And yet again Atheism is being called bunk. Why? Because it isn't what you believe? Well I'll tell you what until you can prove your religion and your god exist I would appreciate you so called Christians not calling my beliefs bunk and ignorant when your own religion is the same. None of you can provide ANY evidence that your god is there. Other than your precious bible. Which you might have a leg to stand on if it was written by a god but it wasn't. Amazing the things people will believe when someone puts it on paper and says it's the word of god.

Your god loves you so much but yet at the same time lets innocent people suffer and die at the hands of tyrants and dictators . Lets people wage war in his name killing countless numbers of innocent people over the ages. Just chalk it up to god's will or god works in mysterious ways. That's the only answer any of you can give.

God loves you but yet if you think for yourself and don't agree with what god's word is then you'll be sent to burn for eternity. Gives us free will but if we use it we burn. Yup sounds like love to me.

And never forget your god needs your money. I guess for Ebay auctions.

You have the nerve to call atheist beliefs bunk! Sit back and take a look at your own religion.

Originally posted by Bigwhammy



The thing you probably have never even considered is your philosophy (now that you admit atheism is a philosophy) is dangerous to our children.

Oh really? Like instructing children to believe in a big fella in the sky and not to think for themselves?

Originally posted by BigwhammyAfter all it's a philosophy that preaches the blind pitiless indifference of the world. It's a philosophy devoid of hope or redemption. It's a cruel philosophy. The weak are deemed not fit and not worthy of survival. It's answer to the question of death is worms. There is no meaning to life and the only reason to act "good" is to get ahead. Your beloved Dick Dawk teaches that life is all about the survival of your selfish genes - so it's a selfish philosophy as well. Because atheists have used Darwin's theory to try discredit faith in God, your philosophy is called Darwinism. Evolution is a scientific theory - Darwinism is the atheistic bastardization of it into a false and dangerous religion.

Your misrepresentation and obvious misunderstanding is quite hilarious and I'm not sure if you are aware of the 'slogan' of this site?

As an 'Atheist' I try to communicate daily in conversation with people, face to face, I try to understand and I don't usually confront other people unless I feel it is exceptionally warranted.
I tend the garden and nurture the soil and I don't have blind pitiless indifference to the world, I love worms, the meaning of life is the continuance of our species which is no mean feat and 'selfish' genes was a way of explaining it, not a term constructed by satan (lol).
My philosophy is not Darwinism, but since you seem to 'know' (lol) so much about me why don't you misrepresent me and tell me what my philosophy is?

Coming from a former atheist; it's a big lie

Please explain to me why if atheism was the truth why would anyone want to have morals?

My former atheist mindset: Morals make the sheep, no morals the wolves; why live a moral life when you can lie, cheat, steal, kill your way to power, riches and glory?
its obvious that if everyone did this the world would be chaos but since there is no god and no repercussions for doing bad, i cant let myself be held back by morals. only by being capable of doing everything necessary can i get everything i want. I actually thought high of hitler and studied his ways to get to power and already as a young child i saw myself rising as the next dictator.

I was wrong.

I know faith is a big NONO word for atheists

But we all put faith in 100's of things every day.
(you put faith that your car will start when you turn that key, yet all of a sudden it doesnt, you put faith that you will seduce that good looking girl at the bar, yet somehow, sometimes it doesnt work)

So why not try to put just a little faith in god just enough to honestly ask him to reveal himself?

It IS for YOUR eternity.

I did and sincerely i can tell you it was the best decision i ever made.

Hey look, I'm going to try to revive one of my favorite threads with a reply in the fashion to which I was well known for: A lot of text.

Originally posted by omarsharif
Coming from a former atheist; it's a big lie

Please explain to me why if atheism was the truth why would anyone want to have morals?

Take the example of the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

It's a rule that I tend to agree with as an atheist because it ensures the stability and safety of a society.

Morality is the basis for a society of people who care for each other and that is the safest society to live in. So there's the personal selfish reason of "I don't want my neighbor to stab me" and then there's the possibly altruistic reason of "Getting stabbed isn't fun, I wouldn't wish it upon my neighbor." So that's more than enough reason for me to accept morality.

My former atheist mindset: Morals make the sheep, no morals the wolves; why live a moral life when you can lie, cheat, steal, kill your way to power, riches and glory?

This is a truly deluded way to think. You can lie, cheat, steal, and kill your way to power, riches, and glory in societies already devoid of morals that prevent such action, but it's far more difficult to gain such accolades when you're living in any conceivable modern society with a level of stability and law.

its obvious that if everyone did this the world would be chaos but since there is no god and no repercussions for doing bad, i cant let myself be held back by morals.

