Are you really an atheist?

[Tank]

There are a bunch of posts I would like to answer since my last post. Is there a multi-quote option? I don't want there to be a string of my responses, or does that not bother anyone (especially moderators?)

Personally I think a lot of shorter resonses are better as it saves you the effort of creating a mega-post and then it's easier for the responder as they don't have to unpick your carefully constructed mega-pos to respond to just on part of it.

[Egor]

Or option B would be to respect other people's beliefs, under an inclusive secular law and cohabitate peacefully.
Do you think that would be better than war?

No. There's no honor or dignity in that. And life without honor is a waste of life. I'm not suggesting we should exterminate Muslims, but neither should they mess with us. But even that's not realistic. Christians and Muslims will always fight. The attacked us. We attacked them. Maybe it will quiet for a while, but there will be more wars. I thank God for our advanced nuclear weapons and missle technology. The nuclear submarine is a blessing to our nation.

As bad as that may sound, it's better than atheism ruling the world. For if atheists keep gaining influence in the Western World, Islamic Fundamentalism will take over. It's either a Christian world or a Muslim world or no world. That's something you should get your head around. IMHO.

[Egor]

Personally I think a lot of shorter resonses are better as it saves you the effort of creating a mega-post and then it's easier for the responder as they don't have to unpick your carefully constructed mega-pos to respond to just on part of it.

Okay. Sure. It's easier for me to keep track as well.

[The Magic Pudding]

Personally I think a lot of shorter resonses are better as it saves you the effort of creating a mega-post and then it's easier for the responder as they don't have to unpick your carefully constructed mega-pos to respond to just on part of it.

I see a pattern developing here, using the short for your own selfish purposes.

[Tank]

Or option B would be to respect other people's beliefs, under an inclusive secular law and cohabitate peacefully.
Do you think that would be better than war?

No. There's no honor or dignity in that. And life without honor is a waste of life. I'm not suggesting we should exterminate Muslims, but neither should they mess with us. But even that's not realistic. Christians and Muslims will always fight. The attacked us. We attacked them. Maybe it will quiet for a while, but there will be more wars. I thank God for our advanced nuclear weapons and missle technology. The nuclear submarine is a blessing to our nation.

As bad as that may sound, it's better than atheism ruling the world. For if atheists keep gaining influence in the Western World, Islamic Fundamentalism will take over. It's either a Christian world or a Muslim world or no world. That's something you should get your head around. IMHO.

Christians and Muslims killing each other by the billion. I win-win scenario if I ever saw one. Isn't there something about the meek (atheists) inheriting the Earth?

[Egor]

Christians and Muslims killing each other by the billion. I win-win scenario if I ever saw one. Isn't there something about the meek (atheists) inheriting the Earth?

We'd have to look closer into what Jesus meant by "meek" given that he, himself, was anything but meek in the sense we normally think of it. Perhaps inheriting the earth is the best thing. And seriously, you may want to think about it. It's only Christian societies that tolerate atheism. The Muslims sure won't.

[Tank]

Christians and Muslims killing each other by the billion. I win-win scenario if I ever saw one. Isn't there something about the meek (atheists) inheriting the Earth?

We'd have to look closer into what Jesus meant by "meek" given that he, himself, was anything but meek in the sense we normally think of it. Perhaps inheriting the earth is the best thing. And seriously, you may want to think about it. It's only Christian societies that tolerate atheism. The Muslims sure won't.

No problem with all the christians and muslins dead. Maybe there is a good opportunity as undertakers.

And you do realise that religions are run by atheists don't you? Nobody bright enough to run a religion would ever believe in it.

[Asmodean]

And you do realise that religions are run by atheists don't you? Nobody bright enough to run a religion would ever believe in it.

That's an excellent point.

What was it Seneca said, again..?

[Happy_Is_Good]

As bad as that may sound, it's better than atheism ruling the world. For if atheists keep gaining influence in the Western World, Islamic Fundamentalism will take over. It's either a Christian world or a Muslim world or no world. That's something you should get your head around. IMHO.

Yeah...those Radical Muslims sure are afraid of Christians as compared to Atheists.  I mean, that's why Al Qaeda attacked Moscow and Bejing instead of New York, huh? 

[Asmodean]

Yeah...those Radical Muslims sure are afraid of Christians as compared to Atheists.  I mean, that's why Al Qaeda attacked Moscow and Bejing instead of New York, huh? 

Russia has a relatively high percentage of believers. Stockholm, however... 

[Happy_Is_Good]

Yeah...those Radical Muslims sure are afraid of Christians as compared to Atheists.  I mean, that's why Al Qaeda attacked Moscow and Bejing instead of New York, huh? 

Russia has a relatively high percentage of believers. Stockholm, however... 

Hey...I like the new Avatar -  I think it's a pretty good sentiment to display considering Hitch's recent demise.

Anyways...the Chinese and Russians have shown little patience with Radical Islam and I believe they combat it in a manner far more effective than the west.  I mean, the Russians and Chinese do not waster their time trying to "Win Hearts and Minds" nor do they refer to Islam as a "Religion of Peace": the just bash the hell out of them. 

Unfortunately, the west is still mostly Christianized and so they are left vulnerable to Radical Islam.  I'm not saying that the West doesn't have the firepower to match the Islamists, I'm just saying that costs too much.  I mean, the so-called "War on Terror" is an expensive farce that has financially crippled us, and the Xian leadership is so afraid of calling out Radical Islam that they won't even identify the enemy (i.e., Radical Muslims). 

