The World Beyond BetterMost > Anything Goes
Atheists: Come out, come out, wherever you are
Shuggy:
--- Quote from: stevenedel on July 23, 2006, 06:28:57 am ---Shuggy, that's marvellous and just about nails it! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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Thank you.
--- Quote ---Let's mail it out to every fundamentalist in the world!
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By all means, if you can work out how to make them pay for it. This kind of thing is still my only livelihood, I'm afraid (you'll see I've now munged it to prevent ripoffs), but I live in hope.
starboardlight:
--- Quote from: Impish on July 23, 2006, 09:54:10 am ---Stevenedel:
I'm with you 100%! I was raised Episcopalian and was a choir boy for many years, and so I also "woke up" from a religious background.
If you enjoy listening to podcasts, there's a wonderful one called "Point of Inquiry" that how science views both religion and the paranormal. You can find it at the iTunes Music Store. Highly recommended. ;D
Impish
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thanks for the recommendation. I listened to the specific episode with Paul Kurtz. He gave me lots to think about. I've gone a head and subscribed so I'll see if other guests are just as good.
Shuggy:
--- Quote from: delalluvia on July 23, 2006, 11:51:22 am ---
Texrob is correct. The main drive behind Christianity - why believers think it is better than any other religion - is that they believe it is a factual religion. That Jesus was actually the son of god, that he came to earth as a real man, is a historical figure, etc., etc., so that makes Christianity a 'real' religion as opposed to - as a Born Again friend one time told me - all those 'made up' religions.
However, sadly for them, if they do do an objective study of the Christian religion, they will find it no more based in 'fact' than any other religion.
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This reminds me of the way some people classify low-prestige languages (a specialty of mine). Even supposed experts like Martin Gardiner or Bill Bryson say that Sign Languages (Gardiner) or Pijin are (Bryson) "just made up" and not as good as "real" languages. Maybe an echo of "God speaks Hebrew" or "God speaks English"?
opinionista:
--- Quote from: Impish on May 26, 2006, 07:57:18 pm ---I'm a committed atheist; I stopped believing in gods at age 13. As concerned as I am about the assault on gay rights, I've come to the conclusion that the ever-thinning wall of separation of church and state is the single most important issue facing the U.S. today. Fixing that would fix so many other issues at the same time.
So I've been investigating books and podcasts on the subject of atheism, the role of science in public policy, etc., and was struck by the following.
Again and again, I find this point being made: that atheists need to take a lesson from the gay community and come out of the closet. "Look what good it did to the cause of gay rights after more and more people came out," they say, stressing the importance of visibility.
I'm reminded of a lesbian friend from Canada who lived in my home town for two years. As she was returning to Nova Scotia at the end of her stay, I asked her about her impressions of the U.S. and Americans after living here. She didn't need to think about it: to paraphrase, she said "you have freedom of religion here, but you don't have freedom from religion. I learned very quickly not to mention that I don't believe in gods, because Americans just freak out."
So I've decided I'm going to come out as an atheist, and have bought some T-shirts so that people will know my stance when I wear them.
The T's say
"Friendly Atheist" (my favorite, as it's the least "in your face")
"Lord, Protect Me From Your Followers"
"I Think, Therefore I'm Atheist."
Anyway, if you don't believe in gods either -- or if you consider yourself agnostic -- I encourage you to come out of the closet, letting those around you know your beliefs. It's important to increase our visibility, and to let others know that there is moral behavior without it being caused by fear of a god.
Cheers! ;D
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I was raised atheist. My parents are atheist and I'm probably the only hispanic person who hasn't been baptized, and who has no idea about the bible and such. Along with my three siblings of course. It was hard to grow up atheist in a profoundly catholic culture, though. We were shunned sometimes. And my grandma really thought we were going to hell, and spent half her life trying to make us believe in God but failed terribly.
Impish:
--- Quote from: opinionista on July 24, 2006, 06:11:04 pm ---I was raised atheist.
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I hope you know how lucky you are! Being raised from childhood to believe certain myths and superstitions is the most successful form of indoctrination/brainwashing. I'm envious that you never had any of that to overcome like so many of us did.
I just watched the BBC TV special by Richard Dawkins, called "The Root of All Evil?" It shows how religious belief can lead to evil in a compelling way. It's available at google video... well, at least Part #1 is. I'm still looking for Part 2, which specifically looks at the issue in terms of child-rearing.
Kudos to your parents! :)
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