To be fair, fossils talking is of comparable liklihood to god existing – Which is to say, science has never recognised any evidence that either is possible.
lol, you’re stupid.
Did the article say anything about a number? The title says cars, which is grammatically correct because it is plural.
Did the author say this was intended to convince you to be an Atheist? (take note of hoe “Atheist” is spelled) Although I found this on a stumble too, I’d suggest that this is intended for Atheists, not too convince anyone to be an Atheist.
An atheist is more likely to understand and be ok with someone believing in a God. Than someone (especially christians) who believes. They usually freak out, and have no understanding manner what so ever that atheists don’t believe. Christians are so understanding? and everyone should be accepted. Well… Why don’t they?
(Example here in Amsterdam: There are plenty of buildings or signs (in public: which shoudnt be public but private but thats another discussion) and no atheist complains about that.
But if atheists put signs up sayin: “dont believe in god, believe in yourself.” All the ‘believers’ get pissed off. Lets all be real and leave eachother in our values.
Car #2 has the comment on it about fairy tales, yet when you look at the figurines on car #1 they are mostly cartoon characters. Besides most adults don’t cover their cars with insane slogans and chilrens toys.
Ah, the ravages of Christardation! Soon, soon we hope to develop medication to help the Christard cope with the daily trials of their disabling illness. While a cure may be many years away, there is hope through therapy and, of course, Community College Biology and Geology courses.
Yea right….we are about as likely to come up with a cure for brainwashed ignorance as they are to come up for a cure for homosexuality. but i am wondering…did you come up with christardation, and if so , can i use it as my own?
wow! this guy definitely went to harvard. graduated top of his class, Ph.D in Philosophy, then went back just to kick a medical degree. logic is no big deal for this guy
First car is insane, but the second one is full of bullshit. The fossils say yes. If you want to throw down evolution, don’t use its proofs. What’s next? homologous and analogous organs say no?
Don’t just just love seeing crap like that on the road? Of course, I usually try to keep my distance. Someone that deluded probably shouldn’t be driving.
The world’s most successful & longest sustained con game is based on one simple word : FAITH. Consider: Had the church ‘fathers’ said You must be GULLIBLE, It wouldn’t have gotten ‘off the ground’
Logic rules out God? What’s logic about everything coming from absolutely nothing at all? Both Creation and Evolution are not logical in the slightest, it’s just you retards arguing the toss over and over on these pathetic blogs Stumbleupon keeps throwing at me for whatever reason.
I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of it, but saw one recently here with a big sign on the back that read, “Speeding is a sin, turn to Jesus”. cheese and rice.
As a Christian, I will say that that first car is over the top. I would never ride around in it. But all of you that bash it, its not all bad. What about the quote on the bottom “Work so you can share with those in need” , hmm that doesn’t sound so crazy to me.
Most people that ridicule God or Jesus , simply don’t want to accept his reality because if you did, it would mean that you would actually have to answer to someone and not live how ever you wanted to.
If you think he is not real, simply ask him to reveal himself to you in some way, to show you that he is real and his word is true. What do you have to lose ?
What facts? There ARE no facts regarding this. If there were, then faith would not be a requirement.
I am extremely familiar with Christianity. Why do Christians think that atheists NEED your belief system?
If I were a believer in God and wanting to join a religion….Christianity would NOT be my choice.
Have you got that?
Actually the life of Jesus is factual Mark… you can believe whatever you want to believe. I know alot of people who think that Obama is the savior, however obviously they have been proved wrong… so you can believe whatever you want.
Actually, Obama IS the Saviour. Didn’t you see him make loaves and fishes for everyone when he was sworn in? What are you, blind? Didn’t you see everyone’s wine glasses as they runneth over with Obama wine? Don’t you realize that Obama sacrificed his only Senate Seat so that he may serve you as your Lord and Savior? I will pray for your soul. Forgive Mike, Obama, for he knoweth not what he sayeth. I strongly suggest you accept Obama as your personal President and Savior and Heaven everlasting will surely be your reward. God bless.
Yet another person who doesn’t know what “theory” means. Keen.
A theory is not a guess; that’s a hypothesis. A theory does not become a law when “proven”; those are 2 different things. Laws are always laws, and theories are always theories.
A Law describes – The Law of Gravity is, basically, “What goes up must come down.” Theories use facts to interpret WHY a Law is what it is.
Theories cannot, and do not, exist without facts, because that’s all they are – a structured, factual, database interpreting existing, testable, falsifiable knowledge. Theories are explanations. They can be modified with additional information, but they always continue to only be collections of facts.
So the theory of evolution? The theory of gravity? The theory of the big bang? Those are all facts. Otherwise they couldn’t be called Theory.
The problem is we colloquially toss around the word “theory” in everyday conversation to mean “guess,” and so that’s what people think it means. But it doesn’t mean that in scientific terms. Just like the cleavage of a rock has nothing to do with breasts, theories have nothing to do with guesses.
Yes the big bang is a theory. So is gravity and we’re pretty confident about most aspects of that. (We still don’t entirely understand the causes or have a universally effective or 100% accurate formula for calculating the force of gravity for example. Nor do we have absolute proof it will happen every time. Hence the title theory.) The word theory is thrown around without a lot of knowledge about what it really means. Science doesn’t work in absolutes. That very fact is what makes science so wonderful. It adapts to evidence available. to us. Theories are the most effective explanations for things in the world around us supported by large amounts evidence available to us at this point that are not yet disproved by other evidence. Which is exactly what the theories of the big bang, evolution, etc. are.
They’re both capital T Theories. Unproven, except to people like you who don’t want to know any different.
Remember, the flat earth and geocentrism were both theories once too. now we laugh at them.
The are Theories. Personally I use the capital T to suggest that they do in fact have a HUGE amount of evidence supporting them and thus a great number of highly educated people who view that as the most likely explanation of what is occurring in the universe around us. These are people who are difficult to convince of much. I, in the spirit of everything I hold dear in science, am constantly interested in finding any evidence to the contrary any standard point of view. I want to know the truth, not just base my world view on blind faith. That requires evidence that religion has not yet been able to provide to me. That is why I think it’s likely that your disbelief of things like the big bang Theory or evolution will mirror the beliefs those that believed so fervently in a flat earth or geocentric views (concepts that were based on the evidence available as well as religion which is why the church took such a harsh response to evidence provided by astronomy to the contrary… making it rather ironic that you included these classic examples in your argument…).
It’s not ironic, as they were accepted by science too. I use capital T to emphasise the word Theory.
Either way, whatever we believe, this is one of those debates that goes in circles with no one willing to compromise =P
but hey, one day we’ll all find out who’s right. it’s only a matter of time
No anonymous it’s terribly ironic. Scientific information was basically ignored on these topics simply because it contradicted religious beliefs of the times as well as general views of past scientists… Eventually EVIDENCE overwhelmed them. You know what science is based on. What these Theories are based on. What religion, the basis for your objection to these Theories, is not based on. Like Dex said theories aren’t guesses. They aren’t random ideas people decide they like as people tend to toss around the term in everyday life. They are testable. They typically predict things and in the cast of the two in question certainly the predictions have held true. They are FALSIFIABLE unlike a religious faith is handled by anyone I have yet to read from or talk to. But in contradiction to Dex many refer to gravity as a theory rather than a law because of the inaccuracies in the equations and how much is left to be understood. It takes a huge amount of evidence for theories such as these to gain that status rather than that of a hypothesis.
Yes but those theories were also around before the time of modern science. Evolution is no longer a theory but a fact. Species all change over time. That is a fact. Humans to are not to be excluded from this. The only thing that involves a theory is Darwin’s’ theory of evolution and the idea of natural selection. Not to mention that Darwin’s theory makes a hell of a lot of since and can be backed with so much observable data it’s a little ridiculous you don’t believe it.
In Darwin’s theory everything is accounted for and fit together perfectly. In the Bible, not so much.
Ah yes, everything is accounted for, such as the eyeball, and how on earth lizards floated on bark to the galapagos islands! and of course, how natural selection leads to an altering of the gene such that one animal becomes another. Every example of natural selection i’ve seen fails to be an example of evolution. Natural selection narrows the gene pool, it doesn’t widen it. There’s a whole lot of guesswork – no ones ever seen evolution, found a common ancestor, and barely a so called ‘link’ between species. And sorry, how did life come about? and the amino acids for that life? and then the elements for those amino acids? and the matter for those elements? and the… hang on… nothing became something, and then exploded! Ive got it!
You forgot the usual rhetorical words like, “goo” and “slime”.
I suppose the Creation story makes more sense to you?
Not all atheists are Darwinists. Some are compelled to look deeper than Darwin.
The truth is that we don’t know every detail of how life began. Some choose the easy route like the Creation story. Others choose to hypothesize…then theorize…then prove with facts.
Well all sides are well represented here. I think that individual thought is what makes the world go round. Yet I take issue with your response to the reply mad to Monty’s question, “What do you have to lose?” Mark replied his “Sanity”. That he would never ask an invisible being to reveal themselves. Ok everyone has an opinion, just curious though, if we never tried things how do we know? Not anyone of is all knowing. Our Belief systems all stem from many diffrent aspects of our lives. To understand alot of religions, I have given many a try, including Atheism, what did I have to lose? Nothing. No matter where all this lead me to or back to, it gave me a better understanding of why certain people believe the way they do and why I chose to believe the way I do. I came to 2 conclusions over the years, one is I now believe what I do because I feel in my heart it is right for me. Second that the understanding of the diverse beliefs out there did me no harm and did not make me “insane”. While, yes I am a Christian, I also believe that Fact, fiction, truth, etc… is not always that simple to determine or come by.
Alright, I did state that wrong, I truly stopped believing in God for many years as I felt there could not be a God for a world that is so screwed up. I felt that way for about 10 years. Call it what you want.
Yes, the comment about helping those in need was nice. There are lots of good morals to the fairy tales written when people still thought the Earth was flat. I believe in those morals taught in the bible without believing in the silly impossible stories. You can be a good person without believing in god.
And to your bottom two paragraphs. A child could say the exact same logic to you about Santa Claus. What would you say to him in response.
Most people miss the mark in the bible… They believe that if I pray for this or that that GOD will give it to me… It’s not about GOD fitting into my life. It’s about me accepting him through faith and changing my life to be obediant to him.
If you don’t want to believe that GOD created the world out of his ” magical wand”… OK.
However you can’t dispute the fact of Jesus Christ living… Jesus Christ demonstrating his power through GOD with many mircles… Healing the blind, mute people, who never spoke before all of a sudden speaking fluently, and even raising the dead. Even the Jews who don’t except that he was the son of GOD acknowledged his mircles. When your enemy is acknowledging your miracles that pretty much lays out the facts. And then you can go back and look at the prophacy of Christ. Isaiah 53 goes into detail of the savior suffering in a horrible way that describes what it’s like to be hung from a cross… HUNDREDS OF YEARS BEFORE THE ROMANS DESINGED DEATH BY HANGING FROM THE CROSS! Read and understand before you judge by others criticism.
Actually you are wrong Mark. They believe that Jesus was a great prophet. However they don’t believe that he was the Messiah because he didn’t make a radical change to government which Jesus was not here to do.
Mark, you rock… I was agnostic for years about god. Recently, I have decided to challenge some friends and religious “experts” in my community to “persuade” me of the existence of such a being. We conversed about the morals of the “Good Book”, some of the delightful (and not so delightful) stories there in, and we actually came to the conclusion that there is NO proof of the existence of such a being. In all cases but one, I was told to have faith, and live well, and I would be doing god’s work. One case in particular though, was a great friend of mine, a student of philosophy. He said to me that god had a plan. When I asked what this plan might be, he shrugged and said I had to see for myself. I did some good thinking on this plan, and came to my conclusion. That there is no plan. We as humans make our own destinies. Whether we choose to live a good life, or that of “sin” is our own choice. I got back to my friend about a week later and posed two questions to him. 1) If god gave us free will and freedom of choice, how does that allow him to still control, and I emphasize the word CONTROL, us? and 2) How is it that primitive man guessed soooo wrong about everything else (ie: geocentric universe and flat world) but managed to hit the nail on the head when it came to the BIGGEST QUESTION OF ALL… our origins? He is currently pondering this, and I look forward to our next conversation.
It is not my intent to try to convert him to our way of thinking, only to try to express these facts that we as a people have discovered and offer some food for thought. I truly wish that people of faith were as knowledgable about faiths other than their own. Then they might see the similarities and plagerisms of their own faith are based off those of different gods and opposing view points.
If anyone has a retort and wishes to state it in a RESPECTFUL manner (as is not usually done on boards with topics as strong as this, lol.) I look forward to conversing.
It is possible to live life by good morals and pure deeds and be aware to the truths around us.
Actually one can totally dispute the “miracles” of Jesus. Basically because they exist nowhere other than in the Bible. You might as well say New England is a cursed place to live because bad stuff happens there in all of Stephen King’s novels.
And since when are the Jews the “enemies” of Jesus?
the only reason i am skeptical of atheism is because christianity makes so much sense. there was definately a guy who made mute people talk and could raise the dead.
besides the crucial fact that everyone else is totally doing it, christianity’s validity is confirmed to me through my prayer routines. its awesome. i pray every day for things. one time i prayed that i would win the scratch off card i got, and i won 5$. another time, i prayed that my friend would fight through his battle with cancer. he still died, but that was just god’s way of saying “you weren’t praying right”. or maybe its because my friend sinned to much or something.
well i mean a shit-ton of old people all agree that there was this guy jesus that could walk on water all the time. hes the guy that raises people from the dead. its in the bible, a book that is definitely right because of how old it is.
Mark,
This Garrett has just gotta have his/her tongue firmly planted in his/her cheek! This is too much an exact parody of religious foolery to be real, no?
I grew up in a very religious household and family and attended church regularly and emphatically. I HAVE asked him to reveal himself. Hundreds and even thousands of time… without result or response of any kind. That type of non-response was exactly the same on the first try as it will be on the millionth try. That is one of the main reasons that I now consider myself a born-again Atheist. We do not ridicule Jesus or God because, let’s face it, what would be the point of ridiculing something that never responds and never shows himself and probably doesn’t exist anyway. It is the deity’s frequently ignorant and often ludicrous followers that make themselves such an easy target. Especially so, when they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about in regard to science.
Mistersensible, does GOD want to conform to your life or you to sacrifice yours for him? People have this “fairytale” of the bible that I guess they were given as a child. If you pray GOD will make your life all better… no not really, and if you read the bible you would realize that many have sacrificed their life in Jesus’s name.
Read the bible, ask for understanding. What I find all the time is atheists really have no idea what is in the bible. They pull one or two things out and try to say they know everything that it tells us. Or the judge a person because he says he’s a christian and may fall short. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.
Funny that mrsensible should say exactly what i think about christians……..they were the dumb, unquestioning sheep in my sundayschool class. The kids who never ask why and dont feel the need to know why. These are the offspring of fanatics who interpret the vague verses in that 2000 y/o tabloid that can just as easily be compared to modern occurrences as Nostradamus’ predictions. Also i have found atheist to be far more well read in the verses than the people who attend church and just pass on their preachers interpretation of the verse of the day…which really is just to pass the time till the collection plate gets passed around!
I use line of thought , if I had been brought up with no knowledge of science or god and had to have classes explaining both theory of the origin of life….well, which would you be more likely to latch on to?
Mike, you are one determined clam. So far, you’ve lost on virtually every point. You are a poor spokesman for your faith. Your method appears to be endless repetition of the same tired unconvincing talking points christians have developed. You can find these talking points on many religious sites. My own mother uses these very talking points to try and defuse criticism of her faith. Anyway Mike, you’ll probably need to go find a dumber crowd to infect. I have to admit I find the argument about god planting fossils to test our faith extremely funny. Nothing says faith like ignoring truth. It’s not ignorance! It’s faith!
My Mom, brother and sister and I were “raised in the church” whoo hoo! Yeah baptized and all, prayed like it was a mantra…My father still molested me. My sister still lost custody of her children because she became addicted to heroin and my brother has been in prison more times than I can count. My mother was married 4 times trying not to “live in sin” and years later she still thinks that finding $10.00 in her pocket is a answer to prayer.
I was in a motorcycyle accident that almost killed me and was told “oh god was with you and saved you”. NOT If I had laid there much longer I wouldn’t be here right now, I survived a traumatic brain injury. The accident was in a remote area and luckily there were others around who saw the crash and called 911 on their cell phone. The ambulance personnel got to the scene in time, did the right things and got me to the hospital where doctors put me in a medically induced coma so my brain would quit swelling. Those are the people who saved me…thank you, I say to them.
By the time I was 12 I was so afraid of ‘the end times” I heard about repeatedly that I figured I would never get to grow up and have my own kids. Every mistake I made was more evidence that something was wrong with me…oh yeah right I’m a sinner…
I have been an Atheist since I grew up and could think for myself.
I raised 3 boys who are grown now and I couldn’t be prouder of them. They’ve never been in trouble with the law, they don’t do drugs and they are caring, talented motivated young men. I never told them they were sinners, ie there’s something wrong with you just because you were born. They’ve never been to church. I taught them right from wrong to be kind and responsible for themselves and to think, not what to think.
“Each of us, a cell of awareness, imperfect and incomplete. Genetic blends with uncertain ends, on a fortune hunt that’s far to fleet…”
You mean… like the way you’re judging me? Maybe you didn’t read my comment. I DID believe in god. I DID believe in the bible and HAVE read the bible extensively. I HAVE prayed to god whenever I chose to. You want to know what I found? I found that making a wish while blowing out birthday candles gets exactly the same reaction. None.
And as far as your comment, “…if you read the bible you would realize that many have sacrificed their life in Jesus’s name. Sacrificing yourself in the name of some non-resident landlord of a god isn’t a personal attribute, it’s a mental illness.
Why on earth does this “god” critter seem to require so much blood sacrifice? I mean, “his son” and now others expected to “sacrifice your life for him”? What does “he” do with all this blood? Is it the ‘coin’ in which “he trades? Why would any “all-powerful” god require sacrifice of any kind; for any reason? Do men then have the right to demand that ants “worship and sacrifice to” us?
Who cares what an imaginary god wants? Certainly not I. And who gives a crap what you think about my own personal opinion? You’ve apparently bought the whole ‘fairy tale’ thing… hook, line and sinker. LOL
I just clicked my fingers and yelled “Yo god!”
He didn’t appear, maybe I should try leaving a plate of cookies, glass of milk and some carrots and a bucket of water, it seems to work for that other guy my kids are convinced is real
My problem with Christianity isn’t so much the factual accuracy or requirement of faith as it is a very large proportion of Christians taking the word of the bible and then corrupting it in such horrific ways to suit their political agendas. Take, for example, the first car which quotes, “Work so that you can share with those in need.”
This passage describes ways to avoid succumbing to the Devil. Similar to “Idle hands are the Devil’s play-thing”. The message is intended to be one of peaceful living and charity.
The context that the car owner is likely to be using it is to proselytize. That is, to paraphrase, “Go out and actively convert non-Christians who need saving”. It’s these methods that allow evangelical Christians to turn what would ordinarily be a peaceful and benevolent message into one that is militaristic or otherwise highly ironic.
If you think ’such horrific ways’ is an over-statement, watch a documentary called “Jesus Camp” and then get back to me.
Not to do with religion or anything, but I just have to laugh at the following phrase, for I find it to be more destructive.
‘ “Work so you can share with those in need” , hmm that doesn’t sound so crazy to me. ‘
To me, I find it insane. Why you ask? Well, read the 1200 page behemoth that is “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. Working for somebody else’s need will lead only to your own destruction.
Holy Crap! You’re right!!!
I asked god to reveal himself and at that exact moment I heard a car alarm go off in the distance. Whoa, now I’m really spooked.
Ok, I’m gonna try this experiment again and see if the results are the same.
OMG!
This time, exactly 12 seconds after I asked god to reveal himself I heard somebody cough outside. I don’t know if that was god because I’m too scared to look but I think it’s safe to assume that it was.
I’m gonna try this experiment 1 more time and then we can put this argument to rest once and for all.
That’s odd… this time nothing happened.