If the so-called "War on Terror" would have been fought right, then the vast majority of it would have been psychological and not just bombing and shooting.  I mean, can you imagine how a real hard-core Atheist country could have handled it?  A real hard-core Atheist country could have launched flying television and radio stations above Afghanistan that would have broadcast what the Islamists call "Religious Blasphemey" 24/7/365 (they would have broadcast the truth about Islam).  A hard-core Atheist country would have bombed every Radical Mosque and Madrassa in Afghanistan - which would have been all of them.  At the end of two years, the Radical Islamists would have despaired for they had sought to spread the Glory of Islam, but only succeeded in crippling belief.  THIS is something that Christians are afraid to do for they would have been forced to defend their own beliefs before the world and they are very afraid to do that!

[Asmodean]

Well, yes... Carpet bombing. Apparently, it works!

As for the avatar, yes, it is intended as in memoriam

[squidfetish]

But no supernatural things tell you about are going to impress you, like answered prayers, visions, healings. And actually, I'm not sure how that would convince you there's a God. I don't think it would convince me. Speaking in tongues for me was pretty supernatural, but it never convinced me God exists.

There is no evidence of answered prayers, visions or healings that fall outside of natural or man-made phenomena.  Christians still have medical insurance, right, despite their professed faith in god?
"Pretty supernatural" is an odd phrase - I owuld have thought that either something is supernatural or it is not.

I don't know what the soul cake duck is, but as for other versions of God, I do believe in them. I just don't think they are an adequate revelation of God. You could talk about Vishnu, but that's not the same as Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is a greater revelation. That's why Christianity has been so successful in terms of spreading throughout the world.

Are you sure that these other gods are incarnations of YOUR god?  As far as I am aware the three semitic religions are Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  However, it doesn't really surprise me that you are prepared to accept their existence without evidence too.

Christianity is an accident of history.  Were it not for Paul's writings, Roman Emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity, Roman Emperor Theodocius making Christianity the state religion, and the Roman penchant for invading and settling then Christianity would, for all intents and purposes, be one more defunct messiah cult.

Why so paranoid?

Paranoid?  Says the man who needs an omnipotent imaginary friend. Ok, go on then, make me laugh.

The Bible is 66 books all written at different times. By the time of the New Testament, Civilization was pretty advanced

It was the Bronze Age, chief.  Moses didn't come down with the 10 commandments on an iPad.

Long before that someone built the Great Pyramids and Stonehenge. Besides, there's nothing about our currrent knowledge of technology that does anything to diminish the existence of God,

So how come God got all butthurt about a bunch of guys building an adobe ziggurat to reach him?  I imagine he'd be a lot more pissed off about evolution, the internet and the large hadron collider.
He doesn't seem to have much to say on the small matter of millions of starving Christians in Africa either, come to think of it.

...not even evolution. Which is really an argument for God.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!  How come the fundies are fighting tooth and nail to stop the teaching of evolution in favour of creation then?..

And it was only relatively recently that we pretty much proved the Big Bang, and discovered some of the strange properties of sub-atomic particles. All of which point to super-natural foundation to the universe

I think Hawking, Deutsch et al would take issue with that.  Your acceptance of the big bang has all but erased deism as an option for you too. Well... I guess that is progress of a kind...

Back in the day, God used to be invoked as an explanation for pretty much everything.  With the increase in knowledge, technology and the scientific method, the God-of-the-gaps has become pretty much redundant.

That certainly looks like diminishment to me.

[Sweetdeath]

Or option B would be to respect other people's beliefs, under an inclusive secular law and cohabitate peacefully.
Do you think that would be better than war?

No. There's no honor or dignity in that. And life without honor is a waste of life. I'm not suggesting we should exterminate Muslims, but neither should they mess with us. But even that's not realistic. Christians and Muslims will always fight. The attacked us. We attacked them. Maybe it will quiet for a while, but there will be more wars. I thank God for our advanced nuclear weapons and missle technology. The nuclear submarine is a blessing to our nation.

As bad as that may sound, it's better than atheism ruling the world. For if atheists keep gaining influence in the Western World, Islamic Fundamentalism will take over. It's either a Christian world or a Muslim world or no world. That's something you should get your head around. IMHO.

......
You seriously believe this, don't you? I feel very sorry for you. It is hard for me to see a person who thinks this way. No one should be killing anyone. Murder is wrong.
And if you are okay witg it, as long as its in your god's name, then.you are no better than the crusaders centuries ago.
The world would be better off without religion and the extremists who worship it, creating violence against innocents.

[Tank]

Or option B would be to respect other people's beliefs, under an inclusive secular law and cohabitate peacefully.
Do you think that would be better than war?

No. There's no honor or dignity in that. And life without honor is a waste of life. I'm not suggesting we should exterminate Muslims, but neither should they mess with us. But even that's not realistic. Christians and Muslims will always fight. The attacked us. We attacked them. Maybe it will quiet for a while, but there will be more wars. I thank God for our advanced nuclear weapons and missle technology. The nuclear submarine is a blessing to our nation.

As bad as that may sound, it's better than atheism ruling the world. For if atheists keep gaining influence in the Western World, Islamic Fundamentalism will take over. It's either a Christian world or a Muslim world or no world. That's something you should get your head around. IMHO.

......
You seriously believe this, don't you? I feel very sorry for you. It is hard for me to see a person who thinks this way. No one should be killing anyone. Murder is wrong.
And if you are okay witg it, as long as its in your god's name, then.you are no better than the crusaders centuries ago.
The world would be better off without religion and the extremists who worship it, creating violence against innocents.

It's perfectly acceptably for theists to carry out mass murders if their particular god tells them to.