Are religious people more moral than athiests?

[JLHPROF]

9 minutes ago, LittleNipper said:

I know that morality is not the way to heaven. Christ is!  And I see from the Bible that all who practice morality without salvation produce nothing but filthy rags. Such is not a good thing.

Which means what exactly?
According to you:
The works Christ commands don't save.
The morals that Christ teaches don't save.
How exactly would you say one is saved by Christ if we don't have to do, say, or think anything?

[thesometimesaint]

12 minutes ago, Robert F. Smith said:

False.  As pointed out by Lord Bertrand Russell, so-called "communism" is a full-scale religion, and it even has a Millennium at the end of its rainbow.

http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/opiate/why.html 

http://rowrrbazzle.blogspot.com/2007/05/bertrand-russell-on-communism-and.html 

In fact there is nothing "communist" in Marxism-Leninism, which is really state capitalism pretending to be a people's democracy.  Milovan Djilas examined that lie in detail in his The New Class (Praeger, 1957).

Likewise, Nazism is a religion, with plenty of rituals and a Thousand Year Reich (Millennium) to look forward to.  The Satanic plan includes everyone, except the subhumans.

One can be a communist and have one or more Gods, as well as be a communist with no Gods at all. Rituals are a separate subject for discussion.

[LittleNipper]

12 minutes ago, JLHPROF said:

Which means what exactly?
According to you:
The works Christ commands don't save.
The morals that Christ teaches don't save.
How exactly would you say one is saved by Christ if we don't have to do, say, or think anything?

Christ's birth, death and resurrection is the only work that can save. The faith God Himself provides is what saves.

[The Nehor]

1 hour ago, Gray said:

Communism is a pseudo-religion, and the most fundamentalist versions turn violent.

Fundamentalism is the root of all evil.

The Bible specifies a different root of all evil.

[The Nehor]

27 minutes ago, Gray said:

That's not what Jesus taught.

To the evangelical Jesus seems like a jerk. He kept demanding hard things from everyone when he could have just told them to accept him and be automatically saved. It is almost as if Jesus did not believe that incanting a prayer of submission to and acceptance of Jesus qualifies you for salvation.

[JLHPROF]

4 minutes ago, LittleNipper said:

Christ's birth, death and resurrection is the only work that can save. The faith God Himself provides is what saves.

Doesn't answer the question.
HOW do we go from being unsaved without Christ to being saved with Christ?

If there is nothing we can do, nothing we can say, and nothing we can think, how does one become saved?

[Nofear]

I didn't answer the poll question myself, but in general, world opinion is anti-atheistic.

Global evidence of extreme intuitive moral prejudice against atheists (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-017-0151)

[Robert F. Smith]

53 minutes ago, mrmarklin said:

I guess if we include atheistic Marxism as a religion he’s correct. But separate atheistic Marxism and what do we have. Yeah, that’s right. 

Atheism is is the most destructive, and it’s not even close.

And you base that on which version of history?

53 minutes ago, mrmarklin said:

His reasoning is patently silly.  Societies that are Godly, despite flaws, are the most successful. 

Smile when you say Allahu akbar.    

[mrmarklin]

1 minute ago, Robert F. Smith said:

And you base that on which version of history?

Smile when you say Allahu akbar.    

Godless communism has killed more people in the last one hundred years than supposed religious atrocities have done since the beginning of time. 

Can 1.5 billion Muslims be wrong?  At some level, these are largely successful societies.  The terrorists are a very small segment of that society. By and large, Muslims are moral people both personally, and toward their fellow man. 

I know several. Do you?

[thesometimesaint]

4 minutes ago, mrmarklin said:

Godless communism has killed more people in the last one hundred years than supposed religious atrocities have done since the beginning of time. 

Can 1.5 billion Muslims be wrong?  At some level, these are largely successful societies.  The terrorists are a very small segment of that society. By and large, Muslims are moral people both personally, and toward their fellow man. 

 

CFR

[LittleNipper]

1 hour ago, JLHPROF said:

Which means what exactly?
According to you:
The works Christ commands don't save.
The morals that Christ teaches don't save.
How exactly would you say one is saved by Christ if we don't have to do, say, or think anything?

We are each given faith. What we do with it is up to us. How each of us lives demonstrates to both ourselves and others our honest intentions. I'm hardly doing or saying nothing on this thread, but what I'm saying and doing isn't my salvation.

[Gray]

1 hour ago, mrmarklin said:

Least religious is far from atheistic. You realize, for example that the queen of England is not only head of state, but also head of the Church of England. She was crowned in a cathedral by an Archbishop. 

Yes, part of a dwindling minority of religious British people.

[LittleNipper]

1 hour ago, thesometimesaint said:

One can be a communist and have one or more Gods, as well as be a communist with no Gods at all. Rituals are a separate subject for discussion.