Is he testing my faith or do I have to be more specific and call out his name so that he knows that I’m talking to Jesus’s dad and not some other god?
I am publishing the results of my experiments for peer-review.
Please let me know if these results are typical.
Monty, also please let me know if god can help with some wicked-sweet party tricks. I’m having a party this weekend and would rather not pony up the dough for a keg. The whole water into wine magic trick would not just save me a lot of money but it would really help me to get some trim.
Monty wrote: “Most people that ridicule God or Jesus , simply don’t want to accept his reality because if you did, it would mean that you would actually have to answer to someone and not live how ever you wanted to.”
Here’s what’s really going on: Nonbelievers take responsibility for their own lives and their own actions and the good they do comes from their own hearts and not from a threat of eternal damnation if they do the “wrong thing”.
“What about the quote on the bottom ‘Work so you can share with those in need’ , hmm that doesn’t sound so crazy to me.”
Oh Monty, if only I were a better person. I could work hard for money and then spend it on a bunch of plastic god-shit. I think putting it all over my car would enable me to share it with more needy… but where will I find people who ‘need’ to see this crap?
Monty
As a Christian, I will say that that first car is over the top. I would never ride around in it. But all of you that bash it, its not all bad. What about the quote on the bottom “Work so you can share with those in need” , hmm that doesn’t sound so crazy to me.
Well, it should, because your right wing fundy asshole allies have been fanatically opposing any political policy that even smells of using money earned by another person to help out another person, no matter how urgent the need, or affluent the one being made to share or even if the money being shared was earned in the first place.
Monty
Most people that ridicule God or Jesus , simply don’t want to accept his reality because if you did, it would mean that you would actually have to answer to someone and not live how ever you wanted to.
Wow, you’re a cunt. Full of bullshit, as well, but the sheer assholishness in that post is astounding. Try to not to be a prejudiced, ignorant, self-righteous, condescending douchebag next time. Or, at least back up the malicious bile you spew with more than just-so declarations that you heard from your preacher in Sunday School last week, ok?
We’ve heard the “you secretly believe in God but refuse to acknowledge Him because you want to live lives of unrestrained amoralistic hedonism” canard a thousand fucking times before and it’s never started sounding smarter than it did the first time some piss-ignorant yokel threw it our way.
It may make you feel a little better to think that we all believe as strongly as you but refuse to “accept” the “reality” of your God, but we don’t. We do not acknowledge your God because there is nothing there to acknowledge; He is fiction.
Monty
If you think he is not real, simply ask him to reveal himself to you in some way, to show you that he is real and his word is true. What do you have to lose ?
Dear Lord, if you are truly real, and truly an all-powerful Being with a profound love for every man, woman, and child on this planet, it is my humble request that you remove the scourge of starvation from our world, which kills a human being every second. Raining manna from heaven, like you did for the children of Israel, upon the poorer regions of the world would alleviate untold amounts of suffering.
Now let’s see if God reveals Himself.
Mark
Should I ask Bigfoot to reveal himself?
You’d be better off than talking to God; Bigfoot is at least possible. Apes, unknown species, and the Pacific Northwest are all legitimate ideas. So an unknown species of ape living in the Pacific Northwest, however implausible the result, it’s still at least conceivable. Invisible sky-wizards that demand for you to have your sons’ penises ritually mutilated? Not so much.
I’m not the one so in defense mode because somebody said that a gawdy car was ridiculous.
Your holier than thou art attitude is evidence (not that that word means anything to you) that you have some issue that makes you feel inferior. I hope that one day you can cope with that without the aid of an imaginary friend.
ok, monty, most of us aren’t full of hate and we do live a peaceful life, but at lot of people are sick of fundi bullshit trying to rule every aspect of other peoples lives. Now I’m gonna make a broad generalisation here and I mainly speak for myself when saying this but I think most atheists’ have not got one single problem with you believing in whatever it is that you want to believe. We just want you to respect that not everyone else have the same thoughts and as such you have no right trying to tell us we are wrong just the same way that we don’t come barging into your Church on a Sunday morning and viciouslly demand that you stop teaching your evil Dogma and indoctrinating everyone else. Further more as a Atheist and all round sceptic I would absolutely love for you or anyone to prove that your god, or anyone else’s Gods’ exist. But unfortunately after 2 thousand years of Christianity and thousands more years of worshipping much OLDER Gods there has not been one single iota of proof, half proof or valid principle of there being any single validity in the concept of God(S)
Thanks for your time
I respect your right to believe what you want to believe. However i’m not going to simply say it’s ok for atheists to believe what they want to if theyre going to start telling me i can’t believe what i do, y’know? Because not every Christian is a total right winged conservative who wants to kill gays and refuse to help other people. I’m not, so there’s at least one exception to the generalisation.
You are right. There are always exceptions to the majority. And I must say that the majority of christians I know are not the extremists that bedazzle their cars with tacky crap or send children off to re-take the holy land. Just as most Muslims I know don’t blow things up all the time. (Bad comparison, I know, lol.) On that note, this is the internet, an anonymous medium where good things like porn and freedom of speech are taken to the extreme by people of every group. Please don’t think that ALL atheists are out to change your beliefs. I apoligize sincerely for some of the posts on here as people have taken them to extremes. For the most part, we are as you are, a group of people sharing like-minded ideas. You are here by choice. Whatever your reasons are I hope that broadening your scope of thought is one of them.
Once again, thanks for reading. (And to all the people who feel it neccesary to ram OUR gospel down everyone else’s throats… Did it work when it was done to you? Instead offer up some good books and websites. The only ones who change our minds are ourselves…)
i just want to say monty’s comment “Most people that ridicule God or Jesus , simply don’t want to accept his reality because if you did, it would mean that you would actually have to answer to someone and not live how ever you wanted to.” is extremely ironic as it is christians that aren’t acceptiing the reality that god doesn’t exist, and continue believing in something there is no evidence for, rather than something their is vast amounts of evidence for.
i also would like to say that i don’t hate all christians, and i think that those christians that just believe themselves and try to help other people, because the ones that help are actually nice people, but i do hate the ones that try to force erroneous beliefs onto other people. i also think that while there may be some atheists taht may try to do this, the majority of atheists are less forceful. i also think that the christians that try to force christianity on others are just being fools, and i think they would be much better off believing quietly – maybe then they wouldn’t be ridiculed quite so much. i happen to know some christians, and they are very nice people,and they don’t try to convert me, just as no one else tries to convert them. it is obvious that we could co-exist, but only if certain christian pillocks stopped being such essholes.
Assholes and hypocrites! What about the christain explaining why so-and-so isn’t at the party, saying “oh he married a BLACK woman! There but for the grace…
My christian grandmother watching the inauguration of Obama with a scowl on her face, asked why the look? “Oh I don’t want to see that nigger get sworn-in”.
What a bunch of Holy Crap.
Religion is a detriment to the progress of humanity!
side note: when I do not capitalize “christain” here, spell check insists that I do! christains must have wrote that into the code.
Hello all! I’d just like to quickly adress something. Why do people that proclaim to be atheist use the common and overused expression “Dear Lord.” While I perfectly understand that you do not believe in such a lord, it boggles my mind why you choose to still use the expression. Also, the expletive “oh my god” has become quite common in today’s society. So to better reflect my beliefs, I have taken to using the expletive “oh your god”, since that way you do not make yourself sound contradictory to your own beliefs and therefore foolish, but while still respectfully acknowledging the beliefs of the ignorant fools that surround you. haha. Also, I like to use the phrase ” I bless you” when someone around me sneezes. I find it has just about as much affect on ones physical wellness as the other commonly used alternative. Good day to all.
I never use thephrase :dear lord. On occasion I am moved to exclaim : Jesus Christ! as an expletive to ‘punch up something. It most certainly doesn’t mean I believe he ever existed in the biblical sense.
Many atheists were brought up in religious households and after learning that all is not truth in the Xian world, many of us still cannot shed all of the common Xian vernacular with which we grew up. Personally, I try not to use such wording, but my early indoctrination was very thorough.
Will you marry me? We could live an amoral (if not immmoral) life together. We could spend our days pissing off fundies and thinking up cool new swear words. Your comment was perfect.
God can no more die than Sherlock Holmes can. They are fictional characters.
When Nietzsche had his own fictionalized Zarathustra utter the now notorious “God is dead,” he intended to convey “that the belief in the Christian God has become unbelievable.” God is literally in-credible.
American xianism is 2,500 years behind Buddhism in grasping cultural realities. Only one of which is the death of all gods.
In backwater America primitive assertions abound — for example, xianity must be true since my belief and that of others have made positive changes in our lives.
Members of any sect within islam, xianity, judaism, or zoroastrianism (the Big4 monster-theisms) can cite their myths, cultic practices, endlessly circular magical texts, and fifth-rate fan fiction (“theologies”) to equal effect.
What uplifts me, what comforts me, what I’m willing to die for . . . is no evidence whatsoever that my belief is true or false.
Xianity cannot be refuted. (Could you refute “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”?)
Xianity can only be dismantled. Then left to rust.
The de-deification of culture (including the sciences) is our task for the next 100 years.
The media grabbing the most extreme religious and tries to lump them all as nutjobs… Surprising. I guess we should judge all black people like Mike Tyson or OJ Simpson… No maybe we should consider all white people as Charles Manson or Jeffery Domer.
Please Mark, this is typical of the media… grab the most extreme and try label everyone as such. This does not only apply to Christians. However a so called “christian” goes and kills an abortion doctor and ALL christians are labelled as haters. One of the biggest shames is when they try to say that Christians hate gay people… Ah no, christians recognize that there is sin in the world, and everyone sins. This doesn’t make them any better then anyone else. They don’t hate the sinner. They realize what sin brings, it brings destruction… whether you believe in GOD or not people can not deny the facts of what the bible teaches of what sin has brought to man… and it’s been proven again and again throughout history.
Well, yes breaking basic social rules that help keep order will bring destruction. At least when those social rules serve to protect one another and useful social structures. Many religions highlight these things to help preserve social order. However, homosexuality will not in fact bring negative consequences to society. We don’t need to breed for survival anymore. It’s okay people. And sure you may not hate homosexuals but you do not hold respect for something deeply important to their identity. All because an invisible man in the sky said it’s bad. Just because you think it’s a sin should not give anyone the ability to take away another person’s rights who do not share your religious views. No one is asking you to marry someone of your same sex and no one can legally ask your church to recognize their marriage. And yes of course it’s wrong to say that Christians in general have problems with homosexuality. Some think it’s not in violation of “God’s law” at all. It all depends on the interpretation.
In Troy, Mo lives a man who makes hordes of christian bumper stickers, which he gives to local churches and ministries. His little hatch-back is completely covered with them. The best part is his license plate. It reads “SEK GOD” for “Seek God.” Unfortunately for him, from just about every angle it looks like “SEX GOD.”
haha that top one is from here in lakeland florida… i see it ALL THE TIME all they do is drive down florida avenue and make u turns. ive never seen it do anything else
Car #1: How the fuck does he see out the back window clearly enough to not crash? By the way, I don’t think Noah had Tweety Bird and Winnie the Pooh and his ark. It is also a very hideous car.
Car #2: Are you KIDDING me? Go back to 5th grade science Mr. Fantasyland. Better yet, ask what God thinks and see what he tells you. Oh, that’s right, he’s just a psychotic character in a fairy tale that has somehow become a very famous basis of religion.
Lol, all I can think right now is ZOMBIE JESUS and the Second Coming. Hey thats a great name for a band, hahah! They could open for Slayer or Sharon, Lois and Brahm.
The Bible is a fairy tale. What’s important is the way you interpret the text.
If you ask questions and form your own opinion, its okay.
Every religion has a creation story and their intent is usually to address the base flaws of humanity NOT A FACTUAL TALE OF HOW THINGS CAME INTO EXISTENCE.
My wife used to be friends with a very vocally Christian lady. She had her car rather heavily decorated as well – my wife and I used to jokingly refer to it as “the godmobile.”
She had a few Christian bumper stickers… A big ol’ wooden crucifix hanging from her rear-view mirror… There was at least one bible in the back seat at all times… A couple religiously-slanted motivational phrases taped to the dashboard… And the radio was always playing some kind of Christian music.
The absence of the power of God in America is all that’s needed to feed Atheism. If the church would wake up and quit messing around like a bunch of goof balls, singing happy clappy “praise songs” once a week for 15 minutes to the “god” who adjusts according to our lifestyle, then maybe, just MAYBE we’d give Atheists a reason to believe. What if we stopped defining who God is to better suit our stench and begin serving Him because of who He says He is?
Any Christian reading this right now, be very offended at this blog. Not because they “mock” our “god.” For they are not mocking our “god.” They are simply mocking the STINKIN’ IDOL THAT WE’VE BUILT IN THE CHURCH called RELIGION and HYPOCRISY. Be offended at YOURSELF. Be offended at what we’ve caused. Our failure to truly live it has given way to embarrassing slogans, decorated cars and Christian apparel that only makes us feel comfortable about our hypocrisy. Suddenly a 17 year old kid can wear a shirt that says, “Jesus Saves” yet display to the world at the same time that he has not been saved, giving the lost no reason to come to God, because the “god” we represent is not God, but rather just another vain religion, displaying no difference in the lifestyle of a “saved” person and a “lost” person. We wonder why America is declining… Church, it’s our fault. WAKE UP. Get your nose out of the rapture!! He’s not coming back for a dirty bride!
To Mark: Thank you for starting this blog. Maybe the church will wake up and realize that it was OUR failure to live BIBLICAL, godly lives that caused the hopelessness in our nation. Judgement will begin in the house of God; The church.
One question I have for the “christians…”: Why are you a Christian? Is it just another hobby to do to fill up spare time on sunday morning and wednesday night? Some fan club? Or is it your LIFE? And no, just because you go to church does not mean it’s your life.
I agree with you in your comments regarding hypocrisy. If they were more like their Jewish counterparts(not the warmongers in Israel), then I would less problem with their beliefs.
American Christianity(in general) is the most hypocritical.
Once again Mark… stop being lead around by the how the media wants to define Christians. Think outside you box and be smarter then this.
“American Christianity” What is that? Chrisitianity is a personal relationship with GOD. It does not bow down before a church, a minister or some idiol. Dig deeper and look at people individually. Everyone who goes to church is not a Christian. If you really took fellowship, as you said you were brought up in, a bible believing church you would see something different in the people. Not perfect! But different.
OK, but you believe in the big bang theroy… everything you see around you came from… NOTHING! When have you ever seen anything come from… Nothing! Mark, you have more faith then you know.
Let me guess. You don’t believe in the Big Bang Theory because… YOU WEREN’T THERE. And let me guess. The only way anyone can believe the Big Bang Theory or Evolution is to ASK SOMEONE WHO WAS THERE. I think I’m catching on. It is a lot simpler than scientific explanations, I’ll give you that.
So how does that explain Ken Ham? Doesn’t he say that cavemen and dinosaurs coexisted? Well, how would HE know? Did he ask someone who was there?
Sorry – but the big bang isn’t about all of what we see coming from nothing. It’s about the expansion of the singularity, a super-compacted mass which had the potential to become what we live in now. So, yea – that’s the theory, not what you said. Thanks – maybe you should study science and try to understand us before you denounce our lack of faith and belief in fact?
Please don’t talk about a theory you don’t truly understand as though you have all the facts to disprove it. I personally can only claim to have a loose understanding of it. I recommend researching it further if you have an interest. The following vague description of what is actually explained in the big bang theory comes from a very helpful website: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/astronomy/bigbang.html#misconceptions.
‘”In the distant past, the universe was very dense and hot; since then it has expanded, becoming less dense and cooler.’ The word ‘expanded’ should not be taken to mean that matter flies apart — rather, it refers to the idea that space itself is becoming larger.”
In other words it does not explain the origin of the universe. (It does not claim something came from nothing or even that this expansion started from specific point in space.) It describes the nature of our currently expanding universe.
Yeah it happens a lot and while I’m fine with people believing what makes them happy, I am deeply offended when someone takes the work of so many people and ignorantly misstates the most basic aspects of it in an effort try to make those theories less credible. Even evolution being touted as the theory of the origin of life rather than an explanation for the diversity of life on earth. If someone clearly hasn’t studied something they shouldn’t try to educate others on that topic. At the very least they should be willing to state a potential lack of understanding.
Sorry Mark, just because you’re old doesn’t make you wise. You can just look at the universe. There is an order and specific design that can’t be explained. Look at your own body, even if you just understand the basics of the DNA and cells and how they function you would understand that it wasn’t just by chance. How long before the human body understood the concept of a blood clot did it continue to the bleed to death? That is done by design and had to be by design, not by chance… once again, you have more faith in something then you want to acknowledge.
If you believe in what you say of how you’re “experienced”. I challenge you to a read a book called the Case for Christ. It was written by a guy who started writting the book to deny Christ. In writting the book he found some pretty compelling facts that changed his opinion. You may or may not be able to grasp the concepts depending on intelligence but give yourself the benifit of doubt and see what you walk away with.
Hey guys, Im sorry to butt in here, but this is GREAT!!! Now if only Mike had refered to this text earlier instead of battling to no end with people who may or may not care what he has to say, A LOT MORE may have been accomplished.
I think I might take a look at this book. I’m always open to someone else’s opinion. It doesn’t mean it’s going to change mine. But if helps understand some ACTUAL arguments for christ, and isn’t an insult to my intelligence, then why not? Im currently reading the Koran to see what the middle east cooked up a few thousand years ago. Is there an e-link to it anywhere?
and Mark, noone on here knows your experiences or thoughts. I have serious respect for the thoughts that you have added to the discussions on this page. But as Atheists we have a responsibility to consider all facts and possibilities, if even for fun. After all, thats how we got here in the first place.
Mike wrote: “You can just look at the universe. There is an order and specific design that can’t be explained.”
I just LOVE this reasoning! What a great logical paradox! Let’s see it up close: Something becomes explained by virtue of the fact that it’s unexplained! Brilliant! So when there’s no explanation for something there’s an explanation for it!
Good grief! Are you serious?
Also:
“Look at your own body, even if you just understand the basics of the DNA and cells and how they function you would understand that it wasn’t just by chance.”
Had you been good enough to understand the topic of evolution you’d already know that chance has little to do with it. What is it about natural selection that confuses you guys so much? It’s not about chance.
I’d like to continue this with anyone who’s willing over in the intelligent design area.
I am almost positive that you haven’t heard or read up on this but i am going to ask anyways because i don’t know you and i don’t want to be making assumptions like you are so keen to be doing. Have you heard of Quantum Mechanics or the Quantum Theory? It says, and this has been recreated, that there doesn’t need to be a placement of the singularity for that singularity to exist. These Singularities appear and dissapear all the time in space, there is no need for “order and specific design” and i think that you should read up on science and other evidence that we Atheists have instead of just looking at your precious bible because like it or not us atheists are not as ignorant as you think. Most of us enjoy to learn about religion because we allow our inquisitive nature to take hold. Thus, most of us have read your bible, and other religious readings. but i digress, i advise you to read up on quantum mechanics and stop being so quick to shoot down other peoples ideas or comments
you are a perfect example of a christian who is actually a nice person. you’re type of person are the reason we shouldn’t critisize all christians – just the pillocks that have given your religion a bad name. it’s only the people who have messed up your religion we should despise – i don’t care about whether you continue believing in your god, i just hate it when people try to make you believe
I don’t understand it. I’ve written some great articles with great titles and have gotten little to average number of responses. I post a couple pics and suddenly everybody is here. I am glad they came, but the irony baffles me.
all craziness aside, I think the saddest part about this is these people see the need to adorn their cars with their beliefs. When was the last time you saw an atheists car all covered in atheist propaganda? (also, please let me know if you ever see something that can be considered ‘atheist propaganda’, since I’ve never seen anything that can be called such)
I have an Invisible Pink Unicorn just above my rear bumper. Doesn’t hurt, though, that my parents cut vinyl, and that they were willing to do it for free, even though they aren’t Atheists.
Science will never be able to fully disprove the existence of God, and religious people will never be able to definitively prove that he/she/it does exist. So in my mind, arguing is pointless and silly. Thank you for your time.
