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Also there are atheists that target Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism etc. There are some reasons why you don't hear a lot of them.
1) The most vocal atheists or more specifically those who have the ability to be the most vocal are those who grew up with Christianity so its the religion they know the most and it is the "closest threat" to them.
2) Atheists in Islamic and Judaic and Amish communities face immense stigma and a lack of individual rights where individual belief is respected so they face may more dangers
3) Other religions are mostly based in other languages other than English, Islam's adherents mostly speak Arabic, Urdu, Farsi etc, Hinduism Hindi and so forth so the "heat and light" you see from English speaking atheists facing English speaking theists are mostly hidden.
Here are some atheists that focus on other religions
I didn't say that religion is completely good. There are plenty of flaws in organized religion. I admit that freely. For the most part, my recent arguments have been simply to state that people should respect other peoples rights to believe whatever they believe.
And so what if they hold on to brutish ideas? As long as THEY aren't acting on those ideas.
If you don't believe in hell. then who cares if somebody tells you, that you are going there?? It doesn't exist, right?? I guess that one is just "beyond my comprehension".
Well for one part those nasty brutish ideas are part of the dogma which in the past when religionists had full reign they could act without impunity. Second, there are plenty of people who continue to act on those idiotic and putrid ideas for instance the stigma on homosexuality, on premarital sex, the repression of sexuality, tribalism, on and on and on.
If religion people all acted nicely but believed obviously false but harmless ideas it wouldn't be a problem now wouldn't it? But more to the point I don't respect people's belief just to believe and that somehow belief in the most ridiculous things should go unchallenged or else perceived to be the "victim" because they hold obnoxious ideas and want to voice them. It is true that people are free to believe what they want, but they are not free from having those ideas held sacred or otherwise not challenged in a respectable way.
As mentioned I'd think the main issue might be that for the English, and Germanic-language-family in general, speaking world Christianity is or has been the majority religion. In India I'm pretty sure there are or have been atheists who criticize Hinduism. In Japan the traditional religions are rather weak so maybe they feel "not worth it." In China the "Cultural Revolution" saw atheists strongly go after Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism.
Although a fair amount of atheists seem to go after Islam these days too as it's growing in the West and it is a proselytizing faith more or less. Judaism and Zoroastrian might be treated fairly well as they're not proselytizing, but in our age some of the only people I've ever seen publicly criticize Judaism are atheists. Although Arab Christians, and really radicalized African-American Christians, sometimes will too.
Not to nitpick or anything, but I just feel the need to point out that Lucy did use the word "seems" in that sentence.
Not to nitpick or anything but apologies for the delay in replying. Your complete inability to use the quote function correctly meant I did not see your reply straight away.
"Seems" is not a get out free card. If I say the sky "seems" purple then it is clear I am talking nonsense because there is nothing that makes it "seem" so. It does not matter that I am not saying the sky IS purple, I am still espousing a baseless and false position.
Similarly there is nothing that makes it "seem" that atheists only attack Christianity. The only thing that could make it "seem" that way to a person is if they were espousing the claim having not done a tap of even a modicum of research on the subject before speaking. When one does so one very quickly finds that atheism is equal opportunity when it comes to religion and it attacks them all.
The reason it does so is because it attacks them at the very core, which most religions share.... the claim that a god exists. Since the majority of the big religions are based on that claim, to attack that claim is to attack all religions not just one.
An even cursory read of the books of famous atheist authors on the subject of religion too will show you that they do not often restrict their prose to any one religion either, but a number of them. Take Hitchens, Dawkins, Dennett, Myers and Harris for example... they all right extensively on Islam as well as Christianity.
Well for one part those nasty brutish ideas are part of the dogma which in the past when religionists had full reign they could act without impunity. Second, there are plenty of people who continue to act on those idiotic and putrid ideas for instance the stigma on homosexuality, on premarital sex, the repression of sexuality, tribalism, on and on and on.
If religion people all acted nicely but believed obviously false but harmless ideas it wouldn't be a problem now wouldn't it? But more to the point I don't respect people's belief just to believe and that somehow belief in the most ridiculous things should go unchallenged or else perceived to be the "victim" because they hold obnoxious ideas and want to voice them. It is true that people are free to believe what they want, but they are not free from having those ideas held sacred or otherwise not challenged in a respectable way.
I don't object to those ideas being challenged in a respectable way.
It's when people start to throw in belittling comments, that I begin to object...
Not to nitpick or anything but apologies for the delay in replying. Your complete inability to use the quote function correctly meant I did not see your reply straight away.
lol Sorry, I'm working on it. Call me "quote challenged".