Everyone has gods --- even atheists. They all accept or believe in something or someone. With some it is government --- for others it maybe a philosophy or a code of ethics. Still others believe in enjoyment of sports.

Edited October 26, 2017 by LittleNipper

[Gray]

1 hour ago, The Nehor said:

The Bible specifies a different root of all evil.

I think pseudo-Paul was wrong. It's fundamentalism.

[LittleNipper]

1 hour ago, The Nehor said:

To the evangelical Jesus seems like a jerk. He kept demanding hard things from everyone when he could have just told them to accept him and be automatically saved. It is almost as if Jesus did not believe that incanting a prayer of submission to and acceptance of Jesus qualifies you for salvation.

And this is not putting the words in the mouth of an Evangelical? Are you one or are you speaking for those that are?

[LittleNipper]

4 minutes ago, Gray said:

I think pseudo-Paul was wrong. It's fundamentalism.

Based on what, where exactly?

[Gray]

1 minute ago, LittleNipper said:

Based on what, where exactly?

My observations of history. Although love of money is a close second.

[LittleNipper]

10 minutes ago, Gray said:

Yes, part of a dwindling minority of religious British people.

What difference does it make if a person pretends to be religious or in fact doesn't go to church at all? The end for both left unchanged would admittedly be the same.

[JLHPROF]

17 minutes ago, LittleNipper said:

We are each given faith. What we do with it is up to us. How each of us lives demonstrates to both ourselves and others our honest intentions. I'm hardly doing or saying nothing on this thread, but what I'm saying and doing isn't my salvation.

You STILL haven't answered the question.
Don't make me CFR you. 

HOW do you get salvation in Christ?  What do you do?

[LittleNipper]

33 minutes ago, mrmarklin said:

Godless communism has killed more people in the last one hundred years than supposed religious atrocities have done since the beginning of time. 

Can 1.5 billion Muslims be wrong?  At some level, these are largely successful societies.  The terrorists are a very small segment of that society. By and large, Muslims are moral people both personally, and toward their fellow man. 

I know several. Do you?

Are Muslim societies successful or have they been enlightened by a Christian influence.  Even Europe was once under the spell of paganism and hedonism. but slowly over the centuries, Christianity has changed values and opinions. Now we are facing a society that is seemingly disregarding God, and it is quickly reverting. 

[Gray]

5 minutes ago, LittleNipper said:

What difference does it make if a person pretends to be religious or in fact doesn't go to church at all? The end for both left unchanged would admittedly be the same.

Apparently no difference, as secular Britain remains a successful democratic state, after abandoning religion.

Hopefully religion will find ways to make itself useful again in such societies.

[LittleNipper]

1 hour ago, JLHPROF said:

Doesn't answer the question.
HOW do we go from being unsaved without Christ to being saved with Christ?

If there is nothing we can do, nothing we can say, and nothing we can think, how does one become saved?

The individual is baptized by the HOLY SPIRIT upon the realization that he/she is not good enough to please GOD on merit. Please, GOD save me --- is all there is too it! This is where God begins to work in the life of an individual.

[LittleNipper]

13 minutes ago, Gray said:

Apparently no difference, as secular Britain remains a successful democratic state, after abandoning religion.

Hopefully religion will find ways to make itself useful again in such societies.

Is it, or does it condone sin at the expense of the God's saved individuals more and more. The entire gay pride issue and abortion issue, and the relegating of Biblical expression to churches and away from the "general" public at large? At one time a Bible thumper would have been regarded as a nuisance or a prude, at worse...  Today Bible thumpers are being called Fascists, ignorant, vile, hurtful, and I'm sure that there are other terms. At one time attending church was considered a virtue (not that it is), but it was never frowned upon.  

Edited October 26, 2017 by LittleNipper

[strappinglad]

6 minutes ago, LittleNipper said:

The individual is baptized by the HOLY SPIRIT upon the realization that he/she is not good enough to please GOD on merit. Please, GOD save me --- is all there is too it! This is where God begins to work in the life of an individual.

What shall be done with the millions/billions of folks who have had no teaching about Christ? Were they just ' cannon fodder ' in a war to save only those fated to hear about Christ?

[Gray]

13 minutes ago, LittleNipper said:

Is it, or does it condone sin at the expense of the God's saved individuals more and more. The entire gay pride issue and abortion issue, and the relegating of Biblical expression to churches and away from the "general" public at large? At one time a Bible thumper would have been regarded as a nuisance or a prude, at worse...  Today Bible thumpers are being called Fascists, ignorant, vile, hurtful, and I'm sure that there are other terms. At one time attending church was considered a virtue (not that it is), but it was never frowned upon.  

Religion will have to evolve to stay relevant. Of  course it has constantly been evolving since the dawn of humanity, nothing new there.

Edited October 26, 2017 by Gray