The reward for being an atheist
By Bob Patterson
Debating fundamentalists is difficult because the battle involves differing weapons.The atheists uses logic while the fundies use emotion. There is almost no quick way to convince someone their long held emotions are incorrect. One way or another, the result is usually sticking their fingers in their ears and singing, "La La la la -- I don't want to hear you," or some other similar way to tell you to get lost. Testing emotions will usually invoke anger, as well. At least online debating has some advantage in that you don't have to withstand a shouting contest.
If you could convince a fundie to become an atheist or even an agnostic, it would involve the following difficult changes:
1.You'd have to admit your parents lied to you, or at least, mislead you.
2.You'd have to admit you were wrong!
3.You'd have to become a minority.
4.You know that being an atheist isn't usually good in the workplace.
5. Your family and some friends may reject you.
6. You'd have to give up your imaginary ticket to your imaginary heaven.
The reward for being an atheist is the satisfaction of being correct, not worrying about going to hell, keeping the 10% of your money you used to give to the church (You did contribute 10% right?), and the knowledge no one is watching you. It's my personal opinion that atheists have a moral obligation to expose the fraud of religion, as well. Another reward is knowing other atheists and comparing experiences, which is why I always forward Dave VanAllen's ExChristian.net. in my daily rant.It makes available a lot of interesting and comparative experiences.
Just to show I'm not closed minded or dogmatically opinionated I will immediately accept the religion of the first god who restores missing limbs for amputees and sight for the blind. This should not be a major challenge for any real deity.
Debating fundamentalists is difficult because the battle involves differing weapons.The atheists uses logic while the fundies use emotion. There is almost no quick way to convince someone their long held emotions are incorrect. One way or another, the result is usually sticking their fingers in their ears and singing, "La La la la -- I don't want to hear you," or some other similar way to tell you to get lost. Testing emotions will usually invoke anger, as well. At least online debating has some advantage in that you don't have to withstand a shouting contest.
If you could convince a fundie to become an atheist or even an agnostic, it would involve the following difficult changes:
1.You'd have to admit your parents lied to you, or at least, mislead you.
2.You'd have to admit you were wrong!
3.You'd have to become a minority.
4.You know that being an atheist isn't usually good in the workplace.
5. Your family and some friends may reject you.
6. You'd have to give up your imaginary ticket to your imaginary heaven.
The reward for being an atheist is the satisfaction of being correct, not worrying about going to hell, keeping the 10% of your money you used to give to the church (You did contribute 10% right?), and the knowledge no one is watching you. It's my personal opinion that atheists have a moral obligation to expose the fraud of religion, as well. Another reward is knowing other atheists and comparing experiences, which is why I always forward Dave VanAllen's ExChristian.net. in my daily rant.It makes available a lot of interesting and comparative experiences.
Just to show I'm not closed minded or dogmatically opinionated I will immediately accept the religion of the first god who restores missing limbs for amputees and sight for the blind. This should not be a major challenge for any real deity.
Comments
Except there's no debate if one side is filtered out:
"Much thanks to the webmaster for removing the anonymous, angry, insignificant christian replies." (From 'Religion? No thanks. I'll just continue in my atheism' below)
Based on what I've seen, that is pretty much an oxymoron if there ever was one. Nothing I've seen them do ever qualifies as a "debate".
Christians offer nothing of any value but the same old worn out tired arguments.
All Christians know how to do is quote scripture like the mindless, brain dead zombies they are.
You can make a good point that strikes down their argument, however at the same time they ignore what you say and they continue to babble on with meaningless scripture.
Christians present no challenge.
American Christians are arrogant SUV Driving, Cell Phone Using, pieces of shit, and their version of getting persecuted is a joke.
Persecution for an American Christian is having their expensive SUV (with a fish on the back of it) break down on the way to a prayer meeting, or simply being told that they are wrong by a "Non-believer". I say let these arrogant S.O.B's face some real hardcore persecution.
I personally think christians should have to serve jail time anytime they persist on harassing someone with their biblical bullshit.
American Christians are arrogant SUV Driving, Cell Phone Using, pieces of shit, and their version of getting persecuted is a joke.