I ain’t into religious bashing, but this is so guiltily true. Too bad you don’t see much red-meat gun politics anymore, you simply can’t run out hilarious of variations of the phrase “from my cold dead hands.” (Note to self: if a position is reducible to glib bumper speech, then it is moronic. …Also, don’t forget the Windex for installing that three foot Virgin Mary blaze.)
I’m so offended by these goddam signs I could puke! Grown people that know nothing about the history of their own religion or of Mithra and Horus or the 30 other myths stolen by xtianity, denying reality and suspending rational thinking for the sake of being a sheep for JC. It just offends me. I could prove the existence of Superman if all I used for proof was Superman comics. Sad, sad sad people.
Evry time I come to an atheist site I get the most hateful and vile words. If I didn’t believe in the Christian God I certainly would avoid atheism. I want to look out the window in the morning and be positive and hopeful. You guys are way out ther on the anger and hate scale. I guess that’s what “no hope” does to you.
The same exact thing happens to a nonbeliever when he/she goes to a Christianity web site so stop fooling yourself into thinking that you guys are all goodness and descency.
I can’t help but once again defer to the words of St. George of Carlin, one of our finest prophets: “You gotta go easy on these Evangelical Christians, they come in for a lot of abuse these days… All a Christian really wants out of life, is to die! And go see Jesus! GIVE ‘EM A HELPING HAND! Do the Christian thing!”
Honestly, I sit on neither side of the fence. I do however know my deep history. The stories in the bible were written in a language that can be translated into geometric pictures, and every picture tells a story, and every story in the bible paints a picture in sacred geometry. the language is called gematria.
The day I discovered with a compass and square the story of jesus feeding the five thousand with the loaves and fishes was the day I left the church.
Speaking of….I was welcomed into the church for what I believed, and asked to leave for what I know.
The Lord God sent Jesus as a saviour; a guiding light and role model for all of mankind. He preached peace and love, performed miracles and cured the disabled wherever he travelled. Whoever he encountered was truly blessed by the hand of God, and his message was to be recited throughout the age of man… Then Mary Magdalene happened.
Today I was with a Christian colleague. He was talking about how great it is to have jesus in his life. He said jesus is in the room. I told him I was scared. He asked why. I replied “Because a full grown man who manages a team in a technical company believes the ghost of a dead carpenter from two thousand years ago is in the room with us, when plainly the only two beings in here are you and I. I think you need help”. He tried to explain in more detail, but I’d heard enough and walked out shaking my head. Nothing I can say will convince him- he believes in a fairy tale written by sheep herders from the Middle East back at the dawn of civilisation, how can anyone reason with someone like that?
Just to give a little physics lesson from someone who knows what he’s talking about to those saying “OMG SOMETHING FROM NOTHING ya that never happens”. Sorry to disappoint, but if you did a little research, which I’m sure you rarely bother to do in your quest for the “truth”, you would come upon something known as the Schwinger mechanism, among other things. Quantum physics shows that indeed something does come from nothing, and quite often.
Not that that matters anyway, since the Big Bang theory proposes that all matter was super condensed in to a singularity – a single point which expanded extremely quickly. It says nothing about “something from nothing”. I wonder where you got that idea Mark. Could it be… your ass? Do some research and make SURE that what you’re saying is factually accurate next time so as to not embarrass yourself. Just some helpful advice from an actual scientist.
And to that anonymous fellow questioning evolution on the basis of how the eye developed… Jesus Christ. http://www.talkorigins.org. All the points you brought up are answered quite thoroughly with supportive evidence on that website. Then again, I suppose I shouldn’t expect you to actually do research.
I ask, WHY waste your time arguing with Programmed Religious Robots who do not even have a clue they were, much less they still are programmed?
Many, to most of the millions of Americans (and others) who WERE religious BEFORE we successfully De-Programmed ourselves now realize we really WERE programmed. Of course, we did NOT realize we had been, and were programmed until after we were able to De-Program ourselves.
Those PRR’s who come to Atheist website’s to give us crap are not interested in learning or they would be asking intelligent questions. Nope, they are here as they are so totally clueless they actually believe their very simple, illogical and irrational arguments will cause us to simply “see the light”
They do this as they wallow in the deep dark caves of ignorant religious belief with no idea how totally stupid the entire Christian story is to those of us who are no longer programmed.
And MARK, I also ask why YOU, & the other Atheists who post here, DO NOT CAPITALIZE the first letter of the words ATHEIST & AGNOSTIC?
The non-capitialization of these words is just another method the Christians (and others) use to put us down. Thus, I URGE ALL Atheists, Agnostics and others who believe in FAIRNESS to ALWAYS CAPITALIZE the words “Atheist” and “Agnostic”!
THANK YOU!
Neil C. Reinhardt
an Agnostic Atheist
(As the more logical of you have most probably figured out, you can be BOTH an Agnostic and an Atheist, AT THE SAME TIME.)
So typical of the Programmed Religious Robots, being so CLUELESS as to not know THEY ARE NO MORE WANTED BY MOST ATHEISTS to be posting in an Atheist forum than Atheists would be posting in Christian one. I wish he would go play with his own kind.
Christians are deluded as they actually believe their non-intellectual, irrational and illogical arguments they put forth are really going to somehow convince we Atheists are wrong.
Christians do not seem to realize there are many MULTI-MILLIONS of former Christians who are now Atheists while very, very, very few Atheists ever became Christians. And I doubt it occurs to MOST Christians that MANY, to MOST of we Atheists know more about the Bible and the Christian religion than they do. Nope, they too programmed to reaize they are. And the sad thing is, I doubt they have any clue how programmed they are!
——-
“Give me a child until the age of six and they are mine forever!”
The Catholic Church
“There was a time when the Known World was Ruled by the Christian Religion, it is called, THE DARK AGES!”
There ARE ALL KINDS of Atheist stuff you can get. Stickers, bumper stickers, cups, mugs, posters, brochures, jewelry, magazines, newspapers, books, movies, songs and more!
Just Google search for:
“Atheist shirts, mugs, pins”
as I did and you will find where you can get all these items
For sure, NOT “ALL” Atheists accept the “Big Bang” Theory.
And any “scientists” and/or “experts” reading this should remember, more than a few things “known” to be true, have later been PROVEN to be wrong. Like when I was in HS, NO ONE knew about Plate Tectonics and later, when it was suggested they existed. they were laughed at. (As was Atheist Louis Pasture who said there were germs which could not be seen.)
Here are a few times the “experts” have been wrong:
In my OPINION, the Big Bang theory is wrong and is proven wrong by the speed various galaxies are separating from each other.
As I understand it, ALL of the galaxies are separating from each other at about the same speed. IF So, then the “Big Bang” is B.S.
I say this because while all the particles in an explosion are traveling at the same speed out from the CENTER of the explosion, the particles on the OPPOSITE sides of the explosion are separating from each other at TWICE that speed.
Therefore, WERE the “Big Bang” true, SOME of the galaxies should be separating from others at twice the speed they are separating from others.
And I have a HUGE problem accepting ALL the matter in the entire cosmos was once contained in some miniscule particle. Thus, I fully believe that at some point in the future, another more rational and logical theory will be formulated.
I understand your point, but I’m not so sure that we can even see the matter on the other side of the explosion.
As an agnostic, I have another theory that nobody else seems to dare to mention because they might be thought to be nuts.
Has it occurred to anyone that possibly the “big bang” might actually be a correct naming of what happened? i.e. the creation of our “universe” may actually be the conception of something bigger than us.
Just a thought I’ve been playing with for a while.
Hehehe… I’ve enjoyed reading this thread whereas usually I just turn away in disgust and frustration; trying to reason with zealots is pretty pointless after all… I am constantly amazed at how truly warped and frighteningly narrow the ‘religious mindset’ is, and no matter what the brand or flavor of your particular madness, I judge you fools.
I willingly acknowledge your right to follow your faith and worship as you see fit (provided it does not harm, or impinge on the rights of others) But in doing so I also assert my right to use my own judgment and reason and intellect to make my own decisions and determinations, and as I said; I judge you fools!
All your religions and all your gods and devils and angels and demons, are merely parables and myths. They are psychological constructs and social signposts, they are the Monomyths of our separate cultures, and while originally vital to the overall well being of any society, they have been warped and usurped into tools for the power mad and politically hungry.
I am a deeply spiritual man who is nonetheless an Atheist, and for those many of you who will no doubt find this to be a contradiction, I leave you with your own ignorance, I leave you to wallow and bray in the muck of your own shallow little worldview; ignorant of the actual history behind you, and ill-prepared for the future that awaits.
1. In any high speed video (which makes it very slow motion) of an explosion, you can observe ALL the particles doing what I said they do.
2. I have NO clue what is out side of our universe, OR just WHAT our universe is expanding into. NOR do I have any idea if YOUR theory is correct or not.
3. As far as you ONLY being an “Agnostic” I submit the following
I AM an “Agnostic Atheist”
While I have met others who are rational, intelligent & logical enough to have figured out by themselves it IS possible to be both at the SAME time, I have caused others to realize it as well.
I even met a believer who was logical enough to refer to himself as an “Agnostic Christian.”
Sadly, it seems most Atheists and/or Agnostics have no clue what the words “BELIEVE”, “KNOW”, “ATHEIST” and “AGNOSTIC” mean.
If you KNOW a god exists, you ARE a Theist.
If you do NOT KNOW if a god exists or not, you ARE an “Agnostic”
PERIOD!
IF you “BELIEVE” in a god, you ARE a Theist!
If you do NOT believe in a god, you ARE an Atheist
PERIOD!
IF you KNOW there is NO WAY to KNOW IF there is a god or not, AND you do NOT BELIEVE in a god, YOU ARE, as I and others are, an Agnostic Atheist.
“In any high speed video (which makes it very slow motion) of an explosion, you can observe ALL the particles doing what I said they do.”
In an explosion that you can film has to be small enough to see it in it’s entirety. The point I think you missed is that even with our best telescopes we still can’t see the ends of the universe. Simply put, as far as I know if we can only see matter on OUR side of the explosion then we do not have all data to prove or disprove what the matter going in the opposite direction is doing.
I don’t argue your physics, I do question your perspective.
As to your other point, I named myself correctly even by your standards. I am an agnostic!
The problem I am trying to describe is that if there is a “God” then ( by a human perspective) he/she/it is anything /anyone(?) bigger than we are. That DOES NOT mean that this “God” has anything to do with humanity or, for that matter, even the universe. But your point that all matter in the universe is moving away (or outward if you will) simply correlates to growing. My point then is that creation = conception. So far, although I’m not a scientist, I haven’t seen anything that even come close to disproving this hypothesis. And does fit the facts as far as I know them.
I could go on but I think I answered you main points.
its very funny how religious people, like christians, are eager to argue against notions such as evolution and the big bang then get all deffensive when people question the bible. Maybe in 500-1000 years time people will believe that ‘the lord of the rings’ was fact. or that the harry potter series was fact. whoever wrote the bible was a good author with a great imagination…either that or he was crazy as shit. after watching Alien vs Predator i was left with more certainty on how human civilization came to be than i was after reading the bible. The universe is huge…so insted of a ‘divine being’ surely it is more probable and likely that our planets ‘god’ or ‘jesus’ was some crazy alien life form? and before anyone gets mental this is NOT scientology theory. those guys are crazy. but then again…im pretty sure u crazy christians arnt willing to accept that your ’savior’ culd be an alien. lol. all im saying is for people who put so much belief into a book…why so touchy when it comes to people actually putting an effort into finding out the mysteries of this world and the universe when all you guys seem to do is sit back and say ‘gods work’? Scientists arnt trying to prove god doesnt exist. they are trying to find out how WE exist by finding out FACTS. Maybe insted of quoting a book thats thousands of years old christians should get of their asses and actually try and prove the existence and authenticity of their own beliefs insted of expressing anger at other groups of people that are accidently disproving the gods and religions of this world by working hard at trying to find out the big questions…why? how? when? what?
i dont class myself as anything. im not religious and i dont clasify myself as an atheist. but i do sympathize with atheists. christian posters are everywhere. no complaints. an atheist billboard is put up encouraging people to believe in themselves and not rely on a god that might not exists. the christian community goes crazy. so at what point does it seem acceptable for christians to advertise their religion, which ISNT fact, and then emits hate towards a non religious group that simply says ‘you dont need god to be a good person’ which IS fact. This is why i hate religion. Too much faith. very little fact. too many people have died in religious wars…one of which we are currently involved in. has anyone stopped to think how many deaths would of been prevented if there were no religions? billions.
I live in Florida and saw the car with the clay figurines at a stoplight near Sea World.
I figured I was safe, though. I feel like it’s the Extremist Christian Batmobile. Except sliding down a pole to get to it, they slide down a Catholic Priest.
After reading most of these comments i am appalled and disgusted by the blatant hatred of some people for others.
Yes, Christianity and other religions may seem impractical. But honestly, who gives a fuck?
Let people believe what they will, whether it be in a God or no god at all. And if they seem fanatical about those beliefs, let them be. There is absolutely no need to go apeshit on a person for believing what they think is true.
Grow up, and learn to tolerate the differences of people.
The “live and let live” idea is a good one, since I agree that most Christians are not dangerous and most atheists are not assholes. I am a Buddhist atheist myself, but I see some value in both sides of the belief divide working to improve life for all people.
But when you suggest that both sides leave each other alone, you’re ignoring the real danger of NOT debating the idea of God. Most strains of Christianity are at least partially evangelical. I know a lot of Christians would cry foul to hear me say that, but it’s true. Even the most tolerant and loving Christian will assert one thing – that God loves his creation and wants the best for us all. And since most Christians assume themselves to be the best representatives of God, they will do their best to perform God’s Work. Not Man’s Work. They want other people to see the love and glory of Christ. This could involve many methods of “charity,” from sending missionaries to ravaged African nations to bombing abortion clinics.
Bad comparison? Consider this – in both cases, we know who the Christians are. They want to be seen. In the first example, they’re handing out rice and Bibles, or wearing shirts with big crosses on them. In the second example, they’re spouting God’s Law while being dragged away by the authorities. There are definitely Christians who do good deeds (truly good deeds) in anonymity, but it seems rare to me. In contrast, I have yet to see an atheist donate money to a charity and declare that it is their atheist duty to do so.
My point is that if you live and let live, you’re eliminating the checks and balances hidden in this entire thread. Atheists are in the minority, at least when compared to the global Christian population, and every voice challenging the idea of God is one more voice keeping God from being implemented and subsidized. Should we just leave the evangelical U.S. Senator (a hypothetical person here, but no doubt real) to abolish state aid to single, unwed mothers because they are sapping government funds and perpetuating unhealthy family relationships? If we are to live and let live, I suppose the best course of action is to wait until the Senator discovers the follies of his ways?
“Live and let live” is not an acceptable position when there are very powerful people quietly doing their best to make sure God’s Law is State Law.
You think I’m blowing this out of proportion.
(And I realize that I use many hypothetical situations in this post, but they are very conceivable)
Your comments show what liberals and liberals think of Christians and Jews. I will use your comments on DNC flyers and this will make good material to convert people from the dnc and i am sure sure this will be a good video on youtube
Wow, I think if I saw one of these cars on the road, I would throw a rock at the windshield. Not for their beliefs, but for being your stereotypical, close-minded bible humper that made me reject religion in the first place. Really, when did it become blasphemy for someone to believe something different than you? I wih I could shove that stupid owl up the driver’s ass and tell him to ask God to take it out because obviously he doesn’t feel science has anything to offer, so a doctor won’t help. People like this are why society is declining.
I sat here for nearly half an hour reading these arguments and I don’t feel any smarter for doing so. Nothing was solved, no one was helped, and the world isn’t any better because of it. There was just a bunch of “belief bashing”, No attempt to understand anyone. This is just a poor way to go about something. Instead of being hypocritical by forcing your views on someone else and insulting them by saying that they are doing the same, make an attempt to understand them and their views. All of this is exactly what causes conflict. Why not just accept? Why not go on with your own views without bashing someone else for believing something different? We’re all human and we all deserve respect. Why not just treat each other fairly? Why don’t we quit wasting our time here and go out and do something that will help someone or make something about the world better. I love you guys and gals.
1. The ONLY THING which ALL Atheists have in common is they do NOT believe in one, or more gods! It is also the ONLY thing which ALL Atheists agree on.
2, There is NO Atheist Doctrine!
3. Atheism has NO commandments.
Period!
End of story!
——————-
Jim,
The SIZE of an explosion has NOTHING to do with what the parrticles do. NOR does my “perspective” of being able to actually view the entire cosmos, and all of whatr is happening in it also have NOTHING to do with it.
Galaxies speed, and their distances from us, are measured by “Red Shifts”
As far as you ONLY being an Agnostic.
Some people who are very poor singers actually believe they can not only sing, they can win a million bucks and have their own show in Lost Wages. The fact the judges, as well as the audience, both know, and show by their words and actions the performer is a terrible singer, they still have no clue they are totally wrong.
YOU may “Believe” you classed yourself correctly. Myself, plus all others who have logically and rationally figured out a person can NOT be ONLY an Agnostic disagree with you.
You EITHER “believe” in a god OR, you do not. IF you do NOT believe in a god, that’s ANY god, YOU ARE AN ATHEIST!
Period! End of story!
———————————-
Now for those who are so totally clueless as to say Atheists should not give the idiot Christians a hard time.
The FACTS ARE that MOST Americans who are Atheists are TOO AFRAID to PUBLICLY state they ARE Atheists! Some are even too afraid to even tell their good friends and their immediate family!
(SUFFICIENT research will PROVE I am correct in the above.)
WHO are all these Atheists AFRAID of?
Well, Gee Wiz, IT IS THE CHRISTIANS!
WHY are they AFRAID?
The Christians, oh less than educated and informed ones, discriminate against us. They persecute us, they do not hire and/or they fire us, they boycott our business and vandalize our property. They physically attack us, our children and even our pets.
They send us hate mail, make threatening phone calls to us. They force us to follow their rules and they cost us around $900/00 a year in extra taxes.
They hold the equivalent of “Witch Trials”
where Atheists are railroaded with lies from officials. And here in America, they still beat and am d KILL ATHEISTS ONLY because they ARE Atheists.
Now if you disagree with what I have said the Christians do to Atheists here in the United States of America TODAY, you are only proving how ignorant of the facts you are. And IF you reply to this in a negative manner, you prove you are just too lazy to get the facts as sufficient research will PROVE I AM Correct!
I was going to go into a fairly detailed explanation of why your reply is both myopic and wrong. However, I went back and reread your other comments and realized that arguing with you is like arguing with the theist you rage about. Additionally, other than the two replies I’ve posted here, you know nothing about me I don’t see where you have the right to decide where I or any other FREE THINKER needs to call themselves.
———————————-
Note to Mark,
Since I’m probably one of the newest members of this blog I will withdraw rather than cause a flame war that I think I can see coming. I would appreciate I if you leave this post in place. It’s up to you, but I think according to your rules the above needs to need said
I’m a Northern American Atheist and I came to the South (also known as the Bible Belt of the United States) for college. And let me say, it’s not easy and I dislike (most) Christians now. Why? they are pushy and judgmental and their hypocritical actions simply do not reflect what they claim to believe. There are always exceptions, but stereotypes exist for a reason people. I was a devout Christian once upon a time, but as I matured, my intelligence did not allow me to believe in a God. I do believe I am a good person, and the few Atheists I know are better friends and better people than ANY of the christians I have been ‘friends’ with. Pastors and family included.
I dislike Christians not because they believe in god, but because they believe that everyone should believe in god. I do not like people telling me wether or not I can get an abortion, have personal freedom, can have sex, etc. all because they think I should believe in a book of Jewish fairy tales.
It is no exaggeration when I say I am approached by a ‘christian’ AT MY HOUSE 2-3 times a week, not to mention how often I am approached at my job in the mall… believe it or not, there is a church IN our mall! It seems all of my neighbors are religious, and they all talk about how I am not and then plan times to knock on my door and tell me I am a sinner and need to look to god for guidance. (it’s not surprising that most of these people are uneducated, have grammar issues, and have serious lack of hygiene) These people have NO BUSINESS telling me what to do and how to live and what to believe in. I don’t go door to door telling people that god doesn’t exist! (at least I would have a logical and reasonable argument though if I wanted to.)
