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Atheists like to rub it in the face
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NoShangriLa
Golden Member
In Vietnam they were giving out food & treats after Sunday mass to lure people into the Catholic church. My mom become a devoted Catholic and brainless zombie due to the act.
Are you looking for ideas or what? Just check out any of the past threads on religion, evolution, or any topic that sparked debate on religion or atheism. For the most part there was civil discussion on all sides, but there were a few cases of random insults.
If you are really interested, take a look at the excalation of atheism in countries where it became militant and persecution of Christians and other religions took place. Society of the Godless is one example.
Arcadio
Diamond Member
I really don't get it. Why do atheists want people to stop believing? What's the point? Christians want atheists to believe because they want atheists to be saved. There is a clear, defined reason. What reason is there to stop believing? Enjoy life? lol.. that is just funny.
rivan
Diamond Member
No, he's not looking for ideas. He's asking you a serious question because you leveled a serious accusation.
You're saying you expect atheists to crash peaceful events to obnoxiously and hypocritically promote their point of view.
He's asking you to define the "atheist agenda". And I'd like to see you finish your suggestion as well.
Atheists, in general, don't tell anyone they're going to hell, don't tell anyone how to live their lives, they simply don't have an organized agenda of hate, like so many (but not all! yay!) religions do.
edit: trimmed the quotes.
manowar821
Diamond Member
Atheism is a simple lack of faith in superstitious things, higher powers, whatever. That, in of itself, cannot create a religion. If some atheists gathered up and started plotting and scheming, making up rules and regulations, creating a religion in a sense, then that's not going to be because of their lack of belief in anything... There will be other underlying causes, other belief POSITIVES in their heads that will drive them to create such a thing.
Atheists are the people who don't fall for the superstitious, it's as simple as that. There are no lifestyles, no rules, no traditions centered around atheism and anyone who tells you otherwise is spreading propaganda so that you'll fear them. I guarantee it.
We're all born atheist, with no faith, empty slates with open minds. That "religion" thing is taught to us over time, designed to indoctrinate us into submission and tradition. It's designed to close our minds before we turn into adults, so that we may never stray from whichever path we've been forced into.
**edit: Chrono, I see christian advertisements every day. Bench-seats, billboards, fliers in coffee shops, on the radio, on TV, on the web. It's everywhere. "Come see the light", "Find jesus at blahblahblah church of blahblahblah", "God loves you, show him you love him and pray every day" It's everywhere, all the time.
Atheists are the people who don't fall for the superstitious, it's as simple as that. There are no lifestyles, no rules, no traditions centered around atheism and anyone who tells you otherwise is spreading propaganda so that you'll fear them. I guarantee it.
We're all born atheist, with no faith, empty slates with open minds. That "religion" thing is taught to us over time, designed to indoctrinate us into submission and tradition. It's designed to close our minds before we turn into adults, so that we may never stray from whichever path we've been forced into.
**edit: Chrono, I see christian advertisements every day. Bench-seats, billboards, fliers in coffee shops, on the radio, on TV, on the web. It's everywhere. "Come see the light", "Find jesus at blahblahblah church of blahblahblah", "God loves you, show him you love him and pray every day" It's everywhere, all the time.
Atheists, in most countries and historically, are a minority. It doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of people who deny the existence of God, but they usually don't organize, and as a minority militant extremist groups are less likely to rise in power and influence. But atheists, as much as any religious group, can become militant and persecute other belief systems and religions. It has happened in the past, and it will happen again.
I'm not saying all atheists want to persecute theists. Neither do all theists want to persecute atheists. What I am saying is that the claim that many atheists make, that religions are inherently divisive and bad, but atheism doesn't have that same potential, is false.
AstroManLuca
Lifer
"War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength; Freedom is Slavery."
Think about it!
Holy wars begun in God's name are the way to peace on earth. God commands it.
Ignorance of the truth (faith) is strength. You must be faithful to be strong. Faith means believing in something despite there being strong evidence contrary to that belief. It essentially means you should ignore the truth.
Freedom (going to Heaven) is slavery (serving the church). If you allow yourself to be enslaved in this life (by attending church, tithing, praying, and observing all Biblical rules no matter how random they may seem), then you will be given freedom (eternal bliss in Heaven). If, on the other hand, you try to secure your freedom in this life by ignoring the Bible and being hedonistic, you will be enslaved in Hell when you die.
Oh shit I probably sound like Moonbeam now.
theeedude
Lifer
I am an atheist, but I am not sure if trying to convince people there is no god is a good use of money or time.
I see religion as helpful for some people, it helps them structure their lives, even if it's a form of self delusion. If it's a net positive in their life, I don't want to interfere with that and try push my point of view on them, AS LONG AS THEY DON'T INTERFERE IN MY LIFE AND TRY TO PUSH THEIR POINT OF VIEW ON ME!
There are surveys done that show that many people would not vote for an atheist for office, or thinking that atheists are somehow less moral people than believers, or we are all some sort of commies, etc. It's that kind of bigotry that I would rather have this PR campaign addressed.
