As I have commented previously, whenever there is a post that mentions God or religion, it tends to get a lot more responses than other posts. And yes, a lot of them seem to be angry.

Why is that?

Squeers:”Anyway, I've no wish to give real offence; I took this to be a light-hearted thread...”

Hmm... Not me, it was the final straw. I am withdrawing consent for the kids I have in Religious Instruction. If they are made to feel bad then I will explain which religion is doing that to them.

Yesterday I listened to little children being told “God made you God made everything yadda yadda yadda...” and then to top it off I read this article.

Do I hate God/s? No, in my house I am God which is why monsters are not allowed to hide in wardrobes or under beds here and giant robots with big teeth have been banished.

Hey RD, I don't know. I don't feel angry - my decision has cheered me up and I wish I'd done it ages ago.

Hey, Jewely - your cheeriness is due to feeling of "empowerment".

You got to make a decision about something that goes on in an institutional setting - something you suddenly "seriously" realised was in your power to alter.

Previous posts say the obvious pretty well: Atheists do not hate God, they hate the fact that believers use God to make up for their appalling lack of Good. (Yes this is a big generalisation)
They purport to follow holy teachings of Love...then use their "holiness" to justify bullying and general nasty behaviour.
If religion is so "true" how come it does *not* lead to better behaviour? How come it is all too often associated with ignorance and pain? (Not to mention paedophile apologists and protectors)
Good is innate in humans, God is used by the few to manipulate the many. Even Jesus said "the self is the path to God"...which was deliberately mistranslated as "I am the path to God" so the priests could then speak for Him. It is this sort of dishonesty that Atheists deride...not hate, which is an attitude more associated with religious folks.
Finally, religions rely on child indoctrination...the most dishonest form of culture possible. The *only* form of religious education that is not child abuse is comparative religion. All else if fear inducing mental straight-jackets that children can and should do without.
Remember: An atheist is someone who believes in *one less* God than the religious person.
So where did the universe come from? God built it. So where did God come from? [crickets] "Solving" the existential mystery by introducing something even more amazing is sloppy logic.
So does God provide a path to Good?..not according to history. Only good leads to good, and atheism is a more effective path than the childish "God as Big Daddy who will punish you" approach.

I had a think about that Poirot and yep I’ve been very reluctant here making decisions and not understanding the way things are done. It is subtle but it is the subtle differences that are difficult for me to navigate. OUG suggested a very long time ago I need to find what power I had and I can see you can’t find out without pushing a few boundaries.

I was informed that “all children go” by the powers that be when I questioned scripture lessons. I requested to see the form and it has several boxes that can be ticked including “None” (I have it in my hot little hand). I wasn’t lied to but I was pondering if I was about to upset the boat or ark and make some weird cultural mistake, one that could affect small people more than me.

Learning about Aussie from OLO can sometimes be confusing.

So many strenuously negative comments on this thread seem to reveal almost a confirmation of the author's assertion that Atheists seem to hold a vindictive view of anyone who believes in God - not only rejecting the notion of God, but also of all who believe. This would seem to me to be a form either of self-righteous or of quasi-religious indignation - or at least to be significantly intolerant of one's fellow man. There have been some exceptions, and I would not be so bold as to intimate that those others represented in this thread would be truly indicative of atheists in general.

Christians, by the way, are rightly by definition those who believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God made Man. If any care to study the teachings of Christ they will find much to contradict those negative biblical references that some posters take much delight in waving around as Eureka flags in their sterile attempts to dishonour Christianity. Christians are not bound by the bible, as some take great delight in intimating or asserting, but many study the bible seeking confirmation of the teachings of Christ Himself. Though there are undoubtedly some who take the word of the bible too literally, these do not represent the whole of Christianity, just as some irreligious bigots would not be held to represent all who do not believe either in the bible or in God, or in Jesus Christ.

Just as the majority of students of the Koran are not zealots or terrorists, the majority of those who study the bible are not proselytisers.

I could easily take exception to many of the postings on this thread, but I refrain from doing so, as is my God given right.