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originally posted by: peter vlar
a reply to: tsingtao
The no name imaginary friend isn't my concern, its the people here on earth who claim to act in his name who really think they know what an omnipotent being wants of them that cause me concern. And FYI, as I served with these people, lived with them ate with them, and killed with them...yes I think I in a far better position to know who and what hey were praying to and for where as you are actually the one making presumptions and telling me he was praying for the rest of us. It's B.S. and terribly ignorant on your part. As you claim there are churches being torn down because of atheists could you let us in on the secret and say which ones?
The Middle East may be the birthplace of three monotheistic religions, but some Arab nations appear bent on making it the burial ground for one of them. For 2,000 years, Christian communities dotted the region, enriching the Arab world with literature, culture and commerce. At the turn of the 20th century, Christians made up 26% of the Middle East's population. Today, that figure has dwindled to less than 10%. Intolerant and extremist governments are driving away the Christian communities that have lived in the Middle East since their faith was born.
In the rubble of Syrian cities like Aleppo and Damascus, Christians who refused to convert to Islam have been kidnapped, shot and beheaded by Islamist opposition fighters. In Egypt, mobs of Muslim Brotherhood members burn Coptic Christian churches in the same way they once obliterated Jewish synagogues. And in Iraq, terrorists deliberately target Christian worshippers. This past Christmas, 26 people were killed when a bomb ripped through a crowd of worshipers leaving a church in Baghdad's southern Dora neighborhood.
Christians are losing their lives, liberties, businesses and their houses of worship across the Middle East. It is little wonder that native Christians have sought refuge in neighboring countries—yet in many cases they find themselves equally unwelcome. Over the past 10 years, nearly two-thirds of Iraq's 1.5 million Christians have been driven from their homes. Many settled in Syria before once again becoming victims of unrelenting persecution. Syria's Christian population has dropped from 30% in the 1920s to less than 10% today.
One only needs to go in these forums to see crusading of atheists. Also, here's an example of people wanting to tell Neil DeGrasse Tyson that he's an atheist without his consent, which is simply a basic form a crusading:
originally posted by: AngryCymraeg
originally posted by: vasaga
Since most mainstream religions are actually satanistic rituals in disguise of worshiping God, I wouldn't say so. Although, the extreme atheistic movement probably is. Basically, anyone who wants to support the matrix is conceptually a satanist.
What 'extreme atheistic movement'??? Has there ever been an crusade of atheists? Have atheists ever built buildings to atheism? Have atheists ever rammed a book in peoples faces and bellowed at them to repent/convert/listen to the voice of whatever-the-hell-that-person-thinks-exists?
No. Of course not. Don't be silly. I'm an atheists and I just want religious people to leave me alone. I especially want religious nutjobs to leave me the hell alone.
originally posted by: vasaga
One only needs to go in these forums to see crusading of atheists. Also, here's an example of people wanting to tell Neil DeGrasse Tyson that he's an atheist without his consent, which is simply a basic form a crusading:
originally posted by: AngryCymraeg
originally posted by: vasaga
Since most mainstream religions are actually satanistic rituals in disguise of worshiping God, I wouldn't say so. Although, the extreme atheistic movement probably is. Basically, anyone who wants to support the matrix is conceptually a satanist.
What 'extreme atheistic movement'??? Has there ever been an crusade of atheists? Have atheists ever built buildings to atheism? Have atheists ever rammed a book in peoples faces and bellowed at them to repent/convert/listen to the voice of whatever-the-hell-that-person-thinks-exists?
No. Of course not. Don't be silly. I'm an atheists and I just want religious people to leave me alone. I especially want religious nutjobs to leave me the hell alone.
originally posted by: ArtemisE
a reply to: Stormdancer777
You mean the Arab nations are demonizing Christians in the same way a lot of Christians demonize muslims????? No way..... That's not fair....
originally posted by: peter vlar
a reply to: Shminkee Pinkee
you're 100% correct. However, in the worldview of many alleged Christians(alleged because their actions are in direct, hypocritical contradiction to their teachings)their version of reality is the ONLY true way so anything that opposes it is satanic in their eyes. So much for tolerance and turning the other cheek right? The ones crying the loudest about Christianity being under attack by evil secularists/Satanists think they're todays version of early period martyrs.
