The Athiest thread

[wanna be drummer]

Uh oh. Same question, different angle .... Typical.

What do you think brain dead means?

[wanna be drummer]

Well though he seems an expert in brain death The term would be "clinical" death....brain activity does cease when nearing the half minute mark, so that can be claimed with some amount of truth. Actual brain death is irreversible, and existance in that state can only be prolonged through life support.

Thats exactly what I'm referring to...

[~tangerine~]

I've always wanted to ask Atheists how they think they'd react if they did die and discovered that religions were right (insofar as there being a God and a Heaven and a Hell and such... NOT ABOUT CREATIONISM).

Any answers?

I don't buy it. If all religions worshipped "the same" God then maybe you would have something. But religions are very different from each other. They worship different Gods. As a non-believer in God, this kind of question has no logic to me. It's really that simple.

HOWEVER, if there is a God, then when you die we are all treated the same/meet with the same fate. Heaven and Hell is another bunch of nonsense. This is all pretend stuff, so why bother worrying about it. BTW...i know i have done good on this Earth, that is all i need for my peace of mind.

[~tangerine~]

edit: hit the button too soon.

[~tangerine~]

Pretty much, when they're world leaders who think they've been chosen by god to be supreme stupid asses. Arnold's pronunciation of California is an ACCENT. He pronounces the vowels differently because of his Austrian accent. Dubya cannot say the word "nuclear," and has invented nonsense words out of actual words.

So I guess I'm an elitist for expecting the president of the United States and the leader of the free world to be coherent.

Oh, you have such high expectations!

[wanna be drummer]

I call "soda", pop.

I use the non-existing word ain't to replace isn't.

I say lez go as opposed to lets go.

I say Neil Pert rather than Peert.

Guess I can't be president.

[~tangerine~]

Well, I guess I've never felt the need to know. I'm not one of those people asking for proof; I don't care. Right here and now's alright with me

You hit on a really great point. Why do so many people spend their living "looking for or needing proof"? We are born, we live and we die. Finding the answer to our creation won't change anything (because we will never find it).

[~tangerine~]

I call "soda", pop.

I use the non-existing word ain't to replace isn't.

I say lez go as opposed to lets go.

I say Neil Pert rather than Peert.

Guess I can't be president.

If George W. Bush could be, once...let alone, twice, ANYONE has a chance...

[wanna be drummer]

If George W. Bush could be, once...let alone, twice, ANYONE has a chance...

But I talk weird. My credentials are shot!!

[yahyoubetcha]

Excuse??

This is what drives me away from this place. Opinions always stated as if they are fact.

That, and banned members always coming back eh" Mar??

Hate to be a stickler, but the part of her quote that you highlited in bold is preceeded by "my feelings are". Kinda means that it's her opinion and not a statement of fact. Just don't want to see you getting all riled up for no reason.

[redrum]

I submit to you that gods were invented by man to cope with the fear of death, and that we as a species have moved beyond the need for them. For every awesome religious person I know, there are 10 ignorant douchebags. One need not look past the paper, the evening news, or recorded history (constantly repeating itself) to see what happens when people farm everything out to unseen entities invented in their own image.

I just watched 'The Hiding Place' which was about Corrie Ten-Boom who was put in Ravensbruck death camp by the Nazi's along with ther sister Betsie. Betsie totally believed in Jesus but Corrie had her doubts from being in such a horrible place. Betsie told her that they would both be free by the end of 1944. Towards the end of that year Betsie died and Corrie was released by a technical error a couple days before the year ended. How did Betsie know? Afterwards Corrie became a true believer in God and even though I'm not religious at all their story makes me believe that there really is a God.

[yahyoubetcha]

I just watched 'The Hiding Place' which was about Corrie Ten-Boom who was put in Ravensbruck death camp by the Nazi's along with ther sister Betsie. Betsie totally believed in Jesus but Corrie had her doubts from being in such a horrible place. Betsie told her that they would both be free by the end of 1944. Towards the end of that year Betsie died and Corrie was released by a technical error a couple days before the year ended. How did Betsie know? Afterwards Corrie became a true believer in God and even though I'm not religious at all their story makes me believe that there really is a God.

I guess he preferred doubting Corrie over faithful Betsie. Tough luck for Betsie.

[Mary Hartman]

Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus."

Thomas Jefferson

[JTM]

Too bad your lesser experience was so conclusive, it seems to have left you very bitter. Hopefully you're making something of your lease on life....however it might have come to be.

Oh i'm not bitter, not in the least. I'm angry that moral teachings still get dressed up with lies and deceipt. It's time the world moved to a more common sense way of giving moral guideance. Because if you want someone to trust you, Don't lie to them.

