Re: So I might ask you, have you asked the question for yourself or have you been fed doctrine, have you had people telling you all about how theists are a bunch of idiots? Have you accepted the atheist argument without properly criticising it, or have you seen the arguments and actually committed critical thought for them?
If you look around at all people that have a strong belief in God regardless of religion, you will come to the realisation that nobody is any better off than anybody else. The arguments lead me to believe people are gullible, weak and afraid and seek reassurance that there fears will not come to fruition and some how the cure is to have faith and believe, but all the prayer in the world doesn't change a thing. Many confuse prayer with meditation and critical thinking. I would say that critical thinking is probably why there is so much hypocrisy in the Bible. I find it comical when I hear two people arguing about something and both are referencing counter arguments with passages from the Bible and then argue that each is taking things out of context when they can't bear to admit the Bible is full of crap in between stories. Sometimes when I ask them to put themselves in the position of a character what would they do they have trouble being honest, because it deviates from the narrative in the story. One of my favourites is: what would you do if it was a bad winter and you had 100 sheep, but you could only buy enough feed to carry 50 without mass starvation, until the spring when they could forage? And what would you do to someone, that burned the feed you were going to buy? And that's why Cane killed Able, the rest is embellishment! Which reminds me there is a war going on right now and it's about crude oil, the rest is embellishment!
The problem with morality is that it is subjective and defined by the eye of the beholder. It means something different to different people and different societies. Before Hawaii was discovered the natives lived there for hundreds if not thousands of years and it wasn't immoral to have sex with whom ever, they didn't have a word for adultery. It wasn't immoral to drown disfigured infants, in fact it was the moral thing to do and there were reverent ceremonies for the purpose and to deal with the grief. When the Islands were discovered they found the most beautiful and happy people living there. At least that's what I heard and read about Hawaii!
Religion doesn't necessarily require a deity to worship, it merely requires a set of rules and a philosophy or a bunch of teachings about life. In theory an atheist can be religious and atheism isn't a thing.
You seem to comprehend everything I have said, but it seems to me you are still confused as to what that is. I assure you I'm not trying to lead you astray. Any higher being you believe in only exists in your mind. Try and answer the question: "Am I lying to myself"? Then ask how you know? Nobody can be sure that they are being honest with themselves, and that is why psychologists can make a living doing what they do. I believe that people that believe gods exist are lying to themselves, just like the meme suggests.
Depends what you mean by love and what you mean by brother, just because you don't like to see someone drunk or on drugs all the time doesn't mean you have the right to try to change their behaviour without their permission, whether you love them or not, whether they are your brother or not. Being homosexual is not the same as being drunk or on drugs but the morality in dealing with those deviations is the same. Being gay doesn't ruin a persons life, being ostracized is not anything anyone wants imposed on them, gay or straight. Being impaired is a choice at least at first in some cases where addiction is concerned. Alcoholics have to want to change and want stay sober, if they are to be helped. If they don't choose to be sober nobody can help them.
