Friday, May 15, 2009
By the Way Atheists: Coming to Get You
Posted by Ashley Spurgeon on Fri, May 15, 2009 at 1:02 PM
Comments (33)
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Maybe if so many religious people didn't behave like intolerant bigots more people would want to join their club.
Lets see. Ashley is into: Indie Rock, Atheism, 'Lost' & Trolling the Internets.
Will you marry me?
I am firmly and unshakably agnostic. You atheist wackos scare me.
Thankfully Darwin's discovery of evolution completely rules out the possibility that man came from some dirt that a God used to make an image of Himself out of, and that woman came from a rib of this dirt-man.
Compare the amount of interlocking data from every applicable scientific field including geology, physics, and even molecular biology, all having observational experiments done, that test and prove the hypotheses of evolution occurring, with the DISCREDITED FAIRY TALE - a big invisible monster that nobody has ever seen or heard did it.
Many atheist comedians (notably George Carlin and Lewis Black) have great routines ridiculing religion that can be seen on Youtube. Let me elaborate why this may be their greatest contribution to society.
It is frightening that mass delusions of supernatural beings still exist today. It is the same thing as saying that my invisible fire breathing dragon is more powerful than your multi-headed fire spewing sea monster. So, come around to my way of thinking or I will commit atrocities for it.
How could anybody worship a fictional being whose story is outlandishly absurd. Everything from the murderous blood stained Sky Daddy who drowned virtually all humanity and other life, sentenced everyone to leave Utopia after Eve (persuaded by a talking snake) ate a magical apple, had Jonah take a ride in the belly of a whale, ruined the life of Job, told Abraham to murder his own kid, killed all the first born of Egypt, had his chosen people commit genocide on the original inhabitants of Palestine, to letting his own son be nailed to some wood so mankind could party with a ghost - is a FAIRY TALE that humanity needs to reject if we are to see many more generations.
By the way if you are dumb enough to believe that this fable is real; in the Bible, the murder count is God/millions - Devil/zero. Whom would you rather spend time with, a vengeful monster or a fallen angel who thought he had a better way? I am NOT promoting the Devil, just illustrating the craziness in this stupidity.
Hopefully if you were previously deluded, after reading this you will see how foolish you have been.
There is no middle ground.
It's sorto no different in Tennessee.
Here you will never be able to get an abortion soon. Yet, you can buy as many handheld life dispatchers as you need.
Thus, population reduction is by gunfire not by coat hanger.
Every where else it will just be the opposite.
The equation balances on both sides.
I am of opinion that Dawkins/Hitchens have done more harm than good. Their basic argument seems to be that people who believe in God are dumb, & that there's no need for religion anymore now that we have Science. Naturally that's going to turn off anyone who sees the value in faith, & anyway it doesn't square with the facts -- were Charles Darwin, T.S. Eliot, Martin Luther King Jr., etc. etc., "stupid" and credulous for believing in a religion? Atheists need a advocate who will look at the reality of religious belief, instead of trying to wish it away.
To anyone who's interested in this topic, I would recommend Terry Eagleton's new book Reason, Faith, & Revolution. It's a critique of Dawkins et al. by a British marxist academic. It's insightful and, surprisingly, hilarious!
I haven't read that yet Emily, thanks. And you're right about the "religious people are dumb" argument. It's pretty much why I dismiss Bill Maher, who is ostensibly a comedian, right out the gate. Still, I think it's important that these conversatiosn even get started. Maybe they'll inspire a better representative. Could it be you? Or you? Or...you?
And while Dawkins is...let's say bombasitc, I'm still a fan if for no other reason than "The Selfish Gene." He's good at making complicated topics accessible to morons like me. And he is a hot old dude, which is all I ask from anyone, from scientists to self-proclaimed spokespeople.
Dude you have no idea what your talking about. Your're extremely ignorant, and unworth of any argument.