[JTM]

Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus."

Thomas Jefferson

Right on Mary, good quote Ridicule is a great tool. But it's hard work getting people to rid themselves of ilogical ideas.

[Dzldoc]

All in all, No One is really going to know until the very end!....end of thread

[Mary Hartman]

Right on Mary, good quote Ridicule is a great tool. But it's hard work getting people to rid themselves of ilogical ideas.

Agreed. I think some of them still believe that their 'god,' or religion gives them more rights than anyone else. Now it may be true that someone can glean rights from a constitution of long ago. However the very establishment of this country to begin with was to free 'these people,' from religious controls of which there never has been and more than likely ever will be any scientific evidence.

Perhaps one day Americans will evolve to a point where the church is viewed much as it is in the United Kingdom.

But don't look forward to it happening any time soon.

[Dzldoc]

Just curious, what do ya'll do for Christmas? Do you decorate your house and put up a tree?

Go outside and mow the lawn? Paint the walls? Go fishing?

Now I don't practice any religion but I will get in the spirit of the hollidays in fact it's my favorite time of year

I love gift wrapping

[JTM]

London's iconic red buses could be plastered with the slogan "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life," in an atheist advertising campaign responding to a set of Christian ads. Comedy writer Ariane Sherine, 28, objected to the Christian adverts on some London buses, which carried an Internet address warning that people who rejected God were condemned to spend eternity in "torment in hell".

She sought five-pound (7.80-dollar, 6.25-euro) donations towards a "reassuring" counter-advertisement -- and received the backing of the British Humanist Association (BHA) and atheist campaigner Professor Richard Dawkins.

The campaign has already smashed its 5,500-pound target and the slogan is planned to hit the side of several London buses in January.

"We see so many posters advertising salvation through Jesus or threatening us with eternal damnation, that I feel sure that a bus advert like this will be welcomed as a breath of fresh air," said BHA chief executive Hanne Stinson.

Dawkins said: "This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think -- and thinking is anathema to religion."

Whey hey. Thank f**k for the free world.

[Mary Hartman]

Just curious, what do ya'll do for Christmas? Do you decorate your house and put up a tree?

Go outside and mow the lawn? Paint the walls? Go fishing?

Now I don't practice any religion but I will get in the spirit of the hollidays in fact it's my favorite time of year

I love gift wrapping

We dress up the squirrels and remember it's origin in also Pagan.

I believe in doing what the children want to do as far as Christ-

mas goes. They should have a happy fun time. However if the

question of the origin of Santa or the Christmas holiday comes up.

Sit them down and explain it to them. I am not a Scrooge by any

means and look forward to a safe and happy holiday season not

centered around the birth of Jesus.

I have a little cousin who is Pagan by all accounts. She doesn't

believe in much of this hocus pocus nonsense to start with. But

she does celebrate and have fun.

BTW, she just married an Irishman. Kilts and all.

Happy holidays to all.

[The Rover]

Whatever you do ---- Keep those GD Fucking 10 Commandments OUT OF THE SCHOOLS ! ! ! !

Because posting them may actually cause some to follow them ! ! ! So our piss-poor Judges have decreed !!

Like the one about not murdering others......

Hudson deaths add to South Side Chicago's violence

Oct 30, 5:45 AM (ET)

By DON BABWIN

CHICAGO (AP) - During the same weekend that county pathologists conducted autopsies on the bodies of actress-singer Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother, they also examined the bodies of six other people who'd been gunned down or beaten to death.

Five of them died in Chicago, as did the Oscar winner's mother, Darnell Donerson, her brother, Jason Hudson, and 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, whose body was found Monday. Like Hudson's relatives, three died on the city's South Side.

The deaths are yet another reminder of the bloodshed on Chicago's streets this year - when the city has seen more homicides than both New York and Los Angeles. And they go a long way toward explaining why residents of Hudson's childhood neighborhood say it's not surprising that people may have heard gunfire coming from her family home but didn't bother to call police.

"You hear gunshots day and night, that's nothing new," said Ken Rasheeda, 38, who grew up in the neighborhood, Englewood, where he and his wife are now raising three children. "There's been times I heard gunshots and I didn't think twice about it, it's so common."

Englewood may not have the notoriety of old Chicago public housing complexes such as the Robert Taylor Homes or Cabrini Green, but the neighborhood - part of the police department's 7th District - is one of the most violent in the city, ranking at or near the top this year in numbers of homicides, sexual assaults and robberies. In fact, between January and August, 2,083 violent crimes occurred in the district - more than in any of the city's 24 other districts.

