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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.
That said, there are crazies everywhere.
It greatly depends on what sort of atheist you are. Militant atheists like Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao Zedong went out of their way to massacre millions of theists. This was ideologically based in Marx's contempt for all religion. Churches were burned, shrines were destroyed, mosque's were razed, believers were tortured, etc.
At the end of the day, atheism is a religious ideology. It insists that there is no higher power, no spirits, no magic, no nothing supernatural. By asserting that claim, an atheist is actually taking a stand. Marx and Marxist leaders certainly weren't the first to try to spread the lack of belief by violence. They certainly won't be the last. There are atheists today that make no bones about saying, "What will it take to force you to wake up and realize that you're being deceived?? You're believing in myths and fairy tales!! Wake up!! What's wrong with you??" That line of thinking leads directly to violence on behalf of atheism.
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....
I don't think it is a parallel at all. The huge majority of Christians belong to churches that have some multi-congregational organization. The huge majority of non-religious do not.
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,926,708 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by godofthunder9010
...
At the end of the day, atheism is a religious ideology. It insists that there is no higher power, no spirits, no magic, no nothing supernatural. By asserting that claim, an atheist is actually taking a stand. .....
Most of what you said is drawing conclusions between disparate points, and totally illogical and debunked many times. Repeating it doesn't make it so.
If you think atheism is a religion, what is the belief in? What is the mythology? What is the dogma?
It greatly depends on what sort of atheist you are. Militant atheists like Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao Zedong went out of their way to massacre millions of theists. This was ideologically based in Marx's contempt for all religion. Churches were burned, shrines were destroyed, mosque's were razed, believers were tortured, etc.
At the end of the day, atheism is a religious ideology. It insists that there is no higher power, no spirits, no magic, no nothing supernatural. By asserting that claim, an atheist is actually taking a stand. Marx and Marxist leaders certainly weren't the first to try to spread the lack of belief by violence. They certainly won't be the last. There are atheists today that make no bones about saying, "What will it take to force you to wake up and realize that you're being deceived?? You're believing in myths and fairy tales!! Wake up!! What's wrong with you??" That line of thinking leads directly to violence on behalf of atheism.
I see the title "atheist" as a meaning nothing more than "There is a high likelihood I do not believe in what you think of as a god."
No other definition makes sense to me. There are too many mysterious potential intelligences (like aliens or beings who designed a simulated reality in which we presumably don't but might live) and so far baffling aspects of reality for me to consider any other definition appropriate.
Magic/supernatural/higher power/spirits...all that just means "I don't understand it yet, and may not ever." Atheists can believe in things they don't quite understand yet...so long as they are not classified as gods. Some atheists might believe in String Theory, Panspermia Theory, or multiple universes, despite all of those ideas being quite shaky, for example.
I therefore do not see atheism as a religious ideology anymore than I see belief in god as a religious ideology. I hear about religions, belief in a god, and a lack of a belief in a god. Neither a belief in a god is a religious ideology, nor a lack of a belief in a god.
There appears to be a pattern of theists strongly desiring to add things onto atheism that atheism seems to me to lack...and I have never understood why.
Regarding the part in bold...I don't see that as a line of thinking. I see that as words...specifically because you labeled it as words from another. If it were a line of thinking it could lead to violence...but I do not see words leading to violence. I do not see such words as implying dangerous thoughts, given the amount of aggression spat venomously all over the internet by people from quite internally peaceful nations.
That doesn't explain why he would kill the passengers too. Based on his actions and his online postings, the shooter clearly had some disdain for Muslims.
The three shot were all related I thought. Husband, wife , and a sister. Am I mistaken?
“I can say with my absolute belief that this incident had nothing to do with religion or victims faith, but in fact was related to the long-standing parking disputes that my husband had with the neighbors,” Karen Hicks said. She later added: “We were married for seven years, and that is one thing that I do know about him.” Three Muslims killed in shooting near UNC; police, family argue over motive
What the heck type of person murders three relatives over a parking dispute? I don't really care if it's a hate crime or not. Sounds good to me. Get 'em off the streets in the most efficient manner possible.
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,926,708 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Clintone
“I can say with my absolute belief that this incident had nothing to do with religion or victims faith, but in fact was related to the long-standing parking disputes that my husband had with the neighbors,” Karen Hicks said. She later added: “We were married for seven years, and that is one thing that I do know about him.” Three Muslims killed in shooting near UNC; police, family argue over motive
What the heck type of person murders three relatives over a parking dispute? I don't really care if it's a hate crime or not. Sounds good to me. Get 'em off the streets in the most efficient manner possible.
The way you've typed it sounds like you're advocating that all Muslims should be eliminated. Is that what you intended to mean?
When I first started reading the story, my first thought was what Christian zealot did this.
Why would you think a Christian would do it when it is totally against the Christian faith?
Because non-Christians have no concept what Christianity is supposed to be about. They have only had encounters in Christianity through the news or world history, which have a bunch of wacko "Christians" that do a disservice to the guy who said "turn the other cheek." All they hear is the Bad News.
Zealots are not Christians. Christianity says to risk one's own life for the faith, not to kill others.
The way you've typed it sounds like you're advocating that all Muslims should be eliminated. Is that what you intended to mean?
No it doesn't. That's why I placed "What the heck type of person murders three relatives over a parking dispute?" at the beginning. It emphasizes the beastly nature of the shooter. It's very clear that I'm saying that I'd be perfectly fine with the shooter being charged with a hate crime whether he's guilty or not.
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