The 10 Truths of Atheism - Setting the Record Straight on Non-Belief

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion...994298.story?page=1&coll=la-opinion-rightrail

My cat's breath smells like cat food.

#3 is gold

Quite an interesting take on it.

!

so is #10

Atheism is every bit as dogmatic and unsupportable by reason as any religion. Atheists call believers self-deluded, tantamount to saying they're mentally ill which is a very troubling point of view. Atheists mischaracterize their opponents in order to ridicule them. And atheists cannot prove that there is NO God (or god or gods) any more than the religious can prove that there is...although in fairness to the religious, they do at least have some supporting documentation.

The only intellectually pure position is agnosticism.

My 4 cats often suffer from this condition!

That begs for elaboration

Holding opinions about others aren't inherently oppressive

I agree. However...

...calling someone mentally ill--in a society where the mentally ill are often institutionalized--is treading on dangerous ground. For that same reason, I no longer use the term homophobia.

Hmmm, #2 really appealed to me.

"Impediment to politics!"



People try to make things so complicated when it isn't.

90% of Americans have some sort of religious/spiritual belief. Most people vote for people who most closely match their personal beliefs, because obviously they want leaders who believe as they do.

In a nutshell, that is the general idea of what is really going on here.

Not only that, a great deal of atheists are hateful, condescending and insulting to believers. We see it here all the time. With personal experiences like that...who the heck would think atheists are anything else but closed-minded God haters looking for more power to persecute and marginilize the faithful?

#2 is good, but nothing struck me new there

I'm a sucker for reaffirmation.

No. Fuck agnosticicism, time to admit yourself your feelings.

Heck, why do we even need a word for lack of belief in a God - it's not as if there are words floating around for a lack of belief in anything else, like little pink unicorns, or extra-terrestrial life.

Don't force your agnunicornism on me!

1) - Never claimed.

2) - No, greed is. Atheism has been used by evil people to free people from other influences that might hinder their total control. Though, Marx did have it out for the religious.

3) - Depends. Strong atheism by it's very nature is dogmatic.

4) - Everything happens for a reason. Whether that reason was a mysterious diety, or because someone wanted something someone else had and started a war over it is another matter.

5) - It doesn't. Atheism is generally an inability to believe in the unknown, or unseen. It logically follows that people who make their living on gathering empirical data would have a hard time believing in something that they can't see.

6) - This whole list is pretty arrogant.

7) - None of those are spiritual experiences; they're emotions.

8) - See my answer to #6.

9) - Again, never claimed. Though, there are certain atheists who never fail to mock and deride the faithful when given the chance.

10) - It doesn't. I'm not saying it make you amoral, but let's be honest here.

Any and all morality is guided through social customs and norms, and a lack of faith isn't inspiring or conductive towards any sort of any sort of moral system. Though, it could lead to a lack of morality if there are no earthly repercussions for it's adherents (dictators for example).

Meh...a lot of christians remind me of Gladys Kravitz. Those types get what they deserve

It's hard to marginlaize people when you're marginalized yourself

Fancy some evidence of this?

Ha ha. No.

The desire to marginalize others does not always come after the acquisition of power.

Sometimes the desire for power comes from the desire to marginalize.

Hate to use the example, but there was a time people would have said what do millions of Jews have to fear from one little Austrian guy. I mean..he's one guy, after all. And we know how that went.

How can atheism be strong? That's like saying a glass is strongly empty

*drops a glass of a table*

Want to know why that happened? Because I picked it up and dropped it to prove a point. Furthermore, gravity pulled it down towards the center of the Earth, and the force of the drop was enough to shatter it into bits.

Starting to see my point?

Oh yes it is. Atheism and theism could simply be left alone with an "agree to disagree", but all I ever hear from them is "cry cry, but we're right!"

Granted, there are many atheists who don't shout from the rafters about how we're a bunch of superstitious fools and somehow manage to keep their utter contempt for us inside, and I thank them. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

The rest of them, say... Techman, are tedious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weak_and_strong_atheism

I don't see many Atheists knocking on doors attempting to "un-convert" people.

Or, I could just find this whole organized religion/belief in a supernatural being silly without needing excessively deep analysis

wikipedia sez?

A link to a flawed wiki page, explaining terms invented in internet chatrooms..


My lack of belief in God is no stronger nor weaker than my lack of belief in pink unicorns.

But they want to try and make that a religion in itself so they can turn around and call us hypocrites