Perhaps you don't understand. Even the mormons don't believe the baptism makes the deceased into a mormon. A better analogy is that of someone who would like to make sure you have the opportunity to go to a play and so he puts a ticket at will call for you in case you would like to attend. You won't even know there is a ticket there for you unless you decide to go to the show. How this amounts to something akin to rape is beyond me.
Maybe you didn't previously know this particular show was show playing, maybe you had heard about about it and and had writen it off. But the ticket is placed at will call for you in case you decide to see the show, whether it is because you just now heard about it for the first time or simply gained a different perspective on it.
Furthermore, the vast majority of baptisms are performed on behalf of people who never heard the message at all while alive.
And by your logic simply having convictions different from others is condescending or presumptuous. If someone is a believing Hindu, by definition they believe you are wrong if you subscribe to Christian doctrine, or if you are a Muslim, etc...
Maybe you didn't previously know this particular show was show playing, maybe you had heard about about it and and had writen it off. But the ticket is placed at will call for you in case you decide to see the show, whether it is because you just now heard about it for the first time or simply gained a different perspective on it.
Furthermore, the vast majority of baptisms are performed on behalf of people who never heard the message at all while alive.
And by your logic simply having convictions different from others is condescending or presumptuous. If someone is a believing Hindu, by definition they believe you are wrong if you subscribe to Christian doctrine, or if you are a Muslim, etc...
A little learning is a dangerous thing.
Do you know the best way to anger an atheist?
- 28/02/2012 07:10:57 PM
1857 Views
Or, you could baptize one of them, posthumously.
- 28/02/2012 07:32:48 PM
1188 Views
I can't think of any reason for an atheist to be annoyed by that.
- 28/02/2012 11:08:44 PM
946 Views
Well, for starters, it's really effing rude.
- 28/02/2012 11:31:36 PM
984 Views
It is an act of love.
- 29/02/2012 12:34:03 AM
1009 Views
Everyone does it for that reason? (edits for clarity)
- 29/02/2012 10:27:02 AM
898 Views
I have some disturbing news for you...
- 29/02/2012 06:42:41 PM
946 Views
For anyone reading this: the guy above is wrong, and I am admitting that to you on his behalf, so
- 29/02/2012 07:15:38 PM
956 Views
Maybe without realizing it, you have articulated....
- 29/02/2012 07:24:13 PM
811 Views
I actually find that conversation quite interesting.
- 29/02/2012 08:18:35 PM
935 Views
Re: I actually find that conversation quite interesting.
- 29/02/2012 09:07:06 PM
957 Views
I cannot possibly agree more with these two paragraphs of yours...
- 29/02/2012 09:28:09 PM
968 Views
I find the Fall perhaps the most interesting part.
- 02/03/2012 09:05:29 AM
1330 Views
Re: I find the Fall perhaps the most interesting part.
- 02/03/2012 06:26:06 PM
1109 Views
There are 3 critical distinctions: 1) Ability to sin, 2) Awareness of sin and 3) Appreciation of sin
- 05/03/2012 04:08:36 AM
879 Views
It is not an act of love to defy the beliefs of a loved one.
- 29/02/2012 02:32:45 PM
1055 Views
Rape? That is ridiculous.
- 29/02/2012 05:26:13 PM
958 Views
It's a bit of hyperbole, but not too far from it, imo
- 29/02/2012 05:45:39 PM
990 Views
"Spiritual rape" might be going a bit far, but otherwise that sounds about right.
- 02/03/2012 08:06:48 AM
1020 Views
Isn't religion different than faith, though?
- 28/02/2012 07:44:07 PM
1013 Views
Yeah that's pretty much what I said 
- 28/02/2012 08:21:56 PM
803 Views
- 28/02/2012 08:21:56 PM
803 Views
that won't work on Buddists
- 28/02/2012 09:21:48 PM
952 Views
For some reason I always imagine Buddhists as the monk class on RPG games... *NM*
- 28/02/2012 10:13:27 PM
473 Views
That's always been my view of the issue. Half-assed non-religious types are just as obnoxious too.
- 28/02/2012 10:34:12 PM
1167 Views
Seems a got both a pat on the back and a scathing rebuke. I call that a good day
- 28/02/2012 11:57:45 PM
1235 Views
Best way to anger an atheist, by declaring all atheists are the same. *NM*
- 28/02/2012 10:38:51 PM
616 Views
Common error number 1: "Atheism isn't a lack of belief, but rather a belief that God doesn't exist."
- 28/02/2012 11:18:23 PM
1097 Views
Curiously, anger at statements of simple obvious facts is a hallmark of religious fundamentalism. 
- 29/02/2012 10:27:29 AM
1037 Views
- 29/02/2012 10:27:29 AM
1037 Views
What you're doing there is defining "atheist" and "agnostic" in a way that suits you, but...
- 29/02/2012 11:50:27 AM
836 Views
What I am doing is using the terms as they were universally used until about the time I was born.
- 05/03/2012 01:11:21 AM
972 Views
So what do you call this position?:
- 05/03/2012 08:43:20 AM
929 Views
I call them both agnostic, but the former leans toward atheism while the latter has no lean.
- 05/03/2012 10:53:02 AM
982 Views
See, there you go again, defining atheism in such a way as to make it sound ridiculous.
- 05/03/2012 11:21:17 AM
806 Views
Well, is unswerving belief a good thing, or not?
- 05/03/2012 11:57:05 AM
1034 Views
What's happening
- 05/03/2012 02:24:41 PM
1015 Views
Conversationally, DKs use of "atheism" at the start of this convo is the only practical definition.
- 07/03/2012 03:10:18 AM
1322 Views
Oh really? The guy who was doing it to annoy people?
- 07/03/2012 09:53:38 PM
920 Views
The guy who was doing it to annoy atheists based on the terms technical and popular meaning, yes.
- 11/03/2012 04:04:36 AM
795 Views
Whatever.
- 12/03/2012 12:39:24 AM
1236 Views
*NM*
I understand that as "I completely agree."
- 13/03/2012 12:11:18 AM
1074 Views
- 13/03/2012 12:11:18 AM
1074 Views
I have known very few people who "believe" their religion from rearing and actually understand it.
- 29/02/2012 12:08:01 PM
1164 Views
I thought that was "best way to make an atheist roll his/her eyes at you"? *NM*
- 29/02/2012 11:05:21 PM
566 Views