(August 12, 2017 at 1:08 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: Like with everything else, I'm sure it just depends on the theist. Doesn't make much sense to make any sort of blanket statement about a group that includes billions of people.

Except, as has been pointed out repeatedly, that 100% of them are delusional.


It really comes down to that, the delusional thinking involved in the whole thing. The delusion that they're being persecuted. The delusion that we want to 'take their faith away from them' in a way that isn't comparable to curing them of a disease. The delusion that we are, as the bible says, incapable of doing good works (in spite of blatantly obvious evidence that by and large those without such delusions are more moral folk than their religious counterparts). The delusion that the facts support their position and that we're the ones who are lying. The delusion that non-belief is a religion or requires faith so that anything said in opposition to their adherence is hypocritical since even the opposition is guilty of the same.

All of that contributes to feeling threatened, over-sensitivity to anything said in criticism (because of the blunder of having their religious identity being their primary identity and that leading to their inability to separate their beliefs from their own identities) and the perceived affront of being rebuked when trying to offer us a cup of poisoned bullshit and claiming it's something tasty and healthy.

I think when theists are insecure in their own beliefs (ie when they live in a self-imposed bubble of willful ignorance... afraid to look outside of it for fear of what they might find) then atheists might be seen as a threat, in the sense that just by existing and voicing our opinions... which outright doubt or deny everything they hold dear... it makes it harder for them to maintain that bubble. In other words if they engage with us or pay attention to us, it forces them to confront uncomfortable thoughts that they would prefer not to confront. For those sorts of theists, I think they'd actually prefer if we were Satanists... because then the issues would be about choices within the same 'framework' of understanding as it were, rather than fundamental differences of opinion about the very basis of their beliefs.

On personal level I just feel very very sad for atheists. At the cultural level I believe that atheism is a corrosive and undermines the core values of Western civilization such as human dignity, civil rights, aesthetic hierarchies.

You would.... but then again you're a shithead with a bible and a crank religion of your own so who really gives a flying fuck what you think?

(August 12, 2017 at 8:55 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: On personal level I just feel very very sad for atheists. At the cultural level I believe that atheism is a corrosive and undermines the core values of Western civilization such as human dignity, civil rights, aesthetic hierarchies.

Well FWIW I wasn't thinking of you, or any other theist on this site for that matter, in my own reply to this thread... I was thinking of the sort of theist that wouldn't dare set foot on a site like this and engage with atheists, like some I know.

As to your cultural problems with atheism... how do you figure all of those?

(August 12, 2017 at 9:12 pm)emjay Wrote:

(August 12, 2017 at 8:55 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: On personal level I just feel very very sad for atheists. At the cultural level I believe that atheism is a corrosive and undermines the core values of Western civilization such as human dignity,  civil rights, aesthetic hierarchies.

Well FWIW I wasn't thinking of you, or any other theist on this site for that matter, in my own reply to this thread... I was thinking of the sort of theist that wouldn't dare set foot on a site like this and engage with atheists, like some I know.

As to your cultural problems with atheism... how do you figure all of those?

Yes we should all hate questioning. It was a great time when blacks were slaves and women could not vote. It really sucks that atheists like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerburg provided a platform for theists to argue we should all go back to the dark ages.

(August 12, 2017 at 8:55 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: On personal level I just feel very very sad for atheists. At the cultural level I believe that atheism is a corrosive and undermines the core values of Western civilization such as human dignity,  civil rights, aesthetic hierarchies.

And straight in to the troll bin folder you go.

*Glares at Theists* What are you looking at? Huh!? What.Are.You. Looking.At.

Just kidding lol

(August 12, 2017 at 9:43 pm)Industrial Lad Wrote: *Glares at Theists* What are you looking at? Huh!? What.Are.You. Looking.At.

Just kidding lol

Nah, man, shoulda gone with Taxi Driver's monologue on that one.

(August 12, 2017 at 10:20 pm)Astonished Wrote:

(August 12, 2017 at 9:43 pm)Industrial Lad Wrote: *Glares at Theists* What are you looking at? Huh!? What.Are.You. Looking.At.

Just kidding lol

Nah, man, shoulda gone with Taxi Driver's monologue on that one.

I saw the youtube video of that. That's pretty cool. Hard to believe that was Robert de Niro.