My thoughts on premarital sex: I do think you should save it for marriage, but I don't think it's that big of a deal. I lost it at 19 (still 19) and didn't think twice about it. I don't think they (mainstream Christian media) promote abstinence as a meanings of just following what the bible says. I think that is a small part next to reducing prenancies and STD's, which is good in theory but they go about it wrong sometimes.

true, but religion gives people one more (pathetic) reason to kill one another.  And let's be honest, a LOT of people have died over which god has the bigger dick. 

My thoughts on gays as a Christian: I don't think you are born gay, but you might pick up very early in life who you are physically attracted to. Who are we to say you can just stop being attracted to the same sex? It doesn't work that way. Let them be and treat them with kindess, as they are normal people like everyone else. All this gay hate from Christians is not doing them any good. It just makes the gays stronger and work together more in order to get the rights they want. 

Who said anything about friendly debate?  I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I'm pretty aggressive when it comes to wiping out the mess that is religious right. I mean, don't misunderstand, I don't think "All who disagree with me need to be eradicated." I've never thought that and it's the worst kind of mentality you can have, especially as one who considers himself to be an intellectual.  No, people misunderstand.  My hatred for religion isn't about having a different opinion and needing to censor it, it's about science.  It's always been about science and rationality and logic and progression.  I don't beleve that, as an encompassing theory, Religion should be respected unless it can quantify and justify its claims.  Until the religious can find even a shred of evidence supporting the existence of a god and that the events in the bible (or any holy text) happened as stated, it needs to be treated as the mythology it is. 

I don't mind people reading the bible, but I just don't understand the mentality of "This is how it happened becuase a book written thousands of years ago told me so, and the book also informed me it's infallible, therefore it is truth, end of discussion. No, I can't prove it, but I have faith and a billion friends who agree with me, so I must be right."  I know that sounds like a strawman argument, but that's basically what religious arguments boil down to.  The very idea that this stance needs to be respected not for its contributions to science and philosophy, but becuase many of us were raised in a nation where 'freedom of religion' is a thing, and mocking someone for thinking something so absurd is not acceptable.  

As for gays, I don't care if it is a choice, or if it is genetic, or if it can be cured or if it needs to be fixed, I see no issue with it.  If my neighbours are gay, it doesn't impact me in any way whatsoever, so I have no right to push my morals on them regardless.  That should be in effect on a global scale.  My 'morality' comes down to something very simple:  "if your actions are harming someone else, then it is not cool.  Otherwise, have fun, do what makes you happy and don't be ashamed of who you are."  This goes for pretty much everything in life, from what entertainment you enjoy right down to your body.  Your body is really your last bastion of freedom, you should be able to do what you want with it, it's your decision and your choice to balance the risk/reward.   Even if being gay DOES lead to HIV (it doesn't, but for the sake of argument let's say it does), then you need to decide if being with the one you love is worth that risk, and nobody has any right to judge you for it unless you're spraying HIV blood in the ketchup containers at the work cafeteria.  

As for premarital sex, as a man who doesn't believe in religion, I fail to see why you should save sex for some arbitrary signing of a paper.  I just don't see the correlation.  Hell, even when I did think sex was some holy thing that needed to be on a pedestal as some special intimate bond, I didn't see why you'd need to not do something you enjoy (as long as you're doing it safely and responsibly) just so you can wait so OTHERS deem you acceptable to have intercourse.  I just don't see the need for the correlation at all, and it seems so silly.  I won't even get into my thoughts on sex, intimacy, and love in this thread.  

The funny thing, I'm kind of amazed nobody's gone "oh, but you're pushing your beliefs on us" yet.  It's kind of an 'equal and opposite reaction' thing.  I only push back against religion when it pushes on me, my friends, or my ideals.  I maintain that if I could go without hearing about some religiously motivated terrorist attack or battle over teaching intelligent design over evolution or some instance where some woman was stoned to death for not marrying her rapist or some parents who starved their kid to cure him of the devil becuase he didn't want to read his bible, I honestly wouldn't even give two shits.  Let crazy people think crazy things, just keep it far away from me and I'll simply chose not to associate myself with them, but as soon as I see an instance of someone using religion to influence politics or education or violently protest things they have no right to protest based on some outdated unsubstantiated nonsense, I feel the need to fight back.  

