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I applaud you for posting this cupper. As a Christian, I have to accept the fact that some of my fellow Christians talk themselves into acts of murder. As this completely contradicts the teachings of one Jesus Christ, I think they cease being Christians in the process. Still, ultimately I have to own the fact that there are crazies in our midst. I have to own the fact that horrible atrocities have been committed by folks in the name of Christianity.
It is a mark of maturity for an atheist to own the fact that the same things are true within their religious demographic.
I would be curious to know some actual hard stats on that. These days, violently angry atheists seem to be on the increase.
There is a strong tendency to over-report Muslim on Christian and Christian on Muslim acts of violence. If a Christian leader burns a Koran and puts it on youtube, it's big news. If an angry atheist burns down the local Kingdom Hall, it isn't. But logically, the burning of an entire religious structure (and all Bibles inside that building) ought to be bigger news, right?
The mainstream media is very particular in what they consider news-worthy. Just because the mainstream media over-reports X does not mean that X is more commonplace than Y.
I agree that the mainstream media over-reports what it considers newsworthy...but I think atheists tend to be pretty stealthy compared to the religious groups. I don't think they've developed much of a culture yet...and oftentimes borrow traditions from other cultures. Then there's all the closeted atheists, and the atheists who don't call themselves atheists, and the atheists in jail who say "I been saved! I found the Lord! I'm a different person now...so my sentence should be shortened!"
Quite a number of atheists don't initially know what an atheist is. Instead they hear the definition and think Oh...that's me I guess.
There are probably a lot more of them out there than we know about, as well as more of them committing violent crimes than we know about (and a lot more being productive members of society than we know about). I'm hesitant to put believe statistical studies about atheists.
I didn't see in the article where it said the shooter was an atheist, nor did I see anything other than speculation that the religion of the victims had anything to do with the dispute over parking.
Atheist are not an organized group, and are no more, or less tolerant than any other person.
Actually, there are atheist conventions. They give speeches, have gatherings, etc. Famous atheists write books that are read by a lot of people. It's not a universal group...but there is plenty of organization among atheists.
People kill people. Religions (or lack of) don't. End of story.
I think religions give people instructions and those instructions or the mistranslations of them can affect people's behavior.
Atheism cannot affect people's behavior because it isn't really anything, so much as the lack of something else.
Therefore, the important question is whether or not a religion encourages people to do more good stuff than bad stuff. Religion should be the focus of attention.
When one reads a story, one finds out that the perpetrator did this not because of his Christian beliefs, but because of his atheist belief.
No, one does not find that out. Not at this point anyway. Although if an unbeliever such as yourself jumps to this conclusion, I have no hope that theists everywhere will not do likewise.
Basically mental and emotional instability is an equal-opportunity affliction. My critique of theism is not that there are theists who are crazy, but that there aren't at least fewer theists that are crazy.
Actually, there are atheist conventions. They give speeches, have gatherings, etc. Famous atheists write books that are read by a lot of people. It's not a universal group...but there is plenty of organization among atheists.
The organizations make up a statistically insignificant number of the non-religious. Pew Research says the non-religious are something near 20% of the population, meaning they number over 60 million people. American Atheists, the largest of those organizations, has something over 20,000 members. Adding up all the smaller organizations and you'll still find less (lots less) than 1 million people.
So, although there are small organizations here and there, the non-religious are essentially unorganized.
The organizations make up a statistically insignificant number of the non-religious. Pew Research says the non-religious are something near 20% of the population, meaning they number over 60 million people. American Atheists, the largest of those organizations, has something over 20,000 members. Adding up all the smaller organizations and you'll still find less (lots less) than 1 million people.
So, although there are small organizations here and there, the non-religious are essentially unorganized.
They are about as organized as the religious. There is no one organization that speaks for all of us. Interesting, huh? People are the same...religious or not....
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