For myself it’s the subjective answers. There’s no “one recipe” for a marriage, committed relationship, raising children, etc. How one measures their success in any of these areas are personal measurements.
For myself, critical thinking is a vital tool that I wanted to ensure the kids learnt, as well as confidence to be who they are. My oldest is the weakest when it comes to both those. He is a very black/white, right/wrong thinker and can get frustrated with grey. He leans towards absolutes. It offers a sense of comfort and predictability in his mind (not necessarily demonstrable in reality).
His decisions are his own. I don’t view myself as a failure - nor a success based on my kids. I offer them my best. That’s it. My parents sucked, but for all I know, it was their “best” (I highly doubt due to their level of selfishness and control issues).
When we were little, my older sister and I were in the back seat of the car going who knows where? Our mom thought we were a little too quiet, and when she turned around to see why, she said that we were both a shade of green from our dad’s cigarette smoke.
After that, he was never allowed to smoke in the house or the car ever again. He was allowed to smoke in his workshop out back, and one day when I was helping him with something, he went into the house to use the bathroom with a lit cigarette in the ashtray.
When he was gone, I tried the cancer stick and hated it. I was probably 11 or 12, and at that point I knew I would never be a smoker.
The smell of pot or even cigarettes still makes me sick.
I don’t believe you, as you cannot possibly have tried all of them. However, I think you actually mean “I have hated the taste of all alcoholic beverages I have tried”.
But out of curiosity, what exactly is it with the taste of alcoholic beverages that you dislike? Are they too bitter, too sweet, too non-sweet, too something else?
It’s the alcohol I assume, to me they have all tasted pretty much the same. Wine, champagne, and especially beer. To me, there’s nothing worse than the smell of stale beer. I have tried bourbon on a couple of occasions, and it’s still the same.
I’ve seen what alcoholism does to a person, my best friend from work would drink a 12-pack of beer every night and show up the next day hung-over, some days worse than others. He wrecked his truck on 2 different occasions, luckily neither time involved another vehicle.
He actually quit cold-turkey for 1 calendar year to see if he could do it, and he did it. But after that, he started drinking again, only more than before. At least he quit driving after he started drinking that day, he rode his skateboard everywhere.
I’m 62 now, a little late to worry about the fact that I don’t drink. Think about all the money we’ve saved by not buying booze.
I doubt it, as alcohol has very little intrinsic taste. When drinking pure alcohol (pure distilled quality vodka, not 96% vol. alcohol), the taste is mostly due to the volatility of the substance as well as the “burn”. Take a flavourful drink you enjoy drinking. Add some pure alcohol to it. Below a certain threshold I doubt you would notice the alcohol.
It is well known that wine and beer can, to some people, be an acquired taste. Among other things, it can be due to the bitterness, which can be off-putting to some. It can also be due to the quality of the drink. Whereas high quality alcoholic drinks can have rather pleasant tastes (for some, admittedly, an acquired taste), low quality versions of the same type of drink can be quite nasty. Beer and wine of all sorts are prime examples.
I have in the past disliked certain foods and drinks, but after some exposure to them, I have learned to like them. Coriander/cilantro, for example. In the beginning it was a vomit-inducing smell and taste to me, but after some exposure, I started liking it, and now I love it.
Yes, stale beer is horrible. Bourbon as well (to me), fresh or stale. But quality single-malt scotch or Irish whiskey is a totally different matter.
That’s your choice, and I have no problems with that. To each his own.
Part of parenting is to teach your kids some morals. I’m a parent. I want my kids to live in the real world. Not one with supernatural fantasies about gods and magic.
I’ve discovered that morality is completely separate from religion and is subjective depending on what country you live in. However, it’s pointless to argue non religious based morals with a Christian.
They can’t get past their Bible as their argument is limited to it aside from a few trying to use the “God of Gaps” argument with “science”. Religious science is complete and utter bullshit.
Aside from that and what I’ve seen on here. A lot of Christians just make shit up while they try forcing their religion on us here.
Not believing in God is atheism. Accepting that there might be a God but waiting for proof is agnosticism. Calling God some Sky Wizard or comparing Christians to people that believe in the Lock Ness Monster is ridicule, which is not atheism or agnosticism. Its ridicule and then by definition - Sadism.
A theist believes in a diety.
An atheist is not convinced of a god. That does not guarantee they do not believe, they just do not accept the god argument.
Agnosticism is a subset of knowledge, a lack of knowledge. It has no direct connection to religion.