Persecution for an American Christian is having their expensive SUV (with a fish on the back of it) break down on the way to a prayer meeting, or simply being told that they are wrong by a "Non-believer". I say let these arrogant S.O.B's face some real hardcore persecution.
I personally think christians should have to serve jail time anytime they persist on harassing someone with their biblical bullshit.
Love ya,
Mary
The webmaster could easily make it so only registered users, that he approved, could post comments here. However, it is far more interesting and entertaining to have xians and ex-ians going at it. He uses the conflict to keep the website popular. No one would come here if everyone agreed all the time.
So don't thank wm to quick, he's just using you. He could eliminate all christian posts.
However, if I freely allow anyone to post, I'm guilty of using people to keep a website popular.
Mainly, Christian trolls can't logically address any of the conversations here, so they just can't stand that this measly old website exists.
Bill (Marc), why don't you just ask your god to shut this site down. Then you can go on and crusade on another site. Surely shutting down this pathetic little website is not a big challenge for HIM, is it?
And if HE is too powerless to turn off a website...
It seems logical to me that since most of your regulars here have at one time or another expressed a desire for christians to not be in this "space", that you should grant their request. This thread alone contains many references to how christians have nothing to offer. And think of all the time you and your ilk could save by not responding to such mindless SUV driving, cellphone using pieces of shit.
Isn't trolling, spamming and posting under so many pseudonyms just a bit childish even for a Chrsitian?
This is the kind of behavior that a convert to Christianity can be expected to exhibit? Or is it only Roman Catholicism that makes people act bizarrely?
Marc, you're a hoot.
Good night!
Nonsense.
Atheists have no moral obligations WHATSOEVER, unless they just make one up.
But so what? I can make one up to.
Try again.
"And think of all the time you and your ilk could save by not responding to such mindless SUV driving, cellphone using pieces of shit."
I don't think that Bill is the same poster as Marc and Passerby.
Neither one of them would use profanity. That is not their style.
Atheists have no moral obligations WHATSOEVER, unless they just make one up
Yes, and I just made one up this very second and it would be to rid the world of religious TROLLS, like YOU, Bertram!
Now go back to your primitive stone cave and rub some more sticks together, then kneel down before the great fire gods. Now don't forget to bleed a few innocent animals in the process.
The rest of us however, will continue the quest to rid the world of your primitive thinking.
ATF (who well remembers Bertram's other trolling posts from the past)
"I can make one up to."
. . . to . . . what?
Seeing as how your grammar, English, and writing skills are so sorely lacking, it's easy to see how your logic and reasoning could suck such massive balls.
And by the way, NO ONE has morals unless they make them up. Morality is an invention of the human mind. It is a measurement created by humans for humans. That Christians claim an ultimate source of morality only shows how ridiculous Christian "morality" is to begin with. Every society has done this. Christians have provided no evidence that THEIR morality is best.
Conclusion: you should eat shit and die, Bertram :)
In the 20th century, for example, they managed to kill 100 Million people under the administration of officially atheistic governments.
In other words, they killed more people in one century than in all the wars in recorded history.
Who knows what the 21st century will bring? If atheistic scientists (Dawkins assures us most scientists are atheists) continue to provide nuclear weapons and other WMDS to any government with the means, then maybe they can kill well over a BILLION people in this round.
Stay tuned.
Do you have unbiased evidence proving that those regimes killed people BECAUSE of atheism? Didn't think so.
Maybe there's some other common characteristic shared by such bad guys as Stalin and Hitler, to whom I guess you were referring. Hmmm? What could it be?
Well, there’s ruthless ambition driving the desire for conquest. That was a trait shared by Atheist Stalin, Christian Hitler, Moslem Bin Laden, and countless baddies throughout history. But there’s something else.
Ohh, I know! They all had/have mustaches!
Therefore, I posit that inhumanity to man has nothing to do with atheism since it has been practiced by villains of all religious affiliations and none. Nope.
Must be the mustache. It’s what we scholars call the Snidely Whiplash Syndrome.
Not laughing with you, laughing AT you.
What kind of logic is: I never seen David Blumenthal.
Conclusion: He does not exist.
There is a reason why you have not met God Iasiah 59:2 "I have hidden My face becuse of Your inequities"
Logic says let us remove the sins and let us meet God.
