Atheism

@hingehead,

At the very least, he's providing comic relief. Mr. Green

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Several years ago, I lost a good friend. He was older than me and retired, living in one of our apartments. He was straightforward and never said a negative word, according to not just me, but folks who knew him better. I used to catch him as he left home for a daily walk. I always offered him a ride, to save all that walking. He was still a missionary, for a few years beyond our first meeting. He usually would bring me coins from Guyana. At his funeral, a fellow missionary said that my friend would strike out on his own, over there. Very ambitious. After his health declined enough, he quit traveling. He put out notices for people to study religion in his home, with no takers. He always tried to help me when I worked in his apartment. We joked quite a bit, after he realized that my early witticisms were meant in friendly humor - He had been confused by them, at first. He went into the hospital due to some internal bleeding. As his life began to slip away, he became happier and happier, because he knew in his heart he was going to be with God. He ordered that everyone be joyful at his funeral. I was astonished to see all the happy faces there. I was the only one who could not hold back the tears. He never once had tried to change me or criticize anything I did or said. I never had cause to dispute him when he told me about his activities. I still think about him as I go by his old apartment, and recall the berry vines he grew in one flower bed and the banana trees in one other. He had wanted so bad for the bananas to make fruit, and they did, but only the next season after they buried him.

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It is nice to know people like that. There are believers among my students, and we get along great. Butthen there's the other kind:

Quote:

Idaho Christian faith healers — 12 kids have died since 2011, and nobody’s doing anything about it
Arturo Garcia ARTURO GARCIA
17 NOV 2014 AT 19:15 ET

Despite the deaths of least 12 children from “faith healing” Christian families in their state, lawmakers and public officials in Idaho have refused to challenge a state law providing a religious exemption from manslaughter and murder charges, Vocativ reported.

The childrens’ families belonged to a Pentecostal group known as the Followers of Christ, which punishes members who seek medical care by shunning them from their church. According to state law, parents can substitute prayer as a form of treatment. The religious exemption covers manslaughter, capital murder and negligent homicide charges, but cannot be cited if a parent uses any other form of treatment on top of praying for the child.

“If the parent combines prayer with orange juice or a cool bath to bring down a fever, the parent loses the exemption,” Rita Swan, co-founder of the advocacy group Children’s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty, said.

...

Continued here: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/idaho-christian-faith-healers-12-kids-have-died-since-2011-and-nobodys-doing-anything-about-it/

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@FBM,

One of the reasons I'm so militant about my atheism. Religion is DANGEROUS. The fuckwit religitards who infest this site prove it every day.

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@FBM,

Scary that some states allow their children with serious illness to be neglected by the latest in health care.

Another thought: and probably the same people are afraid of terrorists.

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I honestly don't care what other people think and believe for themselves, and I'd be very surprised if very many people agreed with my deepest private thoughts. But when they start seriously ******* with other people about it - especially children - they get my attention.

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@Wilso,

Quote:

One of the reasons I'm so militant about my atheism. Religion is DANGEROUS. The fuckwit religitards who infest this site prove it every day.

I do agree with you here.

However , science is a religion too, and hence also very dangerous,

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@Quehoniaomath,

No. Both science and religion can be useful and also dangerous but they are not the same. The first involves universal empirical observations, the second involves parochial agreement.

Grow up. All you are doing is trying to rationalize your educational drop-out status (probably because you were too lazy to cope with difficult stuff). You now have isolated yourself intellectually, and have no alternative but to try to utter controversial catch all platitudes in order to attract attention to yourself.

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@fresco,

Quote:

No. Both science and religion can be useful and also dangerous but they are not the same. The first involves universal empirical observations, the second involves parochial agreement.

o yes it is! 'science' was created when the religions didn't works as good anymore for controlling the masses.

Quote:

Grow up. All you are doing is trying to rationalize your educational drop-out status (probably because you were too lazy to cope with difficult stuff). You now have isolated yourself intellectually, and have no alternative but to try to utter controversial catch all platitudes in order to attract attention to yourself.

Well, that was a bunch of Ad Hominems, mate!
Al you are doing...=1
lazy to cope=2
isolated yourself (is the most funny one btw) =3
catcha all....=4
attract attention to yourself..=5
dropout..=6
grow up..=7

Most of the time that is because of a lack of any arguments.

And because there are at least 7 (!) Ad Hominems, tyou must have a very strong lack of arguments!

Whas it something I said, mate? Wink

yes, sorry mate, 'science' really is a religion!

what else can 'science' do??? Nothing!

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@FBM,

It's useful to keep some perspective, too, though. It's not just the religious loonies who do stupid things to endanger children. At least once (and i think twice) in recent years, vegans in Ohio have been arrested for child endangerment. In the notorious case of which i know, the couple had a little girl, aged five, who was the size of a two-year-old toddler. The state took their severely malnourished children away from them.

The same sort of nutbags refuse to have their children immunized against childhood diseases (that particular craziness seems to have been entirely a product of the "village green" effect of the internet). It isn't always just the religious loonies who need to be watched closely--although i would not argue with a claim that there are more of them, and their effect is more virulent.

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@Setanta,

Quote:

It's useful to keep some perspective, too, though. It's not just the religious loonies who do stupid things to endanger children. At least once (and i think twice) in recent years, vegans in Ohio have been arrested for child endangerment. In the notorious case of which i know, the couple had a little girl, aged five, who was the size of a two-year-old toddler. The state took their severely malnourished children away from them.

The same sort of nutbags refuse to have their children immunized against childhood diseases (that particular craziness seems to have been entirely a product of the "village green" effect of the internet). It isn't always just the religious loonies who need to be watched closely--although i would not argue with a claim that there are more of them, and their effect is more virulent.

And in the meantime they let them vaccinate!! u n b e l i e v a b l e this hypocrasy,

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@Setanta,

And they're organized and collusive in their abuse/neglect, unlike the random vegans and whatnot.

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@FBM,

Well, duh . . . they've got god on their side!

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Well, duh . . . they've got god on their side!

What could possibly go wrong?

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@edgarblythe,

Nice one.

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@FBM,

Woo!

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@ossobuco,

Woohoo!

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People might find this article at Salon interesting:

New Atheists aren't new, aren't even atheists

I'm not at all impressed by Dawkins, and i'm no devoté of Harris, but it hink the author overdoes his thesis. Saying that they are anti-theists does not prove that they are not atheists.

But read it for yourselves and see what you think. The idea of "New Atheists" partakes of the obsessional attitude of theists that all atheists think alike, that they're all cook-cutter believers is a different creed.

Burroshito.

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@Setanta,

Saying that some people are anti-theists certainly does not mean they, of necessity, are not atheists or should not be considered atheists. For the most part, anti-theists who identify themselves as atheists...are atheists. And although I agree with and welcome what Reza Aslan said in the essay, he does indeed over-do his thesis in that regard.

I realize that I, even in my agnostic guise, have been an anti-theist…often mentioning that atheists and agnostics should work together to eradicate religion.

But I am all wet on that.

Religion serves a purpose for some…and even for humanity as a whole in some instances. I still consider it to be a net negative for society…but the notion of destroying it completely is off the wall…and I am going to work to temper that part of my personal philosophy.

In any case, a notion of allowing people to live their lives as they prefer dictates that I be more tolerant than I have in my regard of religion. I recognize that using “but they shove it down my throat” is more often a rationalization than a true argument.

Aslan's article was, however, a truly excellent piece to consider…and very well written. I’m happy I read it. I thank you for offering it, Setanta.

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Ultimately, it only highlights that atheists are no cohesive group or movement.

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