If theists were rational.

[superluminal]

If theists were rational, then religion would be fine. As it is, and knowing how the vast majority of people are, religion is like handing over the car keys to your six year old. Or giving him a box of kitchen matches on his birthday.

You tell people that they MUST follow this or that diety's guidelines (which are, of course, made up by some dudes) or they'll be in some sort of eternal trouble. And then when some yahoo comes along and takes a different approach to the rules, like female genital mutilation, we expect that people won't follow that dude's ideas? How foolish.

This is just one example of how the mindset of superstition and doing without thinking (i.e. faith) is just about the worst idea humans ever had.

 

[sandy]

Nah. The worst idea humans ever had is that they don't need God.

 

[superluminal]

Nah. The worst idea humans ever had is that they don't need God.

Nah. The worst idea was god itself. A good thing we're moving away from such damaging ideas.

 

[S.A.M.]

Nah. The worst idea was god itself. A good thing we're moving away from such damaging ideas.

Yes lets hand it over to atheists. After all they have proved they can do it so much better. Like in, umm, ahh, hmmm?

 

[Baron Max]

This is just one example of how the mindset of superstition and doing without thinking (i.e. faith) is just about the worst idea humans ever had.

Well, think about it ...would humans have ever gotten this far without religion and faith? Wouldn't we still be hitting people over the head with clubs and stealing their food and women ....from the caves?! More than anything else, religion brought people together with a common interest and goal ...powerful tools in a world that was trying to kill you at every step.

Baron Max

 

[superluminal]

Well, think about it ...would humans have ever gotten this far without religion and faith? Wouldn't we still be hitting people over the head with clubs and stealing their food and women ....from the caves?! More than anything else, religion brought people together with a common interest and goal ...powerful tools in a world that was trying to kill you at every step.

Baron Max

This is an old argument. Since humans DID develop religion, it's impossible to know how we migh have progressed if, say, we invented rationalism first.

And to S.A.M's post, I explained many moons ago that atheists, as a group and a philosophy, have NEVER had the chance.

 

[Baron Max]

Yes lets hand it over to atheists. After all they have proved they can do it so much better. Like in, umm, ahh, hmmm?

Ya' know, now that I think about it, isn't "atheism" actually a form of religious belief? They "believe" in the greatness of humans, they "believe" in the abilities of humans, they "believe" that they can do almost anything, they "believe"......

Yeah, in fact, now that I see it written, atheists actually have stronger "beliefs" than theists!

Baron Max

 

[superluminal]

Ya' know, now that I think about it, isn't "atheism" actually a form of religious belief? They "believe" in the greatness of humans, they "believe" in the abilities of humans, they "believe" that they can do almost anything, they "believe"......

Yeah, in fact, now that I see it written, atheists actually have stronger "beliefs" than theists!

Baron Max

Oh brother. How many atheist threads have you read and still you don't get it?

 

[sandy]

"A religion has clearly defined rules, eschatology and a philosophy by which to live. So does atheism. Religion is a means of understanding our existence. So is atheism. Religion is a philosophy of life. So is atheism. Religion has its leaders, the preachers of its tenets. So does atheism (Nietzsche, Feuerbach, Lenin, Marx). Religion has its faithful believers, who guard the orthodoxy of the faith. So does atheism. And religion is a matter of faith, not certainty. All religions set themselves apart from the crowd. They are the pure/faithful, all others are just religion. Here again, atheism fits the bill."
- some guy on a forum

 

[superluminal]

"A religion has clearly defined rules, eschatology and a philosophy by which to live. So does atheism. Religion is a means of understanding our existence. So is atheism. Religion is a philosophy of life. So is atheism. Religion has its leaders, the preachers of its tenets. So does atheism (Nietzsche, Feuerbach, Lenin, Marx). Religion has its faithful believers, who guard the orthodoxy of the faith. So does atheism. And religion is a matter of faith, not certainty. All religions set themselves apart from the crowd. They are the pure/faithful, all others are just religion. Here again, atheism fits the bill."
- some guy on a forum

No. Atheism is none of those things.

Atheism is simply a lack of belief or a denial of the existence of deities. There are no "clearly defined rules". And atheism makes no claims about understanding our existence.

You want desperately to place us down at your intellectual level, but it can't work. Atheists are simply free thinkers that have broken free from the vast dogma that plagues the masses.

 

[nietzschefan]

Nietzsche did not discount the possibility of god, but simply rejected all definitions of god.

 

[superluminal]

Nietzsche did not discount the possibility of god, but simply rejected all definitions of god.

Correct. There are many kinds of atheists. From those who outright deny the existence of gods (probably rightly so) to those that simply acknowledge zero reason to postulate a god given the complete lack of any compelling evidence.

 

[Repo Man]

"Atheism is a religion the way that not collecting stamps is a hobby." - some guy on a forum.

Or, as the greatly missed Carl Sagan said, "Calling atheism a religion is like calling baldness a hair color."

No matter how many times theists try to use the equivalence fallacy, an absence of a belief isn't a rival form of a belief.

 

[superluminal]

"Atheism is a religion the way that not collecting stamps is a hobby." - some guy on a forum.

Or, as the greatly missed Carl Sagan said, "Calling atheism a religion is like calling baldness a hair color."

No matter how many times theists try to use the equivalence fallacy, an absence of a belief isn't a rival form of a belief.

Excellent! Thanks.

 

[sandy]

Atheists are the most miserably unhappy people I have ever met.

 

[(Q)]

Why make stuff up to argue your point, sandy?

 

[superluminal]

Atheists are the most miserably unhappy people I have ever met.

Really? All the ones I know are quite happy and well adjusted. It's the theists that seem to be forever worrying about immortal souls and hell and eating certain kinds of meat on certain days and such.

Oh yea, and cutting off female genetailia.

 

[nietzschefan]

Atheists are the most miserably unhappy people I have ever met.

I will take real misery over fake happiness, for the rest of my life.

 

[Repo Man]

Atheists are the most miserably unhappy people I have ever met.

The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.
-- George Bernard Shaw

 

[(Q)]

Atheists are the most miserably unhappy people I have ever met.

One need only look at the threads you started to see who really is miserable and unhappy.