Apr 25, 2011 -- 12:34PM, Postevental wrote:

It's a shame that what passes for an "atheism" forum is simply an "anti-religion" forum .....

And you think that you can improve things by turning this into an anti-Atheist forum?

...Surely anything is better than this smug, anti-intellectual self-aggrandizement.

Yes, your posting was nothing but smug, anti-intellectual self-aggrandizement. You should try better next time.

Apr 25, 2011 -- 12:34PM, Postevental wrote:

It's a shame that what passes for an "atheism" forum is simply an "anti-religion" forum where atheists pretend to have some absolute truth as opposed to fostering conversation about the real world.

I'm not sure the two are even related.  I think a lot of atheism is "anti-religion," not just in the desire to avoid the various stations of the cross or pilgrimmages across hot sands while en route to Jonestown and that last cup of Kool-Aid, but an honest headache over religious dogma, which not only skates over gaps in logic but punishes those who try to take it seriously.

Does one have to be an atheist to be opposed to religion, not just in the organized sense but in the cerebral sense?  I'm not against religion as a social activity, which I think is where it does its greatest good and greatest harm (depending on the activity) but religion as a set of beliefs one is not only bound to accept but, often, under threats (in this life or the next) has less value, except as a form of entertainment, a puzzle, a tradition with a history to explore, or some other mental game of Jenga.

Does a lack of belief in God or gods - or religious certainty - have anything to do with pretending to "have some absolute truth as opposed to fostering conversation about the real world?"  I don't think so.  As the igtheists point out, lack of belief in "God" is hardly an absolute truth, particularly where "God" is not subject to a universally accepted definition.  If we can't even agree on what "God" means, how can it be an "absolute truth" to say, "There is no God"?  

I'm not even sure this is "an atheist forum."  It's a forum for "Atheism and Secular Philosophies."  Those philosophies include atheism, agnosticism, igtheism, apatheism and even secular humanism.  The latter is filled with people who obsess over all that is wrong with religion. 

Having watched this forum for a while, it seems that there are few atheists and many self-deifiers and individuals who make religion the center of their lives by constantly seeking to provide ill-conceived "refutations" against straw man epistemologies.  Let's see some conversations arise about set theory!  Or self-deification and cognitive psychoanalysis!  Or, if you're really bent on discussing religion, secularized religious epistemologies and their impacts on social movements!  Surely anything is better than this smug, anti-intellectual self-aggrandizement.

Any time you start an online blog to argue any point, you are opening the door to "self-aggrandizement."  This is the online equivalent of a bar counter, where every man (or woman) can start a fight, if only for the sake of holding court.  That's hardly something unique to either atheists or to the folks who inhabit this forum.

As for "ill-conceived 'refutations' against straw man epistemologies," don't choke on the glossary in the back of your Philosophy 101 textbook.  It ruins the resale value.  It's also not good for your throat.  If you want to start a thread on "set theory" or "self-deification" or "cognitive psychoanalysis," nobody is stopping you.  I'll read your thread once you write one.  I brought up Jesus because it's Easter time and because Christianity is still the biggest game in town, whether we're talking about worldwide numbers or the dominant religion locally.  If some of us seem to obsess over Jesus, it's because that's the mumbo jumbo we had to wrestle with on our way to something better.  If my parents had pushed Buddhism down my throat, I suppose I would have had a lot more to say about Siddhartha Gautama.

Apr 1, 2011 -- 11:08AM, mountain_man wrote:

Apr 1, 2011 -- 12:04AM, Silkandsteel wrote:

Mar 27, 2011 -- 3:11AM, Kinky.christian wrote:

Actually I think Jesus likes atheists. In fact I think he likes most atheists a lot more than he likes many people who label themselves Christians.

How do you figure that?

Easy. Just make it up. Since this Jesus character never existed you can make up anything you want and claim that's what he said or feels. That's what the whole christian religion is based on; making up stuff about Jesus and pretending it's true.

actually what was written about him showed him hanging around with the folks that were hated, just plain misfits, and ones that were the ones that needed help and knew it. not the ones that claim him today.

Today he would probably hang around punk rockers, gangster rappers, and anybody else whom society would see as scum.