A good rule to live by

guerilla said:
No different than anyone else bro.
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But it is different. It's practically impossible to become President as an atheist. You can have just about any belief you want, but if you claim to be an atheist, your chances of reaching higher office in this country are practically nil.

Why? Because religion is revered in this country and often goes unquestioned. "Because the Bible said so," is a legitimate justification for bigotry all around the world.

Religion matters. Quite a lot, actually.
 


brandonbaker said:
When's the last time you've heard of anyone committing a crime in the name of atheism?
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Here's two of my favorite atheists.

columbine-yearbook-eric-harris-dylan-klebold-young.jpg


As Klebold shot and killed Townsend and injured Schnurr, Kreutz and Kintgen, Harris approached another table where two girls had hidden. He bent down to look at them and dismissed them as "pathetic". The two shooters then approached an empty table where they again reloaded their weapons. Schnurr, who had been badly wounded, began to cry out, "Oh, God help me!" Klebold approached her and asked her if she believed in God. Schnurr floundered in her answer; first replying "no" and then "yes", in an attempt to appease Klebold. Klebold then asked her why; whereupon Schnurr replied that it was because it was what her family believed. He taunted her, reloaded his shotgun, then walked away. The slightly injured Evan Todd also reported that at this point, Klebold had also said: "God is gay."
 
guerilla said:
I am not scared of religion and I am not religious.

Unlike many atheists, I see religion as a technology. Not much more than that.

I don't care what people believe, I care what people do.

I don't care if people kill for religion, or for resources, or for political power, or to feed the libido dominandi.

I care that they kill.

Let's put it this way. Would you rather have a neighbor who believes in God, but is a great neighbor, or a neighbor who is an atheist, who is a fucking asshole?

At the end of the day, what they believe matters a lot less than how they deal with you.
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I think people who believe in God are wrong but there are a lot of positive traits to being religious. Just look at Ryan Eagle's posts about how religion helped him quit smoking, or the religious people who donated to that stuck up atheist after he got sick.

There are a lot worse sins in this world than being potentially wrong about a question that is outside of the realm of everybodies knowledge.

I do not even have an issue with religious people. I have an issue with people who are dogmatic, close minded, blindly follow what their parents told them, and are unwilling to consider alternatives to their belief system.

Those traits manifest themselves a lot in extremely religious people, but they also are in militant atheists as well (and others).
 
IceToEskimos said:
Here's two of my favorite atheists.

columbine-yearbook-eric-harris-dylan-klebold-young.jpg


As Klebold shot and killed Townsend and injured Schnurr, Kreutz and Kintgen, Harris approached another table where two girls had hidden. He bent down to look at them and dismissed them as "pathetic". The two shooters then approached an empty table where they again reloaded their weapons. Schnurr, who had been badly wounded, began to cry out, "Oh, God help me!" Klebold approached her and asked her if she believed in God. Schnurr floundered in her answer; first replying "no" and then "yes", in an attempt to appease Klebold. Klebold then asked her why; whereupon Schnurr replied that it was because it was what her family believed. He taunted her, reloaded his shotgun, then walked away. The slightly injured Evan Todd also reported that at this point, Klebold had also said: "God is gay."
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The Columbine kids didn't kill in the name of atheism. The kid was disturbed and happened to be an atheist who responded to the girl's plea to God.

Anyway, all this is beyond the point. Dogma is the real issue. The problem is that religion by its very nature lends itself quite easily to dogmatism.
 
brandonbaker said:
But it is different. It's practically impossible to become President as an atheist.
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I am an anarchist, I'd like to see no Presidents.

brandonbaker said:
You can have just about any belief you want, but if you claim to be an atheist, your chances of reaching higher office in this country are practically nil.
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To reach higher office you just have to be a liar and scumbag.

brandonbaker said:
Why? Because religion is revered in this country and often goes unquestioned. "Because the Bible said so," is a legitimate justification for bigotry all around the world.
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America != world, and Christianity != all religions.

brandonbaker said:
Religion matters. Quite a lot, actually.
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Religions seems to matter to atheists more than it matters to theists.

brandonbaker said:
Dogma is the real issue. The problem is that religion by its very nature lends itself quite easily to dogmatism.
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As does atheism.
 
brandonbaker said:
The Columbine kids didn't kill in the name of atheism. The kid was disturbed and happened to be an atheist who responded to the girl's plea to God.

Anyway, all this is beyond the point. Dogma is the real issue. The problem is that religion by its very nature lends itself quite easily to dogmatism.
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Human beings love dogma, we almost seem to need it. Got down to your local hipster coffee shop and sit down for a chat with the first secular humanist Christopher Hitchens/Richard Dawkins fanboi you see and you'll get an earful of indoctrinated dogma on par with anything you are likely to hear from the direction of the pulpit.
 
I can't see why people need religion in XXI century. I don't need church to help me with my metaphysician searches.
 
*BA DUM TSS*

Nice one! Life is life - you can't find out why are you here without priest and church. Obvious thing.
 
Falian said:
That wouldn't really matter because churches are non-profits and non-profits can apply to be tax-exempt as well.
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Actual non-profits are required to disclose their income and expenses. Churches are not required to do so. That allows churches to fund political movements (which is illegal) using their undocumented money.

If they have nothing to hide, they should have no problem opening their books just like all other non-profits.
 
Ehh....atheists just want to rebel and really don't get the big picture. There is no reason that religion and science cannot coexist. Furthermore, just because religion was attempted to be taught in a controlled manner and falsified by a few old men does not mean we have to scrap it altogether.

There are still some things that science deems inexplicable, and are only explained by a higher consciousness.
 
TrafficAngels said:
There is no reason that religion and science cannot coexist.
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Yes there is, and that reason is reason itself.

Science is entirely based on evidence and rejects claims that hold no evidence. By it's own nature, science rejects religion every time, all the time.
 
guerilla said:
Religions seems to matter to atheists more than it matters to theists.
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Because theists take for granted something that atheists are calling into question. Not a surprise that atheists are often more adamant in their beliefs.

guerilla said:
As does atheism.
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A + theism = Without + God

To be an atheist simply means you don't believe in God. In and of itself, irrespective of atheists, there is nothing about atheism that lends itself to dogma.

To be an atheist is to say, "I don't believe there is a God." It's leaving open millions of scientific possibilities to explaining the universe and what its governing powers are.

Religion involves adherence to a pre-existing, often unquestioned set of beliefs. Religion does not seek answers as much as it prescribes them.

You tell me which naturally lends itself more to dogma.

Sure, there are dogmatic atheists as there are non-dogmatic Christians. There are exceptions to every trend. But this doesn't negate the fact that religion and dogma are intricately linked. Atheism is just a lack of a belief, nothing more.
 
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