@Matt - Agnostics are atheists too. Get over it. And if you were being sarcastic, it doesn't translate into the printed word. On the web you should use the
@Fizzmick - Darwin did not discover evolution, he discovered a mechanism for evolution, namely natural selection. Evolution has been around a lot longer than Darwin. Even the ancient Greeks had a concept of evolution, so I'm not sure why this is such a big controversy 2000+ years later.
On a personal note, after living in the liberal bastion of Austin, TX for 2.5 years, I had forgotten how backward Tennessee was when it comes to religion. As a single guy, I've found it very difficult to find a date here in Nashville, mainly due to my atheism. It's a real non-starter for most people, but at the same time, I don't want to hide it or be dishonest about it because lying is a terrible way to start a relationship. I'm sure I'll get a date eventually, but it's very frustrating when everyone you meet thinks your are great until they find out you're an atheist, then they do a 180 and think you are some kind of monster.
From Merriam-Webster
Agnostic - a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable ; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god
Atheist - one who believes that there is no deity
I was only half joking. Those words are not interchangeable.
Ashley, true true, a cogent science writer is always good to have around.
My ex-boyfriend Andy's best friend Jeff used to claim he was going to start an organization called Atheists for God... so maybe he can spearhead this new movement... I'd join it if he did.
In some regards, fundamentalist zealots and hardline atheists don't strike me as all that dissimilar. Both believers and non-believers at some point make of leap between where their own logic and rationale comes short of conclusion. Believers bridge that gap with what they tend to call faith. Maybe the gap between conclusion and provability is narrower for non-believers, but that alone doesn't strike me as any sort of proof.
Oh, and the other difference between agnostics and atheists: atheists go to hell.
'Those words are not interchangeable'
They are also not exclusive. I think virtually all self-identifying 'atheists' would agree that 'ultimate reality' is still unknown and could very well be unknowable (although claiming to *know* ultimate reality is unknowable is impossible and logically contradictory). You can still disbelieve in god(s).
The burden of proof is always on the affirmative case. It doesn't take faith to disbelieve or dismiss that for which there is no evidence.
It seems to me the only *real* difference between 'atheists' and 'agnostics' is framing and attitude (self-branded agnostics want to be less confrontational and more conciliatory although for the most part they don't really believe in god(s) any more than any self-described atheist). Although, sure, you sometimes get thick-skilled, ignorant atheists who don't really know what they're talking about. The great things about stupid is that it doesn't discriminate based on age, race, sex, or religion.
I am so proud of all of you. Measured, reasonable discussions about semantics were not what I was expecting.
Taoism:
Shit happens.
Buddhism:
If shit happens, it's not really shit.
Islam:
If shit happens, it's the will of Allah.
Protestantism:
Shit happens because you don't work hard enough.
Judaism:
Why does this shit always happen to us?
Hinduism:
This shit happened before.
Catholicism:
Shit happens because you're bad.
Hare Krishna:
Shit happens rama rama.
T.V. Evangelism:
Send more shit.
Atheism:
No shit.
Jehova's Witness:
Knock knock, shit happens.
Hedonism:
There's nothing like a good shit happening.
Christian Science:
Shit happens in your mind.
Agnosticism:
Maybe shit happens, maybe it doesn't.
Rastafarianism:
Let's smoke this shit.
Existentialism:
What is shit anyway?
Stoicism:
This shit doesn't bother me.
Shane, good points. I acknowledge the lines are blurred, but I do think that in a strictly academic sense the two are exclusive. I liked the bit about knowing that the unknowable is unknowable.
As for the affirmative case carrying the burden of proof, that's most often true. But it's also true that dissenting opinions generally carry a heavy burden of proof. In the end I'm willing to say that none of it matters a great deal since, being a member of the agnostic camp, ours is generally the lazy one.
Hi... the picture you're using comes from my website:
http://friendlyatheist.com/2007/11/06/friendly-atheist-contest-8-atheist-haiku/
I would appreciate a trackback if you'd like to use it. Thanks.
As an atheist, I don't believe all religious people are dumb.
