Marc2b
Posts: 6660
Joined: 8/7/2006 Status: offline
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quote:
yes because the atheists of the world past and present are such a peace loving lot... Compared to religious people, yes, atheists are much more peaceful. The fact that every atheist that has ever lived has not been peaceful in no way changes the reality that religion is orders of magnitude more violent than atheism. At most only the depredations of communism can attributed to people who called themselves atheists (people who, in fact, worshiped their own egos). All the other great horrors of history had some sort of religions motivation or, at least, justification. But I am not just talking about the great crimes of history. I am also talking smaller violations of human dignity as well. I'm talking about the Kim Davis' of the world who would deprive others of their rights simply because she thinks some god (who doesn't actually exist) doesn't approve. As an atheist, I am not required to hate and be intolerant of gay people. quote:
and because all the religious people except for a slice of islam are so off the wall violent... No. Not all religions are off the wall violent but all of the big ones have had their off the wall violent factions at one time or another. Again, however, the problem is not just off the wall violence but a host of other problems religion creates. One example: the efforts of American evangelists to deprive America's children of a science education. quote:
because our founding fathers, when they made the free practice of religion an essential characteristic of our nation, were really just children... Actually, they had the forethought to restrict religion's power by demanding equal treatment of religions as well as establishing a wall between church and state. They did this because, far from being children, they knew how terrible things could get if one religion were allowed to gain power over the government and the people. quote:
because the desire for others to "give up religion" could never turn into something amazingly violent and persecutory itself... You have a tendency to extrapolate things to their most ridiculousness extremes and then treat the end result as if it were a legitimate argument. Sure it is possible that a secular movement could turn into a mass persecution. But is it probable? The commonality between a religious and non-religious persecution movement is the belief in the infallibility of the ideology. It is when people surrender their minds to an ideology that mass murder becomes likely. The bottom line remains that religious people are more susceptible to such "thinking" than atheists since religious people are already conditioned to believe in nonsense and be unquestionably obedient to authority. It is by being an atheist that I am free to treat other people with respect and dignity because I am not required to hate them in order to please a god. quote:
as far as Christianity goes---people do what they do out of a love of god and as disciples of Christ---take that away and the people, and the world is are lesser place for it... People doing what they do out of a love of god and christ (or allah) is precisely the problem! Kim Davis denies homosexuals their rights out of love of god! ISIS beheads people and shoots people and rapes women out of love of god! I know there are people who consider themselves good because they are religious. More than likely, they are good despite being religious. I know decent people who call themselves christian and get upset when someone refers to people like the Phelps clan as christians. "We are the true christians," they like to proclaim. I would argue that they have it backwards. One need only read the Bible to see that, in fact, the Phelps clan is more representative of true christianity. A world without religion would not solve all problems . . . but it would eliminate a great many.
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Do you know what the most awesome thing about being an Atheist is? You're not required to hate anybody!
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