@reasoning logic,
Shoudn't your topic be titled "What do you think about proselytizing atheism?"
Same general idea, but no presumptive association with christianity.
So the message could be based on freedom from any sort of divine obligation. Just think of how many radical Islamist youths could then save themselves from jihadist sacrifice.
Of course, the freedom would extend to members of other religions as well. How many wars could be fought if all young men would just tell their preachers to pound sand when they spout off about patriotic duty?
@neologist,
Oh, and you still get to sleep in on Sunday
@neologist,
Quote:Shoudn't your topic be titled "What do you think about proselytizing atheism?"
Same general idea, but no presumptive association with christianity.
You were the one who gave us the origins of the word Evangelical right?
neologist
Quote:Evangelical is derived from the Greek word for "gospel" or "good news": ευαγγελιον (evangelion), from eu- "good" and angelion "message".
So, if you have some good news to spout, spout away. I might even read if you put it in your own words.
If the word is derived from word "gospel" couldn't that include things other than Christianity?
Quote:A gospel is a proclamation of good news, either oral or written, typically announcing a positive event of public importance, such as victory in battle, the accession of a king, the death of an enemy, the deification of an emperor, or victory in the games.[citation needed] A good news proclamation was often an occasion for a thanksgiving sacrifice and a festival, with the bearer of the good news being given a reward.[citation needed]
In subsequent generations in the Levant and across the Roman empire, "gospel" came to refer to an account describing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. This usage has since eclipsed the more general meaning of the term as an ancient cultural event.
@neologist,
Quote:So the message could be based on freedom from any sort of divine obligation. Just think of how many radical Islamist youths could then save themselves from jihadist sacrifice.
Of course, the freedom would extend to members of other religions as well. How many wars could be fought if all young men would just tell their preachers to pound sand when they spout off about patriotic duty?
The point is that the word gospel includes other books such as the Quran.
@chai2,
chai2 wrote:neologist wrote:Oh, and you still get to sleep in on Sunday
YEAH! 
Not to mention the considerable financial savings.
Someone told me mormons tithe 20%. Is that true?
@reasoning logic,
Well, my point is better than your point.
@reasoning logic,
Do I detect a true sense of humor?
@neologist,
Yes, I always enjoy our conversations.
@neologist,
neologist wrote:
chai2 wrote:neologist wrote:Oh, and you still get to sleep in on Sunday
YEAH!
Not to mention the considerable financial savings.
Someone told me mormons tithe 20%. Is that true?
Really? I'm gonna find me a mormon and roll him.
@neologist,
neologist wrote:Someone told me mormons tithe 20%. Is that true?
If it is true that Mormons give 20 percent of their income to their church, then they do not "tithe." At least, my understanding of the word "tithe" is that it means to give 10 percent of your income.
I'm not going to play the watch my too long idiotic video, and don't need to to have an opinion in this matter. Many times over the years i have noted the existence of militant, proselytizing atheists. In my life's experience, they are very much the minority of atheists. But on the squeaky wheel principle, they get the most attention, and many people think they are characteristic of atheists. Some people, like Frank, like to insist that they are the majority, but that's just because it plays into their argument about the superiority of their ignorance of the matter.
Although i have met a few militant atheists in my life, far and away the atheists i have met have been those who are called, rather unjustly, weak atheists. They aren't weak in the sense that their refusal to believe is tentative or could easily be overcome. It just means they don't claim to know if there is or is not a god. I have know literally hundreds and hundreds of atheists of this description. That includes atheists i met in the army, although we weren't doing fox holes in those days. Plenty of atheists in bunkers, though.
I've only known one proselytizing atheist, and found him rather pathetic. This was some joker who had a television program on cable public access (i guess being a militant atheists doesn't pay well enough to get a show on mainstream outlets). Basically, he let the rubes call in and then tore them up. It was like a grown man kicking little kids around. How could it be otherwise? No self-respecting adult with the mental armory to take on one of these self-important big fish in a small pond would waste his or her time. The people who called in were people of strong conviction and very little ability to articulate. It was easy to make them look like fools. If you need that to justify your own lack of belief, just how well founded could it be? I heard about this joker from a woman i knew, and then saw his program a few times when someone else had tuned it in. It was just such a nasty exercise in the ridicule of those who were not rhetorically and intellectually prepared to defend their belief that after seeing parts of three episodes, i would leave the room if someone tuned it in.
I agree that this is an oxymoronic term. "Hey, i don't believe, and i'm here to convince you that you mustn't believe either!" But most of all, i resent the nasty attitude it fosters toward atheists, most of whom are not like this.
@reasoning logic,
reasoning logic wrote:Do you think it would be OK if you are an atheist to be outspoken to others so that they too can learn be skeptical in all of their thinking and not take things on faith?
Sure. I
am outspoken about my atheism. I
do want others to be skeptical. You got a problem with that? Anybody?
@Thomas,
you would get in trouble being that way where I live.
just sayin...
With believers, I generally have many areas of contention
With atheists, mostly just one.
I find atheists refreshing
@Setanta,
You are always so happy, How do you do it?