I believe that a person should do good and be good because they know in their own mind it is the right thing. Not because they are afraid of being punished. That is ridiculously childish. It’s the same as not misbehaving as a child for fear of a spanking. And hell, if there is a god, and he gave us free will, then why would he be mad at us for being good people just for the sake of being good people!? Isn’t that even more impressive than ‘I did it because I was scared of eternal punishment!’
Anyway, I was ranting. I just read an article about how christians are protesting in Florida because of a billboard that says “You don’t have to believe in God to be a good person” Don’t believe in god? You aren’t alone!” sponsored by free thinkers of florida or something? And then I was fighting with several christians about abortion… and now I’ve stumbled on this, so I’m a bit riled up.
My point is: Believe what you want, but do it quietly please! Leave me, and the government, out of it.
dislike Christians not because they believe in god, but because they believe that everyone should believe in god. I do not like people telling me wether or not I can get an abortion, have personal freedom, can have sex, etc. all because they think I should believe in a book of Jewish fairy tales.
I’m glad I don’t live in the US and have to deal with ppl who drive cars like this [btw how could u see out the back window?] But, we now have a “Family First” [read religious nutter] party member holding the balance of power in our Senate {Aus.} He won’t for the [elected] government’s Climate Change bill as it “Hasn’t been proven that ‘greenhouse’ gases are causing climate change!”
In my nearly 75 years of life, (Over 64 as an Agnostic Atheist and over 40 years as an Atheist Activist.) I’ve found most, and perhaps all of the many Atheists I have communicated with care less if others
believe in a god or not. What we do care about is how religious people in general, and here is the US, how the Christians in particular, treat others.
We really care less what they believe in. It makes no difference if it is one god or in many gods. We care less if they believe they are going to some make-believe, pie in the sky after life or not
What we do care about are things like the is the stupid bigotry and intolerance too
Christians make evident by their words and actions. Their MANY LIES and their continual blocking of progress.
(Think where we would be today had not the Christian Church ruled ‘the known world’ for so many hundreds of years.)
Christians thinking they have the right to tell others how to live and using OUR Tax money to support their archaic, idiotic, irrartional, illogical and unscientific belief system.
Nor do we like them acting like the OWN the United States when the US Congress unanimously passed a 1797 treaty (begun under President George washington) and signed by President John Adams which stated:
“The United States of America is in NO SENSE a Christian nation.”
AND
In the Supreme Court’s 1892 Holy Trinity Church vs. United States, Justice David Brewer wrote that “this is a Christian nation.”
While Christians use this as evidence, as usual they leave out the rest of the story.
Brewer wrote this in dicta, as a personal opinion only and does not serve as a legal pronouncement. Later Brewer felt obliged to explain himself:
“– in what sense can [the United States] be called a Christian nation? Not in the sense that Christianity is the established religion or the people are compelled in any manner to support it. On the contrary, the Constitution specifically provides that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’
Neither is it Christian in the sense that all its citizens are either in fact or in name Christians. On the contrary, all religions have free scope within its borders. Numbers of our people profess other religions, and many reject all.”
I apologize to those about to flame me, but I didn’t take the time to read all of this mammoth thread. I did read at least half of it, however.
So, I don’t know – did anyone mention the phenomenon that the story of Jesus isn’t original? S’true.
First, look up the stories of Horus, Dionysus, Krishna, and Mithras.
Stories sound familiar?
See when they were first written. To the faithful, don’t ignore the numbers, the math, the logic. To those who didn’t know this, stop arguing with the faithful on philosophy and faulty thinking. Use numbers. It’s the seed that grows.
Is it not a fair to think that Christianity may have been started by someone who had heard these stories for a few centuries? As humans do, maybe someone along the line messed up the details in the retelling – like a thousand-year-old game of “Telephone”- and origins got skewed.
Or some influential men (all signs point to Paul) who wanted to draw in followers purposely attributed that this story of a savior was about one of their own people, thereby taking credit for the salvation of mankind.
Read about the Hero’s Journey, a phrase coined by Joseph Campbell, which is the common plot shared by nearly every single example of organized religion.
Secondly, why is it that Paul started telling the story of Jesus 50 years after Jesus died? Why wasn’t everyone going on and on about this amazing man? And why had he left out the good parts? Like how could he leave out 1) that strange, unnatural virgin birth? 2) That the man miraculously healed and exorcised all kinds of people? 3) That he criticized and trashed the temple? (Might not have been crucified if he’d not done that.) 4) That Jesus taught in parables? 5) He doesn’t even give details of that incredible crucifixion and resurrection. I mean I’d have wanted to see the empty tomb, but not Paul? Well, no worry: Mark comes up with that one.
There are a lot of other things that are absent the Pauline letters, but these are some of the Hollywood-style grabbers.
Thirdly, and what started me to slide permanently off the pew, is simple deduction to this question: Why do people, no matter how religious they are, not believe when someone says that God is talking to them? If someone says that they literally hear a voice that says it is God, and no one else hears that voice, people invariably believe them to be nuts and hallucinating? Try it out on anyone: your friends, your family, your church group, your most religious person ever known to man. You say “God told me ‘Yea. Go forth and buy ice cream’,” you are going to be given a wide berth.
Why? Bible people say that God was practically a windbag talking to Noah, to Abraham, to Job, to every-freakin-body. So, what’s so hard to believe that it could happen again?
Simple deduction.
_Everyone_ doubts God’s existence to some degree – at least to this degree.
That was the seed planted in me in junior high. Add the conspicuous lack of divine, totally warranted intervention during the Holocaust, plus allowing his earthly Catholic representatives to rape children without a right smiting, and it was easy to rise up to agnostic.
Then, after studying all of this and more for a couple of years, I realized my agnosticism was simply fear instilled in me from my childhood. I dropped the fear and religion, and rose up to an enlightened atheist and have never been happier, healthier, and kinder.
I am a good person without God.
Better than I ever was with him.
“Is it not a fair to think that Christianity may have been started by someone who had heard these stories for a few centuries? As humans do, maybe someone along the line messed up the details in the retelling – like a thousand-year-old game of “Telephone”- and origins got skewed. ”
Ah, no… sorry you are wrong… One of the main problems during those days was… Rome. Rome fell when, 70AD? In none of the gospels is this mentioned. Jesus died, around, 30AD… so basically we have a 50 year period that these were written. This absoultely would have been mentioned in their writings, it was not. So we are talking about within 50years. If you’d like me to point you to more solid proof other then what I’ve just said I can do so. But it points to the same facts.
I assume you stopped reading my input after this, and I think you have lost a lot of my inflection. My point is that Christianity was not an original story.
Plus, I mentioned the same thing you do right after.
I was being rhetorical and democratic by mentioning another improbable possibility.
Send proof of it for the others here.
I have seen it.
Atheist Pat Tilman, left a pro-football career, fame and millions of dollars to go fight bin Laden & his Moslem Religious Nut Jobs. (Fact: Moslem Religious Fanatics have been killing Americans for over 25 years.)
After reading this, I must confess that the religious goofballs in here have made me at least 30% dumber than I was before I stumbled on this site.
Go out and learn something about evolution, genetics, the big bang, or even thermodynamics before spouting off about them. You all need to take a long, hard look at the quote “It’s better to remain quiet and appear foolish than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” before posting about things you don’t even have an elementary understanding of.
Well, I believe the bible is a great work of fiction. Written by man, professed by man. Jesus was real, I’m sure. But I don’t believe that he was concieved by this magical, unseen being who impregnates a young girl via an angel. That’s just a bit too over the top for me. To put it bluntly, Mary got knocked up the old fashioned way.
The only thing I hope is true in the bible is the Rapture. Because then, when the rapture happens, all the crazy christians will suddenly vanish and this world will be full of peace.
Religion is the cause of just about every major war and conflict on this planet. Imagine if there were no religion, we’d finally know what peace was.
hahaha i know the car on the top i took tons of pictures of it while we were driving down the highway. That crazy person lives somewhere in the Orlando area. The hood is covered with ornaments as well. Unfortunatley the tint was to dark to see the driver
How can logic rule out “a God”?
It’s definitely logical to say that “A God” created the Dino’s also, but the narrow minds of recent historic religions would rather restrict “God’s” power and love, to human creatures, rather than all creatures (ancient or present).
Just as there’s no proof of “God or A God”, There’s also no proof that one does, or ever existed. Hence Agnosticism…
I find car #2 so ironic “Evolution is a fairy tale for grown ups”, surely religion is a fairy tale for the close-minded ? I’m not saying that all people who follow a religion are close-minded, only the ones who believe the many facts of evolution to be myth.
I feel sorry for you as not only are you a Programmed Religious Robot who has NO clue you ARE programmed, you are not too bright either.
Not that it will do any good what-so-ever to explain some FACTS to you, I shall do anywho as there are others who may read this who will be edified by the following.
Look, Oh Totally Clueless and Illogical One,
MULTI-MILLIONS of Americans who are now Atheists WERE Christians!
MANY Atheists were not only Christians
for MANY years, they were OFFICIALS of some type IN the Christrian religion. Like Ministers, Priests, Preachers, Deacons, Nuns etc.
(And do NOT be so totally clueless as to say Catholics are not Christians as you’ll only again prove how totally IGNORANT you are.)
While the odds are I have forgotten more about your childish superstition than YOU will ever learn, for damn sure Dan Barker, Cliff Walker and many others have.
Proving your IDIOT comment # ONE
“It’s always interesting when people who are not Christians try and quote AND UNDERSTAND what the bible teaches.”
is nothing other than total Bull Shit!
As far as your IDIOT comment # Two.
“Christians give more to charity then any other group. So don’t try to bash Christians for not giving back, they do more then anyone else.”..
While that MAY be true, did it not ever occur to you, THEY SHOULD as there are MANY, MANY MORE Christians in the U.S. than there are Atheists?
That said, NAME me a Christian who gave NINETY PERCENT of his huge fortune away to help others as the ATHEIST Andrew Carnegie did.
NAME me a Christian who gave ONE BILLION to the UN to help others as ATHEIST Ted Turner did!
NAME me a Christian who has (so far) given THIRTY SEVEN BILLION to help others as ATHEIST Warren Buffet HAS!
NAME me a Christian who, EVERY YEAR GIVES MANY BILLIONS to help others as ATHEIST Bill Gates DOES!
These examples PROVE your IDIOT comment # TWO is just more uniformed Bull Shit!
Here Child, read what some of YOUR present day Christian Leaders say:
Look Child, I AM not only MUCH MORE Knowledgeable & More Experienced than probably 95% of people who my age (74) are much less anyone who is younger. And, as I am also smarter than over 97.5% of the world, when I say things you can bet your butt I damn well have FACTS to back them up!
Your comments have again PROVED how very apparent it is that you, rather than your doing the slightest bit of research so your posts do not prove, over and over again how IGNORANT you are just post totally illogical and irrational crap like the following:
“OK? And MULTI-MILLIONS of Americans who are now Christians WERE Atheists!”
The last time I replied to you, I said it was a waste of time and YOU PROVED I WAS RIGHT!
HERE, TRY LEARNING!
Statistics on Religion in America Report — Pew Forum on Religion …Report 2: Religious Beliefs & Practices / Social & Political Views … Conversely, those that are declining in number because of religious change simply are …
As far as giving money to help others, IT WAS EXPLAINED. Based on your post, YOU NEED to learn how to improve your reading and logical thinking skills.
Tell me CHILD, were the Japanese who were raised to believe their emperor was a “god” Programmed?
YOU BET YOUR ASS THEY WERE!
Were the German Youth who were raised to believe in Hitler and to do what he said Programmed?
YOU BET YOUR ASS THEY WERE!
Are the Moslem kids who are raised to believe if they blow themselves & others to hell they will get a perfect life (with 72 Virgins) Programmed?
YOU BET YOUR ASS THEY ARE!
Are people like Eric Robert Rudolph and the other IDIOT Christian TERRORISTS who believe they have a right to blow up the Olympics. gay bars, abortion clinics and KILL others Programmed?
YOU BET YOUR ASS THEY ARE!
Look CHILD,
Because you do NOT KNOW you ARE PROGRAMMED does not mean a damn thing. MANY, if NOT MOST, Former Christians did NOT know they were programmed WHEN they were Christians! They only realized it AFTER they had DE-programmed themselves.
DUH!
IF Christians are not PROGRAMMED, WHY does the Catholic Church STATE:
“GIVE ME A CHILD UNTIL THE AGE OF SIX AND THEY ARE MINE FOREVER!”
If Christians are NOT programmed, why are they SO STUPID as to come to an Atheist Forum, WHERE THEY ARE NOT WANTED, and put forth their childish, asinine arguments? Why do they say totally STUPID things anyone with even a modicum of world knowledge knows are false?
Why is it many FORMER Christians, after they have DE-Programmed themselves, say things like:
“Now for the first time I know what true freedom of mind and action are.”
All in all Mike all you do every time you post is PROVE to all of us who have DE-Programmed ourselves you ARE programmed.
Last Mike, GO to your own Jack Yard and BACK OFF!
LEAVE US ALONE! YO ARE NOT WANTED HERE!
OR are you so PROGFRAMMED (And STUPID) that MARK telling you that time after time does NOT get through?
To be fair, fossils talking is of comparable liklihood to god existing – Which is to say, science has never recognised any evidence that either is possible.
This is the greatest comment I’ve ever seen.
i love you…
Ha.. Ignorance is the greatest way to describe these people.
what ryan said B-|
wow two WHOLE cars? wow so many religious nutjobs out there, makes me wanna be an aethiest
I don’t want to be an aetheist either, I want to be an atheist you Christian retard
Thats awesome. You are like officially awesome.
Thanks, but I’m just a blogger.
lol, you’re stupid.
Did the article say anything about a number? The title says cars, which is grammatically correct because it is plural.
Did the author say this was intended to convince you to be an Atheist? (take note of hoe “Atheist” is spelled) Although I found this on a stumble too, I’d suggest that this is intended for Atheists, not too convince anyone to be an Atheist.
Exactly! They think that just because the religionists are out to win souls, that atheists are on the same mission.
An atheist is more likely to understand and be ok with someone believing in a God. Than someone (especially christians) who believes. They usually freak out, and have no understanding manner what so ever that atheists don’t believe. Christians are so understanding? and everyone should be accepted. Well… Why don’t they?
(Example here in Amsterdam: There are plenty of buildings or signs (in public: which shoudnt be public but private but thats another discussion) and no atheist complains about that.
But if atheists put signs up sayin: “dont believe in god, believe in yourself.” All the ‘believers’ get pissed off. Lets all be real and leave eachother in our values.
Not all the believers. You’re generalizing.
your grammar sucks
Being an atheist isn’t really a decision, more a realisation. But whatever.
Car #2 has the comment on it about fairy tales, yet when you look at the figurines on car #1 they are mostly cartoon characters. Besides most adults don’t cover their cars with insane slogans and chilrens toys.
OMFG. All I could think is “nutjob”. The title fits this post perfectly. Wow.
Ah, the ravages of Christardation! Soon, soon we hope to develop medication to help the Christard cope with the daily trials of their disabling illness. While a cure may be many years away, there is hope through therapy and, of course, Community College Biology and Geology courses.
Have you hugged an apostate today?
Yea right….we are about as likely to come up with a cure for brainwashed ignorance as they are to come up for a cure for homosexuality. but i am wondering…did you come up with christardation, and if so , can i use it as my own?
holy shit. (pun intended?)
Agreed!
This is actually sad. It’s amazing how religion can brain wash people so severely. How do fossils say no to religion? Is this person really that dumb?
LMAO – “Jesus is the king” around “TO JESUS” license plate.
The “evolution is a fairy tale for grown ups.” part…that is just too deliciously ironic for me to take.
These rides give new meaning to the words ‘holy shit’ in my opinion.
Seriously. I mean… seriously.
“Evolution is a fairy tale for grown ups.”
If it were so, it would still be better than the creation story, a fairy tale for CHILDREN.
wow! this guy definitely went to harvard. graduated top of his class, Ph.D in Philosophy, then went back just to kick a medical degree. logic is no big deal for this guy
First car is insane, but the second one is full of bullshit. The fossils say yes. If you want to throw down evolution, don’t use its proofs. What’s next? homologous and analogous organs say no?
Don’t just just love seeing crap like that on the road? Of course, I usually try to keep my distance. Someone that deluded probably shouldn’t be driving.
You guys hes totally right we all know god put dinosaur fossils in the ground as a way to test our faith
Lol, I hope that was as ironic as it sounded.
But this whole level of brainwashing – it’s terrifying.
The world’s most successful & longest sustained con game is based on one simple word : FAITH. Consider: Had the church ‘fathers’ said You must be GULLIBLE, It wouldn’t have gotten ‘off the ground’
Evolution makes a lot more sense than “Adam and Eve in the Garden”.
Things evolving in life is normal… but that doesn’t rule out GOD.
Logic rules out god.
WIN!
Logic rules out God? What’s logic about everything coming from absolutely nothing at all? Both Creation and Evolution are not logical in the slightest, it’s just you retards arguing the toss over and over on these pathetic blogs Stumbleupon keeps throwing at me for whatever reason.
Evolution has nothing to do with ‘everything coming from nothing at all’.
Don’t forget about reason. We can use that to rule out God also.
I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of it, but saw one recently here with a big sign on the back that read, “Speeding is a sin, turn to Jesus”. cheese and rice.
But if I turn to talk to my friend Jesus then I wont be watching the road which is illegal.
As a Christian, I will say that that first car is over the top. I would never ride around in it. But all of you that bash it, its not all bad. What about the quote on the bottom “Work so you can share with those in need” , hmm that doesn’t sound so crazy to me.
Most people that ridicule God or Jesus , simply don’t want to accept his reality because if you did, it would mean that you would actually have to answer to someone and not live how ever you wanted to.
If you think he is not real, simply ask him to reveal himself to you in some way, to show you that he is real and his word is true. What do you have to lose ?
I have one answer to that question……..sanity. And sorry, but I’m not going to ask invisible beings to reveal themselves.
Should I ask Bigfoot to reveal himself?
Mark… you don’t have to believe in something invisible. You can start with accepting the facts that are there before us.
What facts? There ARE no facts regarding this. If there were, then faith would not be a requirement.
I am extremely familiar with Christianity. Why do Christians think that atheists NEED your belief system?
If I were a believer in God and wanting to join a religion….Christianity would NOT be my choice.
Have you got that?
Actually the life of Jesus is factual Mark… you can believe whatever you want to believe. I know alot of people who think that Obama is the savior, however obviously they have been proved wrong… so you can believe whatever you want.
I wish you well.
Factual? Based on only the Bible?
Actually, Obama IS the Saviour. Didn’t you see him make loaves and fishes for everyone when he was sworn in? What are you, blind? Didn’t you see everyone’s wine glasses as they runneth over with Obama wine? Don’t you realize that Obama sacrificed his only Senate Seat so that he may serve you as your Lord and Savior? I will pray for your soul. Forgive Mike, Obama, for he knoweth not what he sayeth. I strongly suggest you accept Obama as your personal President and Savior and Heaven everlasting will surely be your reward. God bless.
Mark, and pretty much any other atheist accepts the facts.
Evolution, Big Bang, etc. Those are facts. Those are proven.
The Big Bang is not proven. It is a theory.
Yet another person who doesn’t know what “theory” means. Keen.
A theory is not a guess; that’s a hypothesis. A theory does not become a law when “proven”; those are 2 different things. Laws are always laws, and theories are always theories.
A Law describes – The Law of Gravity is, basically, “What goes up must come down.” Theories use facts to interpret WHY a Law is what it is.
Theories cannot, and do not, exist without facts, because that’s all they are – a structured, factual, database interpreting existing, testable, falsifiable knowledge. Theories are explanations. They can be modified with additional information, but they always continue to only be collections of facts.
So the theory of evolution? The theory of gravity? The theory of the big bang? Those are all facts. Otherwise they couldn’t be called Theory.
