@NicoleLynne We need atheists so that when rapture comes, someone will be left to comfort and take care of the animals until we all burn in hell with them. See, by “saving” people you are doing animals a disservice. Less sarcastically, though, is posting this on a AR board accomplishing anything. Is anyone being “saved”?

I dont think of it as converting its gettin saved. most older folks do believe in God or if there child does most likley they try their best to get their parents saved. but time will speak for itself u will see just like everyone else i jus hope that more ppl dont suffer.

@NicoleLynne When you say that we will be with our loved ones, do you mean, once they convert too? Encouraging people to go vegan on an AR site is very different than encouraging them to convert on an animal rights site. If this was a religious forum, the vegan converter would be out of place, but it is not. If this was in public, both would be legitimate. However, it is neither of those. (Also, maybe this is splitting hairs, but the two things are in very different categories. One is faith, one is science and morality, I’m just saying.)

@Rachel-S
I am not forcing anything on anyone like I said before I am encouraging .. like vegans encourage people to go vegan. Forcing would be making them do something they don’t want to do, like putting a gun to their head or threatning or shoving something down their throat.

I was just making suggestions & saying you should do this… it’s not that big of a deal most of what I typed is mostly my feelings on the subject.

@NicoleLynne: Humans look for patterns where there are none. Best example of this would be learning a new word and suddenly seeing it everywhere. It’s not that something started putting those words there, but it’s that you know what it is now, so you recognize it when you see it.

In this case, you pray every night about this. You constantly say something about it. So you’re taking your concept of God and attributing it to the fact that a group of compassionate humans rescued 120 dogs. Therefore, taking all work, dedication, and feelings of the people involved away and attributing it to the actions of a deity because you said something about it.

Also, everyone thinks their god is not just an opinion. I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t like it if someone told you that you had to be a Hindu or else you were completely wrong and would be eternally punished for not hailing Krishna. There are thousands of gods out there. Your beliefs are one of many. So it is your opinion, because your god has not been proven to be real, let alone the only one there. There’s nothing backing your claims, so it is an opinion you have developed.

i can type what i want to type im not going to hold my feelings back its the truth im not trying to be mean i want ppl to get saved so they dont have to suffer and so they can be with their loved ones. its ok to make a big deal abot ar but not the who made it all possible. i should be able to post what i want as long as im not hurting or cussing anyone and im not. this stuff is real and it all cmes frome the heart . so dont read it then if u have a prob its not that hard to ignore it u dont know me so it shouldnt be hard but if not u can keep postin nd so can i. u just dont give up on something tht truly matters to u … like fighting for animal righs.

Um, still, could you tone it down a little, please? Direct your religious focus to the debate, and offer your opinion. Also, divine beings are obviously opinions, since there are many different beliefs, but none of them can be proved as fact, or even, for the most part represented as legitimate theories. I know I could be completely wrong, but I am of the opinion that there is no divine being.

@peace God is not an opinion to me sorry and he will never wiill be . To me since I believe in God King James version of the Bible he did create everything including animals and without him there would be no such thing as animal rights. Just like the fact that a vegan will always be vegan ( for the most part ) & also for the most part they think eating meat is wrong nmw so just think about it like that. (but in my case it’s God). The reason I love animals so much is because of God without him nothing would exist.

&& @drean ,, No, actually I really pray on this stuff like almost every night & when I saw this article it’s like God answered my prayers he is showing me that my prayers mean something to him because I’m always praying that animals in this situation will find a savior & they did !!! I was so happy shows that they’re are still good people in the world. Thank Jesus!

@Brosla: I wouldn’t dream of it. You’re sincere. There’s a difference between preaching and sharing your views and beliefs.

I’m someone whose been a part of many religions. I haven’t been Christian for a good seven years. I first stumbled upon paganism when I was ten and I never turned my back on it. I’m a mythology junkie, I suppose.

Some religions can offer a good moral standing to base your life upon. I often found that when I was a part of any religion, I always looked at the gods as symbols of an idea or aspect of nature. My view of the world and such have been shaped through the exploration of multiple religions over the past seven years. My philosophy is the result of that.

I just find the idea that there is a god or collective group of gods to be scientifically and logically impossible.

I can’t help but join in such a thought provoking conversation.

I, for one, am a very spiritual person. I was raised to “walk the good Red Road” (Native American spirituality), but have broadened my views to include many aspects from other pagan beliefs. Those who believe as I do (and there are more of us than you think) don’t see God as an actual personified being. Rather, the God and Goddess (because masculine and feminine are equally important) are more like a primal force that exists in all things. It unites us with the world we live in as well as well as all the other inhabitants. There is a common saying in the pagan community that goes, “Thou art God/dess”. This is basically used as a reminder that each of us has that divine spark within us, and that it is our duty and responsibility to do what we can to make this world a better place. Rather than praying, it is we who should take action and be “gods” here on earth.

Please don’t take this as preaching. I simply enjoyed the atheist perspectives presented and wanted to submit a spiritual one to the conversation.

Therefore, my final point is, that well there is nothing wrong with the ideal of faith, an organized religion is hard to keep open-minded to others and new ideas.

