Atheism

Yes--but there are other levels besides that of individual greed, vainglory and power lust. There is a collective cultural one only capable of management under a celibate priesthood. Or at least one with no family ties or property connections. It simply has the use of palaces and facilities. It transcends the lifetimes of individuals.

Our culture has characteristics of all those vices. So do others. Without them we would have rolled over long ago. Look at the insignia and ceremonials which trumpet vainglory. Look where out military expeditions have been. And our commercial ones. For greed look at the ads.

And the greed, vainglory and power lust is our collective sacrifice to the nature of our God. Our way of worshipping Him.

I'm just being a bit fanciful theologically speaking. To see how it plays.

Is the NFL about anything else?

You're trying to have it both ways George. You have the benefits of cultural greed, vainglory and power lust and your delicacy has you in coy denial as if it is nothing to do with you. Your like a bloke coming out of a brothel in a business-like manner.

spendi; CLUE, The NFL is sports. It's only one of many activities enjoyed by the masses; it's entertainment.

Don't kid yourself ci. It's a serious business. Bill Shankley famously said that football is more important than life and death. Otherwise it's all faked. Are you saying that NFL is a scripted movie? A show? Rather you than me.

It's about time you ceased with this conceit of your's concerning the "masses".

It's so easily seen through. There's nothing worse than a dead average, flat-ribbed, fat-arsed specimen of a typical member of the masses trying to make out they are above the masses just by word magic. Snobbery is reasonably acceptable in those who have some claim to the indulgence but ******* hilarious in wankers like you.

By my standards, which are not that good, you are barely literate. Just enough to know how to read the instructions and notices.

spendi, Do you always have to prove your ignorance? If football were scripted, players will never get life-threatening injury. I often wonder how they survive older age when they get constantly banged in their head and bodies - breaking bones, tendons, and fractures.

Compared to olden days when sports events were for the kill, today is a lot more safe.

Asian sports can also be brutal.

The only "offence" that I took was that you were, apparently, appalled that I would enter this thread. I was not offended by your lack of believe in God. That is your choice, perogative and right. Others have mentioned that they welcome discussion. The fact that you are trying to put atheists into an elite club that bars others is what is offensive and inconsiderate to them. Atheists are no offence to me and I have no desire to change them. As I have pointed out before, we are all the same except in our belief or non belief.

Are you able to step back and understand the tone of what you've written here? I wasn't appalled that you had entered the thread. I just observed that the thread was about the experiences of atheists, and that that is something a theist would not be able to comment on. And, here, you write: The fact that you are trying to put atheists into an elite club that bars others is what is offensive and inconsiderate to them. Fact ? ! ? ! ? What fact? That's only in your mind, it's not reality. You have a real problem here, but it's not me. You need to get over whatever paranoia fueled the sentence i just quoted.

You have missed the point. Others have said my participation was acceptable to them. You have indicated that I am not welcome. You seem to be putting yourself as the Head Atheist in a special club that is fueled by your own paranoia in letting an outsider into the thread.

Do you propose that people's experiences and learning be limited to only those things that they believe in? Shouldn't we all be curious as to the makeup of those around us so that we can better understand each other?

This is a personality fueled argument, in my view. Don't have anything to add just now.

How are ya doing, Edgar? You are looking well.

Well, it's important to me to be understood clearly, as well Thomas. I'm sure everyone wants to be understood clearly, and I think that's not overmuch to expect, and not generally hard to attain.

I think it may be that too fine a point is being made of it though - to me, it isn't as if every discussion needs some egregious, mentally taxing filter governing it that somehow stingily allows us to squeeze out what is barely, acceptably non-offensive. To me, it's more of a pretty simple personal choice of words that hurt, and words that don't. And I think we all know when we choose what we choose.

I got a hair cut.

As I stated earlier, a thread like this is bound to contain some posts and language the religious would reasonably object to, in another setting. But, in this special corner, it should not be the case. We cannot be honest if we cannot speak without censorship. I don't want confrontation on here, but I do intend to say what I need to. We have used up page after page of reassuring one another. Time to get to other business for my nickle.

I'll leave you gentlemen and ladies to it, then. For the record though, I wasn't looking for reassurance and I wasn't trying to reassure anyone.

I was not referring to you specifically, but to the thread as a whole. I guess I am not wired for the endless hashing of two or three points.

Hey, Snood. Wanna go for a beer?

Crickets. Could it be I done a bad thing?

Context, m'lad, you've missed the context. Nicely written, though.

