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Old 10-30-2017, 09:18 AM
 
28,122 posts, read 12,507,048 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by badlander View Post
So little kids killed by impaired drivers or die because their parents didn't believe in medicine are better off dead?
None of us actually knows what happens or where we go when we die, so its not possible to say whther or not they are better off here or in the afterlife.
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Old 10-30-2017, 06:39 PM
 
5,004 posts, read 15,325,007 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phetaroi View Post
Just curious as to how you are defining a "militant atheist"?
A militant atheist, aka new atheist, believes it is their duty to get rid of Christaniity by talking against it, mocking people,etc. I will try to find more info.
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Old 10-30-2017, 06:54 PM
 
5,004 posts, read 15,325,007 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phetaroi View Post
Just curious as to how you are defining a "militant atheist"?
Here is more info,google, the new atheists are back and dumber than ever. It is and article. New atheists are Sam harris, Christopher Hitchens and a few others. Google New atheists, militant atheists.
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Old 10-30-2017, 06:56 PM
 
5,004 posts, read 15,325,007 times
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Originally Posted by trobesmom View Post
I've never met a militant atheist, personally, although I'm sure there are some out there.
I have and they drove me nuts. I have atheist friends but they don't try to convert.
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Old 10-30-2017, 07:00 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn View Post
Oh, Mattie jo...you don't know militant till you've dated a militant vegetarian!!!

Haha.
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Old 10-30-2017, 07:57 PM
 
Location: Northeastern US
19,810 posts, read 13,353,303 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattie Jo View Post
A militant atheist, aka new atheist, believes it is their duty to get rid of Christaniity by talking against it, mocking people,etc. I will try to find more info.
You're over-simplifying and demonizing a bit here.

New Atheism's motivation is not to be mindlessly anti-religion or to mock religion for the sheer joy of making people uncomfortable.

It simply says that religion promotes extraordinary truth claims that demand extraordinary evidence if they are to be believed; that religion has been responsible not just for good but for ill in the world; and that theists have enjoyed unearned respect and deference for their ideologies and dogmas because of longstanding cultural and societal taboos.

New Atheism therefore seeks to openly and unapologetically question religion, to insist that it play fair on a level playing field of ideas that neither favors nor disfavors any side of a question, including the religious side. To substantiate their truth claims.

And now for the uncomfortable part: new atheism believes that which is ridiculous is worthy of ridicule, and therefore, does not genuflect to everything that comes out of holy writ or a preacher's mouth. That which cannot be substantiated as true in religion is subject to the disdain that new atheism feels it deserves.

It is a provocative approach that I don't always agree with. But it is not just a bunch of posterior orifices heckling good people for sport, either. I have found over the years that playing nice doesn't break through the intellectual dishonesty of the religious, and sometimes, a bit of shock therapy is in order.
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Old 10-31-2017, 12:41 AM
 
Location: Valencia, Spain
16,155 posts, read 12,818,123 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattie Jo View Post
A militant atheist, aka new atheist, believes it is their duty to get rid of Christaniity by talking against it, mocking people,etc. I will try to find more info.
We believe it's time to get rid of ALL superstitious nonsense and we firmly believe that superstitious nonsense, such as religion, should not warrant the 'respect' that it has garnered for far too long.

We believe that, if a belief has merit it should be applauded and if a belief is patently ridiculous then it should rightly be ridiculed. For too long we have been forced to keep quite and expected to sit quietly with our heads bowed listening to the inane beliefs of people who's thoughts are not dis-similar to those of a schizophrenic.

We believe that if someone makes a claim of truth then they should support that claim with verifiable evidence and if they can't, we feel that we are justified in calling them on that belief.

We've had enough and we are going to fight back against the cultural dominance of bullsh*t in the guise of religion and if that offends people or 'Christians' then that's too bad. We don't care...just like those 'Christians' don't care about offending other people that don't follow their particular flavour of 'god' by telling them that they are going to hell.

I give you Mencken...

“The way to deal with superstition is not to be polite to it, but to tackle it with all arms, and so rout it, cripple it, and make it forever infamous and ridiculous. Is it, perchance, cherished by persons who should know better? Then their folly should be brought out into the light of day, and exhibited there in all its hideousness until they flee from it, hiding their heads in shame.


True enough, even a superstitious man has certain inalienable rights. He has a right to harbour and indulge his imbecilities as long as he pleases, provided only he does not try to inflict them upon other men by force. He has a right to argue for them as eloquently as he can, in season and out of season. He has a right to teach them to his children. But certainly he has no right to be protected against the free criticism of those who do not hold them. He has no right to demand that they be treated as sacred. He has no right to preach them without challenge.”
H.L. Mencken
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Old 11-01-2017, 03:57 AM
 
197 posts, read 86,387 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rafius View Post
We believe it's time to get rid of ALL superstitious nonsense and we firmly believe that superstitious nonsense, such as religion, should not warrant the 'respect' that it has garnered for far too long.