I’m going to devil’s advocate my own beliefs here, to join into a thought provoking debate. Daoism, for example, believes that good cannot exist without evil, and that they need each other to exist as they are opposite sides of a circle. In Greek and Roman mythology (Though it seems kind of unfair to be using the term, as the share similarities to mainstream religions today) the Gods and Goddesses aren’t perfect, omniscient, or all-powerful. Their leader is an adulterer who tries to protect his mistresses from his wife. They are jealous, vengeful, and make many mistakes. My point being, different religions describe things differently.
In the movie Religulous, the religions emanating from the middle east, and the main three concerning us in the US and the west, are examined, and an appeal is given to the people who don’t trust an all-knowing entity to save them, to try to save themselves by preventing the end of the world that these religions predict as inevitable, and may cause for their beliefs. (I highly recommend this movie, no matter you religious status. It’s available on Netflix and it’s very thought provoking.)
I was not raised an atheist, but I have come to this conclusion by the lack of divine intervention, and the fact that it is better than hating a God that science denies for failing this race so utterly. I’m referring throughout history to the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Holocaust, and 9/11 among other; those come to mind first. The Bible, Torah, and Koran are utterly condescending to women, slaves, those of other religions, homosexuals, and animals, to name the main ones.
First, I will investigate the Torah. It supports horrible people in the name of their religion, such as King David, who murdered a man to marry his wife, and Lot, who offered a mob his daughters to rape in the Torah. It provides totally unfair punishments, supports the punishment of the innocent, and was written by an elite few. “Moses”, or rather, rabbis and priest who wanted to control a people.
The Bible was capitalized upon by the Romans, who used it to gain power. They decided on Jesus’ divinity hundreds of years after his deaths, and changed the writings of the apostles. It is still a major force in the world today, and, in the US, many people consider us a Christian nation. Evolution is denied, because, “The bible didn’t say so.” There are religious textbooks that ridicule science with constant attributions to God things that are undeniably scientific, as well as some outright misinformation. http://www.11points.com/Books/11_Eye-Opening_Highlights_From_a_Creationist_Science_Textbook
I know less about the Koran, but it is still being used as an excuse to deny women their rights and justify suicide bombers and other terrorists. I doubt that a God, or a prophet Muhammad would condone that.
In all, I doubt the religious fervor that induces people to kill others is worth whatever comfort value these writings much have. It is rather unfair, not letting children have more choice about their own religions. It’s hard to avoid, but giving them a way out, so that they can discover whatever faith they have for themselves, might be better. Indoctrinating them without letting them have a chance to think for themselves, and raising them closed minded to other ideas does not give religion a good reputation. Perhaps there is some value in religion, faith in a higher being, and belief that it is a reason to do good things, but many of the over-zealous acts by fanatics counter its value.

If I may say something? This is simply on the subject of religion, and to get conversation started. Please be intelligent in your response. I’ll use Christianity as it is the one being discussed:

This is an argument that is commonly used against the existence of God. It’s a widely held belief that God is omnipotent, omniscient, all-knowing, all-loving, and so on.

There is evil in the world. Let’s ignore the fact that hell was mis-translated dozens of times and given to the imaginations of a mind capable of such things because of evolutionary traits developed to be able to better adjust to the hardships of early existence so that, instead of the Hebrew word meaning “grave” it became synonymous with Hades, which eventually developed into the place of torture for those who didn’t adhere to Christian doctrine.

I digress. Now, since there is evil, then an all-knowing, all-powerful God would have it within his power to rid the world of it. After all, he knows what will happen as a result certain events. Since he is all-powerful, he can change it all and make sure it doesn’t happen. Now, since there is evil in the world, we have to assume one of a few possibilities.

One is that God has the power and isn’t willing to change it. If it were true, then God would be the epitome of evil in my eyes and I would not find him to be a noble God worthy of my praise and devotion.

Another is that he does not have the power to stop it, which means he is not all powerful and falls short of being the being that we know as God, as we know the limits of what he can do, and so he becomes less of a concept to be worshiped as he has shortcomings as well.

One could be that he is not all knowing, and plays the part of the foolish lord, in which case, I feel we are on our own and prayer does nothing as they fall on deaf ears.

The other is quite simple. He simply doesn’t exist and all of this is happening because of human actions in a world where the dominant species is Homo sapien. We are a happy accident of a species developed among many on an ancient space ship speeding through the vast emptiness of space.

The last was the one that spoke best to me as I thought, in-depth about religion as a whole. I didn’t want to come to that conclusion, but all logic and science brought me to that conclusion.

I’m curious as to your reasons for believing what you do, and how you feel about it.

@NicoleLynne Please don’t make statements like “God is part of AR he made the animals.” That is not necessarily true, and not everyone here share that belief. It is not a fact, please don’t present it as one. I respect your opinions, so please try to be open to mine. Thank you.

God is part of AR he made the animals.

@ Rachel-S Did what I type show any disrespect? I was simply ENCOURAGING like all the other AR encourgae people to go vegan…. to believe in God.