why do atheist's make it a point to be atheist?

Discussion in 'Free Thoughts' started by laladopi, Dec 31, 2008.

  1. Crunchy Cat F-in' *meow* baby!!! Valued Senior Member

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    Except when you are a government employee injecting religion into your work.
     
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  3. Buffalo Roam Registered Senior Member

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    Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
     
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  5. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    Some atheists may act that way. The majority of theists act that way & that is part of why we need speration of state & religion.
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  7. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    You're the 1 who doesn't get it.
    Free doesn't mean without limits as long as there are people wanting their freedoms without limits that conflict with each other. When you are the only person on Earth, you can have freedom without limit.
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  8. phlogistician Banned Banned

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    Buffalo, Freedom Of Speech doesn't mean you can call 911 and tell them about robberies that arent really happening, or mean you can shout 'FIRE!' in a crowded theatre and watch people trample each other with impunity.

    Likewise, Freedom of Religion does not mean you can use a public office to promote your personal beliefs. Religion has no place in politics, even if a lot of low life politicians use it to further their careers.
     
  9. Buffalo Roam Registered Senior Member

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    Two different things, and freedom to practice religion is guaranteed in the Constitution, and practicing your religion in office, in public is not prohibited by the Constitution, as it's the Atheist who are forcing a state religion call Atheism, in the exclusive public domain, on the the rest of us when the State make it the over riding standard of the State.

    Again read the First Amendment, the State must stand mute of this:

    Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
     
  10. Crunchy Cat F-in' *meow* baby!!! Valued Senior Member

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    "The establishment clause prohibits the government from passing legislation to establish an official religion or preferring one religion over another."

    We can go back and for ad-nausium; however, the only thing that matters is what is enforced... which is the legal interpretation I have shown. That is why atheists who care about this kind of thing are winning cases filed against the government.
     
  11. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    Huh ? Is that a serious question ?
    I was commenting on the remark quoted below:

     
  12. phlogistician Banned Banned

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    Highlighting it shows how weak your argument is. You know damned well the intention of that amendment, and that several of the founding fathers had things to say about religion, and they weren't positive.

    I think you need to go read some John Adams (2nd president of the USA, if you weren't aware) and see what his opinions were, he is one of the guys that built your nation. Latter Christian usurpers have tried, and failed to make the case that the USA is a Christian nation, and history defeats them every time.
     
  13. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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    Identity politics

    Atheism is, at present, an emerging philosophy. The current form with which most of us are familiar arose in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Perhaps it was a natural progression from Denis Diderot's (d. 1784) famous observation that, "Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths."

    The idea of atheism, however, is not new. By the second century CE, Christians were actually accused of atheism. It seems inevitable, though, that as monotheism spread around the world, the modern form of atheism would eventually emerge. From, "Your god is no god at all", to, "There is no God" isn't a tremendous leap.

    Nonetheless, atheism as a label is still something of an anti-identification. That is, it is asserted in opposition or response to an idea. After all, we are all born in an atheistic state, and must be conditioned to believe in God. And, as atheism has struggled against persecution by dominant religions through time, even today, it is widely considered an aberration.

    In truth, though, atheism and theism do not need to be in opposition to one another; there are ways of regarding the concept of God that render it inconsequential in the practical context. Indeed, had Christianity achieved this point in prior centuries, it is possible that atheism as we know it would not have come about at all. More likely, though, it would be at once a smaller body and less demonized.

    There is a fair number of atheists who don't identify themselves as such; the rising voice of atheism is a response to increasingly desperate assertions of theological supremacy. Muslim extremists, Israeli divine election, militant Sikhs, and even rioting Buddhist monks—or just those who whine about rock operas—demonstrate the power of religion to diminish quality of life. And in the Western world, Christianity seems nearly determined in its decline to drag everyone else down with it. What, with anti-abortion arguments, general misogyny, homophobia, and even censorship justified by Christian voices, atheists would seem to have plenty of reason to speak out. While Christianity attempts to maintain its de facto supremacy in our society, it also holds back social evolution. After all, when you get to the point that Christians feel their rights are violated if words and processes—e.g., the scientific method—are not redefined in order to include their demands, such as we see in the creationism (excuse me, intelligent design) movement, things have gotten fairly ridiculous.

    You'll find court decisions in custody disputes where the court seems to feel that a child is unfairly deprived if not subject to a socialization process that uses fear to compel acceptance and conformity; in other words, it's somehow not right to not delude and emotionally blackmail our children. This is an absurd state of affairs.

    The only real problem is that vocal atheist advocates tend to be satisfied if they simply match their religious opposition; the point ought to be to transcend the condition they find so disdainful. Still, though, what's fair ought to be fair, right? So, in the United States, at least, a lot of Christians are annoyed, and even feel persecuted, by the prospect that they must be equal to their neighbors.

    It is, essentially, a political fight. And look at the state of politics in the United States.

    To the other, why do Christians make a point of being Christian? They actually have doctrinal instruction—from the mouth of Christ, as such—to not stand on the corner and make a point of their faith and piety.

    In the end, atheists have a choice: speak up and try to change things, or shut up and take it. Sometimes they're annoying, but I can't fault them for making their voices heard.
    _____________________

    Notes:

    Martyr, Justin. First Apology. NewAdvent.com. Accessed January 5, 2009. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0126.htm
     
  14. Cellar_Door Whose Worth's unknown Registered Senior Member

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    A theocracy didn't work too well during the Salem Witch Trials. If someone like Pronatalist becomes President it's only a matter of time...

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  15. Buffalo Roam Registered Senior Member

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    No it is to show the weakness in your comprehension, and word definition, which then indicates the weakness of your argument.


    I think you need to go read some John Adams (2nd president of the USA, if you weren't aware) and see what his opinions were, he is one of the guys that built your nation. Latter Christian usurpers have tried, and failed to make the case that the USA is a Christian nation, and history defeats them every time.[/QUOTE]

    Now how about the other 99.9% of the people who built the country? and those who wrote the Constitution, and their opinion.
     
  16. phlogistician Banned Banned

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    Go read some John Adams and get back to me.

    The people that wrote the constitution wrote it in such a way that religion will never be state mandated or approved. Deal with that.

    I know you can't, you need your God, and your Gun to feel whole. I feel sad for you.
     
  17. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    For the trillionth time, atheism is not a religion.
    The absence of religion in government is not atheism & is not meant to promote atheism.
    The Constitution was meant to guarantee each person the right to practice religion in the way they want & the right not to practice religion & for religion to not to be forced or coerced.
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  18. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    Darn! I missed a tyop!
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