I did not avoid any point. You're simply fighting with all your being to not see the similarities between the growing atheistic movement and the religious movement. Also note that the brain doesn't know the difference between emotional abuse and physical abuse.
originally posted by: AngryCymraeg
originally posted by: vasaga
One only needs to go in these forums to see crusading of atheists. Also, here's an example of people wanting to tell Neil DeGrasse Tyson that he's an atheist without his consent, which is simply a basic form a crusading:
originally posted by: AngryCymraeg
originally posted by: vasaga
Since most mainstream religions are actually satanistic rituals in disguise of worshiping God, I wouldn't say so. Although, the extreme atheistic movement probably is. Basically, anyone who wants to support the matrix is conceptually a satanist.
What 'extreme atheistic movement'??? Has there ever been an crusade of atheists? Have atheists ever built buildings to atheism? Have atheists ever rammed a book in peoples faces and bellowed at them to repent/convert/listen to the voice of whatever-the-hell-that-person-thinks-exists?
No. Of course not. Don't be silly. I'm an atheists and I just want religious people to leave me alone. I especially want religious nutjobs to leave me the hell alone.
You're avoiding the point. Comments on forums like this are not crusading. Crusades tend to involve large public movements of heavily armoured people on horses that tend to end up in burning cities. Go look up the First Crusade to see what I'm talking about. Have you ever seen large scale pro-atheist marches? Ever?
The Soviet regime was ostensibly committed to the complete annihilation of religious institutions and ideas.[10] Militant atheism was central to the ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union[11] and a high priority of all Soviet leaders.[3] Convinced atheists were considered to be more virtuous individuals than those of religious belief.[3]
The Soviet regime was ostensibly committed to the complete annihilation of religious institutions and ideas.[10] Militant atheism was central to the ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union[11] and a high priority of all Soviet leaders.[3] Convinced atheists were considered to be more virtuous individuals than those of religious belief.[3]
With this understanding of democide, Table 1 lists all communist governments that have committed any form of democide and gives their estimated total domestic and foreign democide and its annual rate (the percent of a government's domestic population murdered per year). It also shows the total for communist guerrillas (including quasi-governments, as of the Mao soviets in China prior to the communist victory in 1949) and the world total for all governments and guerillas (including such quasi-governments as of the White Armies during the Russian civil war in 1917-1922). Figure 1 graphs the communist megamurderers and compares this to the communist and world totals.
From 1945 and up to 1987, about 76,000,000 people have been murdered in cold blood by one regime or another, around thirteen times the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Most of this democide has been done for political reasons (reasons of state or power), but also much of it has been outright genocide (the killing of people by virtue of their ethnicity, race, religion, or nationality--for the difference between democide and genocide, click here). From 1900 to 1987, about 39,000,000 people, including Jews in the Holocaust, were killed in genocide throughout the world. I do not have a break down of this total for the post-WWII years, but it seems that the proportion of genocide to overall democide has remained roughly the same. If so, genocide since the war possibly accounted for near 20,000,000 of those murdered.
The greatest source of post-war democide was communism (see the communist death toll). During and after the war communists seized power, or came to power with the help of Soviet military might, as in Eastern Europe. In addition to the USSR, Mongolia, Eastern European regimes, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia, communist regimes eventually also included China, North Korea, North Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba, Grenada, Afghanistan, Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, and South Yemen, or 26 regimes in all. These communist governments and the communist guerrillas they supported in other countries account for about 66,000,000 of the 76,000,000 murdered since the war, or about 87 percent. Clearly, of all regimes, communist ones have been by far the greatest killer. During these years it has been mostly death by Marxism than more generally by government.
originally posted by: vasagaI did not avoid any point. You're simply fighting with all your being to not see the similarities between the growing atheistic movement and the religious movement. Also note that the brain doesn't know the difference between emotional abuse and physical abuse.
Let me ask you this. If everyone in the world became atheistic, would all wars stop?
And also, the definition of crusading:
lead or take part in an energetic and organized campaign concerning a social, political, or religious issue.
Those types of wars were never really about religion. They were about power of the empire. The religion was simply used so that the masses would support the empire and fight for them in wars. Not really that different from what's happening now with the US.
originally posted by: AngryCymraeg
originally posted by: vasagaI did not avoid any point. You're simply fighting with all your being to not see the similarities between the growing atheistic movement and the religious movement. Also note that the brain doesn't know the difference between emotional abuse and physical abuse.
Let me ask you this. If everyone in the world became atheistic, would all wars stop?