I am an Ex-agnostic.
Also, it’s “because,” not “becuse” and “Isiah” not Iasiah. (tsk! What kind of Christian can’t even spell the name of the book of the Bible with which he or she is trying to thump our heads?.)
And finally, in that quote you fractured, it really wasn’t necessary for you to capitalize the pronoun “Your” unless you hold ex-christians in the same over-inflated regard as your god. If this is truly the case, you can kindly transmit 10 percent of your income to this website forthwith and henceforth.
There. Now that your inability to communicate has been thoroughly skewered, there’s the matter of your supposed “logic.” I don’t think you know what that word actually means. If there were a god as capricious, hateful and blood-thirsty as the one portrayed in your Bible, it would be most logical to stay away from the nasty bastard.
Lettuce meat dog, indeed!
The word you're looking for is not logic. It is irrationality. Logic and rationality are not part of fundamentalism.
Sorry no one told you and you had to come here to find that out.
Life is harsh that way sometimes.
Are you saying your god doesn't want us to believe in him?
And are you also suggesting that to believe in something for which there is NO credible evidence for is logical?
See there is credible evidence for the existence of several people named David Blumenthal.
http://www.js.emory.edu/BLUMENTHAL/index.html
http://www.academyhealth.org/about/blumenthal.htm
http://www.gursey.com/gspeople/show.asp?type=partner&persid=DEB
Now which one were you asking to see? It should not go without saying that if you never see any of the David's, you would probably not suffer any eternal torment at all. Or, more to the point, you wouldn't suffer eternal torment for seeing the WRONG David Blumenthal.
Also, I find it a bit odd that someone can construct a straw-man of non-belief without taking into account the implications of the argument you are trying to make. Namely that if you cannot see something you SHOULD believe it exists regardless of the lack of credible evidence for it.
As if leprechauns wouldn't be a more apt comparison to any deity than a David Blumenthal would be.
So would you agree that one is equally justified in a belief in leprechauns because of the old stories about them?
You wouldn't know logic if it bit you in the frontal lobes.
That's called a straw man, as nobody has stated or implied such idiotic reasoning.
dawkinswatch also said "Logic says let us remove the sins and let us meet God."
Now that's just fascinating. From what I know of logic, it says no such thing; not unless you first establish several premises, such as the existence of "sin", the existence of "god", that remission of the former reveals the latter, and that it is incumbent upon us to do so. So let us fully embrace logic and fill in those missing premisses, okay? Listening.
The same christians also have never had to face "Real" persecution such as having their houses and families taken away from them and having some radical muslim beat the shit out of them.
Instead these same American Christians live in the safety and comfort of their middle class homes while they sit around feeding their faces with Cheeseburgers and driving their expensive SUVs.
None of these same christians who post on here would be talking this big Jesus shit if they were faced with brutal persecution. Most of them would not be willing to leave the comforts of their homes or the safety of their church walls to go over to the middle east and spread the gospel to these radical Muslims.
All of you christians who post on here are cowards who talk out of both sides of your mouths. Christians who post on this site are worthless pieces of shit.
Stick your bible up your ass you fucking McDonalds Eating, SUV Driving, Cell Phone using cowards.
Don't make this site exclusive! I'm too lazy to get a password and I don't read things I can't post on... maybe you could simply install a filter where before someone can post they must "prove" they are an atheist. And at the bottom for regulars, there will be a "are you sane button" to skip throught the lengthy verification process (we could use every single straw man you can think of to tie up trolls- it would be funny to use their own ignorance against them).
On the fact they keep on crashing I suggest you guys form up a page of the arguements they use and the counters. Then you can simply use links for the responce. Your wrists would thank you.
(Pro 16:25 KJV)
deyr sjálfr et sama;
ek veit einn,
at aldri deyr:
dómr of dauðan hvern.
(Hávamál 77)
(Translation: "Cattle die, kinsmen die; the self must also die. I know one thing which never dies: the reputation of each dead man.")
Death comes to everything that lives, Journey_sing. There are no known exceptions to this. Don't count on having life after death just because a book of Middle Eastern mythology tells you so.
Dav 12:48
Methinks your end shall in no wise differ from mine.
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