Hello second dosage... oh please let me settle into it soon

(August 28, 2011 at 6:33 pm)frankiej Wrote: I feel sorry for the retard who thought this was a good idea.

"Retard?" That's a bit presumptuous;,you don't know what's-his-name well enough to say.

My reaction was ; First post, the person did not have the good manners to introduce him/her self. Instead it spammed an article/pamphlet or whatever, the title of which indicates a profound ignorance of both atheism and adolescence. Kind of thing I'd expect from say Frodo, Godschild , Statler or whoever's turn it is to play village idiot.


I surmised cowgull and still do.

(August 29, 2011 at 12:38 am)padraic Wrote: "Retard?" That's a bit presumptuous;,you don't know what's-his-name well enough to say.

Many moments, for sure.

(August 29, 2011 at 12:38 am)padraic Wrote: My reaction was ; First post, the person did not have the good manners to introduce him/her self.

Hello. How do you do?

(August 29, 2011 at 12:38 am)padraic Wrote: Instead it spammed an article/pamphlet or whatever, the title of which indicates a profound ignorance of both atheism and adolescence.

Specifics? What would you change? (Please consider that the title is not "100 Facts About Atheism That Every Atheist Teen Must Know".)

Also, for context: http://store.lifeteen.com/100things.aspx

So here's the thing, peeps...

Let's say Xtians, as you call 'em, publish books on their beliefs. Easy to read books for youngsters (e.g., 12 to 14 years old). Let's imagine they publish LOTS of books, videos, pamphlets, and other propaganda.

Let us continue to imagine a world where plenty of people believe religious cruft to be a dogpile of fictitious imbecility. But they say nothing. They write nothing. They make no videos. What will people learn? What information will be most likely to seep into their brains and emboss neurological imprints on their gray matter?

Through books and videos produced by people like Thomas Paine, Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Stephen Hawking, and others, we do have literature and film that explains to the masses the perils of religion; that rips into irrational, senseless arguments.

You cannot, however, expect most 12 year old children to sit down and absorb all of Thomas Paine's Age of Reason in one sitting. http://www.ushistory.org/paine/reason/index.htm

I would prefer reading what you would do to improve the 100 Facts book (aside from burning it).

Religion, in my opinion, is a problem. A big, big problem. And any book or video or work of art that serves to take religion down a few pegs can never be considered a waste of time.

So.

Thoughts?

Atheists (to generalise) are in constant denial of their rhetoric. So to present it is the ultimate faux pa.

(August 29, 2011 at 3:54 am)fr0d0 Wrote: Atheists (to generalise) are in constant denial of their rhetoric. So to present it is the ultimate faux pa.

That is neither specific nor helpful. ;-)

(August 29, 2011 at 4:11 am)100Facts Wrote:

(August 29, 2011 at 3:54 am)fr0d0 Wrote: Atheists (to generalise) are in constant denial of their rhetoric. So to present it is the ultimate faux pa.

That is neither specific nor helpful. ;-)

But true.

Of course, this is only as a general rule. I'm one of those few exceptions

Am I supposed to be impresssed with 100facts??

Better chance of herding cats the 100ft... and just where is your introduction? To fail at this is to get nothing but grief from the rest of us.

(August 29, 2011 at 3:24 am)100Facts Wrote: Thoughts?

12 year old kids don't need to read Paine to be an atheist. They just need to be taught critical thinking skills. I often joke about how even though my parents were Christians, they raised me atheist. My father the scientist taught me to question everything and require evidence for something before you believe in it. Then instead of bombarding me with Jesus and God at home, they merely took me and sister to church every Sunday. So I simply applied the principles my dad taught me to Christianity, and by the time I was twelve I figured out it was garbage.

My Christian parents now have only atheist children

The point is that they don't need to read or be fed the information against religion. They just need to be taught to think critically and question everything and they will come to their own conclusions. Our goal should not be to turn people into atheists, but to give them the skills that could lead them to become one.

(August 29, 2011 at 3:54 am)fr0d0 Wrote: Atheists (to generalise) are in constant denial of their rhetoric. So to present it is the ultimate faux pa.

More epic trollage.

I would agree FTM... but would add that critical thinking skills don't lead to one POV. Perhaps your own influence was biased in favour of atheism, or more precisely: science. Our current culture is becoming increasingly inept at thinking outside of scientific restraints. I wonder if we could still come up with the genius of religious texts, let alone even appreciate them.