Facebook used to find West Bank blogger
The authorities say the atheist was insulting Muhammad. 'He should be burned to death,' says a resident of his town
By DIAA HADID Associated Press
Nov. 12, 2010, 5:53AM
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QALQILIYA, West Bank — A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad is now behind bars — caught in a sting that used Facebook to track him down.

The case of the unlikely apostate, a shy barber from this backwater West Bank town, is highlighting the limits of tolerance in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority — and illustrating a new trend by authorities in the Arab world to mine social media for evidence.

Residents of Qalqiliya say they had no idea that Walid Husayin — the 26-year-old son of a Muslim scholar — was leading a double life.

Known as a quiet man who prayed with his family each Friday and spent his evenings working in his father's barbershop, Husayin was secretly posting anti-religion rants on the Internet during his free time.

Now, he faces a potential life prison sentence on heresy charges for "insulting the divine essence." Many in this conservative Muslim town say he should be killed for renouncing Islam, and even family members say he should remain behind bars for life.

"He should be burned to death," said Abdul-Latif Dahoud, a 35-year-old Qalqiliya resident. The execution should take place in public "to be an example to others," he added.

Over several years, Husayin is suspected of posting arguments in favor of atheism on English and Arabic blogs, where he described the God of Islam as having the attributes of a "primitive Bedouin." He called Islam a "blind faith that grows and takes over people's minds where there is irrationality and ignorance."

Claims about what God wants
If that wasn't enough, he is also suspected of creating three Facebook groups in which he sarcastically declared himself God and ordered his followers, among other things, to smoke marijuana in verses that spoof the Muslim holy book, the Quran. At its peak, Husayin's Arabic-language blog had more than 70,000 visitors, overwhelmingly from Arab countries.

His Facebook groups elicited hundreds of angry comments, detailed death threats and the formation of more than a dozen Facebook groups against him, including once called "Fight the blasphemer who said 'I am God.'"

The outburst of anger reflects the feeling in the Muslim world that their faith is under mounting attack by the West. This sensitivity has periodically turned violent, such as the street protests that erupted in 2005 after cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad were published in Denmark or after Pope Benedict XVI suggested the Prophet Muhammad was evil the following year. The pope later retracted his comment.

Husayin is the first to be arrested in the West Bank for his religious views, said Tayseer Tamimi, the former chief Islamic judge in the area.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is among the more religiously liberal Arab governments in the region. It is dominated by secular elites and has frequently cracked down on hardline Muslims and activists connected to its conservative Islamic rival, Hamas.

Husayin's high public profile and prickly style, however, left authorities no choice but to take action.

Husayin used a fake name on his English and Arabic-language blogs and Facebook pages. After his mother discovered articles on atheism on his computer, she canceled his Internet connection in hopes that he would change his mind.

Instead, he began going to an Internet cafe — a move that turned out to be a costly mistake. The owner, Ahmed Abu-Asal, said the blogger aroused suspicion by spending up to seven hours a day in a corner booth. After several months, a cafe worker supplied captured snapshots of his Facebook pages to Palestinian intelligence officials.

Officials monitored him for several weeks and then arrested him on Oct. 31 as he sat in the cafe, said Abu-Asal.

The case is the second high-profile arrest connected in the West Bank connected to Facebook activity. In late September, a reporter for a news station sympathetic to Hamas was arrested and detained for more than a month after he was tagged in a Facebook image that insulted the Palestinian president.
Gaza's Hamas rulers also stalk Facebook pages of suspected dissenters, said Palestinian rights activist Mustafa Ibrahim. He said Internet cafe owners are forced to monitor customers' online activity, and alert intelligence officials if they see anything critical of the militant group or that violates Hamas' stern interpretation of Islam.

Going fishing on Facebook
Both governments also create fake Facebook profiles to befriend and monitor known dissidents, activists said. In September, a young Gaza man was detained after publishing an article critical of Hamas on his Facebook feed.

Such "stalking" on Facebook and other social media sites has become increasingly common in the Arab world. In Lebanon, four people were arrested over the summer and accused of slandering President Michel Suleiman on Facebook. All have been released on bail.

In neighboring Syria, Facebook is blocked altogether. And in Egypt, a blogger was charged with atheism in 2007 after intelligence officials monitored his posts.

aidan - Do you believe I have a misconception? I am (1) speaking from real experience) and (2) I can speak as a person who once believed in these things.

A
R
T

Sounds good to me.