I guess I am a fake atheist.

Forums: Atheism, Religion, Atheist, Not Religion, Sans Religion
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I meet the alleged definition of "atheist". I don't believe in any deity.

Yet Atheists (with a capital 'A') really piss me off. And yes, apparently I piss them off too.

This is the problem. There are lots of people who are atheists (with a little 'a') who respect the role of religion in public and social life. I personally have no problem with "In God We Trust" being on money or with prayers in public institutions where it is meaningful to a community.

The real problem is when organizations that label themselves as "Atheist" organizations come with a a laundry list of social causes from same-sex marriage to eliminating religion from public institutions.

See http://www.atheistalliance.org/ for example.

If Atheists are going to organize campaigns to remove religion from public life or change society in ways they feel benefits a godless life, then they need to stop the pretext that Atheists have no beliefs or no creeds.

If Atheists are going to band together to go on public crusades, they can't define themselves as only "people who don't believe in god".

Because lots of us who don't believe in god think they are full of crap.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 15 • Views: 6,216 • Replies: 71

@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

If Atheists are going to band together to go on public crusades, they can't define themselves as only "people who don't believe in god".

Sure they can. People who find themselves without theism (Atheists) can still act in different ways and still be Atheists. The set of beliefs or lack of beliefs can be unrelated to their actions because the actions can be motivated by different sets of ideas.

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@rosborne979,

The people on these crusades are misusing the word "atheist" then. My issue is that they are using it in two different ways in an intentionally deceptive way.

First they forcibly assert that the definition of "atheist" is only "person who doesn't believe in god" and therefore atheists have no doctrine or creed.

Then they organize under the name "Atheist" to push a very specific set of social goals that definitely make up a doctrine and a creed.

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@maxdancona,

They, I guess that's we, need a better marketing director. They need to hire more spokespersons like Carl Sagan and fewer like the anonymous assholes one reads parading around the internet.

Joe(no, you are not fake, they don't get it)Nation

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@Joe Nation,

Quote:

They need to hire more spokespersons like Carl Sagan...

I suggest you choose someone else. Carl Sagan was an agnostic...and has called some forms of atheism "stupid."

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If a group of atheists wants to band together, it's no different than a group of car salesmen or a group of football fans doing things together. Why do people single out the atheists? Oh, some of them band together. Now they are a religion? Give me a horse shitting break. The fact remains - Most atheists don't join such groups and possibly never will.

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@edgarblythe,

Sure Edgar. I agree with this post of yours. But...

You aren't answering my specific criticism of "Atheists" (with a capital 'A').

I linked to a specific example of the "Atheists" I am talking about. These call themselves the "Atheists Alliance International" and the implication is that they are representing people who don't believe in God.

Of course they have every right to organize. I am just saying I find this type of "Atheist" rather annoying, particularly since they are misusing the term "atheist". They don't at all speak for the concerns of people who don't believe in god.

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@maxdancona,

What do I care what they call themselves. Jimmy Swaggart does not represent all Christians. Yet, oddly, he is a Christian at the head of a group of Christians. As I pointed out on Wilso's thread, they are apparently pushing liberal causes. That automatically excludes half of atheists, since many conservatives are also atheists.

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@edgarblythe,

If I were a Christian then Jimmy Swaggart would offend and annoy me, but I am not and I don't care about Jimmy Swaggart.

I am an atheist and it is people like Richard Dawkins who offend and annoy me.

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@maxdancona,

It is of course every person's right to get offended and annoyed at things.

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For what it's worth -- and I'm guessing it's not much -- this time I agree with you totally, max. I'm vastly amused by militant atheists who act as though they have to defend their non-faith and to proselytize it.

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@Lustig Andrei,

It's worth a lot to me Lustig.

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Am I my brother's kipper? If so, that makes him a kipper too.

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@edgarblythe,

In a way.

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@edgarblythe,

Well, if the subject's going to get a little fishy here, I might as well tell you that I'm a firm believer in the separation of perch and skate.

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@Lustig Andrei,

If you are interested in fishy perplexities..
You may be interested to know that a perch of rare clarity of scale color and vivacity.. (rare, I assume so .... pompously).. When removed from its habitat, in which it grew to fair size and retained that spark of hope and life.. Placed into a tank of human design, with belief that its spawn or attempts at such would be too many.. finds itself dwindling in all the aforementioned aspects of true living.

The river, of sea, where skate swim free.. Is where such a fish belongs, even when flicking out of that river as gesture of drive to be 'life', not creature prohibited, to places which are suddenly deemed 'tanks'.

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@edgarblythe,

Yes, to me this thread is disjunctive for that reason. Max is upset about some group of temporarily like minds.

I guess I am a fake atheist.

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