The problem is we colloquially toss around the word “theory” in everyday conversation to mean “guess,” and so that’s what people think it means. But it doesn’t mean that in scientific terms. Just like the cleavage of a rock has nothing to do with breasts, theories have nothing to do with guesses.
Yes the big bang is a theory. So is gravity and we’re pretty confident about most aspects of that. (We still don’t entirely understand the causes or have a universally effective or 100% accurate formula for calculating the force of gravity for example. Nor do we have absolute proof it will happen every time. Hence the title theory.) The word theory is thrown around without a lot of knowledge about what it really means. Science doesn’t work in absolutes. That very fact is what makes science so wonderful. It adapts to evidence available. to us. Theories are the most effective explanations for things in the world around us supported by large amounts evidence available to us at this point that are not yet disproved by other evidence. Which is exactly what the theories of the big bang, evolution, etc. are.
Big bang is a hypothesis. Not a theory. It’s a guess. It’s probably right, but to say it’s a FACT is wrong.
What’s witnessable is real. Like gravity. Or evolution.
The Big Bang is a theory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang
They’re both capital T Theories. Unproven, except to people like you who don’t want to know any different.
Remember, the flat earth and geocentrism were both theories once too. now we laugh at them.
The are Theories. Personally I use the capital T to suggest that they do in fact have a HUGE amount of evidence supporting them and thus a great number of highly educated people who view that as the most likely explanation of what is occurring in the universe around us. These are people who are difficult to convince of much. I, in the spirit of everything I hold dear in science, am constantly interested in finding any evidence to the contrary any standard point of view. I want to know the truth, not just base my world view on blind faith. That requires evidence that religion has not yet been able to provide to me. That is why I think it’s likely that your disbelief of things like the big bang Theory or evolution will mirror the beliefs those that believed so fervently in a flat earth or geocentric views (concepts that were based on the evidence available as well as religion which is why the church took such a harsh response to evidence provided by astronomy to the contrary… making it rather ironic that you included these classic examples in your argument…).
It’s not ironic, as they were accepted by science too. I use capital T to emphasise the word Theory.
Either way, whatever we believe, this is one of those debates that goes in circles with no one willing to compromise =P
but hey, one day we’ll all find out who’s right. it’s only a matter of time
No anonymous it’s terribly ironic. Scientific information was basically ignored on these topics simply because it contradicted religious beliefs of the times as well as general views of past scientists… Eventually EVIDENCE overwhelmed them. You know what science is based on. What these Theories are based on. What religion, the basis for your objection to these Theories, is not based on. Like Dex said theories aren’t guesses. They aren’t random ideas people decide they like as people tend to toss around the term in everyday life. They are testable. They typically predict things and in the cast of the two in question certainly the predictions have held true. They are FALSIFIABLE unlike a religious faith is handled by anyone I have yet to read from or talk to. But in contradiction to Dex many refer to gravity as a theory rather than a law because of the inaccuracies in the equations and how much is left to be understood. It takes a huge amount of evidence for theories such as these to gain that status rather than that of a hypothesis.
Yes but those theories were also around before the time of modern science. Evolution is no longer a theory but a fact. Species all change over time. That is a fact. Humans to are not to be excluded from this. The only thing that involves a theory is Darwin’s’ theory of evolution and the idea of natural selection. Not to mention that Darwin’s theory makes a hell of a lot of since and can be backed with so much observable data it’s a little ridiculous you don’t believe it.
In Darwin’s theory everything is accounted for and fit together perfectly. In the Bible, not so much.
Ah yes, everything is accounted for, such as the eyeball, and how on earth lizards floated on bark to the galapagos islands! and of course, how natural selection leads to an altering of the gene such that one animal becomes another. Every example of natural selection i’ve seen fails to be an example of evolution. Natural selection narrows the gene pool, it doesn’t widen it. There’s a whole lot of guesswork – no ones ever seen evolution, found a common ancestor, and barely a so called ‘link’ between species. And sorry, how did life come about? and the amino acids for that life? and then the elements for those amino acids? and the matter for those elements? and the… hang on… nothing became something, and then exploded! Ive got it!
You forgot the usual rhetorical words like, “goo” and “slime”.
I suppose the Creation story makes more sense to you?
Not all atheists are Darwinists. Some are compelled to look deeper than Darwin.
The truth is that we don’t know every detail of how life began. Some choose the easy route like the Creation story. Others choose to hypothesize…then theorize…then prove with facts.
Well all sides are well represented here. I think that individual thought is what makes the world go round. Yet I take issue with your response to the reply mad to Monty’s question, “What do you have to lose?” Mark replied his “Sanity”. That he would never ask an invisible being to reveal themselves. Ok everyone has an opinion, just curious though, if we never tried things how do we know? Not anyone of is all knowing. Our Belief systems all stem from many diffrent aspects of our lives. To understand alot of religions, I have given many a try, including Atheism, what did I have to lose? Nothing. No matter where all this lead me to or back to, it gave me a better understanding of why certain people believe the way they do and why I chose to believe the way I do. I came to 2 conclusions over the years, one is I now believe what I do because I feel in my heart it is right for me. Second that the understanding of the diverse beliefs out there did me no harm and did not make me “insane”. While, yes I am a Christian, I also believe that Fact, fiction, truth, etc… is not always that simple to determine or come by.
First atheism is not a religion and second you don’t “try atheism”.
Alright, I did state that wrong, I truly stopped believing in God for many years as I felt there could not be a God for a world that is so screwed up. I felt that way for about 10 years. Call it what you want.
Yes, the comment about helping those in need was nice. There are lots of good morals to the fairy tales written when people still thought the Earth was flat. I believe in those morals taught in the bible without believing in the silly impossible stories. You can be a good person without believing in god.
And to your bottom two paragraphs. A child could say the exact same logic to you about Santa Claus. What would you say to him in response.
I dared “him” several times. I wasn’t surprised by the results. Also, I don’t know how are you guys able to talk alone. It’s SO ridiculous.
Most people miss the mark in the bible… They believe that if I pray for this or that that GOD will give it to me… It’s not about GOD fitting into my life. It’s about me accepting him through faith and changing my life to be obediant to him.
If you don’t want to believe that GOD created the world out of his ” magical wand”… OK.
However you can’t dispute the fact of Jesus Christ living… Jesus Christ demonstrating his power through GOD with many mircles… Healing the blind, mute people, who never spoke before all of a sudden speaking fluently, and even raising the dead. Even the Jews who don’t except that he was the son of GOD acknowledged his mircles. When your enemy is acknowledging your miracles that pretty much lays out the facts. And then you can go back and look at the prophacy of Christ. Isaiah 53 goes into detail of the savior suffering in a horrible way that describes what it’s like to be hung from a cross… HUNDREDS OF YEARS BEFORE THE ROMANS DESINGED DEATH BY HANGING FROM THE CROSS! Read and understand before you judge by others criticism.
The life of Jesus is NOT fact.
No, Jews do NOT accept his fictional miracles. That was part of the reason why he was not accepted as a Messiah.
I was raised as a Christian, but learned much more from Judaism.
Actually you are wrong Mark. They believe that Jesus was a great prophet. However they don’t believe that he was the Messiah because he didn’t make a radical change to government which Jesus was not here to do.
Man, my Orthodox Jewish neighbors are almost on the floor laughing reading this.
I guess you are trying to insult them as well with their beliefs? Are they laughing with you on that?
Try this link for Jewish Prophets. There are 55 of them.
There is NO Jesus or Yeshua(h) listed.
Mark, you rock… I was agnostic for years about god. Recently, I have decided to challenge some friends and religious “experts” in my community to “persuade” me of the existence of such a being. We conversed about the morals of the “Good Book”, some of the delightful (and not so delightful) stories there in, and we actually came to the conclusion that there is NO proof of the existence of such a being. In all cases but one, I was told to have faith, and live well, and I would be doing god’s work. One case in particular though, was a great friend of mine, a student of philosophy. He said to me that god had a plan. When I asked what this plan might be, he shrugged and said I had to see for myself. I did some good thinking on this plan, and came to my conclusion. That there is no plan. We as humans make our own destinies. Whether we choose to live a good life, or that of “sin” is our own choice. I got back to my friend about a week later and posed two questions to him. 1) If god gave us free will and freedom of choice, how does that allow him to still control, and I emphasize the word CONTROL, us? and 2) How is it that primitive man guessed soooo wrong about everything else (ie: geocentric universe and flat world) but managed to hit the nail on the head when it came to the BIGGEST QUESTION OF ALL… our origins? He is currently pondering this, and I look forward to our next conversation.
It is not my intent to try to convert him to our way of thinking, only to try to express these facts that we as a people have discovered and offer some food for thought. I truly wish that people of faith were as knowledgable about faiths other than their own. Then they might see the similarities and plagerisms of their own faith are based off those of different gods and opposing view points.
If anyone has a retort and wishes to state it in a RESPECTFUL manner (as is not usually done on boards with topics as strong as this, lol.) I look forward to conversing.
It is possible to live life by good morals and pure deeds and be aware to the truths around us.
Ryan
Actually one can totally dispute the “miracles” of Jesus. Basically because they exist nowhere other than in the Bible. You might as well say New England is a cursed place to live because bad stuff happens there in all of Stephen King’s novels.
And since when are the Jews the “enemies” of Jesus?
Oy… I can’t even even find this funny any longer.
the only reason i am skeptical of atheism is because christianity makes so much sense. there was definately a guy who made mute people talk and could raise the dead.
if smoking was actually bad for you no one would do it. as long as everyone else is doing something, i know its right.
besides the crucial fact that everyone else is totally doing it, christianity’s validity is confirmed to me through my prayer routines. its awesome. i pray every day for things. one time i prayed that i would win the scratch off card i got, and i won 5$. another time, i prayed that my friend would fight through his battle with cancer. he still died, but that was just god’s way of saying “you weren’t praying right”. or maybe its because my friend sinned to much or something.
Christianity makes sense?
And where is this guy that made people raise from the dead?
well i mean a shit-ton of old people all agree that there was this guy jesus that could walk on water all the time. hes the guy that raises people from the dead. its in the bible, a book that is definitely right because of how old it is.
Are you done with your Jesus spiel?
Go preach at another site. Bye!!!
Go preach your mythology at another site.
Mark,
This Garrett has just gotta have his/her tongue firmly planted in his/her cheek! This is too much an exact parody of religious foolery to be real, no?
I grew up in a very religious household and family and attended church regularly and emphatically. I HAVE asked him to reveal himself. Hundreds and even thousands of time… without result or response of any kind. That type of non-response was exactly the same on the first try as it will be on the millionth try. That is one of the main reasons that I now consider myself a born-again Atheist. We do not ridicule Jesus or God because, let’s face it, what would be the point of ridiculing something that never responds and never shows himself and probably doesn’t exist anyway. It is the deity’s frequently ignorant and often ludicrous followers that make themselves such an easy target. Especially so, when they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about in regard to science.
Mistersensible, does GOD want to conform to your life or you to sacrifice yours for him? People have this “fairytale” of the bible that I guess they were given as a child. If you pray GOD will make your life all better… no not really, and if you read the bible you would realize that many have sacrificed their life in Jesus’s name.
Read the bible, ask for understanding. What I find all the time is atheists really have no idea what is in the bible. They pull one or two things out and try to say they know everything that it tells us. Or the judge a person because he says he’s a christian and may fall short. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.
And likewise you are judging Mistersensible.
Funny that mrsensible should say exactly what i think about christians……..they were the dumb, unquestioning sheep in my sundayschool class. The kids who never ask why and dont feel the need to know why. These are the offspring of fanatics who interpret the vague verses in that 2000 y/o tabloid that can just as easily be compared to modern occurrences as Nostradamus’ predictions. Also i have found atheist to be far more well read in the verses than the people who attend church and just pass on their preachers interpretation of the verse of the day…which really is just to pass the time till the collection plate gets passed around!
I use line of thought , if I had been brought up with no knowledge of science or god and had to have classes explaining both theory of the origin of life….well, which would you be more likely to latch on to?
Mike, you are one determined clam. So far, you’ve lost on virtually every point. You are a poor spokesman for your faith. Your method appears to be endless repetition of the same tired unconvincing talking points christians have developed. You can find these talking points on many religious sites. My own mother uses these very talking points to try and defuse criticism of her faith. Anyway Mike, you’ll probably need to go find a dumber crowd to infect. I have to admit I find the argument about god planting fossils to test our faith extremely funny. Nothing says faith like ignoring truth. It’s not ignorance! It’s faith!
My Mom, brother and sister and I were “raised in the church” whoo hoo! Yeah baptized and all, prayed like it was a mantra…My father still molested me. My sister still lost custody of her children because she became addicted to heroin and my brother has been in prison more times than I can count. My mother was married 4 times trying not to “live in sin” and years later she still thinks that finding $10.00 in her pocket is a answer to prayer.
I was in a motorcycyle accident that almost killed me and was told “oh god was with you and saved you”. NOT If I had laid there much longer I wouldn’t be here right now, I survived a traumatic brain injury. The accident was in a remote area and luckily there were others around who saw the crash and called 911 on their cell phone. The ambulance personnel got to the scene in time, did the right things and got me to the hospital where doctors put me in a medically induced coma so my brain would quit swelling. Those are the people who saved me…thank you, I say to them.
By the time I was 12 I was so afraid of ‘the end times” I heard about repeatedly that I figured I would never get to grow up and have my own kids. Every mistake I made was more evidence that something was wrong with me…oh yeah right I’m a sinner…
I have been an Atheist since I grew up and could think for myself.
I raised 3 boys who are grown now and I couldn’t be prouder of them. They’ve never been in trouble with the law, they don’t do drugs and they are caring, talented motivated young men. I never told them they were sinners, ie there’s something wrong with you just because you were born. They’ve never been to church. I taught them right from wrong to be kind and responsible for themselves and to think, not what to think.
“Each of us, a cell of awareness, imperfect and incomplete. Genetic blends with uncertain ends, on a fortune hunt that’s far to fleet…”
You mean… like the way you’re judging me? Maybe you didn’t read my comment. I DID believe in god. I DID believe in the bible and HAVE read the bible extensively. I HAVE prayed to god whenever I chose to. You want to know what I found? I found that making a wish while blowing out birthday candles gets exactly the same reaction. None.
And as far as your comment, “…if you read the bible you would realize that many have sacrificed their life in Jesus’s name. Sacrificing yourself in the name of some non-resident landlord of a god isn’t a personal attribute, it’s a mental illness.
Why on earth does this “god” critter seem to require so much blood sacrifice? I mean, “his son” and now others expected to “sacrifice your life for him”? What does “he” do with all this blood? Is it the ‘coin’ in which “he trades? Why would any “all-powerful” god require sacrifice of any kind; for any reason? Do men then have the right to demand that ants “worship and sacrifice to” us?
Weirder and weirder……..
Who cares what an imaginary god wants? Certainly not I. And who gives a crap what you think about my own personal opinion? You’ve apparently bought the whole ‘fairy tale’ thing… hook, line and sinker. LOL
I just clicked my fingers and yelled “Yo god!”
He didn’t appear, maybe I should try leaving a plate of cookies, glass of milk and some carrots and a bucket of water, it seems to work for that other guy my kids are convinced is real
Actually they (we) DO have someone to answer to — ourselves! No some fairy tail used to scare children into behaving.
My problem with Christianity isn’t so much the factual accuracy or requirement of faith as it is a very large proportion of Christians taking the word of the bible and then corrupting it in such horrific ways to suit their political agendas. Take, for example, the first car which quotes, “Work so that you can share with those in need.”
This passage describes ways to avoid succumbing to the Devil. Similar to “Idle hands are the Devil’s play-thing”. The message is intended to be one of peaceful living and charity.
The context that the car owner is likely to be using it is to proselytize. That is, to paraphrase, “Go out and actively convert non-Christians who need saving”. It’s these methods that allow evangelical Christians to turn what would ordinarily be a peaceful and benevolent message into one that is militaristic or otherwise highly ironic.
If you think ’such horrific ways’ is an over-statement, watch a documentary called “Jesus Camp” and then get back to me.
Not to do with religion or anything, but I just have to laugh at the following phrase, for I find it to be more destructive.
‘ “Work so you can share with those in need” , hmm that doesn’t sound so crazy to me. ‘
To me, I find it insane. Why you ask? Well, read the 1200 page behemoth that is “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. Working for somebody else’s need will lead only to your own destruction.
Holy Crap! You’re right!!!
I asked god to reveal himself and at that exact moment I heard a car alarm go off in the distance. Whoa, now I’m really spooked.
Ok, I’m gonna try this experiment again and see if the results are the same.
OMG!
This time, exactly 12 seconds after I asked god to reveal himself I heard somebody cough outside. I don’t know if that was god because I’m too scared to look but I think it’s safe to assume that it was.
I’m gonna try this experiment 1 more time and then we can put this argument to rest once and for all.
That’s odd… this time nothing happened.
Is he testing my faith or do I have to be more specific and call out his name so that he knows that I’m talking to Jesus’s dad and not some other god?
I am publishing the results of my experiments for peer-review.
Please let me know if these results are typical.
Monty, also please let me know if god can help with some wicked-sweet party tricks. I’m having a party this weekend and would rather not pony up the dough for a keg. The whole water into wine magic trick would not just save me a lot of money but it would really help me to get some trim.
Thanks again and god bless!
Monty wrote: “Most people that ridicule God or Jesus , simply don’t want to accept his reality because if you did, it would mean that you would actually have to answer to someone and not live how ever you wanted to.”
Here’s what’s really going on: Nonbelievers take responsibility for their own lives and their own actions and the good they do comes from their own hearts and not from a threat of eternal damnation if they do the “wrong thing”.
“What about the quote on the bottom ‘Work so you can share with those in need’ , hmm that doesn’t sound so crazy to me.”
Oh Monty, if only I were a better person. I could work hard for money and then spend it on a bunch of plastic god-shit. I think putting it all over my car would enable me to share it with more needy… but where will I find people who ‘need’ to see this crap?
Millions have already tried that. This & reading the bible is what creates non-believers.
I saw this driving down south of orlando…I can’t believe someone would do that.
they sure love the religious kitsch
Well, it should, because your right wing fundy asshole allies have been fanatically opposing any political policy that even smells of using money earned by another person to help out another person, no matter how urgent the need, or affluent the one being made to share or even if the money being shared was earned in the first place.
Wow, you’re a cunt. Full of bullshit, as well, but the sheer assholishness in that post is astounding. Try to not to be a prejudiced, ignorant, self-righteous, condescending douchebag next time. Or, at least back up the malicious bile you spew with more than just-so declarations that you heard from your preacher in Sunday School last week, ok?
We’ve heard the “you secretly believe in God but refuse to acknowledge Him because you want to live lives of unrestrained amoralistic hedonism” canard a thousand fucking times before and it’s never started sounding smarter than it did the first time some piss-ignorant yokel threw it our way.
It may make you feel a little better to think that we all believe as strongly as you but refuse to “accept” the “reality” of your God, but we don’t. We do not acknowledge your God because there is nothing there to acknowledge; He is fiction.
Dear Lord, if you are truly real, and truly an all-powerful Being with a profound love for every man, woman, and child on this planet, it is my humble request that you remove the scourge of starvation from our world, which kills a human being every second. Raining manna from heaven, like you did for the children of Israel, upon the poorer regions of the world would alleviate untold amounts of suffering.
Now let’s see if God reveals Himself.
You’d be better off than talking to God; Bigfoot is at least possible. Apes, unknown species, and the Pacific Northwest are all legitimate ideas. So an unknown species of ape living in the Pacific Northwest, however implausible the result, it’s still at least conceivable. Invisible sky-wizards that demand for you to have your sons’ penises ritually mutilated? Not so much.
Hear, hear!
Im sorry that most of you seem so angry and hateful.
I am glad I don’t have to live like that. No matter what I say, you wont agree.
I wish you all the best and hope you find a real truth and much needed peace in
your lives. This will be my last post, Thanks to Mark for not deleting them.
I’m not the one so in defense mode because somebody said that a gawdy car was ridiculous.
