hard he had trouble breathing.

http://www.practikel.com/2012/01/27/christian-group-shows-up-to-chicago-gay-pride-holding-apologetic-signs/

its very nice to see that kind of warmth

maybe atheists may show up to some tent revivals with apologetic signs about how some of them judge christians,,,,


it will be progress in uniting all imperfect people

Good for them!

In my life I have seen an incredible amount of extreme and irrational hostility towards atheists by Christians. I've even seen entire churches where such hostility is actively encouraged by church leaders.

On the atheist side, I've only seen a handful of individuals who are harboring personal hostility, usually as a result of some particular experience in life.

It's there, and as with any group you have the problem of a few loud people making the whole group look bad, but this kind and level of hostility and judgement doesn't seem to be the norm with atheists.


Then there are atheists (like me) who are strongly critical of some Christian beliefs. This is not the same as making a moral judgement on another person. This is making an evaluation of a belief.

I think that young earth creationism is completely idiotic, in the same way that i think flat earth society is idiotic. This is completely different from my opinion that rape is a horrible act, or my tendency to view an unrepentant rapist as a horrible person.

I do hope that the atheist criticism of the sensibility and reasonableness of Christian beliefs is not confused with the christian judgement of the moral character of a person with atheist beliefs.

I also believe christians often judge behaviors and not the people participating in them, but that the two get confused quite often

just as atheists judge the 'sensibleness' of a belief and not the person believing it,,,,

I dont know a quantifiable way to tell how much of those types of judgments exist within one group or the other, I just know both do it and I dont personally think one does it more or less than the other

I just think MOST people believe what they believe and believe it to be 'sensible', thus believing those who differ as being less sensible,,,,...

ie judging,,,,


I do feel its sad for anyone to not be able to seperate actions from people who commit them as none of us are perfect and do the right or good thing EACH TIME

I think often when christians speak out against HOMOSEXUAL LIFESTYLE, its equated with being less than nice to homosexuals

and often when atheist speak out against how irrational they believe certain christian claims to be, its equated with being less than tolerant or nice to christians


,,it happens across the board, you hear about it more from christians because they gather in ORGANIZED groups which are easily observable,, where as atheists are much less likely to have such organization or publicity or visibility

,,,just my two cents,, I feel persecuted and judged daily for what I believe as a christian, and it would be nice to see some upstanding atheists unite to apologize at a christian event for how some in their group have managed to do that,,,,

Hey Massagetrade; you are spot on. I am an aethist myself and don't hate Christians; just hate when they try to shove religion down my throat or when they try to dictate to others what they can do. Religion should be your own personal choice and not forced on others.

I think thats a common experience that christians and atheists could unite upon actually. As a christian, I sometimes feel that homosexuality and 'self centered' culture, is 'shoved' down my throat and dictated as a norm that I must accept or be labeled as homophobic, intolerant, bigoted,,etc,,,


I see promiscuity, violence, homosexuality, unwed parenting, vulgarity peppered throughout media and culture MUCH MUCH more than I do any of my christian beliefs,,,,and it upsets me too

but we have to find a way to allow a balance of these things without having to demonize one another to do so...

thats a line gays don't need to cross with me... i can't think of any reason i would want a gay man to hug me....

Oh!! Homophobia rearing its ugly head

Honestly the only time I feel anything shoved down my throat is when a Christian is at my door preaching to me and I have repeatedly told them I am not interested. I either have to threaten with violence or calling the police as I don't like people harassing me in my home. I have even put up signs saying no religous solicitating. I doubt very much someone came to your door and shoved homosexuality down your throat. The Christians demanded a city bus remove a sign that said "There is no God, so just live your life happy". The city told them they are free to put up their own advertising but had no right to dictate to this group that they weren't allowed to put up their sign. That was a very proud moment for our city.

I would take an occasional shove at my door that I can not answer or turn away, than the constant bombardment in media advertising and television,,,personally.

But my point was just that , beliefs aside, the common feeling of being bombarded by the pressure to accept what we dont believe is felt on both sides and that commonality could be a place to start building bridges and finding balance,,,

I have hugged a few 'gays', my brother is gay and many of his friends have been like family,,,,I also have other gay family members whom I love dearly,,,and Im a hugger,,,lol

however, there is no reason I want a man outside in nothing but underwear (or a woman for that matter) to come up and hug me,,,,

that even makes it worse...

Trust me the nice thing about the media is I can turn off the tv/radio or not read the newspaper which is exactly what I do. I personally don't like being woken up at 7:00 in the morning when I am trying to enjoy a day off with someone ringing my door bell. I could care less if they want to stick a pamphlet in my mailbox but don't disturb me. I hate tele-marketers too and I am glad to see they are fining these people. I am hoping soliciting will be next on the agenda. But that being said; I agree that we should not be pressured by anyone to accept what we don't believe.

Disgusting. Tell that dude to put some freaking pants on. I don't care who he sleeps with, I just don't see how walking around in his underwear is supposed to make people accept his lifestyle.

I guess you wouldn't like the "underwear affair" event that we have here in Calgary. Thousands of people running around in their underwear. Some are funny but some are down right scary.

I believe one needs to start with oneself. For example, on any given Sunday, you will see a Xian giving an exegesis on the Old Testament, but rarely see a Rabbi giving exegesis on the New Testament. While I forget his name, the last Rabbi I heard do this said: In the commandment- Love thy Neighbor as Thyself- most people have a harder time with the second part.

well, it's ok if a woman in her underwear wants to give me a hug...

I don't have any problem with people running around in their underwear at an event for that purpose. The problem I have is when you hold a parade to protest homophobia, why not wear your normal clothes instead of walking around almost naked or dressed as nuns and pantomiming sex (as has happened in the past). I remember an article in the Onion that said "Gay-Pride Parade Sets Mainstream Acceptance Of Gays Back 50 Years". I think that a lot of people are shocked and offended not by the homosexuality, but the blatant, public and sometimes perverted sexuality on display in the parades.

I don't see how that is homophobic. Some people don't like hugs in general. Does that make them peoplephobic?