I, sadly, am a "free thinker" (if you catch my drift) who goes to a Catholic school and I have a big religion test tomorrow. One main question (my teacher told us this) will be "Can you love others without loving God". I wanted to blurt out "YES!!!", but bit my tongue and waited for an explanation. Her answer (and the answer she wants us to put on our test) is no and she wants us to explain this. What the hell?!?!? It's a load of BS and you all know it. She explained later to me that "if you don't love God, and a bit of God is in every one of us, then you cannot completely love another human being because you don't love a small part of them". Like stated before, load of BS. Fellow "free thinkers" please post reasonable responses that I can put on my test tomorrow (and still live through the next couple weeks of school).

I would put it in a different way. It is a fact that you love people before you get to know and love God. When you are a kid, you actually feel love for your family or for others, and you could or could not have an idea of what God is. Other good explanation, is the people who haven't ever heard about God. Are they unable to love because of this?? And what about people from other religions, who believe in their own gods, but these gods are not "love hippes" as the Christian god?? Are they unable to love others??


Other option ( but I'm sure you are a man of principles and won't take it!!) Be hypocrite and say no, we can't love others... Anyways, it's just a religion class, isn't it??

Ooh...I like that that's good stuff. Anyone else?

Here's a thought. Tell her you're not sure God exists, so you're not sure He's a part of any of us.

Go for it nerdman978!

For such a subjective question, I can't imagine her seriously marking any answer wrong. If it were me, I'd regurgitate her answer verbatim, and then critique it. It fullfils the assignment, and also let's you have some fun with the answer.

LOL. He would probably like to pass the class.

If you can do it without feeling dishonest you might try this, it's an argument I would give.

God created the universe and said it was good. Man sinned and creation fell. Although no longer pure, good still exists in creation, even the parts of creation that do not choose to render God his due. God, being gracious and compassionate, has allowed good to persist, even in a fallen world, to allow his creation to get occasional glimpses of God, even from sources that are not fully in willful submission to him.

-or- you could try this...

If you take the good out of anything, it must die. Everything that continues to live must have at least a kernel of good left within it. Nothing can be wholly given over to evil without first dying completely...99.9999% maybe, but if life remains, something good must as well.

That was what I was thinking of doing. And by that I mean feeding her what she wants and then, criticize it to no end.

If you really wanted to sound smart - just quote scripture for your answer.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1st John 4:7-8

Interesting idea.

Are you Christian? You should try to see if you can avoid the Religion Class, like I did in my highschool with the meditation class. Don't know if that will work for you though. Also, why don't you let the teacher know of how you really think?

Extreme Coder

you may like this blog entry about a teacher who tells a child that she can't be an atheist because her "ability to care for others feelings isn't an atheist trait." and that her "attitude was very Christian."
Atheist in a mini van.: Possum #1 makes us proud.

Sigh...I hate rekabitch. I think i'm going to coast and say that God is a part of eveyone, don't love Yahweh, don't love the tiny fraction of that person.

Then i'm going to say obviously you have to love god to love others because statistically people who love each other more divorce more often...duh!!! That and 5 Billion (4 if you count Is-Lame) think they love each other...but don't!!

Middle school, so we don't really get choices. Going to public high school though! Can't wait only a couple more weeks of religion!
P.S. the person who posted before me goes to my school and know the teacher

That's a bit of a jaded interpretation.

Feasibly, you probably won't love every part of anyone, ever. I love my mother, but I don't love the part of her that makes her nag, etc.

Uh...


Anyway, if you're an atheist, why are you in a Catholic school in the first place? Are your parents forcing you to go there or something?

Fixed. -_-

I converted to atheism while in Catholic school, so one could say I benefited from my experience

lol

I agree- whoever said that the Bible is one of the strongest arguments for atheism when read correctly got it right.

I don't think quoting scripture makes one seem smart, even to a religion teacher. That is one of the most sickening (of the non-violent) pieces of scripture I've ever read. How ignorant and self-righteous to think that those who know there is no higher power watching over us can't love in the same way as those who believe there is.

I don't know god, yet I love my best friend any bit as much as she loves me. She is a devout Christian, I am a devout (for want of a better word) Atheist, that has nothing at all to do with our friendship or the way we treat each other. Love, friendship, good nature...they all come from within, not from some unseen external source. To say otherwise is to devalue the very nature of love, and a person's free will to give it to whom they choose.

My argument to this question would be along the lines of love without god is knowing the true source love. It comes from within ourselves and isn't influenced by anyone but the two people involved. That doesn't just mean romantic love, but all kinds. To attribute love to god and deny it to those without god is an insult to their (Christians') own message.

Concede a point for a moment and say that god is love and you can't have love without god. Then ask the rhetorical question, how then do animals that have evolved since the creation feel love? They are not god's work. Your teacher cannot dispute the evidence of evolution, and by her own assertion many animals weren't directly created by god, as they are new species.

Damn I wish I could have my time over and go to primary school religious classes, I would get into the biggest arguments with the teacher. By the stage I had realised the implausibility of the whole thing, I just refused to go to the classes.
Good luck nerdman978, don't sell yourself out. Stand up for what you believe in (or in this case know).

True, although I went to a Catholic university, but chose to avoid all the religious goings-on at the place. It just happened to be the best uni around in my field.

someone who is expecting a 'no' answer on this question will probably accept any stupid explanation you make up. just write down some pile of crap and don't worry about it.