Your holier than thou art attitude is evidence (not that that word means anything to you) that you have some issue that makes you feel inferior. I hope that one day you can cope with that without the aid of an imaginary friend.
ok, monty, most of us aren’t full of hate and we do live a peaceful life, but at lot of people are sick of fundi bullshit trying to rule every aspect of other peoples lives. Now I’m gonna make a broad generalisation here and I mainly speak for myself when saying this but I think most atheists’ have not got one single problem with you believing in whatever it is that you want to believe. We just want you to respect that not everyone else have the same thoughts and as such you have no right trying to tell us we are wrong just the same way that we don’t come barging into your Church on a Sunday morning and viciouslly demand that you stop teaching your evil Dogma and indoctrinating everyone else. Further more as a Atheist and all round sceptic I would absolutely love for you or anyone to prove that your god, or anyone else’s Gods’ exist. But unfortunately after 2 thousand years of Christianity and thousands more years of worshipping much OLDER Gods there has not been one single iota of proof, half proof or valid principle of there being any single validity in the concept of God(S)
Thanks for your time
I respect your right to believe what you want to believe. However i’m not going to simply say it’s ok for atheists to believe what they want to if theyre going to start telling me i can’t believe what i do, y’know? Because not every Christian is a total right winged conservative who wants to kill gays and refuse to help other people. I’m not, so there’s at least one exception to the generalisation.
You are right. There are always exceptions to the majority. And I must say that the majority of christians I know are not the extremists that bedazzle their cars with tacky crap or send children off to re-take the holy land. Just as most Muslims I know don’t blow things up all the time. (Bad comparison, I know, lol.) On that note, this is the internet, an anonymous medium where good things like porn and freedom of speech are taken to the extreme by people of every group. Please don’t think that ALL atheists are out to change your beliefs. I apoligize sincerely for some of the posts on here as people have taken them to extremes. For the most part, we are as you are, a group of people sharing like-minded ideas. You are here by choice. Whatever your reasons are I hope that broadening your scope of thought is one of them.
Once again, thanks for reading. (And to all the people who feel it neccesary to ram OUR gospel down everyone else’s throats… Did it work when it was done to you? Instead offer up some good books and websites. The only ones who change our minds are ourselves…)
hahahhahahahaa,
“You’re a cunt”
simple and made me literally laugh out loud… no beating around the burning bush with you then hey?
I love how you said “assholishness.” I am SO gonna use that one!
i just want to say monty’s comment “Most people that ridicule God or Jesus , simply don’t want to accept his reality because if you did, it would mean that you would actually have to answer to someone and not live how ever you wanted to.” is extremely ironic as it is christians that aren’t acceptiing the reality that god doesn’t exist, and continue believing in something there is no evidence for, rather than something their is vast amounts of evidence for.
i also would like to say that i don’t hate all christians, and i think that those christians that just believe themselves and try to help other people, because the ones that help are actually nice people, but i do hate the ones that try to force erroneous beliefs onto other people. i also think that while there may be some atheists taht may try to do this, the majority of atheists are less forceful. i also think that the christians that try to force christianity on others are just being fools, and i think they would be much better off believing quietly – maybe then they wouldn’t be ridiculed quite so much. i happen to know some christians, and they are very nice people,and they don’t try to convert me, just as no one else tries to convert them. it is obvious that we could co-exist, but only if certain christian pillocks stopped being such essholes.
Assholes and hypocrites! What about the christain explaining why so-and-so isn’t at the party, saying “oh he married a BLACK woman! There but for the grace…
My christian grandmother watching the inauguration of Obama with a scowl on her face, asked why the look? “Oh I don’t want to see that nigger get sworn-in”.
What a bunch of Holy Crap.
Religion is a detriment to the progress of humanity!
side note: when I do not capitalize “christain” here, spell check insists that I do! christains must have wrote that into the code.
Hello all! I’d just like to quickly adress something. Why do people that proclaim to be atheist use the common and overused expression “Dear Lord.” While I perfectly understand that you do not believe in such a lord, it boggles my mind why you choose to still use the expression. Also, the expletive “oh my god” has become quite common in today’s society. So to better reflect my beliefs, I have taken to using the expletive “oh your god”, since that way you do not make yourself sound contradictory to your own beliefs and therefore foolish, but while still respectfully acknowledging the beliefs of the ignorant fools that surround you. haha. Also, I like to use the phrase ” I bless you” when someone around me sneezes. I find it has just about as much affect on ones physical wellness as the other commonly used alternative. Good day to all.
I never use thephrase :dear lord. On occasion I am moved to exclaim : Jesus Christ! as an expletive to ‘punch up something. It most certainly doesn’t mean I believe he ever existed in the biblical sense.
Many atheists were brought up in religious households and after learning that all is not truth in the Xian world, many of us still cannot shed all of the common Xian vernacular with which we grew up. Personally, I try not to use such wording, but my early indoctrination was very thorough.
Abyssal,
Will you marry me? We could live an amoral (if not immmoral) life together. We could spend our days pissing off fundies and thinking up cool new swear words. Your comment was perfect.
Rofl I guess the dinosaurs sinned and couldnt find jesus in time. Damn them for not being able to ask for forgiveness. lol
Holy shit @ first car. I’m not even sure that car’s entirely street legal. I’d love to see that go through an underpass and everything falls off.
Abyssal…hloy shit that was amazing. I think I love you!
My car suddenly feels very naked.
My car suddenly feels very rational and intellectually superior.
My car suddenly feels superior because it is naked… and has a large penis that scares Christian cars.
I was going to lay into Monty but Abyssal has said it all for me. As for denying evolution, it is the flat earthism of the twenty-first century.
Insular shock
God can no more die than Sherlock Holmes can. They are fictional characters.
When Nietzsche had his own fictionalized Zarathustra utter the now notorious “God is dead,” he intended to convey “that the belief in the Christian God has become unbelievable.” God is literally in-credible.
American xianism is 2,500 years behind Buddhism in grasping cultural realities. Only one of which is the death of all gods.
In backwater America primitive assertions abound — for example, xianity must be true since my belief and that of others have made positive changes in our lives.
Members of any sect within islam, xianity, judaism, or zoroastrianism (the Big4 monster-theisms) can cite their myths, cultic practices, endlessly circular magical texts, and fifth-rate fan fiction (“theologies”) to equal effect.
What uplifts me, what comforts me, what I’m willing to die for . . . is no evidence whatsoever that my belief is true or false.
Xianity cannot be refuted. (Could you refute “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”?)
Xianity can only be dismantled. Then left to rust.
The de-deification of culture (including the sciences) is our task for the next 100 years.
anti-supernaturalist
The media grabbing the most extreme religious and tries to lump them all as nutjobs… Surprising. I guess we should judge all black people like Mike Tyson or OJ Simpson… No maybe we should consider all white people as Charles Manson or Jeffery Domer.
Where is real journalism in our world?
Where does it say in the article that all religious people are like this??
Please Mark, this is typical of the media… grab the most extreme and try label everyone as such. This does not only apply to Christians. However a so called “christian” goes and kills an abortion doctor and ALL christians are labelled as haters. One of the biggest shames is when they try to say that Christians hate gay people… Ah no, christians recognize that there is sin in the world, and everyone sins. This doesn’t make them any better then anyone else. They don’t hate the sinner. They realize what sin brings, it brings destruction… whether you believe in GOD or not people can not deny the facts of what the bible teaches of what sin has brought to man… and it’s been proven again and again throughout history.
The pics I posted were not linked to any popular news sources.
Since when is photobucket a news site?
Well, yes breaking basic social rules that help keep order will bring destruction. At least when those social rules serve to protect one another and useful social structures. Many religions highlight these things to help preserve social order. However, homosexuality will not in fact bring negative consequences to society. We don’t need to breed for survival anymore. It’s okay people. And sure you may not hate homosexuals but you do not hold respect for something deeply important to their identity. All because an invisible man in the sky said it’s bad. Just because you think it’s a sin should not give anyone the ability to take away another person’s rights who do not share your religious views. No one is asking you to marry someone of your same sex and no one can legally ask your church to recognize their marriage. And yes of course it’s wrong to say that Christians in general have problems with homosexuality. Some think it’s not in violation of “God’s law” at all. It all depends on the interpretation.
In Troy, Mo lives a man who makes hordes of christian bumper stickers, which he gives to local churches and ministries. His little hatch-back is completely covered with them. The best part is his license plate. It reads “SEK GOD” for “Seek God.” Unfortunately for him, from just about every angle it looks like “SEX GOD.”
Tell me more about this. I am VERY familiar with the area.
…That’s awesome.
Seriously.
“SEX GOD”.
Tee-hee.
Someone has a weird fetish. xDDD
haha that top one is from here in lakeland florida… i see it ALL THE TIME all they do is drive down florida avenue and make u turns. ive never seen it do anything else
YES!!!! Hold up a sign that says “Honk if your car is covered in crap”!!!!!
Car #1: How the fuck does he see out the back window clearly enough to not crash? By the way, I don’t think Noah had Tweety Bird and Winnie the Pooh and his ark. It is also a very hideous car.
Car #2: Are you KIDDING me? Go back to 5th grade science Mr. Fantasyland. Better yet, ask what God thinks and see what he tells you. Oh, that’s right, he’s just a psychotic character in a fairy tale that has somehow become a very famous basis of religion.
Religion is a fairy tale. There is no such thing as undead. If that were the case, you would all be worshiping an undead Jew.
Lol, all I can think right now is ZOMBIE JESUS and the Second Coming. Hey thats a great name for a band, hahah! They could open for Slayer or Sharon, Lois and Brahm.
I’ve got another one for you xD
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e48/faithtimtoby/061-1.jpg
Sheesh! That dude oughtta pray for a new van, wouldn’t ya say? Or at least a bit of rust proofing!….LOL!! (~~grin~~)
@“Evolution is a fairy tale for grown ups.”
The Bible is a fairy tale. What’s important is the way you interpret the text.
If you ask questions and form your own opinion, its okay.
Every religion has a creation story and their intent is usually to address the base flaws of humanity NOT A FACTUAL TALE OF HOW THINGS CAME INTO EXISTENCE.
The local head of the neighborhood branch of the John Birch Society has two trucks that look a lot like these cars.
Which proves what, exactly?
Slow atheist news day?
It proves that religious wackos are as stupid and funny as they are dangerous.
Dangerous? Because what, a tailout’s out on one of them?
I said wackos not their cars. Inquisition, Salem Witch trials, etc.
Not to mention the Crusades. 2 of which were CHILDREN’S CRUSADES…
My wife used to be friends with a very vocally Christian lady. She had her car rather heavily decorated as well – my wife and I used to jokingly refer to it as “the godmobile.”
She had a few Christian bumper stickers… A big ol’ wooden crucifix hanging from her rear-view mirror… There was at least one bible in the back seat at all times… A couple religiously-slanted motivational phrases taped to the dashboard… And the radio was always playing some kind of Christian music.
That made me giggle. xD
“Ugh… ability to accept reality… failing… to the godmobile!”
Nanana nanana Jebus, jebus, jebus nananana nananana
The absence of the power of God in America is all that’s needed to feed Atheism. If the church would wake up and quit messing around like a bunch of goof balls, singing happy clappy “praise songs” once a week for 15 minutes to the “god” who adjusts according to our lifestyle, then maybe, just MAYBE we’d give Atheists a reason to believe. What if we stopped defining who God is to better suit our stench and begin serving Him because of who He says He is?
Any Christian reading this right now, be very offended at this blog. Not because they “mock” our “god.” For they are not mocking our “god.” They are simply mocking the STINKIN’ IDOL THAT WE’VE BUILT IN THE CHURCH called RELIGION and HYPOCRISY. Be offended at YOURSELF. Be offended at what we’ve caused. Our failure to truly live it has given way to embarrassing slogans, decorated cars and Christian apparel that only makes us feel comfortable about our hypocrisy. Suddenly a 17 year old kid can wear a shirt that says, “Jesus Saves” yet display to the world at the same time that he has not been saved, giving the lost no reason to come to God, because the “god” we represent is not God, but rather just another vain religion, displaying no difference in the lifestyle of a “saved” person and a “lost” person. We wonder why America is declining… Church, it’s our fault. WAKE UP. Get your nose out of the rapture!! He’s not coming back for a dirty bride!
To Mark: Thank you for starting this blog. Maybe the church will wake up and realize that it was OUR failure to live BIBLICAL, godly lives that caused the hopelessness in our nation. Judgement will begin in the house of God; The church.
One question I have for the “christians…”: Why are you a Christian? Is it just another hobby to do to fill up spare time on sunday morning and wednesday night? Some fan club? Or is it your LIFE? And no, just because you go to church does not mean it’s your life.
Thank you.
I agree with you in your comments regarding hypocrisy. If they were more like their Jewish counterparts(not the warmongers in Israel), then I would less problem with their beliefs.
American Christianity(in general) is the most hypocritical.
Once again Mark… stop being lead around by the how the media wants to define Christians. Think outside you box and be smarter then this.
“American Christianity” What is that? Chrisitianity is a personal relationship with GOD. It does not bow down before a church, a minister or some idiol. Dig deeper and look at people individually. Everyone who goes to church is not a Christian. If you really took fellowship, as you said you were brought up in, a bible believing church you would see something different in the people. Not perfect! But different.
Think outside YOUR box! Get reality.
I realized a long time ago that Christianity is flawed. The origin is based on lies.
Virgin birth? Please!
Miracles? Please!
Walking on water? Please!
Resurrection? Please!
OK, but you believe in the big bang theroy… everything you see around you came from… NOTHING! When have you ever seen anything come from… Nothing! Mark, you have more faith then you know.
Who said I believe in the Big Bang? I cannot believe in something I know nothing about.
I’m an atheistic regular working stiff, not a scientist.
Well, I implied that most other atheists believe it… I think… Er. I’m tired and I can barely think.
Sorry. xD
Let me guess. You don’t believe in the Big Bang Theory because… YOU WEREN’T THERE. And let me guess. The only way anyone can believe the Big Bang Theory or Evolution is to ASK SOMEONE WHO WAS THERE. I think I’m catching on. It is a lot simpler than scientific explanations, I’ll give you that.
So how does that explain Ken Ham? Doesn’t he say that cavemen and dinosaurs coexisted? Well, how would HE know? Did he ask someone who was there?
Sorry – but the big bang isn’t about all of what we see coming from nothing. It’s about the expansion of the singularity, a super-compacted mass which had the potential to become what we live in now. So, yea – that’s the theory, not what you said. Thanks – maybe you should study science and try to understand us before you denounce our lack of faith and belief in fact?
Please don’t talk about a theory you don’t truly understand as though you have all the facts to disprove it. I personally can only claim to have a loose understanding of it. I recommend researching it further if you have an interest. The following vague description of what is actually explained in the big bang theory comes from a very helpful website: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/astronomy/bigbang.html#misconceptions.
‘”In the distant past, the universe was very dense and hot; since then it has expanded, becoming less dense and cooler.’ The word ‘expanded’ should not be taken to mean that matter flies apart — rather, it refers to the idea that space itself is becoming larger.”
In other words it does not explain the origin of the universe. (It does not claim something came from nothing or even that this expansion started from specific point in space.) It describes the nature of our currently expanding universe.
It’s typical Christian rhetoric to refer to the Big Bang as a nothingness theory.
They usually use terms like “slime” or “goo” when talking about the origins of evolution.
Yeah it happens a lot and while I’m fine with people believing what makes them happy, I am deeply offended when someone takes the work of so many people and ignorantly misstates the most basic aspects of it in an effort try to make those theories less credible. Even evolution being touted as the theory of the origin of life rather than an explanation for the diversity of life on earth. If someone clearly hasn’t studied something they shouldn’t try to educate others on that topic. At the very least they should be willing to state a potential lack of understanding.
There’s something different alright.
You’re talking to someone with several years experience and background, not some bitter young punk.
I was born an atheist and intend on dying as one.
Sorry Mark, just because you’re old doesn’t make you wise. You can just look at the universe. There is an order and specific design that can’t be explained. Look at your own body, even if you just understand the basics of the DNA and cells and how they function you would understand that it wasn’t just by chance. How long before the human body understood the concept of a blood clot did it continue to the bleed to death? That is done by design and had to be by design, not by chance… once again, you have more faith in something then you want to acknowledge.
If you believe in what you say of how you’re “experienced”. I challenge you to a read a book called the Case for Christ. It was written by a guy who started writting the book to deny Christ. In writting the book he found some pretty compelling facts that changed his opinion. You may or may not be able to grasp the concepts depending on intelligence but give yourself the benifit of doubt and see what you walk away with.
Listen…I AM NOT CONVERTING to Christianity.
I’m not reading it. I don’t expect you to change. So stop your attempts at converting to me or anyone else here.
Hey guys, Im sorry to butt in here, but this is GREAT!!! Now if only Mike had refered to this text earlier instead of battling to no end with people who may or may not care what he has to say, A LOT MORE may have been accomplished.
I think I might take a look at this book. I’m always open to someone else’s opinion. It doesn’t mean it’s going to change mine. But if helps understand some ACTUAL arguments for christ, and isn’t an insult to my intelligence, then why not? Im currently reading the Koran to see what the middle east cooked up a few thousand years ago. Is there an e-link to it anywhere?
and Mark, noone on here knows your experiences or thoughts. I have serious respect for the thoughts that you have added to the discussions on this page. But as Atheists we have a responsibility to consider all facts and possibilities, if even for fun. After all, thats how we got here in the first place.
Mike wrote: “You can just look at the universe. There is an order and specific design that can’t be explained.”
I just LOVE this reasoning! What a great logical paradox! Let’s see it up close: Something becomes explained by virtue of the fact that it’s unexplained! Brilliant! So when there’s no explanation for something there’s an explanation for it!
Good grief! Are you serious?
Also:
“Look at your own body, even if you just understand the basics of the DNA and cells and how they function you would understand that it wasn’t just by chance.”
Had you been good enough to understand the topic of evolution you’d already know that chance has little to do with it. What is it about natural selection that confuses you guys so much? It’s not about chance.
I’d like to continue this with anyone who’s willing over in the intelligent design area.
Mike,
I am almost positive that you haven’t heard or read up on this but i am going to ask anyways because i don’t know you and i don’t want to be making assumptions like you are so keen to be doing. Have you heard of Quantum Mechanics or the Quantum Theory? It says, and this has been recreated, that there doesn’t need to be a placement of the singularity for that singularity to exist. These Singularities appear and dissapear all the time in space, there is no need for “order and specific design” and i think that you should read up on science and other evidence that we Atheists have instead of just looking at your precious bible because like it or not us atheists are not as ignorant as you think. Most of us enjoy to learn about religion because we allow our inquisitive nature to take hold. Thus, most of us have read your bible, and other religious readings. but i digress, i advise you to read up on quantum mechanics and stop being so quick to shoot down other peoples ideas or comments
you are a perfect example of a christian who is actually a nice person. you’re type of person are the reason we shouldn’t critisize all christians – just the pillocks that have given your religion a bad name. it’s only the people who have messed up your religion we should despise – i don’t care about whether you continue believing in your god, i just hate it when people try to make you believe
Fffffff
they stole our “fairy tale for grown-ups” line. D:
They can’t even PRETEND to do something correctly.
At least our original fairytale line was correct. D:
Religious ignoramuses.
Fuck cake, THE BIBLE IS A LIE!
The one about evolution makes me wanna cry…
That’s like saying that gravity is a fairytale…
I… just can’t… figure out how a person can be dumb enough to believe that Evolution is a fairytale… Let alone be religious.
Wow.
Also, I love reading the comments on your blog posts.
Either a witty atheist with something good to say, or a religious nutjob who shits his pants over atheism.
This is cool I would laugh if I saw this in real life but they put a lot of work into that; especially the one with all the crap on the roof.
WTF?!?
I saw one of these jebusmobiles in San Jose a few weeks ago. I tried to snap a pic but it drove a way before I could.
BTW-Lot’s of new faces around here and some great posts. Apparently 400k is a good number.
Thanks a lot!
