Imagine No Religion? Atheist Movement Gains Momentum

If you don't like it, then just be an atheist. I'm a liberal Christian and I'm proud of it !

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Thanks for listing society's strengths.

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From a strictly religious point of view you, as a christian, should be thrilled with the influx of Mexicans who are primarily Christians. . .like yourself. . .Muslims also believe in your biblical God. . .why do you not embrace them as fellow believers???

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You are correct - hispanics and muslims live and die by their religion.

Muslims, aside from Atheist, are the most intolerant people on earth. Once muslims have a stronger foothold in America, good by democracy!

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c ya!

#@!

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whatever...

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Authoritarianism, intolerance, overpopulation, torture, mass murder, war, ignorance.

Just yummy.

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It's great to see there are people fighting to undo the damage wrought by religion. It's high time we take responsibility for ourselves and stop blaming some unseen entity for what we do to each other. We desperately need to curb overpopulation and to stop thinking having huge numbers of children our planet can't support is ordained by some mythical being; we need to stop people from pushing an agenda on us which literally ends our rights to things like abortion, gay marriage and (ultimately) free thought. Religion and free thought are mutually exclusive.

Though I suspect many pretend to "believe" in order to have freedom from thought, fact is, freedom of thought is absolutely vital to bring us together. The second we have oppression, particularly oppression which does not allow us to think independently, we become slaves to what is nothing more than an idea.

Religious people would have us believe the Bible is fact, when nothing about it has been proved. (For a book that's been around for centuries, one would think the tiniest shred of proof wouldn't be too hard to find!) Regardless of the existence of this book, belief or non-belief in a "god" should be immaterial in how we treat others, yet "belief" instead becomes the excuse for being hurtful.

Religion does no favors for anyone. When it pretends to "help" people, there's always a price tag attached. Like the Satan of religious belief, ironically, religion demands your soul and your freedom, only unlike Satan, you really don't get anything in return.

It's all smoke and mirrors.

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I've been madly in love with 'Annie' for 20 years. But that's a separate matter from the following acerbic commentary. Hopefully the editors will not punish me for 'espeaking' my mind on this topic.

Old Coyote Knose... that RELIGION IS THE FOUL AND VIOLENT POLITICS OF SPIRITUALITY. However... I'm somewhat suspicious that Atheism is also a religion. Indeed! Atheists BELIEVE there is no god. It's really just another belief system... when you (but never ewe) stop and think about it.

Who KNOWS what god is? Frankly... I haven't clue. God is a grand mystery... most likely a process, an ill-defined process that is an intrinsic part of cosmic consciousness.

One thing I KNOW for sure! I want nothing to do with the all-mightee male, father sky-god man... that supposed-lie rules Planet Over Birth-Earth from his throne in the fascist dictatorship of heaven. The violent and murderous war mongering god of Islam and Christianity (and especially KKKristianity) is cruel and vengeful... and totally insane. HE is a god that wouldn't hesitate to torture (forever an' ever) any human being who refuses to accept HIS so called divine "love." A rabid dog has more compassion than the tyranical father sky-god man in the dictatorship of heaven.

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It's about time that the idea of the separation of church and state was pointed out to a society that seems to have lost the concept.If people can swallow what the major religions are selling,that's their right.That anyone running for president has to pander to the christian right and parade their religion in front of the public in the 21st century is appalling.People seem to think that values and religion are synonymous.They sometimes seem incompatible.There is no point in trying to argue the fallacy of religious belief because you can't argue with blind faith.

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I spent 25 years as a devoted, born-again Christian ~ loved Jesus with all my heart, mind, soul, body and strength. As I learned more about the bible and was committed to following the will of God as revealed in "the word of God," I quit using birth control and followed the "submissive wife" requirement of the patriarchal family model of the Old Testament. Our family had pretty much gone off the deep end of religion ~ 7 kids, home schooled, home church, etc.

About three years ago, while on vacation in Arkansas, I met an uncle who is an atheist ~ he has degrees from Stanford and also attended the University of Chicago's School of Divinity. In the late 60s, early 70s, my uncle was the minister of education at a Unitarian Universalist church in Palo Alto.

So to say we were coming from completely opposite ends of the spectrum belief-wise is to qualify for an understatement of the year award.

Nevertheless, we found that we had plenty of interests in common and we began an email correspondence which lasted almost a year. By the time it was over, we had exchanged almost 1,000 letters ~ and I had come to see the insanity of my extreme fundamentalist beliefs. So ~ I've thrown the BABY out with the bathwater and am no longer a professing Christian.

I believe the Bible is evil ~ and Gaynor is correct ~ actually reading the bible is a good way to lose your religion once you really comprehend what's it's all about.

No Longer Quivering ~ Losing Her Religion

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It is just a negative one and for all that even sillier than the other religions, judaism, christianity, islam, hinuism, etc.

It is just another belief system.

There is another possibiity. Chuck in all the belief systems which distory your lives and gain your freedom.


Simply admit that you do not know the truth but that you may be looking for it. The moment you claim to know you display your ignornace, your stupidity and your insecurity.

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Religion was invented when the first fool met the first charlatan.

Unlike the christers, muslims, et al, I have no neurotic need to waste my happy times attempting to con someone into my way of thinking.
If I speak with someone about it, it is with reason.
When speaking from the standpoint of reason, it is NOT conning someone.
"They" have no tools with which to understand that.
Or, if they do have the tools, they have been UNtaught in how to use them.

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Jesus Christ was indeed born,by Marija,after that a Roman,Pontius Policius,had intercoarse with her in the Temple of Jerusalem.As his Father Jesus Christ became,Redhaired,Green-Eyed,and very more handsome then his Biological Father,who contemd him to Hanging on the Cross,but saw to the possibilities that Jesus was recovered and transported safe by Nicodemus and Maria Magdalena,to Franche,where Maria Magdalena,brought their daughter SARAH.
After a Couple of hundred years trying to Exterminate the Christians,Rome and Jews tryed to get money and Power out of an NON-Existing Good. A Manschauvinistic Invention is Lord o Mighty. But Jesus Christ,he was Real. And S.S.X.P,-is not a Computerprogram about Spanish Inqiusition,it is a Secret Society Seeking the Hooly Graal,and Kill People recklessly...
Thomas Escargency Kallmyr-North Harbour Street 11B-45130 Uddewallaby,SWEDEN

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It is always interesting how those who are totally committed to a religious faith strike out at those who do not agree with them and are willing to call themselves atheists are participants in a "religion." A little defensive, eh?

