Atheists: We're people, just like you.

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
reply to post by Cosmic.Artifact

 

Yay! BIGOTRY!

"Do unto others as they have done to you"

or is it...

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"

reply to post by Cosmic.Artifact


It's the second one. So stop living by that first one. You'll be a lot happier with yourself, I'd wager.
reply to post by tribewilder


Aw... Thank you! The feeling's mutual.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


oh I do man, but this here is the internet

Fight Fire with Fire...

but if you play with it you might get burned !

Originally posted by davespanners
reply to post by Kailassa

 

I don't know how you would even know someones position on god unless they went around wearing an I heart Jesus / Richard Dawkins badge
I don't know about you but I don't tend to ask people about what religion they belong to when I first meet them, I tend to talk to them and base my friendship or otherwise to them based on other things, like if they are a nice person or not and whether or not we get along.

If the subject does happen to come up during a discussion then its a discussion just like any other, I wouldn't disrespect someone just for holding that belief any more then I would disrespect them for believing in aliens or voodoo or crop circles.

Edit to add
My girlfriend is quite religious and was bought up as a strict 7th day adventists, so I guess I'm sleeping with the enemy

I've read all of your posts that I've seen, (you're another of my favourite posters,) and still didn't know your beliefs, so you're right there.
But mostly either people let me low fast or I'm pretty quick at ferreting it out of them, because I've always been interested in what people do and don't believe.

I hope your relationship is as long and fulfilling as my experience of "sleeping with the enemy" has been.
Beliefs aren't a barrier in a deep friendship, or when indulging in mutual yoni/lingam worship.

reply to post by Cosmic.Artifact


Well, your choice, but I strive not to treat people on the Internet any differently than I do in real life. People are people. There are human beings behind those screens. They are worthy and deserving of my respect until they prove otherwise. I'm a peaceful sort and do not 'fight fire with fire'. I strive to treat people the way I wish to be treated.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic

Originally posted by Kailassa
Can you honestly say you have the same respect for one who believes in god as you would have for that person if he/she was an atheist?

I wonder if people who believe in God respect atheists in the same way they respect other believers... It's a good question.

There sure are some online who make their patronising contempt heard over and over. There are some I know who are glad to discuss their beliefs, without being bothered by what others believe. For the rest, I don't concern myself with what they may think.

I would never have bothered to ask the atheists in this thread what they think if not for the respect I've gained from them while posting in the same threads. That's what made their opinions important to me.

My mother had religion as the center of her life. She was a wonderful Christian and I had (and still have) a great amount of respect for her. She was also wise, honorable and very intelligent.

Mine was an atheist, proud of wearing the trappings of Christianity, who attended church to set a good example to the "poorer classes", who she believed needed religion for moral guidance. The fact that the "poorer classes" in the towns in which we lived were too decent to even imagine the things she was doing was irrelevant.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
reply to post by Cosmic.Artifact

 

Well, your choice, but I strive not to treat people on the Internet any differently than I do in real life. People are people. There are human beings behind those screens. They are worthy and deserving of my respect until they prove otherwise. I'm a peaceful sort and do not 'fight fire with fire'. I strive to treat people the way I wish to be treated.

10/4 Ben I totally agree... I know there are people behind those screens although some may need a spanking sometime.

I am adding you as a friend now though I suspect you are saturnFX, I got my eye on that guy

I'm going to have to take a middle ground stance on this. Mainly because: irrational, baseless beliefs don't necessitate automatic respect. While I would never in a million years walk up to someone and antagonize them or cut them down for being a theist, I'm also not going to pretend to have some great deal of respect for them as if it were a difference in whether they prefer chocolate or vanilla.

If I told you that I had an invisible pink spider on top of my head that gave me all of my life guidance and dictated my moral compass, and that the spider was not only invisible, but unable to be heard, felt, or detected by any conceivable means -- and that the pink spider had absolutely no measurable bearing or influence on your reality or mine whatsoever other than my insistence that it exists, and that I told you that it is not only an important thing to believe, but in fact the best belief system, and that it is urgent that you believe in it too, would you accept that? Can you honestly tell me that you would say that you respect my belief but it isn't your cup of tea? Even if you could politely bring yourself to say that, would you really respect it as a legitimate alternate faith?

It is absolutely no different than the people on this forum who enthusiastically insist that all of our world leaders are in fact Reptilians.

And if religion were only just some silly belief that didn't affect the world or humanity at large, I wouldn't really take issue with it. But religion does immeasurable damage to human rights, and inhibits the rational, moral individual.