And also, the definition of crusading:
lead or take part in an energetic and organized campaign concerning a social, political, or religious issue.
Of course all wars would not stop. But there would fewer stupid wars fought over which bronze-age religion is better for some people that others.
That's fine with me. I understand atheists just fine. I know the difference between a simple atheist and an extreme atheist. The majority of atheists are simple ones. The vocal few are extreme atheists who make all atheists look like violent religion-haters who will shoot any religious person if they could.
originally posted by: AngryCymraeg
And I really don't think that you understand atheists. I'm an atheist. Do I believe that I'm smarter than anyone? No, or course not. Does being an atheist make me better than other people? No, of course not. Do I go on mass marches waving my anti-bible? No, of course not. Do I want to convert other people by preaching at them? No, of course not. If you can't have a peaceful discussion then don't bother talking to people about religion. Do I want to stuff my beliefs into the lives of other people? No, of course not. I just want to be left alone to not worship any god, deity or other construct thought up by a man with a chicken on his head.
originally posted by: vasaga
Those types of wars were never really about religion. They were about power of the empire. The religion was simply used so that the masses would support the empire and fight for them in wars. Not really that different from what's happening now with the US.
originally posted by: AngryCymraeg
originally posted by: vasagaI did not avoid any point. You're simply fighting with all your being to not see the similarities between the growing atheistic movement and the religious movement. Also note that the brain doesn't know the difference between emotional abuse and physical abuse.
Let me ask you this. If everyone in the world became atheistic, would all wars stop?
And also, the definition of crusading:
lead or take part in an energetic and organized campaign concerning a social, political, or religious issue.
Of course all wars would not stop. But there would fewer stupid wars fought over which bronze-age religion is better for some people that others.
That's fine with me. I understand atheists just fine. I know the difference between a simple atheist and an extreme atheist. The majority of atheists are simple ones. The vocal few are extreme atheists who make all atheists look like violent religion-haters who will shoot any religious person if they could.
originally posted by: AngryCymraeg
And I really don't think that you understand atheists. I'm an atheist. Do I believe that I'm smarter than anyone? No, or course not. Does being an atheist make me better than other people? No, of course not. Do I go on mass marches waving my anti-bible? No, of course not. Do I want to convert other people by preaching at them? No, of course not. If you can't have a peaceful discussion then don't bother talking to people about religion. Do I want to stuff my beliefs into the lives of other people? No, of course not. I just want to be left alone to not worship any god, deity or other construct thought up by a man with a chicken on his head.
There are quite a few extreme atheists in these forums btw...
originally posted by: AngryCymraeg
originally posted by: vasaga
Those types of wars were never really about religion. They were about power of the empire. The religion was simply used so that the masses would support the empire and fight for them in wars. Not really that different from what's happening now with the US.
originally posted by: AngryCymraeg
originally posted by: vasagaI did not avoid any point. You're simply fighting with all your being to not see the similarities between the growing atheistic movement and the religious movement. Also note that the brain doesn't know the difference between emotional abuse and physical abuse.
Let me ask you this. If everyone in the world became atheistic, would all wars stop?
And also, the definition of crusading:
lead or take part in an energetic and organized campaign concerning a social, political, or religious issue.
Of course all wars would not stop. But there would fewer stupid wars fought over which bronze-age religion is better for some people that others.
That's fine with me. I understand atheists just fine. I know the difference between a simple atheist and an extreme atheist. The majority of atheists are simple ones. The vocal few are extreme atheists who make all atheists look like violent religion-haters who will shoot any religious person if they could.
originally posted by: AngryCymraeg
And I really don't think that you understand atheists. I'm an atheist. Do I believe that I'm smarter than anyone? No, or course not. Does being an atheist make me better than other people? No, of course not. Do I go on mass marches waving my anti-bible? No, of course not. Do I want to convert other people by preaching at them? No, of course not. If you can't have a peaceful discussion then don't bother talking to people about religion. Do I want to stuff my beliefs into the lives of other people? No, of course not. I just want to be left alone to not worship any god, deity or other construct thought up by a man with a chicken on his head.
There are quite a few extreme atheists in these forums btw...
I still find your use of the words 'extreme atheist' baffling. It's like using the phrase 'militant atheist'. It makes no sense. I'm simply an atheist and I've never encountered any other form of atheism. I think that these days only Fox News uses the phrase and that's because they don't know what it means.