Thanks for creating a forum with real debate!

[downbeatplumb]

How can atheism's critique of religion proceed out of the information contained in this? Atheism could be defined as an absence of theistic belief, but that definition does not actually defend the belief in atheism.

I don't believe IN atheism, I DO NOT have no believe in god.

This is very basic but I dont think your little brain can understand it can it.

Practically, atheism requires not only a rejection of theism, but all of the tools and methods required to defend this rejection, which encompasses hundreds of years of history and many, many different ideologies and movements working together towards the goal of eliminating religion.

Well actually atheism only requires the non-belief in god.
I have never been a believer so if I hadn't come here I would not have been exposed to the sillier beliefs of theists. If I hadn't encountered the arguments I would not have formed any opinions of them but I still would have been an atheist as that is my default position.

For an atheist critique of religion to be successful, it is necessary not only to demonstrate that atheistic beliefs critiques of Christian morality are true, but that the atheist morality that underlies these critiques is an authoritative understanding of morality.

No it doesn't.

All atheism needs is a lack of belief in god.

That theistic morals are based on falsehoods and are only properly adhered to by the Taliban is by the by.

As a side note, the Christian life consists in the believer in some ways imitating God but it is not required that there be a direct correspondents between the ethics that God follows and the ethics of Christianity. Christianity does not teach this, so for Christianity to be contradictory, it must be shown that this is required in some other way.

Most christian's I have known do not try to imitate god, they just believe he exists and leave it at that.

Saying that I don't actually know many christian's, my mum was a christian and so was my gran....possibly my wifes best friend other than that they are thin on the ground.

My wife used to be an evangelical christian but is a spiritualist now.

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Universities get billions a year to teach from a perspective that while falling short of atheism advocacy (though it does get into that sometimes) does advocate a secular way of thinking that greatly strengthens the atheist movement. Atheism as a movement owes its strength to this money to a large degree.

Atheists feel like they are persecuted. Hah. If you want to see serious persecution, goto a public university. See how bad the atheists making $100,000 grand a year are being persecuted.

So education is atheistic.

I suppose that means a lack of education is theistic.

and as to persecution.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/09...68681.html

Atheists and other religious skeptics suffer persecution or discrimination in many parts of the world and in at least seven nations can be executed if their beliefs become known, according to a report issued on Monday.

The study, from the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), showed that "unbelievers" in Islamic countries face the most severe - sometimes brutal - treatment at the hands of the state and adherents of the official religion.

But it also points to policies in some European countries and the United States which favor the religious and their organizations and treat atheists and humanists as outsiders.

Using new national survey data, it shows
atheists are less likely to be accepted, publicly and privately, than any others from a long
list of ethnic, religious, and other minority groups. This distrust of atheists is driven by
religious predictors, social location, and broader value orientations. It is rooted in moral
and symbolic, rather than ethnic or material, grounds

http://www.soc.umn.edu/~hartmann/files/a...0other.pdf