(January 23, 2013 at 1:59 am)Justcurious Wrote: Atheists: I have three questions.
1. Is there an organized group of atheists that has a global presence?
Not that I'm aware of.
(January 23, 2013 at 1:59 am)Justcurious Wrote: 2. For what reason do you go about and try to disprove the beliefs of the theists?
For what reason do you think we 'go about' and try to disprove the beliefs of the theists? For the most part we're minding our own business when a theist turns up thinking they've got some killer new argument we've never heard before, which we then dissect, because bad ideas exist to be destroyed. Their beliefs are their own business, their arguments are everybody's. And for some reason, it's only in this specific sphere where it's considered peculiar that someone would point out flaws in reasoning. No one asks Democrats why they try to disprove the beliefs of Republicans. And besides, we tried being silent and invisible, and Christian fundamentalists took over a major political party, with the result that the USA is less secular now than it was 100 years ago. Clearly silence isn't an effective strategy for protecting one's rights.
(January 23, 2013 at 1:59 am)Justcurious Wrote: 3. Isn't the belief/knowledge that there is without a doubt no God/gods also faith based? ( I don't just mean the Christian God, but the existence of higher beings in general, and please don't bring up the stupid flying spaghetti monster argument).
I suppose, but atheists are no more required to be without doubt than theists are. I don't know without a doubt that leprechauns don't exist, but I don't believe they do. A socially-savvy person, btw, would realize that the best way to get the FSM argument brought up is to forbid its employment. It wouldn't have occurred to me had you not brought it up. Please explain exactly why you conclude that it's so stupid it should not be brought up.
(January 23, 2013 at 1:59 am)Justcurious Wrote: Actual attempts at answers instead of the stereotypical back and forth bickering please and thank you.
The best way to to avoid bickering is to not start it. You're walking an edge. So far you're coming off as a bigot whose already made up his or her mind what our responses are going to be like. I really want to be able to presume good will on your part, but you're making it difficult with your presumption that you get to dictate the course and nature of the discussion. It's that sort of thing that leads to bickering.