- Religion destroys the mind's natural tools for logic and reasoning.

- It advocates all the worst crimes of humanity - the use of violence, murder, genocide, slavery, rape, etc.

- It has historically been used to prevent freedom and progression of civil rights countless times.

- It normalizes the idea of a power disparity between God and man -- which in turn normalizes power disparities between parent and child: breeding child abuse, and it normalizes the power disparity between man and government, leaving the door open for corruption, manipulation, coercion and violence.

Thus, the question of whether God exists is only so important. What is of greater importance, is even if God exists, how can we morally worship a being that is responsible for and has directly committed so much evil and violence?

I agree. I also don't beleive in evolution. You mean to tell me we evolved from this.

reply to post by Beavis


Never ever has science told anyone that we came from Orangutans.
By the way there are lots of humans that do the same thing.

You being obviously unaware of this ( you would not have posted this if you knew. ) Makes me assume you judge people by using lies others have told you.

I beg of you... Please educate yourself before you post this kind of a nonsense reply again. No offense.

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


I have not had the misfortune of facing bigotry over the fact that I am an Atheist . In fact a friend of mine who is a Christian told me that I have a strong moral compass in relation to some tough personal issues I had to face . If someone post retarded views on the boards then don't let it worry you .

Cheers xpert11.

reply to post by xpert11


Ah, it's not just the idiocy of people on the internet. There is actually an upcoming article that I've written in a student newspaper for the January edition (we don't have the resources to publish daily or weekly) about secularism in society. I'm already receiving societal backlash and it coincides with internet idiocy.

Originally posted by Kailassa

Do you believe atheists are all English speakers?

if I was to take a 'guess' without even researching this question I would say that possibly 98% of the small minority of Atheists which is only 2% of the earths population speak English and are Caucasian. I am not being racial here so don't even try to turn it around if you respond.

How many languages do you speak ?

I would learn how to ask if someone believes in a God/Gods in 25 different languages (other than english) and then one can perform their own survey by asking on the net and out in the street one simple question... do you believe in God ? I bet the overwhelming majority would be Yes.

how far does Atheism date back to ? is there any material showing it's relevance in history ? I believe atheism has risen from because of spoiledness of a free society, it is an after effect we must deal with until these fanatics learn to keep their mouth shut and stop attacking other religions, learn to respect others of all faiths and live and let live.

Why do the Atheists seem to be the only group that does not preach this grand moral rule ? but instead go totally against it attacking all mankinds faiths ?

Originally posted by Cosmic.Artifact

Originally posted by Kailassa

Do you believe atheists are all English speakers?

if I was to take a 'guess' without even researching this question I would say that possibly 98% of the small minority of Atheists which is only 2% of the earths population speak English and are Caucasian. I am not being racial here so don't even try to turn it around if you respond.

Well...you're entirely wrong. And we're not a small minority. According to the studies of the University of Cambridge, somewhere between 500 and 750 million people who don't believe in any god live on this planet.

And, like all of your claims about atheists, there's no evidence to support the demographics you give. Atheism is found throughout European countries, not just in England. I mean, a big enough counterpoint would be Scandinavia in terms of language. With regards to most atheists being Caucasian it might have to do with education. There is a clear negative correlation between religiosity and education, and the more affluent nations happen to be majority Caucasian.

Again, yet another crazy idea about atheists from you.

How many languages do you speak ?

I speak two. Plus I speak a few words in French and Italian.

I would learn how to ask if someone believes in a God/Gods in 25 different languages (other than english) and then one can perform their own survey by asking on the net and out in the street one simple question... do you believe in God ? I bet the overwhelming majority would be Yes.

Only 25 languages? Out of something like 200 on this planet? Wow, that's a great sample size.

And yes, there are a lot more theists than there are atheists. Bu about 10% of the world is atheistic.

how far does Atheism date back to ?

At the very least it dates back to ancient Greece, though I'd argue atheism predates theism. All people prior to theistic ideology were implicit atheists, not knowing the concept of a deity. Like babies, which are implicitly atheistic because they can't understand the concept of a deity let alone learn about the concept and believe in one.

is there any material showing it's relevance in history ?

Yes, the history of western thought. Philosophy and science have been influenced heavily by atheistic thinkers.

I believe atheism has risen from because of spoiledness of a free society, it is an after effect we must deal with until these fanatics learn to keep their mouth shut and stop attacking other religions, learn to respect others of all faiths and live and let live.

