everyone (else) seems to be hating on atheists

[Creed of Heresy]

Also, technically the Big Bang Theory was not developed by that university but by a secular priest at that university. Keyword secular.

Why is that a keyword? Do you know what a "secular" priest even is? Most priests are secular priests.

...Secular (or diocesan) priests live in the world...

Pretty sure we ALL live in the world. Unless you mean they live in open society. ...If I need to spell it out any further I'm going to ragequit. ;D

So I'm not sure why you say "even if a secular one" unless you totally miss what the word "secular" means in that context. Like I said, by that standard, the Pope is secular too. Secular here comes from sæculum, meaning "of the world", as opposed to being shut up in a monastery. (Though if you do want a scientist who was shut up in a monastery, there is always Gregor Mendel ).

A man who was a brilliant scientist until he became an abbot, thus ending his scientific career. Not a good example; I laud the efforts of the individual and I abhor the credit given to the religious institution to which one belongs for the individual's work, since the religious aspect is unnecessary.

No it doesn't. This is a rather textbook ad hominem argument actually (unlike some people who treat "ad hominem" and "insult" as synonymous). Any probability of bias needs to be taken care of in the experimental design, since all people are going to have bias regardless of what university they do their research at.

Uhm. No they won't. Any scientist worth his salt will tell you that having a bias towards their own work is counter-productive and detrimental to the process of discovery, as history has taught us repeatedly. It's a little thing called confirmation bias and it's highly frowned upon in the scientific community. As far as my argument supposedly being ad hominem, you need to know an individual much better before you can go around throwing that claim at someone's feet: I disagree with atheistic and agnostic scientists quite often, such as Richard Dawkins, who often says things I find to betray a bias in some of his studies. So tell me, whose prejudices am I appealing to here, or whose character have I attacked with what I said? There was nothing ad hominem about what I said as far as I can tell.

Except religion doesn't "induce ignorance" though, contrary to popular belief of some irreligious

Yeah, and all the evangelicals and creationists and the KKK and the entire middle east and the whole debacle with the IRA don't exist. I gotcha.

and we aren't talking about "bliss" either. Psychoticism deals with a lack of agreeableness/empathy and also a lack of conscientiousness--conscientiousness meaning deliberation, carefulness, and self-discipline. Agreeableness and conscientiousness more prevalent in religious, and some papers have suggested its THE difference from which most other differences between religious and irreligious are born. Why, on average, religious people are healthier physically/mentally, why they are better adjusted socially, etc.

Might also be that there's a social stigma to being an atheist that leads to them being considered or just simply becoming outcasts considering a vast majority of the people I've ever admitted being an atheist to jumped to wild conclusions about me almost instantly, NONE of them positive, and this entire forum is filled with posts from people who've endured this kind of bullshit in the exact same ways for the exact same reasons, and the very beginning of this thread began with us discussing why the hell christians seem to jump at the chance to mash on the "hate" button whenever it comes to atheists...

But hey. What do I know. Maybe it's god's connection to you guys that's making you healthier, not your lot tending to shit upon us making us feel like shit and therefore utterly destroying us on a psychological level. Granted, YOU are exempt as is any other theist who doesn't jump on the hate-train. But from what I've seen and what virtually everyone else on this site has seen and will tell you, you're NOT the rule; you're the exception.

But like we've been saying, you can be an atheist and still be religious--I think 1-2% of Christians are atheist, for example. Altogether 3% of atheists/agnostics/"no religion" say they are "very religious".

Basically following Christian teachings without believing in the divinity of them, just accepting them as good moral values. I was like that towards the end of my time as a Christian. I discarded the bible almost entirely and only really followed the entries about things Jesus said. And really if you follow what Jesus specifically said the bible is a lot nicer to read, though there's still a couple moments where you're left going "dafuq?"

Well, I'm left going, I'm sure you react differently. ;P

Though on the subject of happiness, I always thought it was interesting how those without a religious affiliation percieve less reasons for living. I've heard some atheists say that "you need to appreciate the life you have now, religion keeps you focused on the afterlife", but religious people (or those with a religious affiliation) percieve more reasons for living and are as a result much less likely to commit suicide.

Someone who is going to commit suicide is doing it out of despair. This goes back to my whole thing involving the devastation of realizing a lie when you see it. Hell, even I still haven't fully recovered from it, myself, but my fear of death is far less now than it was before. Still, I've seen a few Christians who were friends of mine commit suicide because they didn't feel like they had anything left to live for and they just wanted to "go with god." The placebo doesn't always work.

I am currently only looking at traditional communities, and in that case I would not be able to keep posting on here. I'd be able to write my family an email every two weeks. Every 2 or so years I get 9 days off (until 8 years in and final vows when I get 9 days off every year) and so maybe I'll stop by then.

There's also untraditional communities (those are the ones currently trying to be reformed by the USCCB/CDF) and they tend to give the sisters a lot more freedom, but I don't know if that fits me. I love the divine hours, the Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, the rosary, etc. On the other hand I am very close to my siblings and parents so it will be bittersweet for sure at least at first.[quote]

Holy crap, that's a lousy vacation package. ;D Just kidding, but hey at least you'll be close to your family, and if you genuinely enjoy all that, rock on.

[quote]And VERY cool you get to meet the bishop! Maybe my diocese is just busy but its very difficult to even meet with my parish priest, let alone the bishop where you are lucky just to shake his hand and get a picture taken. Let alone have a full conversation where you interview him about Bible passages!

Well it helps that I actually have spoken to him on several occasions while I was waiting tables at a restaurant that he went to. Tipped very well, too. I actually requested this meeting back in February. Take in mind, though; this IS Wisconsin, ain't shit happening up here no matter what your job is.

You will probably get the same answers I gave you earlier though, assuming he has a decent catechesis (you would think any bishop would have good catechesis but one of our auxiliaries proves me wrong).

Or if you want a tidier answer you have
Calling men Father: http://www.fisheaters.com/callingmenfather.html
The "brothers" of Jesus: http://www.fisheaters.com/mary.html (halfway down the page, under "Ever Virgin")
"Vain repetitions": http://www.fisheaters.com/vainrepetitions.html

I really love this site, linked ScienceLovesGod to it before, but it helps to explain those verses and others very well in light of Church Tradition

I haven't given those sites a check yet, but I'll probably do it after I get home from work tomorrow. Gotta [attempt] sleep here in a short bit, last thing I want to be doing is being a mail presorter on less than eight hours of sleep...this job is mind-numbing enough without me being half-awake before I even start. XD

I totally agree. I felt pressure and pain in my heart when I was an agnostic. I asked God to heal me, and He did. I cried knowing that I had been living a lie.

How nice of god to heal you while meanwhile I was raped, beaten, malnourished, lost and strung out on drugs all while practically begging for help every night with tears in my eyes, help that never came until long after I'd stopped praying. Pardon me one second while I am overcome with joy for you, and while I add yet one more reason why I think that if god were real I'd think he was a colossal, preening prick.