Not religious doesn't necessarily mean atheist

[FatAndFaithless]

Read the bolded folks. Yes, atheists can believe in astrology, but we don't get a lot like that here, do we?

Correct. But then we don't tend see many atheist tarot readers either, or atheist alchemists, or... What's the point you're trying to make again, I must have missed it.

I believe his point is that being an atheist doesn't necessarily mean that you're somehow immune to pseudoscience-woo-delusional-bullshit.  And he's right.  An atheist can have all sorts of un-skeptical, unscientific delusions... but I've never heard anyone genuinely support the idea that atheists are perfect logical thinkers in the first place.  So he's kind of arguing against a non-argument.

[Losty]

From my perspective, ditching one irrational belief system for another is not conducive to rational thought or critical thinking processes, meaning that witchcraft is no more representative of reality than christianity.

Yeah, that's the point. Atheists here get excited about reports that people are becoming less religious, but that doesn't mean all such people are becoming like them. Many are just exchanging one thing you reject for another thing you reject.

Who says we reject it? Actually who says atheists cannot practice witchcraft? I think you maybe don’t even know what atheism is.

[Amarok]

An atheist is someone who does not believe in god .Other weird shit is totally possible.

[Huggy Bear]

Your childish beliefs are not important.  What is important is that people are leaving established churches and thereby diluting their political power.

It's no skin off my nose if you believe a dead jew came back to life for your sins and flew up to fucking heaven.  What does matter is when some holy joe uses the membership numbers of his church to push for legislation on social issues which would set the country back to the fucking 6th century.

As opposed to any other special interest group doing the same exact thing? Your problem would be with how the system works, not with churches in general.

[AFTT47]

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-mi...2017-10-20

Bottom line Alpha times change.  I no more like newer woo than I like old woo. 

It may surprise you as much of a hard time as I give you, I don't even like atheists attempts to create "Satanist" churches. They'd argue that it is not the same thing which is absurd to me knowing the word itself has long and ancient roots, and all they really are doing is simply looking at the bad behaviors of the past and creating a new moral code to compete with old ideas.

I've had pantheist and new age co workers, and while I do see attempts to reject the past in an attempt to be more inclusive now as a way to compete, I still have a problem with even this new trend.

They are ditching old religions because of the tribalism and bigotry. But in creating new beliefs, that also has the risk long term as becoming just as dogmatic and tribal centuries from now.

It should not even surprise anyone reading this, if in 500 years there is a Yoda religion or Star Trek religion or Harry Potter religion.

They are not looking for excuses to do bad things, they are rejecting the tribalism of the past, and while that is well intended, they are still suffering the same bad logic as antiquity. New or old, humans never consider that our morality isn't being handed to us, but already in us, and as secular as a new club may claim to be, it is still needlessly creating a moral list instead of valuing common law for everyone.

I attended a Unitarian Church in Lynchburg Va, we had liberal Christians, conservative Christians, Muslims and Buddhists, and atheists and even a lady who believed in the Egyptian God Isis. I am not kidding. They were all nice people, but no matter how much I liked them, it didn't mean they had evidence for their claims. 

Brian, I have observed an interesting contradiction about you. One constant theme in your posts has been the rejection of the idea of Utopia. Yet you seem eternally frusterated by the fact that human beings are not perfect, logical specimens.

Our brains don't work that way. It is pysiologicaly impossible for human beings to be like the Vulcans of Star Trek. You regularly deride fiction yet you chastice us for our failure to live up to a standard that (as far as we know) exists only in fiction.

You hate, "woo" but you are drowning in it yourself. You're pinining for human beings which cannot even exist without genetic engineering we are not yet capable of.

[Odoital77]

Most of that is due to ignorance, which give way to confusion.  They don't know what to believe, and they blindly grope for those things that are edgy, trendy, new, etc...  But they don't really know why they believe what they believe.  It's quite sad.

[Amarok]

Most of that is due to ignorance, which give way to confusion.  They don't know what to believe, and they blindly grope for those things that are edgy, trendy, new, etc...  But they don't really know why they believe what they believe.  It's quite sad.

You don't know shit about us . Or what we know.

[Odoital77]

Well, you're only partially correct.  So I know nothing about you or what you know, but you know that's true of me huh?  Sword cuts both ways, but you're mistaken in any case.  I've been here before, and I'm not a neophyte.  Ignorance is rampant amongst the youth, and it does most often give way to confusion.  You can deny that if you like, but I'm comfortable and confident in the general truth of that statement.

[Amarok]

Well, you're only partially correct.  So I know nothing about you or what you know, but you know that's true of me huh?  Sword cuts both ways, but you're mistaken in any case.  I've been here before, and I'm not a neophyte.  Ignorance is rampant amongst the youth, and it does most often give way to confusion.  You can deny that if you like, but I'm comfortable and confident in the general truth of that statement.

did i say i know you ? Then clearly nothing of this place rubbed off for you to make such ignorant statements . Regardless of your comfort or confidence .

[Odoital77]

Specifically, you stated that you are aware of what I know about [you all] or what [you all] know.  So you must know me pretty well, at least according to you.