Very few adults actually believe in the Bible. So when someone tries to use the Bible to justify their homophobia, I don't take them seriously.
You still haven't defined what you mean by 'homophobia'... I offered you my definition, showed why that is not the same as people who disagree with homosexual "marriages", but you have yet to explain what you mean when you use the term 'homophobia'...
So you're arguing that I, for example, shouldn't be taken seriously if I use The Bible to justify my viewpoint concerning homosexual "marriage" because 'very few adults actually believe in it'?? What does the number of believers have to do with anything? Those people's beliefs don't affect my own beliefs...
When I say people "believe what they want," I'm saying people try to convince themselves of what they want.
Are you "convincing yourself of what you want" right now, since you want what you just said above to be true?
People who say they believe homosexuality is a sin don't really believe that, but they want it to be true, so they try to convince themselves it's true.
I'm not interested in your bigotry (you're asserting here that all people who believe that homosexuality is a sin are liars)... It's simply what they believe. Belief is the acceptance of an argument as a true. That's all a belief is...
And I'm sure for some of them, they FEEL it's true because they were brainwashed as children.
Yup, some of them are brought up to believe that as true. Some are brought up in other ways... Every set of parents is going to instill their beliefs upon their children; it's part of child rearing... Eventually, the children are going to start becoming more independent and making choices (including their beliefs) on their own...
But even then, an adult can accept that feelings don't dictate reality.
Define 'reality' as you are using the term...
If you really believe homosexuality is wrong because of the Bible, then you're going to believe all of the other nonsense in the Bible too.
Not necessarily... I personally would fall under that characterization, but that doesn't mean everybody else will... And you've proven that The Bible is nonsense, or is that simply your belief?
Incorrect.
How many Christian Conservatives demand men stop shaving, that women sleep on the floor when they have their periods, or that nobody wear clothes made of two different fabrics?
You'd have to do some study on the Old Testament vs the New Testament, and of how Jesus Christ fulfilled the Old Testament Law for us, and how we now live under a New Testament (not having to keep the old testament laws which are not repeated in the new testament)... This is the main issue I come across when speaking to fundamentalist atheists; they, for the most part, don't take the time to actually understand even the basics of Christianity or what The Bible says.
Yes, homophobia is an irrational fear of gays.
Okay, great. We agree on the definition then. This would be applied the same way as someone who has an irrational fear of clowns, or of spiders, and etc...
In most cases, homophobes are afraid that they might be gay themselves.
I highly doubt that. Speaking for myself, I am not afraid that I might be gay. I know that I am not.
A person who lacks this fear doesn't care what gay people do in their own homes.
I can't control what gay people do in their own homes. They can be gay all they want. I can only control my position on the matter, and I do not support homosexuality, as it is sinful behaviour, and I do not support the notion of that union being a "marriage", as a marriage is between a man and a woman (they become one unified body).
If Atheism is a religion, then abstinence is a sexual position.
If I had a dollar for every time I heard that mantra parroted...
A religion is best defined as "an initial circular argument with other arguments stemming from it". Atheism makes the initial circular argument that god(s) do not exist. They then base other arguments off of that initial circular argument. It is EXACTLY what a religion is.
Christianity works the same way. It makes the initial circular argument that Jesus Christ exists and is who he says he is. Christians then base other arguments off of that initial circular argument. It is also EXACTLY what a religion is.
This same definition applies for things mistakenly referred to as "science", such as the Big Bang Theory, the Theory of Evolution, the Theory of Abiogenesis, and likewise...
Religion is much more than just Theism...
