None of the atheists I know(and I know about 30) want to take away times of joy for families, but we do not see a reason to claim belief in something supernatural, just so we can use it as an excuse to see family. Families can get together for nonreligious holidays too. Also, we do not care if you want to believe in a god, just so long as you don't use our tax money to promote it, or try to push it on our children.Do you really think your god had a hand in the accident? If we all relied on our superstitions alone to keep us alive, I doubt there would be many of us left.It is however a fact that the most fundamentalist areas of this country are the areas with the highest STD rates, and the highest rates of children born out of wedlock. It is also a fact that atheists account for a disproportionately low ratio of the united states prison population.How do you rule out confirmation bias?I should not have expected this to be understood. I am trying to say that want of reward and fear of punishment are two very bad reasons to do good deeds. Good deeds should be done for their own sake, not to get into heaven, nor to avoid hell. This said, even if you ignore post-mortem reward and punishment, none of those actions is in your self interest, even stealing and murdering might help you achieve short term goals, the risk is outweighs any long term benefit. The best motivation for moral behavior is the trust and cooperation of your community.Do you have to appeal to another authority to feel good about giving? I know from experience that the answer is no.As I said earlier, we do not want our tax money to be used to promote religious ideas, nor do we want our children indoctrinated. We have no problem with people seeking religion only for themselves, but this is not the scope of religion. Religion(and dogma in general, the credulity of authority by appeal to authority is the underlying mechanism) has been at the root of countless wars and conflicts, especially various flavors of Christianity, Islam, and personality cults of dictators. All of these regimes indoctrinate the young by appeals to authority, in order to maintain power.

It is however a fact that the most fundamentalist areas of this country are the areas with the highest STD rates, and the highest rates of children born out of wedlock. It is also a fact that atheists account for a disproportionately low ratio of the united states prison population.

Provide me with reliable sources to the outrageous claims you've spoken of:

I have seen and heard the religious indoctrination of children first hand. These people show photos of aborted fetuses to preschoolers, in order to solidify the future political position of the children.

And so because of a few "hard-core enthusiasts", you're going to condemn everyone that follows it? That's like calling all Muslims Terrorists because a few of the followers of the religion take it to the extreme...

Well considering that most atheists I've met (both in real life and online) are close-minded and hard-headed, in my opinion, that makes them ignorant.

And so because of a few "hard-core enthusiasts", you're going to condemn everyone that follows it? That's like calling all Muslims Terrorists because a few of the followers of the religion take it to the extreme...

And honestly, I agree with what Steamboy said. ALL atheists I have ever came across, think the same way as the examples he provided.


Have you ever thought that maybe you're Agnostic instead of being an Atheist?

Actually, he never condemned everyone that follows it, or even implied that. All he said is he doesn't want those "hard-core enthusiasts" to do what they do. Maybe you should read a little more careful. In the meantime, you have done exactly what you accused AntiSleep of just on the last page, and in fact actually did it.



Omg hypocrisy!

Not that I even believe what you said is true, but that is just one example of you saying something exactly like that out of a few just in your last several posts. Also, steamboy actually did exactly what you were trying to correct anti for, but you didn't mention anything about that. It seems you just enjoy arguing with AntiSleep right now.

I am an agnostic as well as an atheist. Agnostic means without knowledge, and atheist means without theistic belief. I have never met a gnostic atheist.

Now, it may be that you do not condone violence for religious reasons, but because you refuse to question religious authorities, you stand on a continuum with those who do. Religious moderates give safe harbor to fundamentalist and extremist religious ideas and behavior. It is not as though you have to torture the texts to justify the fundamentalism either, that stuff is really in the bible.

And, no I didn't. I'm not hard-headed and close-minded in this situation.

I believe in god. Other people do not. I do not attack nor say that anyone is stupid for believing or not believing in a higher power (some call it God) unlike a few others in this thread.

So therefore, I have done nothing of the sort, in to which you claim I have.

Sorry that you failed this time, Dapperdan.

And all you do Dapperdan, is take what people say, twist and construe it so it sounds like you're the smart one.

Sorry, but that's not a good way of debating, thank you

And so because of a few "hard-core enthusiasts", you're going to condemn everyone that follows it?

I'm sorry that I'm not a blind-sheep who follows others around like you. I don't need to question religion for the purposes that others give, I question it for my own reasons.


Something that it seems like you don't.

Now, it may be that you do not condone violence for religious reasons, but because you refuse to question religious authorities, you stand on a continuum with those who do.

Now, it may be that you do not condone violence for religious reasons, but because you refuse to question religious authorities, you stand on a continuum with those who do.

Religious moderates give safe harbor to fundamentalist and extremist religious ideas and behavior. It is not as though you have to torture the texts to justify the fundamentalism either, that stuff is really in the bible

As I said earlier, we do not want our tax money to be used to promote religious ideas, nor do we want our children indoctrinated. We have no problem with people seeking religion only for themselves, but this is not the scope of religion. Religion(and dogma in general, the credulity of authority by appeal to authority is the underlying mechanism) has been at the root of countless wars and conflicts, especially various flavors of Christianity, Islam, and personality cults of dictators. All of these regimes indoctrinate the young by appeals to authority, in order to maintain power

I never said you were stupid because you believe in god, rather that you are benighted.

Stupid because you're so inane enough to claim you don't attack people's views and opinions, but you attack mine by calling me benighted.

You are not stupid because of your religion, I know religious people who are intelligent. You are not one of them.

I will try to explain, here is a general model of consciousness(without religion):

the 3 problem memes I identified(Christianity, islam, and dictator cults) can invade any young mind directly through the perceptual filter, by means of appeal to authority, once there it modifies the directives to spread the meme, and it subverts reason out of self preservation.

You are not one of them.

He NEVER said that, or implied it. I don't need to quote anything, just read something that is in every post he makes, HIS SIGNATURE. So, yeah, you're wrong, again. Just to clarify, he essentially claims that he attacks people's views and opinions, you might not have caught that, he just said he never called anyone stupid for believing in something, etc. etc. I could go on all day.