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Seems" is not a get out free card. If I say the sky "seems" purple then it is clear I am talking nonsense because there is nothing that makes it "seem" so. It does not matter that I am not saying the sky IS purple, I am still espousing a baseless and false position.
It's not a get out free card, but it does sometimes help clarify...I look up at the sky, it SEEMS like it might rain!
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Similarly there is nothing that makes it "seem" that atheists only attack Christianity.
If you only know two athiests and they enjoy attacking Christians, then it would SEEM as if athiests only attack Christians.
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The only thing that could make it "seem" that way to a person is if they were espousing the claim having not done a tap of even a modicum of research on the subject before speaking.
Some people don't.
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When one does so one very quickly finds that atheism is equal opportunity when it comes to religion and it attacks them all.
So athiests all think with one mind? I tend to think that every group is made up of indiduals that hold similar interests, but may have differeint ideas within that interest. Athiests and Religious people all have their share of intolerant people along with more open minded people.
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The reason it does so is because it attacks them at the very core, which most religions share.... the claim that a god exists. Since the majority of the big religions are based on that claim, to attack that claim is to attack all religions not just one.
But, some do tend to focus on the religions which caused them the most resentment.(or so it seems) If an athiest was raised by abusive Catholic parents, he might be more prone to attack Catholics because that particular religion strikes a nerve with him.
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An even cursory read of the books of famous atheist authors on the subject of religion too will show you that they do not often restrict their prose to any one religion either, but a number of them. Take Hitchens, Dawkins, Dennett, Myers and Harris for example... they all right extensively on Islam as well as Christianity.
Most Christians won't read athiest books to find that out. It's against their religion!
Last edited by looking4answers12; 12-07-2011 at 05:03 AM..
Reason: I am quote challenged. :(
Sorry but that is just an unreadable mess. The bits from you look like they are from me, and vice versa. If you can try again I will reply, or try again without using the QUOTE function at all. But I am afraid that if you are unwilling to put any time into writing your posts correctly, I am not about to spend my time reading them either. Treat others as they treat you and all that. I will match the effort you put in with the same. Worse, it seems you can use the function perfectly well when replying to people who are not me.... which makes it look deliberate.
Suffice to say that I do not think that basing your opinion on a couple of personal anecdotes is excusable, nor does it allow you to say something "seems" a certain way. Anecdote is not evidence, especially anecdote limited to 1 or 2 people.
If you insist on being pedantic over language then I can give as good as you by pointing out that the user said "It seems like" not "It seems to me like". A massive difference when taken in the context of the point you are trying to make here.
Sorry but that is just an unreadable mess. The bits from you look like they are from me, and vice versa. If you can try again I will reply, or try again without using the QUOTE function at all. But I am afraid that if you are unwilling to put any time into writing your posts correctly, I am not about to spend my time reading them either. Treat others as they treat you and all that. I will match the effort you put in with the same. Worse, it seems you can use the function perfectly well when replying to people who are not me.... which makes it look deliberate.
Suffice to say that I do not think that basing your opinion on a couple of personal anecdotes is excusable, nor does it allow you to say something "seems" a certain way. Anecdote is not evidence, especially anecdote limited to 1 or 2 people.
If you insist on being pedantic over language then I can give as good as you by pointing out that the user said "It seems like" not "It seems to me like". A massive difference when taken in the context of the point you are trying to make here.
I fixed it. It took me a while.
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Suffice to say that I do not think that basing your opinion on a couple of personal anecdotes is excusable, nor does it allow you to say something "seems" a certain way. Anecdote is not evidence, especially anecdote limited to 1 or 2 people.
Fortunately, I'm not looking for your approval. I am simply stating my opinion.
And I know y'all are big on evidence. That's your perogitive. I guess that's one of the main differences between athiests and religious folk'. We don't need "evidence" for everything.
And by the way, it SEEMS TO ME, that you are just here looking for a fight and not interested in other points of view. So...are we done here?
It seems like atheist only target Christians and Christianity, and very seldom any other religions, which share similar beliefs.
When atheists usually post billboards and other non-belief or "myth" stuff, it mainly includes Christianity, and during the Christmas/Holiday season, it targets Christmas.
Why are they afraid to post "myth" stuff about Judaism and Islam?
I think they are scared because they know how strong Muslims and Jewish are, and what consequenses they will get for doing it, while poor Christians does not usually do anything about it.
This is ridiculous!
PS! I'm not Christian myself, but it's very unfair. If you are going to post stuff about something, INCLUDE all religions, or leave them alone and keep your own beliefs to yourself. Atheist should respect that they live in a country where close to 80% are Christians (some states even higher %). Keep in mind that the U.S. has the world's largest Christian population.
Lucy, I believe all religions are delusional. I do not discriminate.
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