Atheism: Is it a religion?

TooCurious said:

Really? Did you get a consensus on every atheist in existence, in that thread? Because demonstrating that a few atheists share an opinion proves nothing. I'm sure many atheists like the color blue, but liking blue is not a tenet of atheism.

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Hmm. You can't imagine how often that particular charge is rolled out. And while, of course, no one speaks for their entire community or demographic, the ones we encounter help form our view of that community. So when roughly 80% of Atheists (and am careful to specify am referring to Atheists, not atheists) presume to tell me I must be unintelligent, incapable of reason and that they have the monopoly on intellectual thought, the 20% who would never make such a ridiculous claim get left behind somewhere.

While it's up to us to ensure we communicate with every single person as an individual, with no preconceptions, being told you're stupid countless times takes its toll and impacts how able you are to see the community as being made up of individuals, as opposed to one entity that recites the same rhetoric by rote.

Holy Roller said:

Quite the contrary. If you expect us to believe Atheists do not regard the Christian as dumb, blind sheep, then you take Christans to be fools!
Please visit my other thread that more or less proves Atheists inherently think Christans have a lower intellect than the Atheist.
What's lol funny is most the Atheists I have met on this message board are, well, dumb, blind sheep.
And I'm a completed Jew.

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This theist has not only been told by Christians that I'm dumb and blind...but that I'm a Heathen too boot, and judged as totally Hell bound. I just want to point out that Christians are just a guilty of everything that's being put onto atheist here. Some of the most loving people I've met are Christian. In the same breath, some of the most ego-religious people I've met are Christian as well.

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Holy Roller said:

Quite the contrary. If you expect us to believe Atheists do not regard the Christian as dumb, blind sheep, then you take Christans to be fools!
Please visit my other thread that more or less proves Atheists inherently think Christans have a lower intellect than the Atheist.
What's lol funny is most the Atheists I have met on this message board are, well, dumb, blind sheep.
And I'm a completed Jew.

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You prove nothing except that a few professed atheists on a theist message board, some of whom are drawn here no doubt because they are currently in a mood to resent theism and Christians in particular for whatever wrongs they feel have been done to them, may say mean things about theists .

This is hardly a slice of real life. This board represents diverse opinions, but in fact a look at the stats for this board will reveal that most are American Christians, and a good many of them visit rapture believers' boards. And like to shop at Walgreens. Check it out:

http://www.quantcast.com/christianforums.com

You meet, do business with, work with and have as neighbours everyday, agnostics and atheists. You likely have atheists in your own family. You are not only broadbrushing, you continue by directly insulting people who have told you outright that they are atheists who respect most theists.

You call yourself a completed Jew, yet nickname yourself Holy Roller, which in my home province has been for over a century an affectionate (yes, affectionate) nickname for a particular denomination of Christianity of which I seriously doubt you'd approve. You might even call them sheep. I call them my Mother's family. They are, all of them, most certainly as intelligent as you, and they are kind, generous, funny people who certainly don't think it necessary to insult everyone in the community who believes differently than they do.

You seem to be projecting a narrow-minded and combative persona, aiming a vendetta at atheists, being careful to cherry-pick anything that might suit your preconceived mistaken notions while ignoring most of what sincere people, both theists and atheists, have said to you. It appears you have no interest in anyone's real beliefs but your own. Which is a pity, and a waste.

Holy Roller said:

Gentlemen If You Go To My adultry: Should It Be A Misdemeanor Thread In The ethics And Morality Forum Under society You Will Note That One Atheist Says Christians Are Blind, Stupid Sheep And Several Atheists Reply In Concerted Agreement.

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Who cares? No one is saying Fred Phelps represents all Christians.

Who cares what a couple people say.

You want to know how to ensure people will respond aggressively and negatively to you? Tell them that you are a "Hunter" for whatever it is they define themselves as. Then procede to tell them how they are dumb about their own thoughts, and do it repeatedly after being shown that they hold those thoughts for very specific and arduously thought out reasons.

THEN you can see people get annoyed, Mr. "Atheist Hunter". I find you offensive not because of your faith but because of your aggressive ignorance.

I don't think Christians are ignorant sheeple, I have many many christian friends whom I respect. One of which is a near-fundamentalist that I have written job references for, I respect him so much.

What I fail to respect is aggressive ignorance. And you seem to be carrying that in spades.

Try toning down your aggression and drop the "Hunter" garbage. Until you listen to atheists and what they say you are no more a hunter of atheists than you are Frank Sinatra. (Oh and stop the pretensious "quotes" of yourself in your sig file. You look like a royal....well, I can't say it here)

The very second you bother to learn as much about atheism as most of us atheists know about religion, then maybe you can come to the table and talk like an "Atheist Hunter".

Holy Roller said:

Yesterday I was "swimming in the sea of ignorance" and today "strawmen are hard to light on fire when you keep dumping water on them." Looks like you are not keeping your day job like I suggested you do; you're still going after the poet thing.

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I can't help it if I have more facility with the english language than you can muster. I can't help it that I am a double threat: a scientist who performed better than average in the Humanities, and that apparently is a problem for you.

And you know what? It's amazingly easy for me. I can bounce back and forth across the aisle with aplomb and ease. I have a huge vocabulary and I am extremely well read.

I am that most rare of scientists who not only was able to get a PhD in one science, but do two postdocs in a different science! And all while being more skilled in the humanities than my usual cohorts. I always scored higher on language skills than I did on math skills. Imagine what I could do if I actually bothered to work harder at all these things and didn't waste my time responding to the aggressive ignorance of the dread "Atheist Hunter" who's too busy quoting himself in his own sig files to be able to read a book by someone else once in a while?

dlamberth said:

This theist has not only been told by Christians that I'm dumb and blind...but that I'm a Heathen too boot, and judged as totally Hell bound. I just want to point out that Christians are just a guilty of everything that's being put onto atheist here. Some of the most loving people I've met are Christian. In the same breath, some of the most ego-religious people I've met are Christian as well.