We believe that, if a belief has merit it should be applauded and if a belief is patently ridiculous then it should rightly be ridiculed. For too long we have been forced to keep quite and expected to sit quietly with our heads bowed listening to the inane beliefs of people who's thoughts are not dis-similar to those of a schizophrenic.

We believe that if someone makes a claim of truth then they should support that claim with verifiable evidence and if they can't, we feel that we are justified in calling them on that belief.

We've had enough and we are going to fight back against the cultural dominance of bullsh*t in the guise of religion and if that offends people or 'Christians' then that's too bad. We don't care...just like those 'Christians' don't care about offending other people that don't follow their particular flavour of 'god' by telling them that they are going to hell.

I give you Mencken...

“The way to deal with superstition is not to be polite to it, but to tackle it with all arms, and so rout it, cripple it, and make it forever infamous and ridiculous. Is it, perchance, cherished by persons who should know better? Then their folly should be brought out into the light of day, and exhibited there in all its hideousness until they flee from it, hiding their heads in shame.


True enough, even a superstitious man has certain inalienable rights. He has a right to harbour and indulge his imbecilities as long as he pleases, provided only he does not try to inflict them upon other men by force. He has a right to argue for them as eloquently as he can, in season and out of season. He has a right to teach them to his children. But certainly he has no right to be protected against the free criticism of those who do not hold them. He has no right to demand that they be treated as sacred. He has no right to preach them without challenge.”
H.L. Mencken

I'm not an atheist, but I welcome 1000 atheists over a Christian. At least, their humanity is strong and intact.

Even if Yahweh exists, spending eternity with him is really miserable for me. Nevertheless, nothing is worse than spending my eternity with tyrant worshipers.

Hitler didn't kill people physically, but he commanded people under him to do that. He's a monster. Certainly, many people served him because they had no choice. Other people served him with eagerness and sympathized with his ideology. These people deserve more hate than Hitler himself.

Same thing with Christians. For a long time, I kept fooling myself that Christians didn't agree with their god's action towards nonbelievers, but they had to believe because they didn't have a choice.

Listening to Tracie Harris, Matt Dillahunty, and Sam Harris's criticism of Christian doctrine, I realize that I have no more excuse not to distance myself from Christians. Being convinced of Yahweh's existence doesn't mean being happy with everything he did. If Christians agree with Yahweh's sentence for nonbelievers, how is it different from "moderate Muslims" agreeing with what Bin Laden did to WTC?

I'm really sick of hypocrisy from Christians. They always complain about non Christians restricting their freedom, and yet they want the rest of the world to worship their god with all their intellect and their heart. How is that different from totalitarian mind control?

Christians can believe whatever they want as long as they leave me and my family alone. Until their god can show up to loud and clear like he did in the Hebrew Bible, I cannot fool myself into believing in him, let alone worship him.

Although I don't like some tactics from the new atheists, I admire them for daring to challenge the doctrine that dehumanizes people.
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Old 11-01-2017, 06:12 AM
 
Location: S. Wales.
50,082 posts, read 20,571,542 times
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What I get from Mattie Jo's posts is a Christian persecution of atheists. Not serious, but full of denigration and contempt. It doesn't matter. I think we will win, Religion, while never being suppressed or banned as the "Persecuted" Christians, donning the Martyr's hat when anyone disagrees with them without being jailed, banished or burnt at the stake for it, spread the scaremongering claim, will lose power and influence, like Astrology, though still allowing a profitable scam for some... 'Your daily end of world prediction.." and like the abolitionist thing will be claiming "Oh it wasn't us attacking atheists. Christianity was in the forefront of the move towards global humanism.."

No, we don't hate and fear the Christian apologists, though we di detest the profitable evangeligcal scammers and the tripehounds who try to get Creationist garbage taught in the science -class, but we ain't fooled by the 'We are nice guys with nothing but love for you Humanists." It's hate and fear, and understandably so..
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Old 11-01-2017, 09:28 AM
 
Location: Northeastern US
19,810 posts, read 13,353,303 times
Reputation: 9813
Quote:
Originally Posted by TRANSPONDER View Post
What I get from Mattie Jo's posts is a Christian persecution of atheists. Not serious, but full of denigration and contempt.
I wouldn't dignify it with the term "persecution"; by itself it's not that organized or self-aware. It is simply character assassination in order to avoid meaningful dialog or fair exchange of ideas. It is dehumanization and stereotyping due to intellectual laziness and/or intellectual dishonesty.

However, it is a prototype of persecution, and could become that pretty easily. Just as xenophobia / white nationalism / Trumpism is infesting politics and spilling over its toxicity into general public life, it could easily happen with the otherizing of the areligious. Indeed it's already started with those who hold to certain non-majority religions, most notably, Islam.
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