I disagree. Faith is logical, reasonable, thoughtful and healthy. Where a lack of faith is more of an abnormality, breeds frustration, illogic and causes reactionary temper-like tantrums motivating some people to create multiple posts condemning faith.
Two sad things about this appearing on a church sign. It encourages the anti-intellectualism that is being held up as a positive good in some quarters of the country. It also means that the people in that church are not following the command to love their God with all their MIND, as well as their heart, soul and strength. Essentially, the sign says that faith is not reasonable. Is that really the message they want to convey?
Based on what? Have you not met these types? At least you seem to disagree with the sentiment displayed. That's a start.
The Catholic Church has always taught that faith and reason go hand in hand, and I believe that is true. Some of the most intelligent men in history were theologians and doctors of the Church. There is no reason to think that faith is only for the simple-minded. However, God loves the simple-minded, for they have the faith of a child. There is no reason to scorn them, for they are blessed.
Anyway, in America, the biggest enemy of faith is all the distractions our modern life has to offer. We are blessed in our wealth, and diverted by our many entertainments. It is easy to forget God in modern America.
Faith often requires the suspension of reason. Not all faith or all reason. But a good portion of it.
most of the time history has shown it's believers causing the non-believers frustration, bodily harm or even death (and sometimes believers do that to other believers, sometimes even in their own church sadly enough)
Well, my former church, an ELS Lutheran church in Minnesota, has its own elementary-middle school, and they believe in a literal 6-day creation, that the Bible is the 'inerrant word of God,' etc. I know that they do, at least in a way, agree with the above sign, because human reason is antithetical to Christian claims. Many Christians readily acknowledge this, as does the "New Testament" itself in places, but they seek to turn this into a positive by touting such faith as a good thing, a sign of strength and proof of God at work in people's hearts. Combine that with other feel-good emotional manipulation, and you end up with something pretty powerful to counter reason and scepticism, though only in gullible enough minds. Just look at what Blackrook posted on page 1 of this thread: God loves the simple-minded, for they have the faith of a child. There is no reason to scorn them, for they are blessed. I scorn those who would mislead them.
Really, where did you get this data?. I wonder if the neo-nazi who killed those people in the temple was actual someone of faith. Or the incident that happened during the batman showing. Or the Norwegian who killed all those teenagers. Or the man who is found to have killed is girlfreinds gandaughter. Those are 3 recent incidents of the top of my head that were headline news, and I do not think any of them would have considered themselves as people of faith.
The OP would of course be true if Human reason were not limited by the fact that we are not omniscient and omnipresent. Or the millions killed by atheists in the fomer soviet Union and Communist china...
Hm, yes, turn to the example of lone psychopaths to try and generalise about how religious and nonreligious people behave! Ignore the Inquisition and all its similar events, where religious zealots have actively persecuted, harmed and killed those who didn't share their beliefs!
Atheists don't kill in the name of atheism. You're talking about dictatorships where, as in good ol' "Gott mit uns"-Nazi Germany, people simply obeyed their leaders out of fear and devotion.