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I'm not familiar with the distinction between atheists and Atheists.

Can you educate me?

Holy Roller said:

Quite the contrary. If you expect us to believe Atheists do not regard the Christian as dumb, blind sheep, then you take Christans to be fools!

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As I said earlier, I personally have many Christian friends. In fact, almost all of my friends are Christians. I respect them. One is the smartest human being I have ever had the pleasure to meet. We disagree on religion, but this guy is, hands down, the smartest human I have ever met in my life of 44 years, 3 universities and several research labs worth of living.

Another is, as I said, a near-fundamentalist, but he is honest, decent, and a great chemist. I have personally written more than one letter of reference for him.

Another is a poster on this forum occasionally. We worked together at a previous job. He's a Christian. He's one of the finest polymer chemists I've met, and he's honestly a super-nice guy!

Please visit my other thread that more or less proves Atheists inherently think Christans have a lower intellect than the Atheist.

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You might wish to take a statistics class. If you find an atheist who is a jerk to all Christians and claim that represents all atheists, can I paint you with the same brush as I paint Fred Phelps? Can I assume you are a religious zealout like Osama Bin Laden because you have a religious conviction?

Do you see where "generalization" leads?

What's lol funny is most the Atheists I have met on this message board are, well, dumb, blind sheep.

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Funny, I've read a lot of the atheists on this board and I'd have to say that most of them are pretty smart. That's because when you hold a minority idea you usually have to more robustly defend it. Ask any atheist on this board how easy it is to be an atheist in a place like the U.S.

But further, most atheists come from religious backgrounds or certainly have put a lot of effort into thinking about religion. I have seen precious few "religious" folks who have ever bothered to "listen" to what an atheist says about atheism.

And I'm a completed Jew.

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I am assuming by "Completed Jew" you mean one who has accepted Jesus as the messiah? I personally have very little knowledge of the stressful relationship between Messianic Jews and groups like, say, Jews for Judaism and their critique of the "idolatry" or non-monotheism of Messianic Judaism.

I suspect you could easily, from your life's learnings, show you are still a jew and a believer in Christ as messiah. I don't know what your beliefs are, but imagine how annoying it would be if someone called themselves the "Messianic Jew Hunter" and proceded to paint a caricature of your belief set and how it was this or that, regardless of what you said. And further imagine if that "Messianic Jew Hunter" didn't bother to understand even the bare minimum of judaism or christianity.

You see, you too have a minority belief of sorts. One that I will assume you have thought through very closely and have studied very much in the course of your "walk of faith". So why do you feel "teflon coated" in your attacks on others who have taken a divergent path?

When you wish to engage others in a debate on their philosophy or thoughts, it is incumbent upon you to listen to them, Atheist Hunter.

Crazy Liz said:

I'm not familiar with the distinction between atheists and Atheists.

Can you educate me?

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I've asked HR that same question several times. So far all I've drawn from him is silence. Earlier in this thread there has been some discussion about the difference between atheist and Atheist. And from what I remember of that discussion is that it’s depending upon how it's used. For instance, some atheist ARE almost religious in the eagerness and passion of their atheism. Is it those people who should be called Atheist? I don’t know the answer to that one. So let me know if you find anything out. Personally I just use “atheist”. It seems much more appropriate.

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Crazy Liz said:

I'm not familiar with the distinction between atheists and Atheists.

Can you educate me?

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Have you followed the epic lulz at RnR?

CaDan said:

Have you followed the epic lulz at RnR?

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Nope. I've been around a few forums, but never got into RnR.

Crazy Liz said:

Nope. I've been around a few forums, but never got into RnR.

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Err. . . Not for the weak. I wish I could find some stuff to link to regarding the thrashing of the Rational Response Squad and the New York City Atheists by other atheists, but it is all too raunchy to by posted here. Try Googling around a bit.

I have. I am a regular lurker at RnR, because there are a lot of very witty people there - I don't think I could keep up as a contributor. I found the RRS from an entirely different internet direction, and was thoroughly amused when I discovered RnR and their ongoing vivisection lab.

And I would say you could label people who are silly enough to put on 'deconversion ceremonies' as 'religious'... or at least ridiculous. Although I suspect HR's 'Big A' atheists are the ones who likely trounced him at the Dawkin's forums - I haven't bothered to look.

Holy Roller said:

They will say something like "We don't go around telling everyone Christians are blind dullards! Some may, but most of us are just normal people" when it's convenient, like when they're having discourse with an intellect far superior to their own, for example. But get them in a room by themselves and suddenly Christians turn into blind simpletons unable to think on their own.
Men who are physiologically challenged ("wimps") act in the same cowardly way: when they're in front of someone they feel envy towards (guy who's good-looking and relatively larger), they act docile and compliant. Get a bunch of wimpy dudes in the same room together and suddenly they hurl all kinds of insults at the guy they're jealous of.
Out of range of hearing, of course.

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You're using the very ad hominem we're citing? How can you possibly say something so insufferably arrogant? Hypocritical? Honestly, you do yourself, and the Lord, a great disservice.

You're entitled to your views, and to express yourself however you want, but am gonna have to insist this time that you leave me out of your athiest-bashing. I said before, I don't want to be associated with comments like that.

Am sorry if it looks like am calling you out. It's not that. But your treatment of some of the people in this thread is unacceptable, and I won't be a party to it.