I believe many things because they have been proven to be true to my satisfaction. I believe the earth revolves around the sun, that evolution is real, that excessive CO2 in the atmosphere is really bad for the planet, and that plants use photosynthesis to generate their needed nutrients.

I also believe that humans are best defined by their unending quest for knowledge and their awe of our potential as a species - even under the worst of circumstances.

Religions smother curiosity and dismiss the search for new knowledge by requiring a replacement of thought with "faith". They exploit our natural unease with death with visions of a glorious after life if we tow the line and a nasty eternity if we don't. They give a false sense of superiority to their followers and a rationale for smiting those who have chosen other gods.

Atheists will allow you to think what you will and won't come after you with any righteous fury.

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1971 at Windy Island,We saw this THING-big as a SMALL Sun,a Discus-shaped,1.111meters Diameter Slim Golden Glowing,hoovering at 28-35 meters above Water Surface,and top side was above 87 meters above Sea Level. It covered area at Windy Island onto Main Land Sundsanvik in Bohuslaen,Sweden,this MAGIC NIGHT-22-26th November at 20.04 evening,until 20.14 same evening,aprox 9,56 Minutes.....
And as it took of in 20.14 hours,in Easterly Direction,it did so with a Bright White Very Strong Flash.Showing a Ruby Red Glowing Glimmering Glowing Cloud,several Hundred Meters Away,with a Great Dimension,at some seconds Later,a Dark Blue Flaming Star in South of Hafstens Mountain,at Hafstens Camping.And then suddenly it all Disapeared as in a Dream. Mr.Bert Kjelldahl,was the Driver of Our Car,he had a Blue Volvo PV,model 1964,something....we saw the Light and Motors of Car,stopped with the Firsth White Flash....and it did not work,until some seconds after the Blue and Red was,disapeared.....
Thomas Escargency Kallmyr-N.Hamng.11B-45130 Uodorwallaby-Sweden
Therefore I now Good is an Invention,thus of a other kind than this huge Schafflongkerraz Wessel seen 1971.....it was never in Newspaper or on TV,or on Radio,thus many of us 17 persons who saw it talked for years about it...as with Swedish Policeman that Torture that Poor Billy Goat at LENAS HOLME in Munkedals Harbour in early 60-ties. Dolly Parton comment that one,though,as"That Poor Billy Goat"(and Mr.Andy Warhole,did a sculpture,of that poor badly burned,running in circles,Billy Goat,that Bosse and Munkedals-Kennet(butcher),and Valter Kegoe/Kaiser Soeze,tortured,for hours and hours...)Two Policemen,and a Butchers aprenties...

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How the heck is this not a religion? I'm sorry, your belief system just morphed. If you have quotable leaders whose words you're sure will sway people into something more "correct", if you have money and momentum and are spreading a message for the purpose of swaying others who don't believe what you believe, you're now in the religion category. If atheism is just what you are, why spread it? Why HAVE a message? You can't have it both ways. If you act like a religion, spend like a religion, attempt to sway like a religion, you don't get to say that the very content of your thoughts keep you and only you and people like you from being categorized by outsiders. You have a body of adherents, a growing number of quoted texts, you are calling yourself a movement and say you're spreading a message. You may not have been a religion until recently, but to anyone looking, you are now. As your movement grows and your message continues to spread, it isn't going to do much good to keep insisting to anyone outside your movement that you're not a religion just because there's no belief in a god at the center. You're now doing too good an imitation.

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Severely reducing the probability of the creation theory in Genesis is a result of evolutionary biological studies. But developing a theory that there is no god can be arrived at in a number of other ways: historical research invalidating the cited events in the scriptures of the various religions, showing that the "revealed" truth in many scriptures has previous existence in nearby cultures, observations of the actual moral behavior of professed believers varies considerably from their stated beliefs, etc. Such evidence is expanded in Book 4 (Atheism and Agnosticism chapters) in the popular free ebook series "And Gulliver Returns" --In Search of Utopia--at http://andgulliverreturns or at the Kindle site.

The other day two of my neighbors decided to join the Humanitarian (read atheistic) Organization in Norway. Both were long time atheists. At the last minute the wife got cold feet because what if there is a Lutheran God. But she decided to join because of her total disbelief. Changing a deeply traditional belief is very difficult. Much more difficult than changing one’s belief that democracy is the best political system, that capitalism is the best economic system, or that Santa Claus is responsible for leaving the presents under the tree. Deeply held ideas based on faith are much more difficult to release than those based on evidence, especially empirical evidence.

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I think it's great that this organization is posting these around the country. And I think it is very revealing of the insecurity and intolerance of the so-called "religious" types---whatever the religion--as they go friggin' ballistic that someone has DARED to challenge their cherished "Santa Claus in the Sky" beliefs.

Would be great to see some of these along Interstate 80 in Nebraska--the state that is the Ground Zero of Christo-Nazisim.

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As soon as atheists make "love my neighbor as myself" and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" their mantra, I'll consider joining their ranks in support of atheism. Unfortunately, though, I've found atheists to be just as nihilistic as fundamentalist Christians, with a few exceptions.

But that's my point, if all the atheists were like Chris Hedges (and not Chris Hitchens), they'd quit trying to purge themselves of mystery and fantasy and see that the Bible is history and mythology, parable and full of human truths.

In other words, there's truth in fiction. Atheists should see the Bible as Literature. Instead, atheists let the ignorance and fear of fundamentalist/evangelical Christianity define atheists' faith in Oppositional Beliefism, so much so, that they discard all things Christian without critically examining the Bible.

Chris Hedges found the balance between truth and fiction because he is a theologist. His criticisms are insightful and enlightened because he studied the Bible and can see it with a critical mind. That means discarding what is bad (the nihilism) and embracing what is good (Humanity and life).

Hedges understands that the fundamentalists GOT JESUS WRONG! A good atheist would see that.

(Now, all you atheists out there can throw your few passages of the Bible that you know at me as proof of your knowledge. I can assure you that there's alternative interpretations of the Bible that are not based on fear and ignorance.)

Peace

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Seeing the giant mess the world is today, I wish the atheists were the winner's team, but unless and until they find a way to get to the 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide they're pretty much a big joke. Where are they now, working to keep millions of Muslim immigrants from flocking to history ignoramus Europe and the U.S., where history teaches what they will bring, and it's colored red as in blood? Whoopee, I'm free from religion. Allahu akbar, there goes my head rolling down the highway.

I set up a great History of Islam for History Ignoramuses page helping anybody learn the key facts of the 1400 years of the Muslim cult free. Take time to study it and tell your atheist friends, they need it.

http://go.to/islamhistory

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Banks need god because god attracts interest and the banks calculate it.