I don’t understand it. I’ve written some great articles with great titles and have gotten little to average number of responses. I post a couple pics and suddenly everybody is here. I am glad they came, but the irony baffles me.
People are visual learners… Thats why the kids bible has pictures.
George Carlin said it best in Dogma. “Hook em while theyre young!”
stumbleupon is a fickle goddess.
This is a picture of a van in my area… just a small area taken with my cell phone cam. This van is all decked out in tons of crazy religious stuff.
Did that first car actually pass inspection? Seems like a hazard… By the way Bugs Bunny… Tweety… Great choice of religious icons…
Is that Tweety Bird I see on the ark car?
And Donald Duck?
And Bugs Bunny?
Thank God! He saved my childhood from the great flood!
all craziness aside, I think the saddest part about this is these people see the need to adorn their cars with their beliefs. When was the last time you saw an atheists car all covered in atheist propaganda? (also, please let me know if you ever see something that can be considered ‘atheist propaganda’, since I’ve never seen anything that can be called such)
I have an Invisible Pink Unicorn just above my rear bumper. Doesn’t hurt, though, that my parents cut vinyl, and that they were willing to do it for free, even though they aren’t Atheists.
Science will never be able to fully disprove the existence of God, and religious people will never be able to definitively prove that he/she/it does exist. So in my mind, arguing is pointless and silly. Thank you for your time.
hahaha..
i thought God said to take 2 of every kind..
well, he’s got a lot of dogs in that car….
that modern moses ain’t following directions….
nice!
Jesus is a prophet in Islam NOT Judaism.
It’s pretty straightforward – surprised anyone could get this wrong in fact.
Jesus himself was a Jew, and there’s a very very strong argument that conversion to Judaism was the intention of Jesus and his followers.
Judaism = Abraham.
Christianity = Abraham & Jesus.
Islam = Abraham, Jesus & Mohammed.
There are other prophets in each religion of course, but what they really argue about is the importance and emphasise of each.
You would think God would want to be represented by better cars – you know, maybe a Ferrari or a Bentley — maybe a Hummer H2?
But a 10 year-old Toyota Camry? And a 20 year-old Ford Taurus? I mean – come on!
Even Satan drives a better car!
I ain’t into religious bashing, but this is so guiltily true. Too bad you don’t see much red-meat gun politics anymore, you simply can’t run out hilarious of variations of the phrase “from my cold dead hands.” (Note to self: if a position is reducible to glib bumper speech, then it is moronic. …Also, don’t forget the Windex for installing that three foot Virgin Mary blaze.)
I’m so offended by these goddam signs I could puke! Grown people that know nothing about the history of their own religion or of Mithra and Horus or the 30 other myths stolen by xtianity, denying reality and suspending rational thinking for the sake of being a sheep for JC. It just offends me. I could prove the existence of Superman if all I used for proof was Superman comics. Sad, sad sad people.
Evry time I come to an atheist site I get the most hateful and vile words. If I didn’t believe in the Christian God I certainly would avoid atheism. I want to look out the window in the morning and be positive and hopeful. You guys are way out ther on the anger and hate scale. I guess that’s what “no hope” does to you.
Then why do you go to atheist sites if they are too vile for you?
I don’t go to Christian sites and make comments?
Do they say things like “fuck” or “shit” or “God Damn it”??
Feeling a little “better than thou” aren’t we?
You would make a terrible Jew.
Stick to the zombie Jesus story. Eat your ham on Easter, be fat and dumb.
The same exact thing happens to a nonbeliever when he/she goes to a Christianity web site so stop fooling yourself into thinking that you guys are all goodness and descency.
I can’t help but once again defer to the words of St. George of Carlin, one of our finest prophets: “You gotta go easy on these Evangelical Christians, they come in for a lot of abuse these days… All a Christian really wants out of life, is to die! And go see Jesus! GIVE ‘EM A HELPING HAND! Do the Christian thing!”
Honestly, I sit on neither side of the fence. I do however know my deep history. The stories in the bible were written in a language that can be translated into geometric pictures, and every picture tells a story, and every story in the bible paints a picture in sacred geometry. the language is called gematria.
The day I discovered with a compass and square the story of jesus feeding the five thousand with the loaves and fishes was the day I left the church.
Speaking of….I was welcomed into the church for what I believed, and asked to leave for what I know.
Wow… I seriously saw the first car in Orlando the other day… haha.
The Lord God sent Jesus as a saviour; a guiding light and role model for all of mankind. He preached peace and love, performed miracles and cured the disabled wherever he travelled. Whoever he encountered was truly blessed by the hand of God, and his message was to be recited throughout the age of man… Then Mary Magdalene happened.
He’s MY bitch now.
Pretty cool post. I just came by your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your posts.
Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon!
Thank you and I will be.
And here it is! “You Are Going to Hell If…”
Today I was with a Christian colleague. He was talking about how great it is to have jesus in his life. He said jesus is in the room. I told him I was scared. He asked why. I replied “Because a full grown man who manages a team in a technical company believes the ghost of a dead carpenter from two thousand years ago is in the room with us, when plainly the only two beings in here are you and I. I think you need help”. He tried to explain in more detail, but I’d heard enough and walked out shaking my head. Nothing I can say will convince him- he believes in a fairy tale written by sheep herders from the Middle East back at the dawn of civilisation, how can anyone reason with someone like that?
Good point! Many people feel the need to believe in deities or weird beings no matter how irrational that belief may be.
One may believe that there’s a god and all that shit, but believing he or his “son” IS in the room is a serious mental issue
from wack-a-doodle crhistianist cars to creationism lol…who would have known
Arguing with Christians is like arguing with my 5 year old nephew. They won’t stop saying the same thing over again until they get what they want.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s37/MelloMaster/logic.jpg
Just to give a little physics lesson from someone who knows what he’s talking about to those saying “OMG SOMETHING FROM NOTHING ya that never happens”. Sorry to disappoint, but if you did a little research, which I’m sure you rarely bother to do in your quest for the “truth”, you would come upon something known as the Schwinger mechanism, among other things. Quantum physics shows that indeed something does come from nothing, and quite often.
Not that that matters anyway, since the Big Bang theory proposes that all matter was super condensed in to a singularity – a single point which expanded extremely quickly. It says nothing about “something from nothing”. I wonder where you got that idea Mark. Could it be… your ass? Do some research and make SURE that what you’re saying is factually accurate next time so as to not embarrass yourself. Just some helpful advice from an actual scientist.
And to that anonymous fellow questioning evolution on the basis of how the eye developed… Jesus Christ. http://www.talkorigins.org. All the points you brought up are answered quite thoroughly with supportive evidence on that website. Then again, I suppose I shouldn’t expect you to actually do research.
Maybe you should read my comments before making an accusation about me. Perhaps you can point out where I stated this.
http://proudatheists.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/religious-nutjob-cars/#comment-9888
and
http://proudatheists.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/religious-nutjob-cars/#comment-9869
Nor did I introduce the subject of “The Big Bang Theory” into this article.
–
I ask, WHY waste your time arguing with Programmed Religious Robots who do not even have a clue they were, much less they still are programmed?
Many, to most of the millions of Americans (and others) who WERE religious BEFORE we successfully De-Programmed ourselves now realize we really WERE programmed. Of course, we did NOT realize we had been, and were programmed until after we were able to De-Program ourselves.
Those PRR’s who come to Atheist website’s to give us crap are not interested in learning or they would be asking intelligent questions. Nope, they are here as they are so totally clueless they actually believe their very simple, illogical and irrational arguments will cause us to simply “see the light”
They do this as they wallow in the deep dark caves of ignorant religious belief with no idea how totally stupid the entire Christian story is to those of us who are no longer programmed.
And MARK, I also ask why YOU, & the other Atheists who post here, DO NOT CAPITALIZE the first letter of the words ATHEIST & AGNOSTIC?
The non-capitialization of these words is just another method the Christians (and others) use to put us down. Thus, I URGE ALL Atheists, Agnostics and others who believe in FAIRNESS to ALWAYS CAPITALIZE the words “Atheist” and “Agnostic”!
THANK YOU!
Neil C. Reinhardt
an Agnostic Atheist
(As the more logical of you have most probably figured out, you can be BOTH an Agnostic and an Atheist, AT THE SAME TIME.)
–
POOR MIKE!
So typical of the Programmed Religious Robots, being so CLUELESS as to not know THEY ARE NO MORE WANTED BY MOST ATHEISTS to be posting in an Atheist forum than Atheists would be posting in Christian one. I wish he would go play with his own kind.
Christians are deluded as they actually believe their non-intellectual, irrational and illogical arguments they put forth are really going to somehow convince we Atheists are wrong.
Christians do not seem to realize there are many MULTI-MILLIONS of former Christians who are now Atheists while very, very, very few Atheists ever became Christians. And I doubt it occurs to MOST Christians that MANY, to MOST of we Atheists know more about the Bible and the Christian religion than they do. Nope, they too programmed to reaize they are. And the sad thing is, I doubt they have any clue how programmed they are!
——-
“Give me a child until the age of six and they are mine forever!”
The Catholic Church
“There was a time when the Known World was Ruled by the Christian Religion, it is called, THE DARK AGES!”
H. Ruth Green
–
To ALL Christians!
http://media1.break.com/dnet/media/2008/5/15may-17-wwjd.jpg
–
YES Andrew,
There ARE ALL KINDS of Atheist stuff you can get. Stickers, bumper stickers, cups, mugs, posters, brochures, jewelry, magazines, newspapers, books, movies, songs and more!
Just Google search for:
“Atheist shirts, mugs, pins”
as I did and you will find where you can get all these items
Oops, my apologies Mark, that was addressed to the religious dude, Mike I guess it was. Got your names mixed up.
—
For sure, NOT “ALL” Atheists accept the “Big Bang” Theory.
And any “scientists” and/or “experts” reading this should remember, more than a few things “known” to be true, have later been PROVEN to be wrong. Like when I was in HS, NO ONE knew about Plate Tectonics and later, when it was suggested they existed. they were laughed at. (As was Atheist Louis Pasture who said there were germs which could not be seen.)
Here are a few times the “experts” have been wrong:
http://www.hydrogendiscoveries.wordpress.com/…/hydrogen-critics-will-join-the-following-long-list-of-experts-throughout-history-who-were-
In my OPINION, the Big Bang theory is wrong and is proven wrong by the speed various galaxies are separating from each other.
As I understand it, ALL of the galaxies are separating from each other at about the same speed. IF So, then the “Big Bang” is B.S.
I say this because while all the particles in an explosion are traveling at the same speed out from the CENTER of the explosion, the particles on the OPPOSITE sides of the explosion are separating from each other at TWICE that speed.
Therefore, WERE the “Big Bang” true, SOME of the galaxies should be separating from others at twice the speed they are separating from others.
And I have a HUGE problem accepting ALL the matter in the entire cosmos was once contained in some miniscule particle. Thus, I fully believe that at some point in the future, another more rational and logical theory will be formulated.
–
I understand your point, but I’m not so sure that we can even see the matter on the other side of the explosion.
As an agnostic, I have another theory that nobody else seems to dare to mention because they might be thought to be nuts.
Has it occurred to anyone that possibly the “big bang” might actually be a correct naming of what happened? i.e. the creation of our “universe” may actually be the conception of something bigger than us.
Just a thought I’ve been playing with for a while.
Hehehe… I’ve enjoyed reading this thread whereas usually I just turn away in disgust and frustration; trying to reason with zealots is pretty pointless after all… I am constantly amazed at how truly warped and frighteningly narrow the ‘religious mindset’ is, and no matter what the brand or flavor of your particular madness, I judge you fools.
I willingly acknowledge your right to follow your faith and worship as you see fit (provided it does not harm, or impinge on the rights of others) But in doing so I also assert my right to use my own judgment and reason and intellect to make my own decisions and determinations, and as I said; I judge you fools!
All your religions and all your gods and devils and angels and demons, are merely parables and myths. They are psychological constructs and social signposts, they are the Monomyths of our separate cultures, and while originally vital to the overall well being of any society, they have been warped and usurped into tools for the power mad and politically hungry.
I am a deeply spiritual man who is nonetheless an Atheist, and for those many of you who will no doubt find this to be a contradiction, I leave you with your own ignorance, I leave you to wallow and bray in the muck of your own shallow little worldview; ignorant of the actual history behind you, and ill-prepared for the future that awaits.
Ps – Hang in there Mark! Good job!
~Peace
–
Hi Jim7634
1. In any high speed video (which makes it very slow motion) of an explosion, you can observe ALL the particles doing what I said they do.
2. I have NO clue what is out side of our universe, OR just WHAT our universe is expanding into. NOR do I have any idea if YOUR theory is correct or not.
3. As far as you ONLY being an “Agnostic” I submit the following
I AM an “Agnostic Atheist”
While I have met others who are rational, intelligent & logical enough to have figured out by themselves it IS possible to be both at the SAME time, I have caused others to realize it as well.
I even met a believer who was logical enough to refer to himself as an “Agnostic Christian.”
Sadly, it seems most Atheists and/or Agnostics have no clue what the words “BELIEVE”, “KNOW”, “ATHEIST” and “AGNOSTIC” mean.
If you KNOW a god exists, you ARE a Theist.
If you do NOT KNOW if a god exists or not, you ARE an “Agnostic”
PERIOD!
IF you “BELIEVE” in a god, you ARE a Theist!
If you do NOT believe in a god, you ARE an Atheist
PERIOD!
IF you KNOW there is NO WAY to KNOW IF there is a god or not, AND you do NOT BELIEVE in a god, YOU ARE, as I and others are, an Agnostic Atheist.
PERIOD!
END OF STORY!
Please, Take Care!
Neil
Neil,
“In any high speed video (which makes it very slow motion) of an explosion, you can observe ALL the particles doing what I said they do.”
In an explosion that you can film has to be small enough to see it in it’s entirety. The point I think you missed is that even with our best telescopes we still can’t see the ends of the universe. Simply put, as far as I know if we can only see matter on OUR side of the explosion then we do not have all data to prove or disprove what the matter going in the opposite direction is doing.
I don’t argue your physics, I do question your perspective.
As to your other point, I named myself correctly even by your standards. I am an agnostic!
The problem I am trying to describe is that if there is a “God” then ( by a human perspective) he/she/it is anything /anyone(?) bigger than we are. That DOES NOT mean that this “God” has anything to do with humanity or, for that matter, even the universe. But your point that all matter in the universe is moving away (or outward if you will) simply correlates to growing. My point then is that creation = conception. So far, although I’m not a scientist, I haven’t seen anything that even come close to disproving this hypothesis. And does fit the facts as far as I know them.
I could go on but I think I answered you main points.
Jim7634
Neither side can fully comprehend each other, and sane voices are never the ones heard first in either group. Why not just live and let live?
its very funny how religious people, like christians, are eager to argue against notions such as evolution and the big bang then get all deffensive when people question the bible. Maybe in 500-1000 years time people will believe that ‘the lord of the rings’ was fact. or that the harry potter series was fact. whoever wrote the bible was a good author with a great imagination…either that or he was crazy as shit. after watching Alien vs Predator i was left with more certainty on how human civilization came to be than i was after reading the bible. The universe is huge…so insted of a ‘divine being’ surely it is more probable and likely that our planets ‘god’ or ‘jesus’ was some crazy alien life form? and before anyone gets mental this is NOT scientology theory. those guys are crazy. but then again…im pretty sure u crazy christians arnt willing to accept that your ’savior’ culd be an alien. lol. all im saying is for people who put so much belief into a book…why so touchy when it comes to people actually putting an effort into finding out the mysteries of this world and the universe when all you guys seem to do is sit back and say ‘gods work’? Scientists arnt trying to prove god doesnt exist. they are trying to find out how WE exist by finding out FACTS. Maybe insted of quoting a book thats thousands of years old christians should get of their asses and actually try and prove the existence and authenticity of their own beliefs insted of expressing anger at other groups of people that are accidently disproving the gods and religions of this world by working hard at trying to find out the big questions…why? how? when? what?
i dont class myself as anything. im not religious and i dont clasify myself as an atheist. but i do sympathize with atheists. christian posters are everywhere. no complaints. an atheist billboard is put up encouraging people to believe in themselves and not rely on a god that might not exists. the christian community goes crazy. so at what point does it seem acceptable for christians to advertise their religion, which ISNT fact, and then emits hate towards a non religious group that simply says ‘you dont need god to be a good person’ which IS fact. This is why i hate religion. Too much faith. very little fact. too many people have died in religious wars…one of which we are currently involved in. has anyone stopped to think how many deaths would of been prevented if there were no religions? billions.
Dad?
First and only commandment of atheism is:
Don’t be an ass hole.
let’s remember this.
Peace.
Sorry, I don’t adhere to ANY doctrine…religious or atheist.
I’m a free agent.
I’m just a happy atheist.
I live in Florida and saw the car with the clay figurines at a stoplight near Sea World.
I figured I was safe, though. I feel like it’s the Extremist Christian Batmobile. Except sliding down a pole to get to it, they slide down a Catholic Priest.
Hiyo!
You need to take a trip to Savannah, GA, and get a shot of Pro-Life Anderson’s car covered with bloody dolls.
Yes, the guy legally changed his first name to Pro-Life.
After reading most of these comments i am appalled and disgusted by the blatant hatred of some people for others.
Yes, Christianity and other religions may seem impractical. But honestly, who gives a fuck?
Let people believe what they will, whether it be in a God or no god at all. And if they seem fanatical about those beliefs, let them be. There is absolutely no need to go apeshit on a person for believing what they think is true.
Grow up, and learn to tolerate the differences of people.
The “live and let live” idea is a good one, since I agree that most Christians are not dangerous and most atheists are not assholes. I am a Buddhist atheist myself, but I see some value in both sides of the belief divide working to improve life for all people.
But when you suggest that both sides leave each other alone, you’re ignoring the real danger of NOT debating the idea of God. Most strains of Christianity are at least partially evangelical. I know a lot of Christians would cry foul to hear me say that, but it’s true. Even the most tolerant and loving Christian will assert one thing – that God loves his creation and wants the best for us all. And since most Christians assume themselves to be the best representatives of God, they will do their best to perform God’s Work. Not Man’s Work. They want other people to see the love and glory of Christ. This could involve many methods of “charity,” from sending missionaries to ravaged African nations to bombing abortion clinics.
Bad comparison? Consider this – in both cases, we know who the Christians are. They want to be seen. In the first example, they’re handing out rice and Bibles, or wearing shirts with big crosses on them. In the second example, they’re spouting God’s Law while being dragged away by the authorities. There are definitely Christians who do good deeds (truly good deeds) in anonymity, but it seems rare to me. In contrast, I have yet to see an atheist donate money to a charity and declare that it is their atheist duty to do so.
My point is that if you live and let live, you’re eliminating the checks and balances hidden in this entire thread. Atheists are in the minority, at least when compared to the global Christian population, and every voice challenging the idea of God is one more voice keeping God from being implemented and subsidized. Should we just leave the evangelical U.S. Senator (a hypothetical person here, but no doubt real) to abolish state aid to single, unwed mothers because they are sapping government funds and perpetuating unhealthy family relationships? If we are to live and let live, I suppose the best course of action is to wait until the Senator discovers the follies of his ways?
“Live and let live” is not an acceptable position when there are very powerful people quietly doing their best to make sure God’s Law is State Law.
You think I’m blowing this out of proportion.
(And I realize that I use many hypothetical situations in this post, but they are very conceivable)
Photoshopped!
Is that why you see the shadows of the roof ornaments on the rear window of the first car?
Get your eyes checked.
And if you still don’t believe me, here is another photo of the same car from a different angle.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2483/3578242656_98d2f82e04.jpg?v=0
I wish people would scrutinize religion as much as these photos.
Your comments show what liberals and liberals think of Christians and Jews. I will use your comments on DNC flyers and this will make good material to convert people from the dnc and i am sure sure this will be a good video on youtube
Liberalism is mostly a political stance. There are liberal Jews, Christians and atheists.