I actually grew up in a religious household surrounded by religious people, so I grew up a pretty active christian.  it wasnt till I was 16 that I realized that science and religion could not really mix and I decided to go the path of the intellectual and abandon religion...which was met with scorn and hatred, or plain old judgement.  One person tried to tell me "God has put doubt in your heart so you could come back with greater faith" without realizing how crazy he sounded.  

Anyway, I rant too much.  

You shouldn't do religion, becuase religion is bad.  And if you don, just...stick to other religious people, don't try to get into an argument with people who reject your religion, becuase you will lose.  even if you're arguing with another religion, you always lose because there is no way to 'win' a religious debate, since there is no way to justify one religion over another.  

Oh my God, people still believe homosexuality is a choice? Did you choose to be straight? This is beyond stupid at this point.

DNA

" In the summer of 1993, Dean H. Hamer and his research team at the National Cancer Institute announced their discovered evidence of a connection between genetics and some male homosexuality. By constructing family trees in instances where two or more brothers are gay, and performing actual laboratory testing of the supposed homosexual DNA, Hamer located a region near the end of the long arm of the X chromosome that likely contains a gene influencing sexual orientation."

Source: Here

Psychology

"Many [scientists] think that nature and nurture both play complex roles; most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation."

Source: Here

Mormon Church

"The Mormon Church has launched a new website, Mormonsandgays.org, to establish its official stance on homosexuality, saying that gay people were born this way, as it were."

Source: Here

My thoughts on gays as a Christian: I don't think you are born gay, but you might pick up very early in life who you are physically attracted to. Who are we to say you can just stop being attracted to the same sex? It doesn't work that way. Let them be and treat them with kindess, as they are normal people like everyone else. All this gay hate from Christians is not doing them any good. It just makes the gays stronger and work together more in order to get the rights they want. 

What I really don't understand is how you can believe in the stories/anecdotes in the bible. You can't prove them, everybody and their mother knows the bible has been modified to fit a specific agenda from many different rulers/priest/etc, and then you get the luxury to pick and choose what you want to follow. You can say Fuck gays, they're a bunch of immoral monsters, but eating shrimps and other crustaceans is cool. The bible (from what I have read/seen/searched) literally tell you to hate them, both gays and crustaceans. It also tells you stone disobedient children TO DEATH but we certainly don't do that. I believe (please correct me if wrong) this is all the old testament so we don't give 2 shit and a rat's ass about but except for the gays.

To add insult to injury, I've seen many people say that the bible is open to interpretation and that people have different ways of interpreting God's words. BULLSHIT. Not only do you not acknowledge the bible's obvious flaws as it pertains to our modern society, but now it's open for you to pick and choose. Come on. How can, and here is the kicker, "the word of GAAAWWWDDD" be open to interpretation?

If I offend anybody, i really don't care quite honestly. I don't affiliate with any religion, not even atheism but my parents had christian catholic upbringings and they believe in a higher power but they did not force us to go to church which i cannot thank them enough not brainwashing me at a young age. Because of that, I get to explore different religions with an open mind and I decided they're all pretty meh.  I wish I had the drive to read through the entire thing because i do feel very hypocritical for bashing it while not having read it. If anything, the bible and religion had a purpose in our world at one point. It helped us give reason to things we could not understand. It gave us peace of mind knowing that some things just happen cause God said so. That isn't the case anymore. We are a still evolving species that is becoming more technologically advanced as the centuries pass and we figure out more and more things as we progress, while all the previous events we attributed to god will become smaller and smaller because they will facts to back up the scientific reason for those events happening.

Ok, done ranting. All in all, you can believe what you want to believe. I think it's silly and childish that this day in age we look up to a book writen by MEN. Flawed men like you and I and all of us here in VGC but that's my biased opinion. I will never understand religious believe. I just can't wrap my head around just hoping that shit will happen. Timmy is fighting cancer? Oh god will save him. Bullshit.

EDIT: I just proof read this wall to be little less aggressive and spelling. Also, some people bring up a good point about religions and their members involving politics to get their own ideas and laws across.