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All persons who believe in god are in fact engaging in a logical trick by which they purport to gain divine authority for their own opinions. Ultimately it is a self which delivers the opinion, and that self would hold a different opinion if they believed that god thought differently.

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keep imagining...

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The First Amendment states in part, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"

There is a big difference between Freedom OF Religion and Freedom FROM Religion which is the push that is being hammered home with groups like this who overuse terms like "separation of church and state".

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does everyone insist that the Big Three mono-theists or Atheism are the only two options? broaden your horizons people...

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That's my religion. It serves me well and it levels the psychological playing field.

Simple logic reveals that there couldn't possibly be a cosmic battle between good and evil that God might somehow lose because if God created everything, it would be unreasonable to suggest that one of God's creations could best the creator in a contest, wouldn't it?

So maybe the bible was produced and delivered by space aliens, possibly in an attempt to dissuade humans from doing themselves in. Who knows?

I do know this, though. Any god who behaved like the alleged "God" of the old testament, throwing lots of hissy fits, punishing people all the time and telling his followers to slay this group or that group would be a very petty god indeed, too cranky for the job, and not worthy of your kowtowing.

In other words, it just didn't happen like that, folks. Nothing's for nothing, in this world or any other. You have a mind and a brain for a reason. Use them!

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Calling Atheism a religion is like calling Bald a hair color.

"Faith" is the belief in the unbelievable. "Faith" requires no evidence. "Faith" is a dirty trick used to control people thoughout history. Science and "faith" are polar opposites.

If you religious people can't be honest enough to admit you've been fooled, at least keep your silly delusions to yourselves. The free thinking Atheists have real work to do, and we have no time for "prayer", rain dances, or rituals involving the eating of Christ's flesh and blood.

Thanks in advance.

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It's always amused me that the first thing the printing press was used for was to print teh bibble.

Making more copies available made it more accessible to the common man. The common man could actually read it in its entirety - rather than listening only to his sermon-stuffers' cherry picked verses.

He could then notice that teh bibble is self-contradictory and at odds with the universe we can see with our own two eyes.

The Gutenberg Bible was the beginning of the end for superstition.

buh-bye.

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Kurt Vonnegut put it well we he said something like this (in Fates Worse than Death - you can look it up): God is unknowable and therefore unservable. The needs of human beings are obvious. Therefore, the good life is to be lived in service to and celebration of ourselves and others.

No religion worthy of its followers could possibly disagree. Alas, most religions are worthy of little but contempt. They oppress, repress, suppress and ultimately depress otherwise kindly and intelligent people who are seeking nothing more than escape from their loneliness, comfort in the face of their mortality and, in the better cases, a smidgen of social justice.

Some religionists, of course, don the armor and the weaponry of zealots, crusaders and jihadists and declare open war on those who do not partake of their particular faith.

Others, embarrassed by the Osama bin Palins of this world, sneak off into a fuzzy "spirituality" that protects them from serious encounters with reality.

The more sensible and courageous among us may retain a certain sentimental affection for benign theists whose rituals and artifacts testify to their apparent love for the other members of their species; however, there is more to be gained by joining hands and leaping headlong and happily into an atheistic (non-theistic, not anti-theistic) universe, revealing the ignorance of toxic mythologies and the inherent violence of doctrinaire beliefs, and opening the door to a rational, reality-based but no less aesthetically pleasing and cooperative world wherein we may express solidarity and give material aid and humane comfort to others where and when we find them in distress.

In today's god-besotted world, the opportunities to display charity (in the largest sense of the word) and to resist tyranny in all its forms seem endless.

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OMgosh dude that is way cool. Good stuff

RT
Ultimate Anonymity

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I think you can argue reason and logic with theists all day long and they just won’t get it. There’s something hardwired into their brain that makes the need for them to have an imaginary friend. I also believe that non-believers are hardwired for such “Lack of faith” thinking. On the other hand, we see many cultures that have progressed beyond the theist state such as the Scandinavian countries of northern Europe, so it might just be a cultural thing.

I believe that there’s also a correlation between religiosity in a culture that’s tied to its social safety net. In societies, such as the ones of northern Europe, there’s a much greater social safety net, hence there is not so much need for religion because their social safety net provides real world solutions to real world problems. In cultures such as ours you’re pretty much on your own and many people believe in God the way they also believe in this notion of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps Horatio Alger bullshit. We need to believe in God because we know that no one else will help us even though God won’t really help you either. The need to believe in God is an act of desperation.

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A suggestion for a billboard.

Some flames would be appropriate as well.

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or who is right about your sky god


its about getting the "quackers" and the "bum-tists" on board with separation of church and state.


if we don't have school teachers preacher about creationism, government led prayer, and all the hocuspocus, becoming an atheist will take care of itself.

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Believing that nothing is nothing is not a religion.

It's simple really.

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Big difference between the two!!!

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a movement, with the momentum claimed by the writer, and a message getting spread, and famous leaders quoted as authorities and you want to influence people to follow you and believe as you believe, you're now a religion. Like any religion, some of you "joined" and some didn't. There are plenty of believers who never go to church and speak to no one about whatever they believe and don't seek to sway. Obviously, there used to be many atheists who followed an identically individual path. If you're one of those, what DO you think of this now being a self-describe movement with a message? Those who are part of the movement are part of something no different than any evangelistic organization. Some of you are obviously independent. You don't cancel the movement and the Message, with the books and prophets.

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The bottom line to any arguement involving religion or "God" is the simple fact that at the present time, NOBODY knows whether or not what we perceive as concious reality is or was created by either one entity or multiple entities, or happened by accident at random. Nobody knows if there is or is not a "god" or "gods", and anybody professing to know the truth is lieing to both themself and others, because there is not any scientific method able to determine this at present. EOD.

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... And now I'm a complete atheist, along with my wife.
I'm almost completely convinced that Jesus never actually existed in the first place, as there's no historical evidence to suggest that he did, and his "life story" is an amalgamation of other ancient man-god figures.

Unfortunately, My wife and I (due to the crappy economy) live with her mother, who IS religious. She's one of those lazy Christians who doesn't attend church, and literally believes that her daughter and I will change our minds down the road. Um, no.

My parents are Roman Catholic, they know I'm not religious, and for the past two birthdays and christmases, they've sent me religious paraphernalia: a video on Padre Pio and a little St. Tomas More statue.

The sad thing is that I know none of this is even the worst out there. Not by a long shot.

Atheism and atheist aren't pejorative words to our ears, people.

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Thank Zeus we have you and the FFRF.

-proud member

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To claim that some sort of being does not exist in any of the 100 billion galaxies of this universe nor in the multiverse to which we may be be a part . . . doesn't compute.

