The Upper Room

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12:56 AM

This is a very interesting journal article: Atheists Become Emotionally Aroused When Daring God to Do Terrible Things.

Please note: the article does not prove anything. It just reveals interesting results from a pool of atheists.

It reminds me a bit of this article (Is homophobia associated with homosexual arousal?), because the explicit/verbal response of the atheist participants seems to conflict with bodily reactions.

I'm sure there are lots of explanations of this phenomenon.

From the most ludicrous to the most plausible.

Anonymous

1:15 AM

I would be a bit creeped out, if I had to read a line that made a request to God to do something harmful.

Perhaps, one plausible explanation is that, even though some (Finnish) atheists don't believe in God, the idea or imagery of an omnipotent supernatural entity destroying things is frightening. And if that were real, it sounds reasonable to take it seriously.

2 hours later…

Anonymous

3:21 AM

I have been interested in reading lots of journal articles on psychology, atheism, and religion lately. Here's another: Smith, J. M. (2011). Becoming an Atheist in America: Constructing Identity and Meaning from the Rejection of Theism. Sociology Of Religion, 72(2), 215-237. doi:10.1093/socrel/srq082

Ooooh, it really sheds some light on the minds of atheists.

It's too bad I've never experienced such things before.

But then I've never lived in such a god-centered environment. Western religions are very, very god-centered, so it's understandable to see how the rejection of the deity automatically means the rejection of the religion.

I've also read a journal article about first-generation and one-and-a-half Chinese-American students in the USA who may come from Buddhist or nonreligious households. Most of them don't experience any difficulties at home while converting to Christianity, because of the nature of Buddhism and because the weakening of traditional Chinese values in recent times and because of the perceived association of Christianity to the West.

1 hour later…

Does Elisha speak?

4:38 AM

Q: Regarding 'concoursis' duplicate

This question What's the name of the process by which the scriptures were written down? is not a duplicate of this question What does it mean that all scripture is God-Breathed? Not hardly. Not even remotely. So, I did my best to re-ask the original question, which I deleted, word for word....

curiousdannii

@laovultai Why do you care, in this post globalised world? If you're after something more specific it be easier to answer.

4 hours later…

fredsbend

8:53 AM

@Anonymous I think that would be received with mixed reviews; probably closed eventually. Also, there is no sociology.se.

@Anonymous That is very interesting.

@Anonymous There's always been that joke that the really strong gay haters are the deepest in the closet.

2 hours later…

laovultai

10:58 AM

@curiousdannii Well do you know any major christian websites outside these regions? For Example I know one bookstore which is french: editionsducerf.fr/home.asp

I ask spesifically for christian major websites eq. in South Africa.

1 hour later…

Flimzy

12:05 PM

@laovultai But why do you want sites out of these areas?

Does Elisha speak?

Q: How can we stop the comments from being an area for arguments?

The comments section has recently become an area where disagreements are voiced and the exchanges have detracted from the answers to the posters questions and often go far astray from the context of the original question. Can we start a practice where if you disagree with an answer down vote it a...

discussion

laovultai

@Flimzy Can I ask you that you ask this for curiosity, or what?

The reason for asking this is that it represents my need to know also other websites of thi caliper.

thi ~ this

I mean this question of mine is asked, because dont believe the websites in the regions I wrote represent all that can be represented.

Anonymous

12:48 PM

@fredsbend Based on the recent study, I can easily see a new joke about atheists that atheists secretly know that God exists, but denies his existence.

However, delegitimizing the claims of atheists is not the purpose or the goal of the study.

curiousdannii

@laovultai the Christianity Stack Exchange site is the only Q&A website that I'm aware of that is even close to worth visiting.

There are many other Christian websites, but they have different purposes.

Anonymous

@curiousdannii I think the Christianity.SE is the only Q&A website that allows anyone who has experience with, has studied intensely on, or is interested in it in some way to participate. Religious status doesn't matter.

curiousdannii

@Flimzy What about if I say "The entire gospel falls apart if you don't believe in sin"? There are some things that are essential to the gospel: God, Jesus, humans, sin, love, forgiveness, faith.

Anonymous

@curiousdannii I can see how that's possible. An atheist does not believe in God, so there is no one to obey. They may interpret evil as evil rather than a disobedience to God.

3 hours later…

Paul Vargas

4:19 PM

@Flimzy @BruceAlderman "God can reveal himself through oral traditions" — How exactly is that?

I would dare to think that is a statement without solid bases. Maybe I am wrong if you have stumbled upon some significant discovery.

fredsbend

5:02 PM

@Anonymous The goal of any study is always the same: illuminate an otherwise hidden aspect of reality.

It's true though. Atheists secretly are the most faithful.

Ask Elisha

Q: Was the anthropological "Negroid, Mongoloid, Caucasoid" distinction inspired by the Bible story of Noah's sons?

I'm sorry if this is off-topic, but I think the users of this SE site would be best equipped to answer it. It's a question about the historical development of an anthropological idea. If you are unaware, there is a list of nations in Genesis 10 descended from Noah's three sons, from where a trad...

christianity bible anthropology judaism

fredsbend

5:18 PM

Well, what do you know. ^^^

Anonymous

@fredsbend Actually, in the conclusion, the author makes an explicit warning of taking implications like yours: "The results do not necessarily mean that atheists do not mean it when they say they do not believe in God or that daring God is emotionally arousing for atheists and religious individuals for similar reasons. Rather, the results suggest that atheists' explicitly stated beliefs and affective reactions regarding God are of opposite valence."

laovultai

@curiousdannii ok. I think this site is not only Q&A website that is christian site.

Anonymous

@fredsbend Also, note that the sample was an all-female Finnish group. The religious Finnish women were mostly affiliated with the state church of Finland, except one. The exception was affiliated with New Age. The "atheists" had no affiliation. Since Finland is a traditionally Christian country, it is highly likely that the atheists may have been descended from Christian families (unless, of course, they are immigrants from a Buddhist-majority or Muslim-majority or Hindu-majority country).

Anonymous

5:36 PM

As reported by the article's author, no one lives in a box. Everybody is influenced by his or her culture and upbringing. To be on the safe side, I'd regard anyone who calls himself/herself Christian "Christian". Atheist children of Christians are likely to be raised as Christians but then lost their faith later in life. They may nevertheless have some sort of cultural sensibilities rooted in the particular way of life lived by their Christian ancestors.

A good example would be Dan, the member on the Christianity.SE and a couple of other SEs. Dan was raised Lutheran, and even though he rejected the Lutheran religion later in life, the culture that brought him up gave him certain personality characteristics.

I remember there was this guy who chatted here. JamesT. JamesT talked about his family was Presbyterian, and how he progressed from losing his faith to regaining his faith because he was so used to the Presbyterian aesthetic of plainness.

4 hours later…