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[brianlove84]

I realize sometimes that hardcore Christians cant stand the idea of another religion and that people that follow those religions are evil, but for once strip away a title, and get to know the person before you classify a person.

Brian
Fontana

[McCulloch]

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[realthinker]

I realize sometimes that hardcore Christians cant stand the idea of another religion and that people that follow those religions are evil, but for once strip away a title, and get to know the person before you classify a person.

Brian
Fontana

It's human nature, dude, not a Christian thing. Humans are social animals. Within our communities people are generally similar in the way they behave and the way they think. Those who think or behave differently are implicitly a threat. To minimize potential risk we take a shortcut. Rather than evaluate whether they are a real threat they evaluate the risk by inverting the consequences of their own beliefs which are not shared by the threat. If that inversion results in invalidating something core to our beliefs the response is strong.

The consequences of the belief in religion are dramatic. They have to do with the disposition of our personality and the consciousness after death. They are, from the religious perspective, the basis for morality. Inverting those would lead the believer to the (hasty) conclusion that someone who holds a different religious belief cannot be a moral person and they cannot have the promised afterlife.

Of course I'm not a psychologist and I've not studied this in depth. This is an idea that hit me a few days ago when someone asked a question in another thread. It's an idea still forming, and I'd like feedback on it if you care to offer.