To claim that God lost interest in this specific experiment of his . . . that's another matter.

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wow.

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I have been a confirmed agnostic since i was a teenager. I am now 58. As a teenager i had a theologian walk away from me after he couldn't explain his belief without using the 'Bible' as a reference. This was at a 'Billy Graham Crusade'. The younger people surrounding us stood there in amazement. My personal opinion is that politicians USE religion for nothing but personal gain. The rich use their 'tithes' for nothing but tax deductions to avoid paying taxes. The religious right preaches hate against anyone they disagree with. They are against the 'public option' in 'Health Care Reform' when their own 'Bible' says 'heal the sick and feed the poor'. All THEY can say is 'not out of MY pocket'. I have personally chastised my own republican Congressman This is nation of greed. As Chris Matthews reported last night the wealth of the top 5% of the nation equals the wealth of the other 95% combined. They control the government to retain that wealth. There is no such thing as equality or fairness. I'd be willing to bet that those 5% are in the religious that ignore the teachings of their 'Bible'. To ME, if there is a hell, this is it.

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its how people use religion. just like guns arent bad, its the person pulling the trigger thats bad. but bypassing anymore good/bad issues i want to get to a different point. what exactly is religion? in the article the head of the atheist group seems like she only sees christianity, judaism, and islam as religions. what about other forms that are religions? such as i'm a zen buddhist. i dont believe there is a god i must obey or a prophet that is his creation. i believe the universe is god and god is the universe, and i am part of the universe, but not the whole universe. however according to atheists should buddhism be abolished as well? what about wiccan? they believe there is a 'god' (i think) for everything. should that be abolished as well?
finally i want to change topic once again. religion should not be abolished, nor should it be pushed down peoples throats. this includes atheism i believe. i hate when i walk down the street and see posters or signs or hear people preaching religion. yes get your word out, but through books or magizenes or something. if people are interested they will find you, and puting posters on public busses seems to me just as wrong as hanging out bibles in front of public schools.

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In my opinion there is not all that much difference between christians(or any religion), atheists and agnostics. Neither one group KNOWS. All of them BELIEVE. Only the agnostics admit that they don't know.
All should have the same right to express their opinions.

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The ignorant religious scum have been oppressing and abusing nonbelievers and freethinkers for millennia. Time for the abuse and spit to fly back in the face of the fairy-tale-believin', sex-obsessed, patriarchy PIGS. Rise up and start abusing these uneducated slime right back. Tell them to keep their myths to themselves and to cease imposing superstition upon SECULAR life. YOU GO FFRF!!!!!!

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The problems atheists have are largely of their own making, although they habitually blame their own and humanity's problems on everything but their own selves. They completely historically erroneously conclude that belief in God causes violence, while ignoring WMD's, biological and worse weaponry and the global mass pollution that belief in science and education has managed to inspire, not to mention the modern intellecutal-inspired American, French, Russian, Chinese, Cuban and a myriad of other revolutions, WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Iraq and God only knows how many terrible tragedies inbetween, that were fought in the name of nationalism, communism, socialism, democracy, capitalism, anarchism and God only knows how many other "isms" used, like religion, as an excuse to take someone else's stuff.

Atheists pretend to be tolerant, yet they seek to deny the right of a world-class scientist like Francis Collins to say in a public science classroom that he believes "modern DNA evidence alone overwhelmingly indicates design and not random processes." They would deny the right of Thomas Jefferson to say "all men are created equal" in a public classroom, the right of every signer of the Declaration to agree and to sign off by calling for God's blessing on the revolutionary cause and, they would deny the right of Thomas Paine to say I hate organized religion but I most definitely believe in God, a concept entirely foreign to most atheists.

Atheists are typically historical neophytes, pretending that the founding fathers were atheists, agnostics and/or deists, when in fact NONE of them claimed to be either atheists or agnostics and only Thomas Paine claimed to be a deist. As far as history knows, ALL of the key founders strongly believed in the right to freely discuss belief or non-belief in God and to discuss belief in God in relation to or apart from any human religion, in any public forum, including especially a publicly funded science classroom.

As the atheist in this article tries to do, atheists typically pretend to be "scientific" and try to marginalize belief in God by saying they don't believe in "Mother Goose", the tooth fairy or Santa Claus, either. What they fail to point out is, if I don't believe in Mother Goose, the tooth fairy or Santa Claus, I'm not left having to rationally explain how motion, the known universal reality, so-called "universal laws", finite creatures of intelligence, conscience and awareness and human eyeballs, brains and nervous systems somehow managed to appear all on their own, without any Creative Intelligence behind the universal and beyond process.

As Isaiah, Jesus, Paul, Socrates, Plato, DaVinci, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, Faraday, Einstein, Bacon, Lock, Rousseau, Voltaire, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Schweitzer, Douglass, Tubman, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Helen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt, Cesar Chavez and billions of more sane and logical people have long concluded, the overwhelming evidence of an Eternal Creator is "self-evident", a term used by Descartes representing the highest bar scientific evidence-based measure of the 17th & 18th Century, roughly meaning that only a total idiot would conclude otherwise.

ATHEISM = BLIND BELIEF IN BASELESS BOOGIEMAN MAGICALLY APPEARING UNIVERSAL REALITY SUPERSTITION AND AS SUCH, IS THE MOST POORLY CONTRIVED FAIRY TALE EVER INVENTED BY THE OBVIOUS LIARS OF HUMAN HISTORY. ATHEISM = BULLSHIT.

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Religion is in my view outdated and has become primarily a means of control, separation and limitation. Atheism feels to me like the religion of materialism/science which is just as much a faith based belief system as any religion because it requires one to start by accepting the premise that the material universe is all there is. What needs to be encouraged in my view is personal spirituality that is non religious and returns the meaning and the mystery back to life in this culture. Religion and atheism seem to be two extremes to me, maybe spirituality is the middle path......

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Four myths govern our lives: race, religion, politics & sex. All these myths are governed by institutions, which use fear to promote the institutions. The end of a myth means the end of the institution(s).

All myth-institutions support each other, because the demise of any one institution means the rest may also topple. We should not wonder why church, state, political parties & sexual politics continue to align.

The easiest myth to explode is that of race – being such an obvious lie. Traversing the remaining myths are increasingly difficult, they being based on nothing more than perverse thoughts which can never be pinned down. We credit the conveyor with a deep understanding, rather than psychopathy, reasoning that no human being would be so perverse as to deceive.

And so the myths grow, fed by psychopathy and by the implied consent of the reasoning mind.

It seems now that the implied consent is being withdrawn.

