I'm sorry, but among the many reasons to reject Christianity, comparing it to believing in the tooth fairy and Santa Claus is among the most intellectually lazy of them. It may be fine for a third grader to do, but as you grow older, it amounts to rejecting something that you know very little about, on par with people who think violent video games cause the world's problems.

It seems like the media is so anxious to tell us about any negative thing that a priest does that we never hear about all the good that they do, so it's nice to hear about one making the right move.

Speaking as a Baptist, whenever someone says they don't like Baptists for a certain reason, I always wonder about who these other Baptists are because it sounds nothing like my church.

I agree, but no religion is immune to outside influences. If someone behaves indecently, you should always look at their motivating factors. If their religion is telling them to behave that way, then you should blame their religion, but if they are following a politician, then you should blame politics.

Same here. If you're respectful and tactful, there shouldn't be any reason to worry about being "nice." If, however, you want to debate them and try to get them to see the error of their ways, or tell them they're stupid for believing what they believe, well, then, that wouldn't be so nice.

If it's a constant conversation, do your best to bow out. If it's just something that is, don't try to be pushy about it and constantly bring it up. It always pays to be nice, even if you may not see it at the moment.

How curious to take a peek at those international personal perspectives, my sociology sense is tingling.

Yeah, it's cool. That reasoning lasted only a short while. You can't disprove the existence of god by catching your mom answering prayers on film, after all. It was a logical starting point toward atheism at the time, though. I also thought Wolfenstein 3D used real 3D graphics at that age, and that Sailor Moon's dub acting was pretty great. Yeeeeeah.

I don't know where the media gets this idea, either. I've never actually run into a Catholic priest who's done anything creepy or suspicious in my life. All of them that I've met and spoken with have been polite and cordial.

I was in a conservative part of Georgia during my run-ins with the pushy Baptists, if that helps narrow it down. Being atheist in the south is no picnic. Gotta consider the wording of the original sentence here. "Nearly all the people who've given me trouble have been Baptist or Megachurch attendees" is very different from saying "Baptists and Megachurch attendees are the ones who usually give me trouble."

Do you mean by megachurch something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megachurch

...ive never heard the expression before, then again - i am not really to the "scene" either.

Yep, just like that. The one I got dragged to by my classmate was like going to a Christian rock concert with a sermon, and I don't even like rock to start with.

I'd rather celebrate the solstices and equinoxes, over the course of human history these have meant far more to humanity than whatever religion has contributed. Plus, many of the traditional stuff from various cultures is actually fun, hell, most of the fun parts of religious holidays were adapted from these anyway.

But why stop at that? Why not also have him circumcised in case he wants to become a jew? It will only be more painful later.

It's a perfectly fine analogy to make, assuming the GP is referring to the belief in Santa Clause prior to knowing the truth.

Also, Atheists and Agnostics and those that quit their religion usually know more about religion in general than folks that stick with what they were born into.

Perhaps, if the Church would engage in things worthy of praise it might make the news. Considering that Catholic charities pulled out of Massachusetts when they were forced to provide services across the board, including to homosexuals, it's rich to claim that it's just a media perception. The Church does some good and in exchange the Church expects to have it's way whenever it wants.

You're probably not a Southern Baptist then, from what I can tell it's usually the Southern Baptists that people are complaining about. The ones here in the Northwest tend to be a lot less Bible bumpy.

Because you'd be mutilating healthy flesh and doctors that perform the surgery are in blatant violation of the Hippocratic oath.

You can't undo the damage in case the child grows up and decides not to join a religion that requires that. It always causes permanent damage, but it sometimes causes serious life long problems up to and including loss of the penis.

What's more, there's basically no medical reason to do that proactively when proper hygiene can keep the risk of infection to manageable levels.
Yeah, and the worst ones are the ones that preach the "Prosperity Gospel" which seems to involve giving the preacher a ton of money so that the members of the congregation can get rich.

I think it's safe to assume that we agree on how heretical that is.

I was being facetious. Poe's law, I guess...

They? They don't like? What are you talking about? Who is forcing anyone here to support anything? I criticize not baptizing the child in Poland because it limits child's choice without any significant reason.
It is about limiting his choice. You can teach him those lessons without impacting his future possibilities and causing him unneeded harm. Agreed but how does baptism prevents that. It is her life so she could do wtf she wanted with it. So can any other grown up. You don't use your kid for that tough when the process is of baptism is harmless. A bit of water one hour wait and fifty bucks in fees. Done, and you can live your life without ever caring about it The use your own life to do that. Don't push your belief system on the kid when it can bite him on the ass in the future.

Up until I was 22 I was at times an Agnostic and at others a Deist (depends on which side of the bed I crawled out from, I suppose), I could count the number of times I had gone to any church on one hand....later I changed my mind about all of that and joined a church......one that my relatives did not particularly favor me getting involved with (add in the fact that some people take turning down their home made iced tea here in the south as a personal insult, which has never helped matters).....anyway, I can sort of see where the OP is coming from (albeit from the other side of the road, so to speak)....and my advice is this-your from the sound of it a minor, so respect your parents even when you disagree with them, when your 18 you are free to do as you wish, but until then just bear with them

What's the benefit for your kid to not get baptize. Proof that he will be better of by not having baptism then I shall change my opinion,

It's a perfectly fine analogy only if you have no understanding of why Christians believe one and not the other.

I've talked with a number or people who have left their religion and when I questioned them, it was pretty clear to me that most of them knew very little about it. They often went from being fundie believers to being fundie atheists. Of course there are people who leave their religion who are quite knowledgeable about it, but from my experience, they are few and far in between.

Indeed the church does many things that are worthy of praise, and you haven't heard of most of them precisely because they don't usually make the news. What's rich is that this is a prime example of completely ignoring all the good that Catholic charities have done in Massachusetts for the last 100 years and are focusing on the one negative thing that has made the news, which isn't even that bad. While I don't think it was a good decision on their part, I fully respect that it is entirely their decision to make. It seems reasonable to me that people should be able to have some say about who they volunteer services to, so I'm dumbfounded as to how you can equate that with expecting their way whenever they want.

If it's removing a risk of infection, then isn't there a medical reason to do that?

Indeed.

There were Winter Festivities long before Christians commandeered it with the celebration of Christmas. The same goes with Easter. Neither of which I celebrate as a Christian.