The predominantly black neighborhood is less than 10 miles from downtown, yet it is also a world away. While gang violence made headlines when it erupted this summer in Grant Park, the city's lakefront showroom, such episodes are part of Englewood's landscape. And gunfire is part of the soundtrack.

People congregated this week outside the house where the bodies of Hudson's mother and brother were found. As the number of stuffed animals, balloons and flowers left against the front fence reached the hundreds, area residents said what happened inside, though tragic, is all too common.

"Because Jennifer Hudson lived here once upon a time you got all these people, all these teddy bears," Christine Baines said, holding her toddler daughter. "We lost five people in one house in April," she noted, referring to a fatal home invasion that already has faded into the distant memory of many Chicagoans.

Some residents claim the neighborhood does not get police attention equal to that of other, more affluent areas.

"On the North Side, you call police and they're out there in 5, 10 minutes," said Howard Denham, 33, who grew up across the street from the Hudson house and now lives on the city's North Side. "Somebody fires a firecracker and police are out with guns drawn."

Others, though, say residents bear responsibility if they know of or suspect violent crime.

"Maybe a phone call could have saved someone's life," Baines said of the shootings Friday at the Hudson family home.

Police say they do their best to protect all of Chicago's neighborhoods and note that on Friday, officers were at the scene five minutes after they were called.

William Balfour, 27, the estranged husband of Jennifer Hudson's sister, Julia Hudson, was taken into custody Friday for questioning in the killings. He has been named a suspect and is being held on a parole violation. Nobody has been charged in the deaths.

Police Superintendent Jody Weis said he understands people are sometimes reluctant to get involved, even when they hear gunfire. "That's the constant challenge we face all the time," he said.

While police have characterized the Hudson family killings as "domestic related," not random violence, neighborhood residents said they still hope the attention generated by the deaths leads people to call police, look out for one another and report suspicious behavior.

But they don't hold out much hope.

"For a few months or so people will straighten up, but then, believe me, after a couple of months it's back to the same routine," said Rasheeda, who, looking down at his 1-year-old son asleep in his stroller, vowed to move his family out of the only neighborhood he's ever called home.

Kevin Bennett, who grew up across the street from the Hudsons and counted them as friends, agreed. He thinks that not long after the television news crews leave, the neighborhood will return to the same violent place it's been for years.

Which is why he keeps coming back to the last time he saw Jason Hudson two or three weeks ago.

Bennett said he had asked his friend, "Why are you still here, man?"

[Suz]

Oh, for sure. Putting the 10 commandments in a public place in a country that was founded on the separation of church and state (for reasons we seem to have forgotten) would DEFINATELY make me think twice about killing someone! Cause you know, without god I spend my time contemplating how to break them all. Not! I don't even know half of them and I have managed to become a respobsible adult Must be the devil's work.

[Mary Hartman]

Oh, for sure. Putting the 10 commandments in a public place in a country that was founded on the separation of church and state (for reasons we seem to have forgotten) would DEFINATELY make me think twice about killing someone! Cause you know, without god I spend my time contemplating how to break them all. Not! I don't even know half of them and I have managed to become a respobsible adult Must be the devil's work.

Well I will say, even though I mostly don't believe in a God. I will say The Ten Commandments does have a place in our historical record/s. Etching things like these out is really just overkill. Ideologically in principle they make a nicer way for people to behave in many respects.

Paradoxically like before a 'God' writing them through Moses supernaturally ALMOST completely defies the laws of physics and probability.

[Suz]

Just curious, what do ya'll do for Christmas? Do you decorate your house and put up a tree?

Go outside and mow the lawn? Paint the walls? Go fishing?

Now I don't practice any religion but I will get in the spirit of the hollidays in fact it's my favorite time of year

I love gift wrapping

My mom was a lapsed catholic. We didn't go to church. She disagreed with the church fundamentally, but she held onto the spirit of it. She did Christmas and Easter up like nobody's business. In fact, I think I had a better appreciation of Christmas than my Christian friends did. All they wanted was to get through the damn church service and get their presents. My mom had all the lights out and candles lit and music playing. She was very solemn and mystical about it. My imagination went wild and I LOVED Christmas eve. My favorite xmas show was The Little Drummer Boy. To me, that was what the concept of Christianity was about. The kid had nothing, so he played for the baby. Too bad the Christian kids were more concerned about getting presents and telling other kids they were going to burn in hell. Fortunately (thanks, mom) I didn't even know what hell was. Now I do: it's the same as heaven and we make it every day.

[Rock Action]

I don't believe in religion. And if you don't like it you can go to hell.