A person is entitled only to those beliefs which can be defended in the marketplace of valid ideas. Moreover, knowing an idea is false does not mean knowing therefore truth. It just means, in today’s marketplace, a person can say …you got shit for brains.

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I am a weak Christian and yet I find that I have so much in common with atheists and people who are moderately religious. I have a lot from people who used to suffer abuse when they were tied to a specific religion that they are now proud to be atheists and I don't blame them. I can't say that everyone who has suffered some form of abuse from religion will do the same. I may have been teased and shouted by religious zealots at church at when I was young simply because I wanted to think a little freely from them. I had considered turning to atheism and yet every time I was about to, I would meet a peace loving Christian who would bring tears to my eyes. The way things have been going in life and with politics and money doing more damage to religion however, I became more of a weak Christian. My love for Jesus and peace as well as my fear that my parents would not be able to bear the shock of my going atheist would keep me a Christian. I have met a lot of happy atheists out there but I still don't know that I would be one of them if I were to go atheist tomorrow. In the end, I don't think it really matters what religion each of us are tied to or that we're not tied to religion. We're all human. Peace.

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It's the dogmatism, the belief (generally confined to monotheistic religions) that there is only one true way and that all others are not only wrong, but by the very fact of their existence are threats. I sometimes tell people who want to know about my religious orientation that I once considered myself an atheist, but Odin convinced me otherwise. Atheism did not fulfill the spiritual components I did feel were part of my life, and growing up Catholic made me partial to ritual, but a strong antiauthoritarian streak keeps me away from anything with a membership in triple digits or above. For people in the same position, Neo-Paganism can be a satisfying middle path that lets you be spiritual and rational at the same time (though I admit we are not without our kooks as well).

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What continually gets lumped together here in peoples posts are "belief" religions (the earth was created 6K years ago) and experiential religions (mysticism and the like.) They are lumped together and someone attacks (or thinks they attack) both by saying, "you can believe in fairy tales or whatever you want," thus trying to point out and ridicule a silly belief like the belief in an anthropomorphic god, devil, angel, or miraculous happening. This shit gets old; I doubt there are many posting here that believe in either an anthropomorphic god or that the earth was created 6K years ago. Let's go ahead and take a big step and move the conversation along a little, please. It has nothing to do with science; it's a philosophical argument and there are more subtleties than this that would make for much more interesting conversation.

The word God has lost its meaning b/c it means too many different things to too many different people. God can mean what endless people attack here: an anthropomorphic God. For some, though, the idea of God simply points to something that one believes has a basis outside of physical, observable, quantifiable reality: love, transcendent moments, the creation of art, for instance, experiences had while on psychedelics. This - the last thing - might fall roughly within the experiential type religion: it's based on something of experience. Read "LSD, Spritiuality, and the Creative Process" to see different accounts of those who didn't believe in God, then, after doing LSD (under medical supervision) decided they couldn't avoid believing in something like "God," once again, referring to the meaning I gave above, somewhat . . . not having a basis in what we consider physical, normal, quantifiable reality. God can also mean something of an ideal that we strive towards; after all, atheist or not, most of us can believe that we become something in the line of what we dwell on - we gravitate towards both what we love and what we hate. So, in this instance, religion and God simply mean very high ideals, such as "infinite Love," for example.

Lastly, everyone seems to take such delight in saying, "it's MYTH!" normally all caps, by which they mean to say, "it's not historically true or it isn't scientifically sound." (I normally want to respond with, "wow, you have really done some fine critical thinking! Thanks for enlightening us.") Like the other tired ol' thoughts constantly mentioned, we all know the endless problems of people believing in religion in a historical truth type sense. But myth has nothing to do with history or science, except when people erroneously take it to be history or science. We take in stories constantly, whether true, untrue, or half-true . . . then, whether consciously or not, we live them out to degrees in different settings. For me, myth is allied with creativity. They serve as unconscious blue-prints, whether we like it or not. Thus, we can get rid of religious myth, but it'll inevitably get replaced with something else: movies, for instance, probably shit movies, or worse, something of a political natured-myth that supports the status-quo.

Most posts also place a high amount of faith in rationality, and most don't seem to understand what irrational means: originally, irrational simply meant knowledge gained from the senses. Also, the opposite of rational is spontaneous . . . and for some, this is yet another meaning for God: spontaneousness, life force, life energy. Nietzche (sp?), aside from having written "God is Dead," also preached irrationality in this form all through his writings, exemplifying it with Dionysus. I also relate this to the madness that Socrates said must take possession of an artist for him or her to make real art - real art is not rational, yet for me, along with love, is one of the highest things we as humans have produced/experienced. We cannot cold-calculate life by being rational.

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I would recommend some Objective Religious Education, so that You Can Find God

I could point you in the way of some books and videos that explain in detail the history of Religion over the last 10,000 years, but you really need to find the truth for yourself

I believe in God

I am not an Atheist

I simply do not believe in any Religion

Neither do Our Kids - yet they came top of the class in Religious Studies - and are happy useful members of the human race who are nice to their friends - and who travel the World - and meet people of all sorts of different cultures as equals - and play and have fun

That's What God is all about

Tony

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One Year

The Next Year You Go as a Local Policeman

The Next Year You Go as a Hippie

And you repeat this cycle for about 20 years and there is no problem whatsoever...

And Then Margaret Thatcher Gets Elected

And You Go as a Storm Trooper

And Its All Fucked Up For 20 Years

Now The Stonehenge Summer Solstice is Getting Back Together

I seem to recall being right at the front but my girlfriend was not a vestal virgin

Tony

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We are supposed to believe that the tricky bastard revealed himself to some authoritarian primitive and that he has reasons of his own not to simply reveal himself to everybody. Choosing to believe is a "test" of our "faith".

He won't clear up the confusion because we are supposed to blindly follow one of thousands of delusional - and often outright evil - "prophets", without thought or question.

Moses, Mohammad, Joseph Smith and thousands of other prophets all have this in common; you have to take their word (and/or the word of their acolytes and successors) that they met with the deity of his representative.

Jesus? Nobody who actually met the guy wrote a word about him that survives today. If he even existed. There isn't a shred of contemporary documentation (except for some obvious forgeries inserted long after the fact) to prove he existed at all.

It is just the world's oldest con. Sorry believers, you've been had.

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I don't believe in organized religion, but I still believe in God - or a higher power - or what ever you want to call it.

ALL organized religion was created by humans, therefore it's crap - just a way to control the masses. But that doesn't mean there isn't an amazing unexplainable power "out there" in the universe - the collective unconscious if you will - it's something powerfull and accessible to everyone who pays attention.