YAY! MORE UNFOUNDED BIGOTRY AGAINST ATHEISTS! Back up these ridiculous and unfounded claims.

Honestly, you keep saying we need to keep our mouth shut? Well, surprise surprise, we have a right to free speech. In fact, I've been incredibly patient with you on here, I've been trying to show you all sorts of respect. Where's the respect for atheists?

Originally posted by Cosmic.Artifact

Originally posted by Kailassa
Do you believe atheists are all English speakers?

if I was to take a 'guess' without even researching this question I would say that possibly 98% of the small minority of Atheists which is only 2% of the earths population speak English and are Caucasian. I am not being racial here so don't even try to turn it around if you respond.

Are you aware that most Buddhists do not speak English and Buddhism does not entail a belief in god?
The same goes for Shintoism, Taoism, Confucianism, for a branch of Hinduism, and several pagan religions which believe in spirits rather than gods. There are also many who call themselves Christians because it's more socially acceptable than atheism, who have no belief in god.

How many languages do you speak?

Start answering personal questions online and next thing you know some sleazebag wants to know what coloured knickers you're wearing.
Neither are any of your business.

I would learn how to ask if someone believes in a God/Gods in 25 different languages (other than english) and then one can perform their own survey by asking on the net and out in the street one simple question... do you believe in God ? I bet the overwhelming majority would be Yes.

No you wouldn't; not in your nature.
Your modus operandi is to pull notions out of your anal crevass, glorify the resulting crapballs as your "perceptions", and to chuck them around with all the finesse of a bored chimp who's gorged on bananas.

how far does Atheism date back to ? is there any material showing it's relevance in history ? I believe atheism has risen from because of spoiledness of a free society, it is an after effect we must deal with until these fanatics learn to keep their mouth shut and stop attacking other religions, learn to respect others of all faiths and live and let live.

Ah, yet another advocate for an un-free society.
Have you considered moving to Saudi Arabia? Not too much freedom there.
But, come to think of it, America's moving so fast to ditch the sad remnants of freedom, because freedom is something few Americans care enough about to fight for, that you might as well stay home.

Why do the Atheists seem to be the only group that does not preach this grand moral rule ? but instead go totally against it attacking all mankinds faiths ?

Atheists keep getting told they're fast-tracking to hell. Pretty nasty thing to say, isn't it?
Can hardly blame them if they're not too keen on religion.
But they've never responded by suggesting all religious people will go to hell.
Nope, if only one group is going to be saved, only the atheists, agnostics, simple deists, pantheists, and all the people in all the other religions will go to hell.

My money is on the Schitoists. Schitoism is wrought on a solid foundation, painfully raised with blood-stained bricks and mortared with post-McDonalds muck. The ensuing edifice of effluvium is something we all can believe in.

sniff sniff...

Atheists are the smallest minority in fact because they are teens in transition to understanding.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0d817d5a1c80.gif[/atsimg]
ok I give it to them, by this image here it claims they are 16%... yes we have alot of teens on the planet and is it not correct that they outnumber the old people on this planet at any given time ?

But we all grow up sometime

www.adherents.com...

additionally "half of this group is theistic but non-religious" = 8%

now if you take out the Agnostic and the Secular Humanist and the people just answering No what would that leave then ?

possibly about 2%

End transmission...

reply to post by Kailassa


A teenager from the Kafir UK society, possibly has bone in nose and tramp-stamp, not even old enough to buy alcohol or get into a club.

This is what I can ascertain about you reading maybe 4 to 8 of your posts...

please do not show your knickers we are totally not interested

reply to post by Cosmic.Artifact


Hey, you actually used a piece of evidence! I mean, it doesn't contradict the evidence I provided from Cambridge, but still, it's a start.

Bravo.

Now try providing some sort of evidence for all of the claims you've made against atheists.

reply to post by Cosmic.Artifact


And then you take a piece of a statement from it...ok, 8%

...and then you just do some sort of wizardry and it suddenly becomes 2%...you and rational thought must have had a nasty break up a long time ago.

reply to post by Cosmic.Artifact


Hey look, now you're attacking Kail!

I mean, seriously, you're resorting to baseless personal attacks. Kailassa is not an atheist for your information.

Also, what's your obsession with this vaguely racist notion of a 'bone in your nose'?

Oh, and if all atheists are teenagers...how am I turning 22 on Thor's day?

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


ok I submit, I will give it 2% to 6% now... but no more !