In the meantime, some Christians demonstrate their peaceful minds

Yes indeed, soontobe - anyone can call themselves Christian, Muslim, left wing, right wing, carnivorous, antisdisestablishmentalist and so on and so on.

The problem is that all who declare themselves to be whatever, usually firmly believe that they,and they alone, are right, that everyone else is wrong, and off we go again.

There is such a thing as a fundamental atheist. Not the same thing as a fundamentalist atheist.

Dawkins is not swearing though, is he- just reporting.

@TriciaF - There is no such thing as a 'fundamental atheist'! The phrase is meaningless. There is no central text or creed to be fundamental - just the inability to credit the existence of the supernatural.

That recording has been around for several years now... I found it at once disturbing and hilarious. Disturbing because these correspondents are plain bonkers, and hilarious because of the ignorance they proudly display'

And Richard responds by laughing at them - ridicule is the most potent weapon we have, and it is certainly preferable to what passes through the minds of his detractors.

As for swearing - surely one swears 'by' something or somebody? Just saying a naughty word (simper) is not really swearing at all.

vq - Paul is as part of the bible as say Moses.

I dont know how it is decided what is swear words. But somehow we all seem to know!
I guess that any word can become a swear word??

granjura - I agree with all of your last post.

soontobe, I agree with you- and I respect the fact you do agree these people attacking Dawkins in this way are wrong according to their religion. Thank you.

Hope you can also see that such generalisation, about anyone can call themselves Christian, also apply to Muslims.

I've looked up the verses, soontobe. These are the teachings of St Paul rather than Jesus and are, therefore, his interpretation of Jesus's teachings. Does Jesus actually say that we shouldn't swear?

Who decides/how is it decided that a word is a swear word?

The bible verse "wolves in sheeps clothing" springs to mind.
In this case, they arent even in much of sheeps clothing.
Even christians are warned to watch out for such people. We are not to take people, even so called christians at mere face value.
Look at how they behave over a period of time, and then decide. As best as you can.

granjura. People can call themselves anything they like, including christians.

God himself warns against such people.
We are to go by their fruits, that is what they do, not necessarily by what they say.

Tricia how can one expect such hatred and violence- from people who are supposed to follow the Bible and the Commandments?

Ephesians 5v4 and colossians 3v8 - 10 are a couple of places.

As regards what is and isnt a swear word - we are supposed to do our bit in that regard. So, if we are not sure, best not to say it.

That was so funny. I love the idea of a 'gaytheist'. Could we start a campaign for the next census. If enough people write it in the 'what religion are you' bit it will be accepted like the Jedis.

Why doesn't God like bad language? I know we're not supposed to take his name in vain but where does the bible ban general swear words and who decides what is and isn't banned? What about the words that are normal words in one context and swear words in another e.g. sod, bloody, bastard.

From what I've heard/read of Dawkins he's a fundamentalist atheist, so that's the kind of thing he should expect.

Have now looked at the link.

As I say, anyone can call themselves christians.

If the people writing those awful things think that they are christians, then they need to know [if they dont already, which seems highly unlikely] that God really does not like bad language.
And in the complete unlikelihood that they are reading this, they need to say sorry to God. And mean it. And try not to do it again.
And they really ought to send Mr Dawkins a sincere letter of apology.

Oh I see Anya- re-read your previous post- and yes, I now see what you mean, thanks.

Simplistic attitude as usual!

Dawkins I mean.

No in life in general. Sorry Anya- how is it relevant to the rantings of Dawkin's 'haters' whether he is gay or not?

A well-known tactic? What, on this thread...?

So not irrelevant.

Thanks Anya- I totally understand this. Distract and away from original subject- as well-known tactic.

The reason I raised it granjura was I wondered if these ranters knew something I didn't or whether they were completely nuts. Sort of 'don't let the truth get in the way' when you're spewing out hatred and curses.

O of course- but an un-necessary distraction from the subject. From what I can gather, Dawkins is not gay but he encouraged gay men to come out rather than be repressed as they were when religion(s) forced them to repress.

Someone raised a question, granjura. Rude to ignore it, no?

Just interesting. Same as it would be about anyone really. Human nature I guess.