Just my two cents!

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I am so glad this good group is getting exposure on AlterNet. This is one organization that has been out there on the front lines for years doing the heavy lifting of protecting separation of church and state. They've pursued many successful lawsuits to that effect and, even if we are not atheists, we all should be grateful for their diligence. That's because separation of church and state benefits religious freedom for everyone.

We've become so used to being bombarded with religious messages, wherever we go — television, radio, buses, billboards. Now, that's OK. That's freedom of speech. But so are the messages of atheism. It is great that this voice is finally reaching the public after so many years of suppression.

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when someone accuses me of being religious because I'm a lifelong atheist.

So, when someone does this I always ask:

Do you believe in god?

The answer is usually "yes".

So, I say:

Prove to me that god exists. If you can do so to my satisfaction, then I will no longer be an atheist.

Surprise, surprise - they NEVER can prove it.

Point made.

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♥

"Imagine No Religion? Atheist Movement Gains Momentum" - that's the title of this article.


The subject of the article, Annie Laurie Gaynor, says: "The word atheist: ... It's a pejorative in our society. And we're trying to change that."

The "What is our purpose" page on the FFRF stresses that thier mission is to protect the seperation of church and state promised by the constitution. It states that membership is comprised of atheists, agnostics, and skeptics and that these groups are all FreeThinkers.

So what is the point of calling it the "Atheist Movement" when it is not? Why was the title not:

"Imagine No Religion? Agnostic Movement Gains Momentum"
or
"Imagine No Religion? Skeptics Movement Gains Momentum"
or
"Imagine No Religion? FreeThinker Movement Gains Momentum"
or
"Imagine No Religion? Seperation of Church and State Movement Gains Momentum"



Using the word atheist (already called a pejorative by Gaynor) to define the movement is another way to marginalize it and make it seem more radical that it is.

The organization claims atheists as members, but has never defined their movement as the "atheist" movement.

FFRF says it "is a national membership association of freethinkers: atheists, agnostics and skeptics of any pedigree" only the media (even alternative media) defines The Freethinker Movement as the Atheist Movement.

http://www.ffrf.org/purposes/

♥

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I have been reading American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips. Enlightening, but thoroughly depressing. Religious dogma is the cornerstone of America, and the adherence to the imposed ignorance and intolerance has been ruining this country for centuries.

I hope this atheism trend is long-lived and robust enough to withstand the virulent backlash that is bound to rebound from the religious fundamentalist born-again core.

Social progress requires the jettisoning of the superstitious, willful ignorance and bigotry that stems from blind belief in fairy tales, fantasy, and wishful thinking.

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which arose from Judaism. What's that saying . . . a copy of a copy of a copy....

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Several of the posts from religious people have tried to drag atheism down to their level by claiming atheism is a "belief" system. They can't understand that coming to conclusion not to accept religious dogma or unsubstantiated religious belief is not the same thing as "belief". Most athiests' ideas about so-called spiritual matters are subject to modification with new information or new understanding. This failure to discriminate is at the root of religious persistence.

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I've met plenty of fundamentalist Atheists - people who want all religion eliminated, period - and they're no easier to get along with than fundamentalists of the Abrahamic sects. The operative idea has to be freedom. Each of us should be free to believe as we choose, and our private beliefs should be separate from rational public policy.

Too many times, the criticism directed at "religion" is really criticism of Abrahamic religion, i.e. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and people incorrectly assume that the critique can be applied to all reliigions. From my perspective, they're all just variations on a single, patriarchal theme that advocates war and oppression, ruling by fear of punishment and promises of paradise.

My religion, Wicce, has no hierarchy, is non-violent, and inclusive. There's nothing to fear, and no limitations except that we try not to cause harm to another. I'm going to practice my religion, even if I'm the only one who does, and any opposition from non-believers is as offensive as opposition from Abrahamic believers. Ignoring, stereotyping, not taking something seriously when you haven't studied it, is oppression no matter who does it.

I agree that there are many incorrect assumptions spread by religionists that should be challenged, particularly when they prevent reasonable government, but to condemn all religion without distinction is just another form of ignorance. The goal shouldn't be "god or no god," the goal should be freedom, tolerance and education.

Maybe I reached a different conclusion than you because I have been exposed to facts and ideas you've never encountered. Maybe we can look at the same facts and reach a different conclusion. People can have very different perceptions and abilities. Just because you've never done something, it doesn't mean it can't be done. Just because you have never seen a thing, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. We need to stay open to new information. The "god or no god" debate is an irresolvable duality that keeps people polarized. Life is too complex to reduce it to an either/or, yes or no question.

I used to participate in a "god or not" blog carnival as a Goddess-worshipper. I had some things in common with the religionists and some with the non-religionists, but what they all had in common was that most of them would not give serious consideration to an idea they had never encountered before. They all wanted to assume they knew the facts about something they'd never studied, and wouldn't factor in new information from someone who had. There was a lot of anger and only a little critical thinking going on, and this was a generally well-educated group. What I saw was the opposite of empiricism on both sides.

I want a secular government, but I also want my right to believe as I choose protected. As long as this is the case, I have no problem with people being presented with the alternative of believing in nothing. People should consider all alternatives and know why they chose the alternative they end up with.

The best any of us can do, logically, is agnosticism. We can speculate about life after death, but without dying, we cannot know what, if anything, is next. Any one of us might be wrong, so let's not oppress people for their opinions, or let our opinions justify the oppression of others. What we need in this world is doubt.

A person who doubts, or at least knows he might be wrong, won't strap a bomb to himself. It takes absolute certainty to kill, torture, oppress others for an idea that cannot be proven. It doesn't matter what the idea is - it's the certainty that makes a person dangerous. Being sure there is no "god" can make a person just as intolerant as believing there is one.

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If it is presented without the technical details. There are sources like "The Bible Unearthed", that could be translated into a human history of religions of the middle orient, orient and north africa.
Buda was atheist what a great contribution would it be to follow its adoption to hinduism and lamaism. The look for spitrituality -enhancement of human relations- might flourish.

Then there would be another great job: The use of religions by powers, it will derive from the former works.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/mar/15/society

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"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded on fables and mythology."

"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear."

...Thomas Jefferson

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If quotes from famous atheists are what's needed- why not cite the following: Vladimir Lenin(any idea of a Lord God is unutterably vileness) Joseph Stalin (how many divisions has the Pope?), Adolf Hitler( One is either a Christian or a German), Fidel Castro, Mao Tse Tung , Kim Il Sung and other proponents of pacific, liberal and humane societies. I'd be the first to concede that Christians (and Catholics) have not always practised what we preached- but to argue that organized atheism has no blood on its hands is fatuous- Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky one noted that Soviet Communism had killed more people in a single day than the Inquisition did in all the long centuries of its existence!

