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Consider these facts about atheism :
1. It is highly organized thruout this nation. There are many large
Atheist Organizations that would love a greater constituency.
Your whole post about atheists was so wrong on every point and so wildly exaggerated that it was actually comical. What's ironic is that it's the fundamentalist Christians who are highly organized and have large numbers of organizations with millions of members but I guess that's ok, afterall, they're not trying to cause the downfall of civilization like we are. I've never been a member of any atheist group and we're such a small minority in America that even if we really were organized I doubt it would have much influence due to the enormous social and political clout of the far right religious groups. Atheists do have the right to express themselves and organize groups like anybody else does so even if that was true there wouldn't be anything wrong with it. You really went over the top on this one.
for some reason being called an atheist sounds kind of insulting?
almost like calling somebody a racist or something derogatory?
non religious sounds more appropriate than atheist
Mr Bolo, are you an athiest? I couldn't tell from your profile or other posts
I know a lot of athiests here but have not heard any complaints about a word that describes their nonbelief..If you are a believer in God and Jesus Christ are you insulted if we call you a christian? I really just can't get a grip on your comparing being called an athiest to being called a racist Now I can understand someone being insulted if someone called them a troll when they really weren't..
Mr Bolo, are you an athiest? I couldn't tell from your profile or other posts
I know a lot of athiests here but have not heard any complaints about a word that describes their nonbelief..If you are a believer in God and Jesus Christ are you insulted if we call you a christian? I really just can't get a grip on your comparing being called an athiest to being called a racist Now I can understand someone being insulted if someone called them a troll when they really weren't..
Blue 62
I think the problem comes when another person attempts to demean or to box up someone else's beliefs or philosophy. I think it is as offensive for another person to say "He's an atheist" as it is for fundementalist to say, "Catholic's or Mormans aren't Christian"; I think we had best allow people to define themselves and stop trying to label others, especially others who have been given revelations that aren't congruent with our own. Let each person choose their own labels and know that tomorrow they might have out grown them.
This isnt intended to be arguementative as I have great respect for you and know that you are open to diversity.
I understand your opinion Elston from your other post here..By definition, I am not considered christian by many, many people, because I can't accept the concept of the trinity, and it has been stated time and time again that you have to believe in the trinity to be a christian..I am not insulted though if they call me by another name, although I mostly refer to myself as a believer.. What I really wanted to know from Mr. Bolo was if he was an athiest and is he insulted by being called an athiest..I would like to hear more from him. If he is an athiest and is insulted by being called one, I believe he may find some help here from the other athiests/nonbelievers.
I dont believe in god, but I also dont like being labled as an atheist, just a non believer or non religious sounds better / more polite
Thanks Mr Bolo, I understand now I do think it is a shame that sometimes the very tone the word is used in anger and hate would be insulting. If my first post to you was insulting, which I think it was, I apologize..
I think it all depends on the context of the situation. I typically find that when someone is pushing their particular views on me they try to insinuate the notion in a derogatory manner. Basically, like IbeDavid does.
Non-theist, Atheist, Destroyer of Worlds, I don't really care what you call me as long as you respectfully call me that.
for some reason being called an atheist sounds kind of insulting?
almost like calling somebody a racist or something derogatory?
non religious sounds more appropriate than atheist
I would be much more insulted if someone called me a hypocrite than and Atheist. Worst yet, I would take offense if someone who knew me called me a Christian.
Better an atheist than a hypocrite, I think, too. But before they chose to call me anything, I would hope they knew me well enough to know exactly what I was.
I don't necessarily ascribe to organized religion, but I am not an atheist. At least, I don't think I am. I will be honest and say I wrestle with it all, but I like to think there is something greater than what I am. Still, I wouldn't necessarily be insulted if someone mistook me for an atheist -- much more insulted if they called me a hypocrite.
REPLY: Atheism IS a religion...a secular Religion because it requires enormous Faith that no intelligence was needed for our highly personal/intelligently engineered and designed Universe which modern science has confirmed it to be. Further, atheism shares many social simularities to its counterpart religions as this treatise points out :
----------------------------------------------------
Atheism is religious in the sense that it is a comprehensive worldview
which seeks to explain the 'why' of existence. Because it has its own
creeds, their own 'scriptures', their own 'clergy', and thier own
closely knit groups for organized discussions / agendas , it is correct
to label atheism as a religion (even if the particular individual is not
a member of any atheist organization per se). . This may not be well
recieved amongst atheists because a major reason for thier apriori
philisophical bias against a personal Creator is due to the stigma
associated with the religious in society .
Consider these facts about atheism :
1. It is highly organized thruout this nation. There are many large
Atheist Organizations that would love a greater constituency.
2. There are even Atheist Camps thruout the nation with a well
publicized large one in Ohio.
3. They meet regularly to discuss local and national agendas which
include the ridiculing of Theists and Christians (when they themselves
know that every design requires A Designer and Human DNA requires a
Programmer., et al....)
4. The Atheist Organizations collect dues regularly just like Churches
collect free will offerings on a Sunday to cover overhead, expenses,
activities, and material distribution.
5. They have very large national Conferences yearly just like Church
Denominations do. A very large one was held last year in Colorado.
6. There are active Internet Atheist NG's to educate followers in the
sheer impossibility of matter and naturalism accounting for the many
many complex designs and engineering of our Universe, Solar System,
Planet, Human Bodys, DNA, et al...
7. They collaborate to build up each other in their freewill chosen
lifestyles the same that Church Members build up one another in
following and obeying Christ as a lifestyle.
8. They want macro evolution theories taught as 'scientific fact' in
public schools without ANY time for Creationism ; whereas Creationists
want both to be presented so students can make a clear and concise
decision based on rationale and what REAL science has discovered.
9. Most National Atheist Organizations have logos, flags, and
banners...the same that national Church Denominations have
...and 10. They have Museums located around the Country that show well
prepared artistry on fancy posterboards how apes gradually turned into
cave-men that turned into modern man (despite the fact that it goes against
scientific laws and the Mathematical Probability as defined by leading atheist Biologists themselves such as atheist Co-Discoverer of the DNA Structure, Dr. Francis Crick. (his mathematical probability is available upon request).
I am not sure if you are for real or not, all of what you say seems somewhat far fetched. (I am trying to be nice). Just in case you are for real can you tell me if I can get a tax break for giving to the atheist group of my choice, and if I start an atheist organization can it be tax free like your church?
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