For many atheists, the god claim is just as tenuous as the claim of the Loch Ness monster. Well actually, the Loch Ness story is more believable because it has at least the Loch Ness, while heaven is just a story. That is why religion may be ridiculed because so far no one has provided any tangible evidence or proof.
The god story, Santa Clause, Loch Ness, Yeti, and the Easter bunny all fall within the same broad category, just stories with absolutely no proof of their existence.
But it’s okay for Christians to resort to the usual religious insults towards Atheists right?
Hearing a Christian tell you you’re going to hell or that they’ll pray for you isn’t coming from the goodness of their heart. They’re doing it to aggravate. Those are religious insults and I find them offensive. Just like you stated that it’s offensive for Atheists to make fun of Christians and their delusional and supernatural beliefs.
So while you’re complaining about it being sadism towards Christianity. Good. You have an idea of what it feels like to be ridiculed for not sharing the same beliefs as someone else.
Well I think that is true of most people, red wine is to me an acquired taste, I don’t like neat spirits, never have, so I use a mixer of my choice. Beers and cider are again an acquired taste.
The tats is not the primary attraction for me, an exception would be red wine perhaps, but I could never see me drinking alcohol free wines or beers, there are far more pleasant tasting drinks if I don’t want alcohol.
Well as I said the smell of pot is not its primary attraction, and smoking in public has become illegal in most enclosed places in the UK, and rightly so. Both my parents smoked, and I detested it as a child. I like the occasional Cuban cigar now, but since Brexit they’re simply too expensive.
Yah - been thinking about this. how’s it going over there . The EU membership was sold as an unelected dictatorship sucking the teet of the English taxpayer.
Not even close sorry, agnosticism is defined as the belief that nothing is known or can be known about the existence or nature of a deity. I’m always surprised how many people don’t know the what the word means.
You seem to be misrepresenting what I said, or have misunderstood the analogy with the loch Ness monster. However I’ll extend the analpogy as there is one way belief in a deity can be compared with belief in the loch Ness monster, and that is that no one can demonstrate any objective evidence for either belief. If theists are offended by that comparison then perhaps they ought to explain why? My disbelief in a deity is no more important to me than my disbelief in the loch Ness monster, and for the same reason.
That’s ludicrous hyperbole, it’s also pretty ironic given christianity condemns non believers to an eternity of torture. If you want me to respect a belief then that belief must deserve it on its own merits, and for me that means it must be supported by sufficient objective evidence.
I respect anyone’s right to believe whatever they want, but no one gets to insist I respect the belief. I’m sorry if you find that painful, but that is not my problem, and whilst it is not my primary motive to offend, this is a debate forum, and an atheist one at that, so if you find it painful when your beliefs are not accorded a level of respect you think they deserve, you may be in for a bumpy ride here.
FYI I made it clear my question asking if people who didn’t believe in wizards could be good parents was facetious, but nonetheless unless you can show an objective difference in such beliefs the purpose of the question is pertinent.
I voted to remain, as I felt the benefits outweighed the problems. It’s main problem is that the EU has evolved from an economic trading organisation into a political one, and a lot of people find this unpalatable. Short term we will suffer for leaving, but long term I think we will be ok. Unfortunately I’m 56, so short term is what I have. Things are ok here, but the press love to fear monger every little thing, people are idiots sadly and love to indulge their fears.
Other than Cuban cigars I’m not going without anything. Work is complicated now, as I’ve lost my job due to the pandemic, and most of my savings due to my divorce, I would otherwise have been retiring this year, so at some point next year I’ll have to start looking for work. At the moment my brother-in-law is very ill, and receiving chemo treatment, so going away to work isn’t an option anyway, plus I’m crippled with plantar fasciitis, I can barely walk. Luckily work can wait for me, as despite losing £93k in the divorce I’m not destitute. Compared to what my sister and her husband are going through I’m in clover tbh.
I see too many theists get their shorts in a tight knot when atheists ridicule and attack this god. Yet theists had no trouble torturing and burning those who opposed their beliefs.
Even today theists launch nasty attacks, misrepresent, and use very ugly words against atheists.
Well it struck me as crazy, that anyone would believe torturing countless humans forever after they die is ok, but ridiculing worship (without any objective evidence) of such a deity is sadistic.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, theists seem to be irony impaired.
due to their level of selfishness and control issues).
how’s it going over there 
. The EU membership was sold as an unelected dictatorship sucking the teet of the English taxpayer.