Terry

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My religion is ganjobiciclatholism. We use marijuana as a sacrament and absolve our sins through the pennance of riding our bicycles daily. I encourage any of yall who are uncomfortable with mainstream KKKristianity and atheism to join our church.

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Atheism isn't the absence of religion. It is more of a belief system in itself. Many of the more outspoken atheists hate Christianity with a passion. No any other religion seems to matter to them. They make a practice of intolerance toward that specific people.

Atheists might just meet the definition of a "hate group."

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I googled atheist cats and found the following:

"Atheist cat finds your prayer cute but ultimately futile."

Occam's Razor chart showing historical branches of Christianity vs Atheism...

----
The essence of Christianity is told to us in the Garden of Eden history.

The fruit that was forbidden was the tree of knowledge.

The subtext is, all the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on.
--Frank Zappa

----
Too Much Coffee Man
by Shannon Wheeler
Excerpt:
God is an atheist.

Faith is "Belief in things that aren't based in fact." Since God knows everything, he can't have faith. And because he's already the highest power, he doesn't believe in a higher power. And so, God is an atheist!"

----
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able, and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God.
--Epicurus

----
Question with boldness even the existence of God; because if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."
--Thomas Jefferson

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Creation vs. Let there be Light:
Visible light occurred 380,000 years AFTER the moment of “creation”

Go Forth and Multiply vs. Dominion over Women/Environment:
Go Forth and Multiply
Sex isn’t “all about procreation” and sex doesn’t always result in pregnancy. People that argue sex is only for procreation, whether through gene theories or Biblical mandates, refuse to understand that not every man or woman is fertile, or that their genetic “purpose” can result in offspring who are infertile, so why force the interpretation?

Dominion over Women:
And second, biblical scholars can’t agree upon the meaning of 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 11-15: “(11) Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection. (12) But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness. (13) For Adam was first formed, then Eve (there’s a second version in Genesis where Adam and Eve were created at the same time); (14) and Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into transgression: (15) but she shall be saved through her child-bearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety.”

Some Biblical scholars then reinterpret verse 15 to say the author (inspired by God) is not advocating all women must bear children, but that all should simply live “lives of faith, love, holiness, and modesty.” Why fabricate an interpretation that appears to contradict this verse? I can’t agree with any of these passages, but let’s move on to the book of Revelation.

Dominion over Environment:
Last but not least, in the first chapter of Genesis: (22) And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."

If humans were told by God to multiply, but multiply to the point we are directly responsible for the destruction of untold numbers of species, are we therefore held accountable by God for destroying creatures of the air and sea?

(26) Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

Does man having dominion as sanctioned by God mean we can destroy that which we have dominion over? Dominion, in 1 Timothy, allows men to have dominion over women.

Conflicting, contradictory, sexist and destructive, the Bible has much to offer men and little to offer women, at least women with minds of their own.

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You decide. Diverse cultures have shown almost universal belief in god[s], and that is used by theists to prove that gods exist universally. Atheists say that only proves that people create gods all over the place. While the former proposition can be warm and fuzzy, the latter is filled with peril. One must be responsible. The atheist principle says that people create gods, and by extension, people create their own culture, economy, religion and all the material and cultural items they have. Now we're getting somewhere. If people create this, shouldn't they control it, say, democratically? Or, conversely, if gods create it, then shouldn't the priests, religious or secular, control it? Hmmm...

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Women as Second-Class Citizens vs. Women as Financiers:
Women as Second-Class Citizens (also, see first section above)
The 144,000 in this passage are all male virgins (Rev 14:4). You will recall from the last passage that they were Jews, twelve thousand each from a given tribe (Rev 7:4-8). Furthermore, if we include another passage in Revelation, we may note that they were beheaded (Rev 20:4). So the 144,000 consist exclusively of celibate Jewish males without heads.

If heaven is reserved for a limited number of celibate Jewish males (without heads) what hope is there for rest of us, never mind the women? Indeed these are absolutely sexist passages, no matter how you interpret them, and women in Christianity are out of luck when it comes to salvation, depending upon which passage you believe in, because you can’t believe both books can you, or either book for that matter?

Women as Financiers:
And Jesus’ campaign relied on “Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others...”
Women!

Leave the Unbeliever Alone vs. Kill the Unbeliever:
Leave the Unbeliever Alone
If the people of the village won't receive your message when you enter it, shake off its dust from your feet as you leave. It is a sign that you have abandoned that village to its fate.

Kill the Unbeliever!
And now about these enemies of mine who didn't want me to be their king--bring them in and execute them right here in my presence.

Hate Everyone/Yourself, except for Me (Jesus):
If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

Curse that (Out-Of-Season) Fig Tree!
And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.

Jesus Kills Two Boys in the Gospel of Thomas!
http://islamicarchives.wordpress.com/
2009/06/25/jesus-kills-in-the-gospel-of-thomas/
(Re-connect link before using)

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happy to read this, though I do not care for the Islamophobia that is running rampant in the atheist community. Many atheists make the same sweeping generalizations about Arab peoples and Muslims as US Bible-thumpers do. Isn't our side supposed to be a bit more enlightened?

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I can understand why people get caught up with religion. It offers people support, and that is something good. But my problem with religion is its obsession with Armageddon. The really sad part is that I believe that the rapture will happen because the ultra religious are going to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. For instance, “Be fruitful and multiply.” Anyone with any kind of common sense knows the Earth is in trouble from the impact of too many humans! I was born Catholic, but I would destroy Catholicism just for its stance on birth control and abortion. The ultra religious are going to destroy the Earth just to prove scripture, and they are going to take us all out with them!

What if you were the passenger of a car, and the car was going too fast for you to safely bail out; unfortunately for you the driver is nuts and he is driving that car toward a cliff? You, the nut and the car will be destroyed! What should you do?

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The constitution speaks of freedom "of" religion which means you have the right to be free from religion if you so choose.

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After reading through as many comments as I could (a slow process on dial-up) it occurred to me that no one mentioned what I suspect is the REAL reason for mankinds belief in God -- fear of death -- which is, according to Jung, a function of Ego. For anyone interested you might pick up Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" for his fascinating views on Ego.

In my humble opinion, mankind "created" God to help allay the fear of death while also attempting to explain all the surrounding natural phenomena way back when before science thankfully came around to explain things. Remember, too, before monotheism mankind's gods were rather human-like; each one representing a facet of our psychology.