I see religion as helpful for some people, it helps them structure their lives, even if it's a form of self delusion. If it's a net positive in their life, I don't want to interfere with that and try push my point of view on them, AS LONG AS THEY DON'T INTERFERE IN MY LIFE AND TRY TO PUSH THEIR POINT OF VIEW ON ME!
There are surveys done that show that many people would not vote for an atheist for office, or thinking that atheists are somehow less moral people than believers, or we are all some sort of commies, etc. It's that kind of bigotry that I would rather have this PR campaign addressed.
videogames101
Diamond Member
Idiot, Christians have entire TV channels, talk about rubbing it in peoples face?
GTFO
videogames101
Diamond Member
Because people act on their beliefs, and if they are acting on false beliefs, it can hurt people. AKA the pope saying to stop support amnesty international because they provide condoms for AIDS ridden Africa...
And, yes, appreciate your one and only life, don't waste it.
From what I read in other articles, Richard Dawkins objected to the use of "probably". But advertising heads wouldn't allow "There is no God":
Perhaps the biggest kerfuffle has been over the word "probably" in the slogan, which the British advertising authority said should be thrown in to keep the ad from being potentially misleading, on the grounds that no one can say with 100% certainty that God does not exist.
ref: http://www.latimes.com/news/na...9jan12,0,3974830.story
I was going to make this point, too---the ad is using the word "probably" with respect to statistics. The ad is saying "In terms of statistical probability, there is no God."
It's not using the word "probably" in a conversational manner. It's not saying, "There's a pretty good chance there is no God."
People are going to fixate on the "probably" part of it, though. Just like how people fixate on the "evolution is a THEORY!!!!omgz!" thing without realizing that the word "theory" means different things scientifically than it does conversationally.
Edit: ghostman---I did in fact wonder if Dawkins would've liked the wording; thanks for the link. (Christ, he looks like a sleazebag molester in that photo....)
videogames101
Diamond Member
You seem to think Pascal's Wager, aka, believing because you have nothing t lose, is valid. Your wrong. One inherent flaw, is that there are tons of other religions in the world that say you will go to hell for being a Christian, or really, not being of their religion. So it's really SAFEST to be an atheist and a good person.
Because absolute truth isn't possible, atheists don't claim 100% god doesn't exist, but 99.99999% chance he doesn't, so your making a false statement there. The same applies to Christians, you simply can't know god exists, so, much safer to be an athiest.
Jeff7
Lifer
:laugh:
Wouldn't that be great though? Standing before God in the afterlife, for judgment: "So my child, I saw that you led a righteous life, and accepted my son as your savior."
'Well, yeah, about that, I saw this one billboard, something about 'thou shalt not' and I thought it was really funny. So I just kind of said I was Christian, but, you know, this billboard was just awesome. So um, can I go to Heaven now? Are there hot chicks there?"
"....Fine, whatever, just go in. The paperwork for sending someone to Hell is a medamn nightmare."
Better yet: Maybe the "one true religion" won't be conjured up for another 100,000 years, and we're all going to Super Hell because we don't believe in it. If you thought Super AIDS was bad, just you wait.
AstroManLuca
Lifer
I got into a long argument with a friend over this. They insisted that an atheist, by definition, is someone who says they are 100% certain that God doesn't exist. They're sort of right, but I don't like the fact that people use the term "atheist" all the time even to describe people who are 99.999% sure but not 100% out of principle.
They were saying I should describe myself as agnostic since I wasn't 100%, but I said that didn't seem right to me since, generally, when you say "agnostic" most people think "someone who is unsure." I am pretty damn sure. Not 100%, but so close I may as well be. I insisted that there has to be some better term than "agnostic" since, according to a strict definition, that term covers everyone who isn't a fanatical extremist.
Eventually I ran into the term de facto atheist and I decided that'd be a better way to go. But I'd really like to see the terms "strong atheist" and "weak atheist" become more popular. At this point I don't know which should change - the people who overuse the term "atheist" and apply it to all nonbelievers, the people who perpetuate that by claiming to be atheists despite not being 100% certain of no God, or the term itself for describing so few people in such a blunt and inflexible manner. I don't like how they apply the certainty thing because people often talk about "belief in God," not "knowledge of God's existence." I do not believe in God but I also do not know for certain that there is no God. Is anyone who says "I believe in God; I don't know if there is a God but I believe in him" an agnostic?
I find it easiest to just call myself "non-religious."
videogames101
Diamond Member
Anyone who says they "Know" god doesn't exist is a liar, and they are really enemies of truth. We can't KNOW anything, but we can be really really sure of it. People have this notion that agnostics are the only people who say they're unsure, but they aren't unsure, they are just atheists without the balls to say it. If you don't actively promote the idea of a god, you are an atheist. We don't calim to know god doesn't exist, becasue religion is built around a notion of god being unprovable, but we can be hell'a'sure that he doesn't based on the evidence we have.
Lets say I claim there is a teapot orbiting Saturn. You'd say you wouldn't believe me, but you can't know I'm wrong either, doesn't that make you agnostic about my teapot? Of course not, agnostics are just scared to admit they don't believe in god. All real atheists accept the fact that any number of the gods of any number of religions COULD be true, but most certainly aren't.
I may have rambled, but did I get the point across?
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