(February 1, 2016 at 10:38 pm)Excited Penguin Wrote:

(February 1, 2016 at 10:34 pm)God of Mr. Hanky Wrote: That much is true.

A better reason for being anti-theist isn't that theists are necessarily stupid, when in fact they aren't. The problem is that they teach theism, which contributes to much ignorance, no matter how intelligent the person who believes. Those who are too smart not to know better than what they are taught all too often will choose to fit in, and even teach it themselves - this may begin as a sincere effort to "reclaim" their own faith, but it contributes perversely to the culture of dishonesty, and it's an infection which to some degree sickens all of society (you know how evangelicals just cannot keep their shit to themselves).

Dude, they believe in a magic sky daddy. They're dumb. Come on.

Do you not understand how childhood indoctrination works? A toddler can be told things which are filed permanently into his head, and are very hard to remove at any point in his life because he heard them before he had developed any reasoning capacity by which such dumb ideas could be screened out. This is why theists all believe such ideas, almost 1000 years after talk of fairies, dragons, and angry gods became no longer topics discussed among intellectuals. Only those who find themselves confronted with an intellectual and moral crisis on what they have believed can be set free of being ruled by dumb theistic ideas which they were taught when so young.

Yes, I used to be that "dumb"!

As an anti-theist, I oppose the teaching of theism to children.

(February 1, 2016 at 10:53 pm)God of Mr. Hanky Wrote:

(February 1, 2016 at 10:38 pm)Excited Penguin Wrote: Dude, they believe in a magic sky daddy. They're dumb. Come on.

Do you not understand how childhood indoctrination works? A toddler can be told things which are filed permanently into his head, and are very hard to remove at any point in his life because he heard them before he had developed any reasoning capacity by which such dumb ideas could be screened out. This is why theists all believe such ideas, almost 1000 years after talk of fairies, dragons, and angry gods became no longer topics discussed among intellectuals. Only those who find themselves confronted with an intellectual and moral crisis on what they have believed can be set free of being ruled by dumb theistic ideas which they were taught when so young.

Yes, I used to be that "dumb"!

Oh, give me a break. That excuse can only go so far. And I was religious too at one point.

(February 1, 2016 at 10:39 pm)Aegon Wrote:

(February 1, 2016 at 9:43 pm)Kitan Wrote: I mourn the loss of life, but a theistic life being lost is, to me, akin to a squashing a bug.

Aaaaaaaand I'm done with this thread.

B'bye!

(February 1, 2016 at 10:58 pm)Excited Penguin Wrote:

(February 1, 2016 at 10:53 pm)God of Mr. Hanky Wrote: Do you not understand how childhood indoctrination works? A toddler can be told things which are filed permanently into his head, and are very hard to remove at any point in his life because he heard them before he had developed any reasoning capacity by which such dumb ideas could be screened out. This is why theists all believe such ideas, almost 1000 years after talk of fairies, dragons, and angry gods became no longer topics discussed among intellectuals. Only those who find themselves confronted with an intellectual and moral crisis on what they have believed can be set free of being ruled by dumb theistic ideas which they were taught when so young.

Yes, I used to be that "dumb"!

Oh, give me a break. That excuse can only go so far. And I was religious too at one point.

At one point? Do tell!

(February 1, 2016 at 10:58 pm)Excited Penguin Wrote:

(February 1, 2016 at 10:53 pm)God of Mr. Hanky Wrote: Do you not understand how childhood indoctrination works? A toddler can be told things which are filed permanently into his head, and are very hard to remove at any point in his life because he heard them before he had developed any reasoning capacity by which such dumb ideas could be screened out. This is why theists all believe such ideas, almost 1000 years after talk of fairies, dragons, and angry gods became no longer topics discussed among intellectuals. Only those who find themselves confronted with an intellectual and moral crisis on what they have believed can be set free of being ruled by dumb theistic ideas which they were taught when so young.

Yes, I used to be that "dumb"!

Oh, give me a break. That excuse can only go so far.

And you know this how? What are your credentials in psychology, neuroscience, or pedagody?

Me, I'm going to consider the thoughts of the experts on the issue first, and Sam Harris expresses this opinion rather strongly.

(February 1, 2016 at 10:47 pm)God of Mr. Hanky Wrote:

(February 1, 2016 at 10:38 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: So every theist is like Hitler then? 

You're sounding more like Hitler yourself than any theist I have ever spoken with - wanting people to die for being of a particular religion.

I have to agree on that, its a weird escalation into Godwin territory!

Oh, btw, Hitler was a devout Catholic

Completely false. He was raised/baptized Catholic, yes. But he definitely was not a practicing Catholic, much less a devout one. Neither did he adhere to Catholic teaching. Obviously.

I'm Anti-Theist. But I don't hate theists. I hate their ways. (Hate the crazy, not the lunatic!)

(February 2, 2016 at 12:03 am)Cecelia Wrote: I'm Anti-Theist.  But I don't hate theists.  I hate their ways.  (Hate the crazy, not the lunatic!)

What ways do you hate about us?

(February 1, 2016 at 10:04 pm)Kitan Wrote:

(February 1, 2016 at 10:00 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: Are you a sociopath or psychopath or something?

No.

Rather, I just suffer from a form of social anxiety disorder.

Also, stating what I believe, even if it goes against the norm, does not brand me either a sociopath or a psychopath. Rather, it just means I am more comfortable being honest about certain things than most people.

It's actually your absence of empathy that brands you as one of those two categories. Whichever one it is, you have my pity.

(February 2, 2016 at 12:12 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(February 1, 2016 at 10:04 pm)Kitan Wrote: No.  

Rather, I just suffer from a form of social anxiety disorder.

Also, stating what I believe, even if it goes against the norm, does not brand me either a sociopath or a psychopath.  Rather, it just means I am more comfortable being honest about certain things than most people.

It's actually your absence of empathy that brands you as one of those two categories. Whichever one it is, you have my pity.

I actually fantasized once that all stupid people would somehow die in a tragic accident and the smartest 1% would live to build a better world. Does that mean I lack empathy? 

You're overreacting. Obviously, this isn't what he thinks all the time, or we would have noticed it far sooner and he wouldn't have even presented it this way(if at all). People are allowed to have dark thoughts every once in a while. We all have them. There's no need to panic though.