I don't consider myself religious or an atheist. Why would I label myself? And if I had to label myself for the sake of argument I suspect I would call myself a pantheist. I take a little from here (Western thought) and a little from there (Eastern thought) with an overriding emphasis on Nature and have come to a comfortable place in life. There are many roads to enlightenment.

One more thought: I've always thought it curious that the atheists I know are far more moral than the Christians I know. That speaks volumes.

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Om!

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I was raised Catholic without ever giving it much thought. Sunday Church gave me a great time to imagine various ridiculous scenarios like an army of chimpanzees crashing through the stained glass windows and carrying the priest away.

Not until a few years ago, I'm 29 now, did I decide to look into Atheism a bit. As Richard Dawkins explains in the 'God Delusion', I would probably consider myself to be about a '9' on the scale of 1-10 btwn faithful and atheist.

So that's it. Religion-in the sense of religion as a belief in an almighty god-is so ridiculously unbelievable for those with an open-mind. And I think this article skirts that issue, how to further open-mindedness. Spending resources and effort on furthering open-mindedness on such a narrow front as Atheism is a waste of time in my opinion. Why not push for better, socially-oriented schools in which freedom of thought is encouraged from an early age? Or an end to wasteful war with a subsequent increasing in social democracy? Given a habit of open thought, I doubt it would take long for most people to cast off the faith of various religions.

But trying to 'impose' atheism--even if that's not how these activists would see it--is reminiscent of Bolshevism and provides plenty of ammo for right-wing reactionaries to organize against our open-minded agenda. Besides, there are many God-believing social activists out there. Lets not forget Bishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador who preached 'Liberation Theology' (and was killed for it) or the Quakers who were instrumental in freeing South Africa from apartheid.

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If and when approached and asked by individuals of any religious "persuasion," I simply let them know that, unlike them, I don't claim to possess an immortal soul. So that moots any belief in an afterlife for me...
That pretty much ends the conversation.
As a rule, they are not trained/conditioned to deal with that issue.

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....Yes the Atheist movement is gaining momentum. We Freethinking activist scientists and neighbors next door want to reverse McCarthyism.
... Theocracy, defacto & too much dejure theocracy has been the glue of hate, militarism and profiteering in our nation as we have conquered this continent with bibles & bellicosity.
.. American ideals from Thomas Paine to Clarence Darrow are all about real life, real living & wanting an end to religious violence.
. I welcome Military Atheists and Freethinkers, FFRF, Atheist Alliance International, Free Inquiry, Secular Coalition For America, Ethical Culture and American Humanists to the gathering herd of individualists as American Atheists work with Americans United For Separating State From Church.
.........We will win our civil right to secularity and freedom from religious discriminations under Article 6 with Amendment 14 and Amendment One.......!
Across the globe, Americans have inspired much progress and we can set a standard of free speech exposing dangerous/deadly and irrational religious ideas, calling believers and Atheists alike to a better world.
Peace, Larry Carter Center 843-926-1750
ps: a godless billboard graced Charleston, SC I-26 last February.

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All religions were created by humans/MEN. Religion is the best form of SOCIAL CONTROL ever devised by MAN and this control is required. It has been used to lead people out of bondage, to enslave their bodies and minds and most important-TO PROMISE THEM AN AFTERLIFE, a reward for all their miseries.
As long as there are humans who must be told how to act and think there will be organizations to fulfill these needs.

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Yeah, this happened in San Francisco huh? Well that sure doesn't surprise the rest of the nation. Why don't they put up the sign in Amarillo and see how far they get--or Huston or Dallas? Or Milwaukee or Selma? When those quoted have sat in a fox hole being both mortared and having artillary come down on you or pinned down by the Viet Cong, then let's talk. Until then they're just a bunch of ignorant eggheads, pundits and feminists in "f$ck me" heels spouting off about things they really have no first hand experience with.

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Love the dialogue here and I find the most generous open minded and tolerant people I know are the ones that are least-religious. I think religion - regardless of which ones preaches intolerance, hatred and bigotry. I was raised Catholic but I am done. I don't need to read a book written by a bunch of old men in the 5th century. And BTW - it was Molly Shannon from SNL who announced that she was atheist, not Julia Sweeney.

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Annie Laurie Gaynor. Assuming that she and her family have experienced the privileges of living in this "democratic republic",
Ms. Gaynor needs to remember that this country was founded by a brave group of men who sacrificed everything, based on their religious
beliefs, so that she and her family could live in America. Thank God, there is and always will
be a plurality of devout Christians in this nation. So go ahead, spread your billboards all
over the country. You'll always be in the minority.

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I became an atheist after reading Nathaniel Branden's answer to the question, "If everything in the universe has a beginning, doesn't the universe need a creator for its beginning?" That was almost 40 years ago. For those who might think that if there is no religion, then there are no ethics, they can rest assured that ethical behavior doesn't need religion to survive, that ethical behavior is based on reality. Read Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand.

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when we need them the most?

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What kills me about xtians is how they use their religion to justify everything they do in life.
For example, if a man sees another man getting robbed at gunpoint, if it's in him to come to that man's aid he is going to do it and if it isn't in him to do it he just isn't going to do it.
It wasn't the spirit of the lord that made him do it or the devil got in him and not allowed him to save the man.
Until I know for sure there is someone or something other than my parents who taught me right from wrong, good from evil, if I'm acting naughty or nice, your do these chores around the house cause your ass live here too therefore no reward will be issued, and I'm passing on these sames values to my kids so they can be productive citizens of society, I will not need the assistance of an imagenary deity on how to live my life.
It's like saying I know if i make a right I will be where I need to be in two minutes, but instead I'm going to take the sceneic route because if I suffer for taking the sceneic route, then I shall be rewarded when I get to the place I need to be.

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WOW. Thoughtful and well-written post! Rarely do I read anything so well-stated regarding the polarization between atheists and religious believers. Thanks!

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John Lennon was a leaguer with Leary,who even wrote the lyrics for Come Together. Check out Lennon's Spirit Foundation. Take acid and see God, or at least what all the spiritual seekers throughout history have experienced. India was so far ahead of us that they developed Vedanta (the Bhagavad-Gita) long before Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism were developed from it. Likely a result of millenia of hashish and schrooms incorporated into their culture.

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The quote from Weinberg is one of my pet hates, usually spouted by Hitchens:
"He made this really astute observation: He said that good people will do good things, and bad people will do bad things. But for good peopleto do bad things, that takes religion."

Absolute nonsense. It takes AUTHORITY FIGURES to make good people do bad things. Religion happens to be very good at creating authority figures, but so are various political systems.

See the Milgram Experiment for a great example of how this is unrelated to religion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

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