(June 7, 2014 at 12:35 pm)mickiel Wrote: Declining membership has nothing to do with members gained. Two different things.

If you gain five dollars ($5) and have ten dollars ($10) in your possession, for a total of fifteen dollars ($15), then I take seven dollars ($7) from you, how much did you gain? The answer is "nothing". In fact, you lost two dollars ($2), based on what you had prior to receiving the five dollars ($5).

(June 7, 2014 at 1:12 pm)Esquilax Wrote:

(June 7, 2014 at 12:19 pm)mickiel Wrote: In my view, intelligent design is not nonsense, its intelligent. This world was not designed by an idiot, nor did it spawn from the idiotic view of a self creating, self designing and self generating nebulous nothing.

The world wasn't designed at all. It's the result of a cascading series of physical phenomena happening one after the other, scaffolding itself up to complexity from simpler beginnings in line with consistent laws of physics. No matter the amount of emotionally charged rhetoric you inject into that description in order to horrify the prideful nature of theists, you won't change the fact that all of this comes not out of design, but out of simple consequences, unconscious and unguided.

Yea, so we just got insanely lucky , and atheist are spreading the story of mammoth luck like religion spreads its story of insane hell.

Both pimping the incredible.

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(June 7, 2014 at 1:14 pm)One Above All Wrote:

(June 7, 2014 at 12:35 pm)mickiel Wrote: Declining membership has nothing to do with members gained. Two different things.

If you gain five dollars ($5) and have ten dollars ($10) in your possession, for a total of fifteen dollars ($15), then I take seven dollars ($7) from you, how much did you gain? The answer is "nothing". In fact, you lost two dollars ($2), based on what you had prior to receiving the five dollars ($5).

Well if I use your formula, both atheist and religion are declining. May have helped if religion went after more men, and atheism had more than just mostly white men.

I read:

(June 7, 2014 at 12:07 pm)mickiel Wrote: I think we will see the church try to get back into science ; especially the catholic church; it misses its child.

...And suddenly was like:

(June 7, 2014 at 1:17 pm)mickiel Wrote: Well if I use your formula, both atheist and religion are declining.

Not possible. Even though some atheists are religious (Buddhists, for example), most religious people are theists, like you. If both were declining, it would mean that the entire human population was dying off.

(June 7, 2014 at 1:17 pm)mickiel Wrote: May have helped if religion went after more men, and atheism had more than just mostly white men.

Atheists come in all shapes and sizes, backgrounds, sexualities, skin colors, and so on.
Theists are... a little more restrictive. You have to be what they tell you to be. You have to follow the same insane rules as they do. You have to pray at certain times of the day for random things, eat only specific things or nothing at all (usually during the course of a day), deny everything science has proven, since it also disproves your religion (except when it might save your life, like antibiotics, or make your life easier, like electricity and cars), et cetera.

(June 7, 2014 at 1:17 pm)mickiel Wrote: Well if I use your formula, both atheist and religion are declining. May have helped if religion went after more men, and atheism had more than just mostly white men.

Wait ... what???

"May have helped if ... atheism had more than just mostly white men."
Can you clarify this statement for me?

(June 7, 2014 at 1:25 pm)One Above All Wrote:

(June 7, 2014 at 1:17 pm)mickiel Wrote: Well if I use your formula, both atheist and religion are declining.

Not possible. Even though some atheists are religious (Buddhists, for example), most religious people are theists, like you. If both were declining, it would mean that the entire human population was dying off.

(June 7, 2014 at 1:17 pm)mickiel Wrote: May have helped if religion went after more men, and atheism had more than just mostly white men.

Atheists come in all shapes and sizes, backgrounds, sexualities, skin colors, and so on.
Theists are... a little more restrictive. You have to be what they tell you to be. You have to follow the same insane rules as they do. You have to pray at certain times of the day for random things, eat only specific things or nothing at all (usually during the course of a day), deny everything science has proven, since it also disproves your religion (except when it might save your life, like antibiotics, or make your life easier, like electricity and cars), et cetera.

Well I could not be atheist or religious, both are unattractive to me; just not for me. I don't think one is any better or worse than the other; just different sides of the same coin.

(June 7, 2014 at 1:30 pm)mickiel Wrote:

(June 7, 2014 at 1:25 pm)One Above All Wrote: Not possible. Even though some atheists are religious (Buddhists, for example), most religious people are theists, like you. If both were declining, it would mean that the entire human population was dying off.


Atheists come in all shapes and sizes, backgrounds, sexualities, skin colors, and so on.
Theists are... a little more restrictive. You have to be what they tell you to be. You have to follow the same insane rules as they do. You have to pray at certain times of the day for random things, eat only specific things or nothing at all (usually during the course of a day), deny everything science has proven, since it also disproves your religion (except when it might save your life, like antibiotics, or make your life easier, like electricity and cars), et cetera.

Well I could not be atheist or religious, both are unattractive to me; just not for me. I don't think one is any better or worse than the other; just different sides of the same coin.

No "atheist" is not the opposite side of the "religion" coin. What is unattractive to you is the thought of being wrong.

Atheists are not a sub species nor are we above any human behavior, good or bad.

What you are attempting to do is paint all claims as being equal which they are not then you get frustrated when we don't simply roll over and say "isnt that pretty".

Atheists like others have said here, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, we come from different education levels and have even different economic views. The only thing we have in common is the "off" position on the issue of god claims.

Do not confuse "bullshit" or "that is not true" with "militant", and some atheists pull that bullshit argument on atheists as well.

"Militant" is when you pass laws that oppress other humans. "Militant" is when you get violent because someone offended you.

You don't like religion as an organized entity, GREAT, neither do we. But that does not make us equal to religion because you don't like the thought of a god not existing.

xkcd

(June 7, 2014 at 1:10 pm)Cato Wrote:

(June 7, 2014 at 12:35 pm)mickiel Wrote: Declining membership has nothing to do with members gained. Two different things.

This was an incredibly stupid fucking thing to say.

To be fair he does have in invisible friend, so.

Brian37 Wrote: You don't like religion as an organized entity, GREAT, neither do we. But that does not make us equal to religion because you don't like the thought of a god not existing.

Interesting response. I think atheist have a better record and view of killing that the religious do. I think the world would be better off if it followed the atheist example toward killing than the religious record, no doubt. I have a thread on another site entitled, " Would the world be better off if it was entirely atheist, and what differences would it make?" The atheist there have given interesting response, the theist there are ignoring it.

One poster brought up the point about killing and how religion has played a part in a lot of killing. I agreed with him, because he was right, and history, even present history, backs him up.

I do not deny the good or evil in any group dynamic.