Alright, another continued fallacy of some religious moralists is present here. I don't need an all-powerful or any other supernatural being present in reality to create repercussions for bad actions, as there can be simply the society as a whole rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior. I do not believe in a god nor do I believe that murder is acceptable. Now, even if I were to believe that murder is acceptable I would have to face society if I murdered my neighbor.

only by being capable of doing everything necessary can i get everything i want. I actually thought high of hitler and studied his ways to get to power and already as a young child i saw myself rising as the next dictator.

Hitler was quite a religious person, unless you're unaware of history you should have known this. His soldiers had "Got Mitt Uns" on their belt buckles, which translates to 'God is with us', didn't prevent them from committing atrocities though.

I think incredibly low of Hitler, that he was a deluded madman. Still an atheist though.

However, the other thing is your delusion of grandeur regarding a rise to power as the next dictator is actually far more common among the religious. All the totalitarian monarchs of the middle ages were quite brutal, and a portion of their power came from religious authority. The 'divine right' of kings was something accepted by the masses for centuries. On top of all of that there's the fact that the Catholic Church ruled the Papal States as a brutal dictatorship.

I was wrong.

That's the only thing you've been right about this whole post.

I know faith is a big NONO word for atheists

Oh FSM, not this again...

But we all put faith in 100's of things every day.
(you put faith that your car will start when you turn that key, yet all of a sudden it doesnt, you put faith that you will seduce that good looking girl at the bar, yet somehow, sometimes it doesnt work)

Well, the first is actually an assumption based upon repeated experience and expectation rather than the faith of a religion in which you base your entire life off of something where the is absolutely no way of proving.

The second is either confidence or arrogance, rather than 'faith'. If you were to have faith that you would seduce someone you'd be beyond arrogant and possibly venturing into psychotic territory.

So why not try to put just a little faith in god just enough to honestly ask him to reveal himself?

Why is it that the religious assume I never tried this? I had faith in the Abrahamic deity as explained in Roman Catholicism and in a moment of doubt of the teachings of the Church I asked him/her/it to reveal his/her/itself to me. This was a moment of intense faith. I spent the next year attempting to strengthen my faith, but all of my actions examining my own religion and those of others in the world was actually what drove me towards atheism.

I started off with a lot of faith, but I don't like to have faith in things that aren't there.

It IS for YOUR eternity.

I honestly don't believe I have an eternity. I'm hoping for another 60-80 years though, and I intend to live them in a compassionate and altruistic manner. If I were to die and find that your or any other deity exists I hope it wouldn't hold a simple lack of belief against me. I'd hope a higher being would be less petty than that.

I did and sincerely i can tell you it was the best decision i ever made.

I'm sure you believe it is. Especially when going from a dictator wannabe to a person who is better than that it probably is a better choice. However, I'm sure you're just a better person than you think you are, regardless of religion.

It's good to be back on ATS

Originally posted by Equinox99
Than with your logic, I have spoken with fellow Christians and we don't care what your belief is. Not every religion wants Atheists gone, we may try to convert you every now and then, but that is it.

Well, if you're a Christian you can't really say that. Your religion explicitly states things that are against atheists, such as calling us fools and saying nothing we do can be good. It's all written in your holy book. Atheists lack a holy book or a structure of beliefs. We are simply answering a simple question:
Do you believe in a deity?
No

Than why would you think the latter is different? We would prefer a world with only Christians but it doesn't mean I will impose myself and dictate what you should believe. Our logic is the same, so far there is no conspiracy.

Except that members of many religions go door to door to promote their beliefs. Members of many religions go to third world nations to convert children as a captive audience. Many religious people are trying to push religious beliefs into national education standards. There are many instances in which theists are actively seeking to impose their religion upon others.

Because I quoted him I must agree with everything he says? I quoted that line because it deserved it.

I just found it amusing

I didn't say Atheism is a religion but it is an organization. There are plenty of Atheist organizations in the world, so in terms, the power structure is still building.

...you just contradicted yourself. There may be Atheist organizations in the world, but they're closer to social groups than anything else. They don't have a list of things to obey. There's also the fact that the vast majority of Atheists do not belong to these formal groups.

We have only wrestled with Atheism for a short time so it is too early to tell what will happen when you put your organizations together.

Except you haven't. Atheism is been around just as long as religion. And those organizations probably won't combine, as they're mostly community social groups.

Anti-Atheist Conspiracy?

how ironic.

one accepted definition of an atheist is one who does not accept a superior being or deity higher than themselves.

who ever stated the first commandment of "you will have no gods but me" fits the definition of athiest from their point of view.

so, it is possible, who ever wrote the first commandment was an atheist.

Anti-Atheist Conspiracy is Atheists against the Atheist that wrote the first commandment!

silly and ironic, isn't it?

Yet, it seems atheists lack the empathy to simplify it down to just looking through the perspective of the origin of that which they do not believe in themselves, the atheist that wrote the first commandment.

religion is funny,
et