'Touchdown Jesus' Statue Destroyed By Lightning Strike!

[Lightning Strykez!]

I wonder who else falls into that category

Jokes aside, this isn't about having a **** fight - this is about one person making baseless assumptions and accusations as well as blatantly false statements about atheists. when I see someone making a lot of ridiculous comments like LS was (and they're not joking), then I'm going to say something about it.

Bull s***.

The bottom line here is that you, Carcharodon and I do not agree. And there is nothing wrong with that. Here's the problem:

I never attacked either of you directly, I simply referred to the general understandings of atheists as I have encountered in MY life's experiences. And I made that quite clear in my posts. Did I make generalizations? Yes. But we all know there are exceptions to every rule, and it goes without saying. So therefore there is no reason for you to take the comments so personally, which you both apparently have.

For example, there were statements made that actually questioned my intelligence level --and that's innappropriate for any discussion. I never said either of you were stupid or inept for believing the way you do; I provided reasonings and definitions as to why I disagree with your positions.

If one cannot debate civilly they need to step out of the kitchen.

It's quite an arrogant assertion that if one is not religious, then one does not have "faith". One can have faith in anything. One's own abilities. One's friends and loved ones. The basic decency of people. Nature's resilience. Logic.

It appears that a number of you are totally missing my point about humility and faith. I'm not talking about the concept in general, I'm referring to it in its most spiritual sense in relevance to a Higher Power. However, I will take responsibility for not communicating myself more clearly here.

They're not unwilling to grasp the concept. They're unwilling to grasp the possibility. Accepting that there is a creator means we at some level have to grasp our own morality as it applies to His rules. We're just too arrogant to do that.

EXACTLY!!!! Finally, someone here clearly understands what I've been trying to say here about humility. It has nothing to do with faith in family and friends, etc. I'm talking about the spiritual concept of faith--something entirely different. Atheists have ruled out the possibility that there is something greater that we cannot see.

And often we as humans are not willing to hand over the moral license over our lives to someone else i.e. God. Most people want to be independent and self-reliant, and that's part of human nature. Hell, even religious people can be the same way.

My point was that the desire to not have any accountability to a Higher Being is stronger with atheists than those who have religious beliefs.

Hey, I have an idea. Let's shut up about religion.

Agreed.

 

[The Battousai]

I never attacked either of you directly, I simply referred to the general understandings of atheists as I have encountered in MY life's experiences.

What are those experiences, exactly? I can tell you from my experience with friends, a skeptics' club, and a convention in Berkeley that the kind of atheist you've described is not a typical one. What you are familiar with is the kind of person who either is a nonbeliever or says they are out of rebellion (from parents, etc.).

What you're doing is equivalent to someone hating homosexuals because they've only ever known or talked to gay people who are a-holes. It's - as you put it - Bulls****.

And I made that quite clear in my posts.

Where?

Did I make generalizations? Yes. But we all know there are exceptions to every rule, and it goes without saying. So therefore there is no reason for you to take the comments so personally, which you both apparently have.

I took it personally because that fallacy is so easily avoidable, yet you didn't bother to avoid it.

For example, there were statements made that actually questioned my intelligence level --and that's innappropriate for any discussion.

While I agree, that has nothing to do with either my posts (since I said nothing of the sort) or this discussion in general.

To be fair, though, you've been acting rather irrationally and arrogantly.

I never said either of you were stupid or inept for believing the way you do; I provided reasonings and definitions as to why I disagree with your positions.

And they've been responded to without so much as a peep from you. Why is that?

If one cannot debate civilly they need to step out of the kitchen.

Again - unnecessary. Why are you changing the discussion?

It appears that a number of you are totally missing my point about humility and faith. I'm not talking about the concept in general, I'm referring to it in its most spiritual sense in relevance to a Higher Power. However, I will take responsibility for not communicating myself more clearly here.

There's no reason to have humility or faith in regard to something that - if it exists - has yet to show itself to those who don't believe (and even many of those who do, surprisingly). If there is anything that will give me a reason to believe it is personal contact in a manner that could not be mistaken for anything else.

EXACTLY!!!! Finally, someone here clearly understands what I've been trying to say here about humility. It has nothing to do with faith in family and friends, etc. I'm talking about the spiritual concept of faith--something entirely different.

Something without any reason for it.

Atheists have ruled out the possibility that there is something greater that we cannot see.

Statements like this one are exactly why I don't think you've talked to many atheists.

It's not the possibility that is ruled out (though some deities are so contradictory they couldn't logically exist). It would be fallacious to presume it as an impossibility (there's that evil, evil, logic again). Until there is a valid reason to believe a god exists, I will not.

You may be thinking about the rules in regard to the burden of proof (if person A makes a claim, they have that burden). It's important to note that - until a claim is supported by evidence - denial of that claim does not require the same burden. In its basic form, atheism is just that - a denial of the claim of theism.

And often we as humans are not willing to hand over the moral license over our lives to someone else i.e. God.

What's the point of doing that?

Most people want to be independent and self-reliant, and that's part of human nature. Hell, even religious people can be the same way.

It's strange that you view that as such a terrible thing...

My point was that the desire to not have any accountability to a Higher Being is stronger with atheists than those who have religious beliefs.

Why would someone who does not believe in a deity want to have any such accountability? That literally makes no sense.

 

[Marx]

GETTING BACK TO THE TOPIC AT HAND...

PETA OFFERS TO REBUILD 'JESUS' STATUE WITH ONE CONDITION
http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978320308

 

[The Battousai]

 

[Jennifer Walters]

At this point, I'm starting to think PETA knows they are nothing more than stand up comedians and do **** like this on purpose.

 

[Schlosser85]

Remember kids, they're not fish. They're sea kittens.

 

[E-Man]

Atheists, agnostics, and religious people all can unite with the cause to end PETA. Everybody hates PETA except PETA.

 

[Shockdingo]

Huzazh E-man! A brilliant idea! *Begins building a massive round table to prepare for the battle to end the madness.* Unite my brothers and sisters! Unite!

 

[E-Man]

Huzazh E-man! A brilliant idea! *Begins building a massive round table to prepare for the battle to end the madness.* Unite my brothers and sisters! Unite!

We need a guy smoking a cigar somewhere at that round table. We can't lose when we have a guy smoking a cigar.

Now if that guy was a monkey smoking a cigar....*explodes at the thought of how awesome that would be *

 

[Marx]

This thread has been derailed enough. Closed.