Annie
R. Jane, all religions use coercion, in the pursuit of godliness. It's all charade. Use your inner moral compass instead of the dictates of sham religions to promote inner peace. Meditation is a good start.
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1. Your statement, like belles, is an absolute one. Since you are an atheist who denies the existence of ABSOLUTE TRUTH, your statement is false.
2. It's true that mankind will use whatever it takes to gain power. Religion as well as the sword can be used to attain that. But that does NOT negate the TRUTH of Christianity whatsoever. Only proves that sinful men USE violence and the rhetoric of Christianity (or some other faith) to JUSTIFY their vile behavior.
3. The bible teaches that we all have been given the witness of NATURE which testifies of a Creator....and the witness of Conscience, which bothers us when we've done something wrong (but which doesn't necessarily prevent our doing something wrong).....and both witnessess point to a holy God Creator.
Before I became a Christian I TRUSTED my own moral compass...was the 'captain of my fate'...was the "master of my soul"...and I failed miserably at attaining peace and contentment and failed even at living out my own notion of what a 'good'' person was. I seriously studied comparative religions for years in my search for truth...taught yoga and meditation...yet was never able to obtain ''nirvana'' or its equivalent. So...my own moral compass was untrustworthy.
Also....the problem with not recognizing God and his Absolute Truth, is that man is left to figure it out for himself...and his morals are based on his own notions, experiences, peer pressure, etc....are totally subjective and arbitrary. Relativistic morality. All thought has parity.
And the relativist has NO ground which permits him to criticize any other ideology since all have equal weight...and unfortunately the relativist has NO ground to JUDGE the despots of the world like Hitler or Stalin nor the right to condemn criminals.
Atheistic relativism is bankrupt and sinking sand.
