What is with all the threads attacking atheism/atheists lately?

For the benefit of all here, and to remind our resident mentalists about what Atheism is, and is NOT, I have copied my OP from one of my threads on this very subject.... have a look in my signature for the actual thread.

Understand this: Atheism is NOT a religion.

Religion IS:

"Religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of life and the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a supernatural agency, or human beings’ relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual, or divine. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life. They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos and human nature.

The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system, but religion differs from private belief in that it has a public aspect. Most religions have organized behaviors, including congregations for prayer, priestly hierarchies, holy places, and/or scriptures."

SOURCE: Wikipedia

Atheists do not know what the cause, nature or purpose of life and the universe is. We do not pretend to know.

Atheists think that the only supernatural agency we know of is the FBI's X-Files department. That and the staff department of ATS!

Atheists are not capable of thinking something 'holy' or 'divine', unless you take into account sport - then you'll find we're very holy about our favourite teams!

Atheists have no standard 'narrative' or 'dogma'.

Atheists have no symbols or traditions.

Atheists have no sacred histories or ancient stories to tell.

Atheists DO NOT KNOW THE MEANING OR PURPOSE OF LIFE, and do not pretend to know. (Again, just for good measure.)

Atheists derive morality, ethics, laws and our lifestyles from the society around us, based on empirical, provable, 'Social Contracts' and 'Utilitarian' philosophies associated with Democracy. NOT Theocratic 'diktat'.

Atheists generally have ideas about the cosmos and human nature derived from the application of scientific method to generate facts. If scientific method proves something beyond all reasonable doubt, we take it as fact.

Atheists generally only have faith in hard evidence. Sometimes we have faith in humanity, but we are a sceptical bunch.

Atheists do not discriminate between private and public and public opinion on theism - we can't, as the difference just doesn't apply to us, we do not comprehend this difference.

Atheists have no organized behaviours - we all do our own thing, with our own motivations.

Atheists have no prayers. We have hopes and fears - but we know that our destiny is of our own making for the most part.

We do not need to congregate to share our lack of belief.

Atheists have no organisational structure, and therefore hierarchy is not applicable.

Atheists have no holy places, unless you count sites where mass murder in the name of religion took place - e.g. Ground Zero.

Atheists have no scriptures - only protests at being abused by theism formed in the written word. To normal people, these are known as books.

Atheism is NOT a religion - do not Troll by arguing that Atheism is one.

The Revenant.

Religious followers (well, most of them) are on their high horses and as arrogant as ever. I tend to ignore them and laugh whenever they claim they wish others would follow their religious brainwashed man made ideologies.

Such children they are.

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


why does anything get attacked cuz people disagree no reason to cry about it

reply to post by something wicked

Originally posted by something wicked

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
reply to post by korathin

 

Sooo a bigoted, baseless ad hominem attack on atheists? Wow, I'm so surprised about this.

Do you not think having a link called 'the ignorance of creationists' in your signature is just a tiny bit bigoted?

...no. In fact, that thread was made as a reply to an incredibly popular thread (over1400 replies!) called "The Gullibility of Evolutionists" by now supermod AshleyD. The point of my thread is that creationism is inherently based in ignorance. The very thread "The Gullibility of Evolutionists" was itself founded in ignorance.

It is not bigotry to point out that a set of beliefs is associated with ignorance. Flat-Earthers and geocrentrists are also ignorant. Of course, they weren't born that way. Those positions, like creationism, are based on choice.

If someone can demonstrate to me how creationism is not an ignorant position, I would gladly listen. I even have a thread asking for proof!

Isn't that and the other links an attempt to force your beliefs on people?

You mean my challenge to prove creationism? The active challenge to prove me wrong? I also have a thread that's actively asking for people to prove evolution wrong. How is that forcing my beliefs on people?

And there is also the thread asking people to put up proof of evolution...

But all are threads, internet forum discussions that you are free to participate in or not. It's up to choice.

Anyhow, that wasn't the main point of this post. Why do you group atheists together as though it is a group who share a belief? I always find it strange that people have absolutely no shared beliefs (at face value of course, all atheists may enjoy morris dancing for all I know).

We aren't a group. We literally are a group of people who lack a single belief. It's a very tenuous link, but it's a link. We're a group of people who lack a single belief. Just like people whose favorite color is blue is a group of people.

Having said that, if you take this site as a whole - please don't refer to a specific area - those who believe in some form of deity/deities are for more the focus of attacks than those who don't.

Really? In the past 3-4 months I have seen all sorts of claims against atheists as people. I have seen people call us immoral, racist, dangerous, in opposition to humanity, deceptive, damaging, a d self-centered, amongst other things.

I in fact had filed repeated complaints against a user for spreading a lot of bigotry against atheists to find out that it is ok to make such claims about a group under the T&C.

Can you provide me with evidence that religious individuals are constantly under attack?

edit on 2-2-2011 by something wicked because: biased = bigoted

Wow, you changed a somewhat reasonable word to an unreasonable one.

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


Its not just Christians, Muslims like me dont like you either... : ) just kidding, my brother is an athiest and I believe my mother whom is or was Catholic now is more spiritual than religious...

But seriously most muslims dont like non believers regardless of what they say on the outside...it is worse than being Cristian to some of us...(not me to be clear). It is also unfortunate that you non believers get lumped in as satan worshipers from the un-educated people in this world.

I personally love all religions and respect all religions and even non believers, I bet when most non believers are on their death bed they start to pray, or when they really are desperate (life and death) for something they pray...

Just my opinion on the praying thing, the rest is pretty much how it is...

