Haiti: I know you won't..,

[Y.A.G Si Ye Nots]

I read the entire thing. It still doesn't change my point. You said atheists don't share a common belief, which is absolutely not true.

No, I said they don't share a common belief like followers of religions do. Followers of all religions share a common belief of a higher power and/or an afterlife. Atheists don't share that common belief.

Let me dumb this down for you: if you DON'T collect baseball cards, you don't have a common hobby with others who don't collect baseball cards. See where I am going with this? The absence of a belief is not a belief.

You, like many others, don't fully grasp what atheism is. Atheism is not a denial of a higher power. It is a lack of belief of a higher power(s). There is a difference between the two.

 

[Y.A.G Si Ye Nots]

Oh really. I am in the local Kiwanis club in my city. We raise money to help local charities. So if I do a good deed in a secular environment you can agree that I might do that out of the goodness of my heart( my club has Christians and Atheists in it and we get along well).Do we require the kids in the local HS to join Key Clubs or we cease to help raise money to buy new uniforms for the HS band? Of course not.Of course we hope that exposing teens to Kiwanis or Rotary etc may lead them to join our clubs later in life. So, If I do a good deed in a religious organization I do it only because I am a religious zealot and only care about converting them to my faith. Do I hope they will convert, yes, but my help in feeding them is because I care about starving kids and I certainly don't withhold food or clothing unless they believe the way I believe. I have been there and put my time talent and treasure on the line. how bout you? Asking for a friend.....

Congratulations on your local Kiwanis club. Now, go back and read what I posted (yet more proof that believers are far inferior in intelligence to non-believers).

Missions are commonly associated with travel to other countries, most of which are great distances/expenses. I didn't say any good deed you (or any believer) does is simply done to try and convert people to your religion. I said that if you were barred from discussing religion on your missions - trips at great distances and expense - you wouldn't go to those places anymore.

We both know you wouldn't spend $2500/person and days traveling to go somewhere to help them with basic necessities if your opportunity to convert them was extinguished. You would do far better investing that $2500 and time elsewhere which presents an opportunity to spread your message (religion). That shows that your first and main priority isn't helping people; it is spreading your religion.

Your type doesn't go to wealthy neighborhoods offering counseling services for stressed adults, mentorship for children whose parents are too busy working, etc. You go to the most vulnerable, desperate, and impressionable to do your "work" because they are easier to convert.

 

[extragreen]

Your type doesn't go to wealthy neighborhoods offering counseling services for stressed adults, mentorship for children whose parents are too busy working, etc. You go to the most vulnerable, desperate, and impressionable to do your "work" because they are easier to convert.

And if missionaries went to wealthy neighborhoods, you'd claim they were solely doing so to obtain contributions for the church when they should be helping the poor and needy.

 

[Y.A.G Si Ye Nots]

And if missionaries went to wealthy neighborhoods, you'd claim they were solely doing so to obtain contributions for the church when they should be helping the poor and needy.

Why would what I say have any impact on where they go? The fact remains that those missions aren't being taken to wealthy neighborhoods (or countries). Why not? The reason is exactly what I listed them as being.

They aren't avoiding the wealthy areas because they are afraid I will call them out for trying to contributions on a message board. They are purposely going to the desperate because they are the easiest to manipulate into converting.

Hey, it's a good strategy. If my goal were to get people to follow my belief system, I would do the same. But don't act like your first and main priorities are helping those in need. Your first goal is converting them; if it can be easier done to those in desperate need, then great.

 

[extragreen]

They aren't avoiding the wealthy areas because they are afraid I will call them out for trying to contributions on a message board.

I didn't say they'd be afraid of it, I said you would claim it.

And if missionaries seek the most desperate and vulnerable to convert, why does the U S receive the most missionaries of any nation?

 

[C.K. Ocsevol-Evad]

I didn't say they'd be afraid of it, I said you would claim it.

And if missionaries seek the most desperate and vulnerable to convert, why does the U S receive the most missionaries of any nation?

It’s not for the same reason that the U.S. also overwhelmingly sends the most missionaries.

The leading country sending missionaries to the U.S. is Brazil. They also happen to be the second leading missionaries in the world: the U.S. sends out about 140,000 per year. Brazil is second place at about 30,000 per year. The majority of those starting in Brazil go to the U.S. because of the large population of Brazilians in the northeast. Missions from other countries do the same for the same reason- with a high immigration base, other countries can find big populations of their own people having recently moved to the U.S.

Of course, there are also the selfish reasons for it (which encompasses almost all missions) which include having great child education, seeing a beautiful country, and America being a favorite destination for the world.

The majority aren’t coming to America to convert Billy Bob in Tupelo. They are coming to 1) preach to their own people who now live in the U.S. and 2) for the other obvious selfish reasons.

 

[i am herdman]

I know when in was in central America the clothes the kids got weren't front the atheist.

 

[extragreen]

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment seat;

 

[C.K. Ocsevol-Evad]

I know when in was in central America the clothes the kids got weren't front the atheist.

Looks like the weekend started early for somebody.