Only the ones who think the Earth is less then 10,000 years old.
NOW THAT'S DUMB!!!
world religions says ..
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL
You need one for the Mormons, though.
I believe you can be born an atheist because I was..well ever since I was young I just never had 'beliefs' that there was an easter bunny,adam & eve etc etc. When I told my parents (devoted catholics) I was an atheist yeah they acted like I had some disease hehe but then they said "you know, you never 'believed' in things the other kids did , religious ways most people do". I truly believe I was born with this perception, just a feeling I always had.
Fizzmick PaChee,
Darwinism says nothing of life's origins.
Abiogenesis experiments have failed for circa 150 years.
The constituents of the human body are those of the dirt.
The Bible provided this scientific prediction while atheists prefer to believe that life came from lightning striking a swamp.
Until such a time as atheists can provide evidence of absolute materialism producing the universe, life and everything supernaturalism is the default position and it is evidenced by science and philosophy.
The notion that supernaturalism is the default position is laughable.
The number of things exaplained by science that once had a supernatural explanation are numerous.
The number of scientific explanations that have been replaced by the supernatural remains at zero.
Your post commits the God of the gaps fallacy: "If we can't 'splain it, then "Godidit".
I content that no coherent definition of "God" exists. The concept lacks coherancy and is therefore nonsense. The literalists are obviously wrong headed with their anthropological deity made in their own image and the more liberal religionists' concept of God is so flakey and vague that it dissipates into nothingness. "God" is gobbledeegoop.
Actually, we're all born athiests by definition. When we are born, we do not believe in god. Religion is taught to us by adults.
There have been roughly 20, 000 religions of some sort during human history. All believe that theirs is the true religion and reject 19, 999 of them. Athiests reject 20, 000 of them.
I honestly don't understand, in this day and age, how people with slight intelligence believe in god.
ATHEISM: THE BELIEF THAT THERE WAS NOTHING AND NOTHING HAPPENED TO NOTHING AND THEN NOTHING MAGICALLY EXPLODED FOR NO REASON, CREATING EVERYTHING AND THEN A BUNCH OF EVERYTHING MAGICALLY REARRANGED ITSELF FOR NO REASON WHAT SO EVER INTO SELF-REPLICATING BITS WHICH THEN TURNED IN TO DINOSAURS.
YEAH MAKES PERFECT SENSE
So not believing is to not have morals? What's your argument, that God taught you morals? Morals are innate, human aspects. We develop different morals because many different people teach us their own moral codes. For example, a Christian says that adultery is wrong, a Muslim says that alcohol is wrong, an Objectivist says that giving away your own hard work is wrong. The Objectivist does not believe in God but he possesses, if anything, a strong and proper moral code. Morality is simply the guide to living life. Everyone lives and everyone possesses morality. Atheism is not believing. You can't believe in morality. You simply follow the morality. I am an atheist and I possess the same morality as any other person. Killing is bad, theft is immoral, the desecration of innocence is improper. All of these things are innate and one does not have to believe to follow morals.
i don't think "god" would approve of his loyal follwer to be calling atheists (which you would believe he created, so did he fuck up again?) "ignorant c-nt", or even sarcasm, so if your dedicating yourself to a religion you better actually follow it or there really is no point. if you can't candle atheists expressing their views just as many religious people do then just don't read it, and i'm sure god will answer your prayer like he does those of the many starving children and ill diseased people of the world .
Definitely enjoyed the article...thanks!
Also, I'd argue that everyone is born atheist (seeing as newborns don't have any concept of god). Kids are brainwashed...err, taught, to believe in a god.
And for all those that think atheists are immoral, check the religious views of inmates.
Too many morons read the Scene (or write for it). Given enough time, a rock will grow legs and walk away. The proof is all around you. The genius that allows this to happen is way above our own, and we are just fumbling in the dark until we can grow brains able to understand it.
"Too many morons read the Scene ..."
Don't beat yourself up. We're just happy you're here.