PS: if you ever go to Iran, just lie and say you believe in Allah=God so I dont have to read about you on the evening news for being stoned to death...thanks...!

reply to post by Evanzsayz


Wow, that's a really ignorant thing to say. I'm not crying about it. I actually started this thread after seeing something like this about people attacking Christianity and its claims (though not specifically Christians). I wanted to point out that a lot of threads have attacked not just atheism, but atheists themselves.

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


I forgot to add, welcome to how it feels being a Freemason (though you never could be one)...we get beat up and attacked here more than non believers... sorry I just read the Arn Knights Templar books and they are good, they use the term non believers so much it is stuck in my head...!

reply to post by Masterjaden


And yet some religious individuals are so often hypocrites in judging people's actions. Want to get married and make a statement of commitment? Happen to share a gender with the person you're marrying? IMMORAL! ...yeah, that's a really good judgement there. It's somehow a worse evil for homosexuals to marry than to live uncommitted lives.

Religious principles are more often than not a good way to judge people's actions, or have you not read the Bible, Qu'ran, or other religious texts?

reply to post by marinesniper0351


Hey, keep up the good work

I knew of a few Free Masons in St. Louis who did quite a lot of community work. I really don't get why you guys get such a bad rep.

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


Nothing to feel bad about regarding opening this thread, seriously coming from a American/Iranian, US Marine, Muslim, Freemason who makes more than 250k a year...

You should be grateful you dont have my resume...though your would never get terminated from a job with my credentials... : )

I hadn't noticed, but perhaps it is because evangelical atheists are the most obnoxious people in the world.

reply to post by The Revenant


Atheism must there be a belief. Those who insist on sharing this philosophy must evangelical. They seek to convert maybe not in the religious sense but certainly in the way of the Borg.

reply to post by The Sword

And Christians offer an arrogant, self-righteous view of the world that demands attention and subservience to an invisible man in the sky.

Excellent point! Why don't you find a xtian and take it up with them? I am not a Xtian. I have no time for proselytising religions. I completely support your right to believe or not as you see fit. Just keep your beliefs to yourself unles I ask you about them.

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


As long as there are people who believe in God and people who are Atheists, there will be attacks by both sides. The belief/non-belief in the supernatural is at the core of every person- when some people who believe in God are confronted by an atheist, they see their words as nothing but insults at the very core of their person.

Same thing goes for atheists- there are some atheists who will attack believers left right and center because they think believers are stupid, blind, idiotic followers of doctrine that they don't understand which is obviously false in the face of science.

Of course, this is just some people from both sides- I myself am a believer, but I don't take offense or find myself angered by atheists who try and disprove my beliefs and make me feel inferior to them. But I do like atheists who are respectful of my beliefs better than the ones who criticize and demean them.

It's just a question of how sensitive people are to their beliefs and values, and how far they are willing to go to promote them to make themselves feel better and superior when faced against hard-lined people on the opposite side of the fence.

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


Well put. However there are good religious people too. I left Xtianity because of the ghastly Churchians. In many ways the is a straight slugfest between the Abrahamic religions and the atheists. I still believe in science which is not incompatible with faith. Go figure!

Originally posted by SeventhSeal
Religious followers (well, most of them) are on their high horses and as arrogant as ever.

Such children they are.

Some religious people can be their own worst enemies. I say more inner enquiry and meditation and a damn sight less proselytising.

reply to post by madnessinmysoul

I'm sorry, I refuse to accept any claim of any deity without evidence. As I've said many times before, as others greater than me have said before me, any claim made without evidence can be rejected without evidence.

My friend you have free-will to reject whatever you want.
God is Love. Just Love.
If you actually opened to the whole thing, you would not be so ridged.
But I'm afraid that if you did not have enough suffering, your gonna have to suffer some more, until you accept it. That's life.

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
No such thing as an evangelical atheist...

Only if you have a very distorted view of the word. Means "zealous in the promotion of an idea." When I worked with Apple back in the 80s, there was a whole fleet of people whose title was "Evangelist", sent out to sow the seeds of Macintosh development.

Dawkins? Evangelist. Hitchens? Evangelist. Most vocal atheists? Evangelists, the lot of them.

If you spend your time trying to convince others that they need to believe what you believe, trying to convert them to your way of thinking, you are an evangelist. What you're promoting doesn't matter.

("You" in that sentence being the empirical "you", not you personally -- I don't find you particularly evangelical, Madness.)

I will say something that disturbs me, greatly, about this whole thing. In this thread, we have seen absolutely abhorrent behaviour displayed by someone who carries the atheist flag, held high. Someone who seems to take great pleasure in hating people, not for who they are or what they've done, but for what they believe.

How many times have various people trotted out the "Westboro Baptist Church" as some sort of argument against Christianity? Despite the Christians, such as myself, who condemn such bigots and demonstrate that such evil plays no part in our faith?

And yet, in this thread, neither you, nor any other atheist, has stepped forward to defend IAMIAM, or to decry the vile hostility that is not only unmerited, but represents exactly what you claim that you are not. It is no wonder that people of faith would find offense in the hate and rage directed at anyone, but it is any wonder that your silence does not also contribute to the perception that some will have?

Just a thought, my friend.

Originally posted by nerbot
reply to post by madnessinmysoul

 

Don't worry about it. It means they are worried and on the ropes.

I personally don't feed their need to attack Atheists to justify their own religions.

Christians aren't worried, they know what's happening, and they have nothing to prove to the sheeple.
For those that think their wisdom is fine and good enough may they have a good day, no one but the only true God
judges, anyone else do not have that right, unless they want to bring judgment upon themselves.