Wow, I think if I saw one of these cars on the road, I would throw a rock at the windshield. Not for their beliefs, but for being your stereotypical, close-minded bible humper that made me reject religion in the first place. Really, when did it become blasphemy for someone to believe something different than you? I wih I could shove that stupid owl up the driver’s ass and tell him to ask God to take it out because obviously he doesn’t feel science has anything to offer, so a doctor won’t help. People like this are why society is declining.
The bible is a fairy tale.
I sat here for nearly half an hour reading these arguments and I don’t feel any smarter for doing so. Nothing was solved, no one was helped, and the world isn’t any better because of it. There was just a bunch of “belief bashing”, No attempt to understand anyone. This is just a poor way to go about something. Instead of being hypocritical by forcing your views on someone else and insulting them by saying that they are doing the same, make an attempt to understand them and their views. All of this is exactly what causes conflict. Why not just accept? Why not go on with your own views without bashing someone else for believing something different? We’re all human and we all deserve respect. Why not just treat each other fairly? Why don’t we quit wasting our time here and go out and do something that will help someone or make something about the world better. I love you guys and gals.
The first car is someone who lives in my area. See that car all over the place. True story.
1. The ONLY THING which ALL Atheists have in common is they do NOT believe in one, or more gods! It is also the ONLY thing which ALL Atheists agree on.
2, There is NO Atheist Doctrine!
3. Atheism has NO commandments.
Period!
End of story!
——————-
Jim,
The SIZE of an explosion has NOTHING to do with what the parrticles do. NOR does my “perspective” of being able to actually view the entire cosmos, and all of whatr is happening in it also have NOTHING to do with it.
Galaxies speed, and their distances from us, are measured by “Red Shifts”
As far as you ONLY being an Agnostic.
Some people who are very poor singers actually believe they can not only sing, they can win a million bucks and have their own show in Lost Wages. The fact the judges, as well as the audience, both know, and show by their words and actions the performer is a terrible singer, they still have no clue they are totally wrong.
YOU may “Believe” you classed yourself correctly. Myself, plus all others who have logically and rationally figured out a person can NOT be ONLY an Agnostic disagree with you.
You EITHER “believe” in a god OR, you do not. IF you do NOT believe in a god, that’s ANY god, YOU ARE AN ATHEIST!
Period! End of story!
———————————-
Now for those who are so totally clueless as to say Atheists should not give the idiot Christians a hard time.
The FACTS ARE that MOST Americans who are Atheists are TOO AFRAID to PUBLICLY state they ARE Atheists! Some are even too afraid to even tell their good friends and their immediate family!
(SUFFICIENT research will PROVE I am correct in the above.)
WHO are all these Atheists AFRAID of?
Well, Gee Wiz, IT IS THE CHRISTIANS!
WHY are they AFRAID?
The Christians, oh less than educated and informed ones, discriminate against us. They persecute us, they do not hire and/or they fire us, they boycott our business and vandalize our property. They physically attack us, our children and even our pets.
They send us hate mail, make threatening phone calls to us. They force us to follow their rules and they cost us around $900/00 a year in extra taxes.
They hold the equivalent of “Witch Trials”
where Atheists are railroaded with lies from officials. And here in America, they still beat and am d KILL ATHEISTS ONLY because they ARE Atheists.
Now if you disagree with what I have said the Christians do to Atheists here in the United States of America TODAY, you are only proving how ignorant of the facts you are. And IF you reply to this in a negative manner, you prove you are just too lazy to get the facts as sufficient research will PROVE I AM Correct!
Neil,
I was going to go into a fairly detailed explanation of why your reply is both myopic and wrong. However, I went back and reread your other comments and realized that arguing with you is like arguing with the theist you rage about. Additionally, other than the two replies I’ve posted here, you know nothing about me I don’t see where you have the right to decide where I or any other FREE THINKER needs to call themselves.
———————————-
Note to Mark,
Since I’m probably one of the newest members of this blog I will withdraw rather than cause a flame war that I think I can see coming. I would appreciate I if you leave this post in place. It’s up to you, but I think according to your rules the above needs to need said
Jim7634
I’m a Northern American Atheist and I came to the South (also known as the Bible Belt of the United States) for college. And let me say, it’s not easy and I dislike (most) Christians now. Why? they are pushy and judgmental and their hypocritical actions simply do not reflect what they claim to believe. There are always exceptions, but stereotypes exist for a reason people. I was a devout Christian once upon a time, but as I matured, my intelligence did not allow me to believe in a God. I do believe I am a good person, and the few Atheists I know are better friends and better people than ANY of the christians I have been ‘friends’ with. Pastors and family included.
I dislike Christians not because they believe in god, but because they believe that everyone should believe in god. I do not like people telling me wether or not I can get an abortion, have personal freedom, can have sex, etc. all because they think I should believe in a book of Jewish fairy tales.
It is no exaggeration when I say I am approached by a ‘christian’ AT MY HOUSE 2-3 times a week, not to mention how often I am approached at my job in the mall… believe it or not, there is a church IN our mall! It seems all of my neighbors are religious, and they all talk about how I am not and then plan times to knock on my door and tell me I am a sinner and need to look to god for guidance. (it’s not surprising that most of these people are uneducated, have grammar issues, and have serious lack of hygiene) These people have NO BUSINESS telling me what to do and how to live and what to believe in. I don’t go door to door telling people that god doesn’t exist! (at least I would have a logical and reasonable argument though if I wanted to.)
I believe that a person should do good and be good because they know in their own mind it is the right thing. Not because they are afraid of being punished. That is ridiculously childish. It’s the same as not misbehaving as a child for fear of a spanking. And hell, if there is a god, and he gave us free will, then why would he be mad at us for being good people just for the sake of being good people!? Isn’t that even more impressive than ‘I did it because I was scared of eternal punishment!’
Anyway, I was ranting. I just read an article about how christians are protesting in Florida because of a billboard that says “You don’t have to believe in God to be a good person” Don’t believe in god? You aren’t alone!” sponsored by free thinkers of florida or something? And then I was fighting with several christians about abortion… and now I’ve stumbled on this, so I’m a bit riled up.
My point is: Believe what you want, but do it quietly please! Leave me, and the government, out of it.
I know exactly where you’re coming from.
Many are overly persistent on changing you.
I’m glad I don’t live in the US and have to deal with ppl who drive cars like this [btw how could u see out the back window?] But, we now have a “Family First” [read religious nutter] party member holding the balance of power in our Senate {Aus.} He won’t for the [elected] government’s Climate Change bill as it “Hasn’t been proven that ‘greenhouse’ gases are causing climate change!”
read ‘ vote’ for….
In my nearly 75 years of life, (Over 64 as an Agnostic Atheist and over 40 years as an Atheist Activist.) I’ve found most, and perhaps all of the many Atheists I have communicated with care less if others
believe in a god or not. What we do care about is how religious people in general, and here is the US, how the Christians in particular, treat others.
We really care less what they believe in. It makes no difference if it is one god or in many gods. We care less if they believe they are going to some make-believe, pie in the sky after life or not
What we do care about are things like the is the stupid bigotry and intolerance too
Christians make evident by their words and actions. Their MANY LIES and their continual blocking of progress.
(Think where we would be today had not the Christian Church ruled ‘the known world’ for so many hundreds of years.)
Christians thinking they have the right to tell others how to live and using OUR Tax money to support their archaic, idiotic, irrartional, illogical and unscientific belief system.
Nor do we like them acting like the OWN the United States when the US Congress unanimously passed a 1797 treaty (begun under President George washington) and signed by President John Adams which stated:
“The United States of America is in NO SENSE a Christian nation.”
AND
In the Supreme Court’s 1892 Holy Trinity Church vs. United States, Justice David Brewer wrote that “this is a Christian nation.”
While Christians use this as evidence, as usual they leave out the rest of the story.
Brewer wrote this in dicta, as a personal opinion only and does not serve as a legal pronouncement. Later Brewer felt obliged to explain himself:
“– in what sense can [the United States] be called a Christian nation? Not in the sense that Christianity is the established religion or the people are compelled in any manner to support it. On the contrary, the Constitution specifically provides that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’
Neither is it Christian in the sense that all its citizens are either in fact or in name Christians. On the contrary, all religions have free scope within its borders. Numbers of our people profess other religions, and many reject all.”
Well put … Nuff said.
I apologize to those about to flame me, but I didn’t take the time to read all of this mammoth thread. I did read at least half of it, however.
So, I don’t know – did anyone mention the phenomenon that the story of Jesus isn’t original? S’true.
First, look up the stories of Horus, Dionysus, Krishna, and Mithras.
Stories sound familiar?
See when they were first written. To the faithful, don’t ignore the numbers, the math, the logic. To those who didn’t know this, stop arguing with the faithful on philosophy and faulty thinking. Use numbers. It’s the seed that grows.
Is it not a fair to think that Christianity may have been started by someone who had heard these stories for a few centuries? As humans do, maybe someone along the line messed up the details in the retelling – like a thousand-year-old game of “Telephone”- and origins got skewed.
Or some influential men (all signs point to Paul) who wanted to draw in followers purposely attributed that this story of a savior was about one of their own people, thereby taking credit for the salvation of mankind.
Read about the Hero’s Journey, a phrase coined by Joseph Campbell, which is the common plot shared by nearly every single example of organized religion.
Secondly, why is it that Paul started telling the story of Jesus 50 years after Jesus died? Why wasn’t everyone going on and on about this amazing man? And why had he left out the good parts? Like how could he leave out 1) that strange, unnatural virgin birth? 2) That the man miraculously healed and exorcised all kinds of people? 3) That he criticized and trashed the temple? (Might not have been crucified if he’d not done that.) 4) That Jesus taught in parables? 5) He doesn’t even give details of that incredible crucifixion and resurrection. I mean I’d have wanted to see the empty tomb, but not Paul? Well, no worry: Mark comes up with that one.
There are a lot of other things that are absent the Pauline letters, but these are some of the Hollywood-style grabbers.
Thirdly, and what started me to slide permanently off the pew, is simple deduction to this question: Why do people, no matter how religious they are, not believe when someone says that God is talking to them? If someone says that they literally hear a voice that says it is God, and no one else hears that voice, people invariably believe them to be nuts and hallucinating? Try it out on anyone: your friends, your family, your church group, your most religious person ever known to man. You say “God told me ‘Yea. Go forth and buy ice cream’,” you are going to be given a wide berth.
Why? Bible people say that God was practically a windbag talking to Noah, to Abraham, to Job, to every-freakin-body. So, what’s so hard to believe that it could happen again?
Simple deduction.
_Everyone_ doubts God’s existence to some degree – at least to this degree.
That was the seed planted in me in junior high. Add the conspicuous lack of divine, totally warranted intervention during the Holocaust, plus allowing his earthly Catholic representatives to rape children without a right smiting, and it was easy to rise up to agnostic.
Then, after studying all of this and more for a couple of years, I realized my agnosticism was simply fear instilled in me from my childhood. I dropped the fear and religion, and rose up to an enlightened atheist and have never been happier, healthier, and kinder.
I am a good person without God.
Better than I ever was with him.
“Is it not a fair to think that Christianity may have been started by someone who had heard these stories for a few centuries? As humans do, maybe someone along the line messed up the details in the retelling – like a thousand-year-old game of “Telephone”- and origins got skewed. ”
Ah, no… sorry you are wrong… One of the main problems during those days was… Rome. Rome fell when, 70AD? In none of the gospels is this mentioned. Jesus died, around, 30AD… so basically we have a 50 year period that these were written. This absoultely would have been mentioned in their writings, it was not. So we are talking about within 50years. If you’d like me to point you to more solid proof other then what I’ve just said I can do so. But it points to the same facts.
I assume you stopped reading my input after this, and I think you have lost a lot of my inflection. My point is that Christianity was not an original story.
Plus, I mentioned the same thing you do right after.
I was being rhetorical and democratic by mentioning another improbable possibility.
Send proof of it for the others here.
I have seen it.
YO, MY 2CENTS
YOUSE IS SO RIGHT!
Atheist Pat Tilman, left a pro-football career, fame and millions of dollars to go fight bin Laden & his Moslem Religious Nut Jobs. (Fact: Moslem Religious Fanatics have been killing Americans for over 25 years.)
He did it for a very simple reason.
BECAUSE IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO!
He went to fight terrorists not the muslim religion. Stop judging the many upon the acts of a few.
Religion makes some people feel more secure about their place in the universe and they can then dump their responsibility for being here.
Wow, interesting vehicles. Or what’s on the vehicles, to be specific.
Are people really arguing back and forth about this?
After reading this, I must confess that the religious goofballs in here have made me at least 30% dumber than I was before I stumbled on this site.
Go out and learn something about evolution, genetics, the big bang, or even thermodynamics before spouting off about them. You all need to take a long, hard look at the quote “It’s better to remain quiet and appear foolish than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” before posting about things you don’t even have an elementary understanding of.
Well, I believe the bible is a great work of fiction. Written by man, professed by man. Jesus was real, I’m sure. But I don’t believe that he was concieved by this magical, unseen being who impregnates a young girl via an angel. That’s just a bit too over the top for me. To put it bluntly, Mary got knocked up the old fashioned way.
The only thing I hope is true in the bible is the Rapture. Because then, when the rapture happens, all the crazy christians will suddenly vanish and this world will be full of peace.
Religion is the cause of just about every major war and conflict on this planet. Imagine if there were no religion, we’d finally know what peace was.
hahaha i know the car on the top i took tons of pictures of it while we were driving down the highway. That crazy person lives somewhere in the Orlando area. The hood is covered with ornaments as well. Unfortunatley the tint was to dark to see the driver
i like turtles.
Re: Some moron up there…Hint (Den)
How can logic rule out “a God”?
It’s definitely logical to say that “A God” created the Dino’s also, but the narrow minds of recent historic religions would rather restrict “God’s” power and love, to human creatures, rather than all creatures (ancient or present).
Just as there’s no proof of “God or A God”, There’s also no proof that one does, or ever existed. Hence Agnosticism…
Broaden your already broad minds people…
BTW Funny Shyt Sean…
Doesn’t or never…
I figured I’d fix that before some anal proofreader busted my balls about it
you know, I’m not atheist or anything, but fuck this shit.
I find car #2 so ironic “Evolution is a fairy tale for grown ups”, surely religion is a fairy tale for the close-minded ? I’m not saying that all people who follow a religion are close-minded, only the ones who believe the many facts of evolution to be myth.
Hey Tom,
As it seems you really need it, YOU should go take a course on IMPROVING your reading comprehension skills!
I NEVER said Tilman went to fight the Moslem RELIGION. I said he went to fight Moslem FANATICS!
And Child, ALL Moslem TERRORISTS, just like all Christian Terrorists, ARE FANATICS!
DUH!
Neil
Poor Mike,
I feel sorry for you as not only are you a Programmed Religious Robot who has NO clue you ARE programmed, you are not too bright either.
Not that it will do any good what-so-ever to explain some FACTS to you, I shall do anywho as there are others who may read this who will be edified by the following.
Look, Oh Totally Clueless and Illogical One,
MULTI-MILLIONS of Americans who are now Atheists WERE Christians!
MANY Atheists were not only Christians
for MANY years, they were OFFICIALS of some type IN the Christrian religion. Like Ministers, Priests, Preachers, Deacons, Nuns etc.
(And do NOT be so totally clueless as to say Catholics are not Christians as you’ll only again prove how totally IGNORANT you are.)
While the odds are I have forgotten more about your childish superstition than YOU will ever learn, for damn sure Dan Barker, Cliff Walker and many others have.
Proving your IDIOT comment # ONE
“It’s always interesting when people who are not Christians try and quote AND UNDERSTAND what the bible teaches.”
is nothing other than total Bull Shit!
As far as your IDIOT comment # Two.
“Christians give more to charity then any other group. So don’t try to bash Christians for not giving back, they do more then anyone else.”..
While that MAY be true, did it not ever occur to you, THEY SHOULD as there are MANY, MANY MORE Christians in the U.S. than there are Atheists?
That said, NAME me a Christian who gave NINETY PERCENT of his huge fortune away to help others as the ATHEIST Andrew Carnegie did.
NAME me a Christian who gave ONE BILLION to the UN to help others as ATHEIST Ted Turner did!
NAME me a Christian who has (so far) given THIRTY SEVEN BILLION to help others as ATHEIST Warren Buffet HAS!
NAME me a Christian who, EVERY YEAR GIVES MANY BILLIONS to help others as ATHEIST Bill Gates DOES!
These examples PROVE your IDIOT comment # TWO is just more uniformed Bull Shit!
Here Child, read what some of YOUR present day Christian Leaders say:
http://www.sullivan-county.com/news/mine/quotes.htm
http://www.weirdcrap.com/recreational/chrsquot.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/pa/greywlf/why.html
Last, Oh Totally Programmed One, stop eating so many stupid pills and try something new, it is called LEARNING!
Neil C. Reinhardt
Poor Mike
I see you are still eating stupid pills!
Look Child, I AM not only MUCH MORE Knowledgeable & More Experienced than probably 95% of people who my age (74) are much less anyone who is younger. And, as I am also smarter than over 97.5% of the world, when I say things you can bet your butt I damn well have FACTS to back them up!
Your comments have again PROVED how very apparent it is that you, rather than your doing the slightest bit of research so your posts do not prove, over and over again how IGNORANT you are just post totally illogical and irrational crap like the following:
“OK? And MULTI-MILLIONS of Americans who are now Christians WERE Atheists!”
The last time I replied to you, I said it was a waste of time and YOU PROVED I WAS RIGHT!
HERE, TRY LEARNING!
Statistics on Religion in America Report — Pew Forum on Religion …Report 2: Religious Beliefs & Practices / Social & Political Views … Conversely, those that are declining in number because of religious change simply are …
http://religions.pewforum.org/reports
Religious identification in the U.S.
A similar American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) was conducted in … questions were added, about religious beliefs, affiliation and change. …
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm
Religious Identities, Beliefs and Behavior in Contemporary …
Religious Identities, Beliefs and Behavior in Contemporary American Society …. Clicking on these links will change the site you’re on and empty your …
http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p109634_index.html
Next, I did NOT MISS A DAMN THING, YOU DID!
As far as giving money to help others, IT WAS EXPLAINED. Based on your post, YOU NEED to learn how to improve your reading and logical thinking skills.
Tell me CHILD, were the Japanese who were raised to believe their emperor was a “god” Programmed?
YOU BET YOUR ASS THEY WERE!
Were the German Youth who were raised to believe in Hitler and to do what he said Programmed?
YOU BET YOUR ASS THEY WERE!
Are the Moslem kids who are raised to believe if they blow themselves & others to hell they will get a perfect life (with 72 Virgins) Programmed?
YOU BET YOUR ASS THEY ARE!
Are people like Eric Robert Rudolph and the other IDIOT Christian TERRORISTS who believe they have a right to blow up the Olympics. gay bars, abortion clinics and KILL others Programmed?
YOU BET YOUR ASS THEY ARE!
Look CHILD,
Because you do NOT KNOW you ARE PROGRAMMED does not mean a damn thing. MANY, if NOT MOST, Former Christians did NOT know they were programmed WHEN they were Christians! They only realized it AFTER they had DE-programmed themselves.
DUH!
IF Christians are not PROGRAMMED, WHY does the Catholic Church STATE:
“GIVE ME A CHILD UNTIL THE AGE OF SIX AND THEY ARE MINE FOREVER!”
If Christians are NOT programmed, why are they SO STUPID as to come to an Atheist Forum, WHERE THEY ARE NOT WANTED, and put forth their childish, asinine arguments? Why do they say totally STUPID things anyone with even a modicum of world knowledge knows are false?
Why is it many FORMER Christians, after they have DE-Programmed themselves, say things like:
“Now for the first time I know what true freedom of mind and action are.”
All in all Mike all you do every time you post is PROVE to all of us who have DE-Programmed ourselves you ARE programmed.
Last Mike, GO to your own Jack Yard and BACK OFF!
LEAVE US ALONE! YO ARE NOT WANTED HERE!
OR are you so PROGFRAMMED (And STUPID) that MARK telling you that time after time does NOT get through?
Neil,
Wow! You kick ass really good!! Love it! Love it! Love it!!!!
(It takes a Senior Citizen to really know how to “kick ass” !!)
………’Nother Senior