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"Atheism is a superstition."
#1
"Atheism is a superstition."
How Easter and Christianity undermine atheism From USA Today.

Quote:By Anthony DeStefano

This Easter it seems that atheists have a lot to rejoice about. According to the latest data in the American Religious Identification Survey, the number of self-proclaimed atheists in America has nearly doubled since 2001 — from 900,000 to 1.6 million.

In a nation that once prided itself on its Judeo-Christian heritage, one out of every five Americans now claims no religious identity whatsoever; and the number of self-proclaimed Christians has declined by a whopping 15%.

Yes, those who believe in nothing seem to be winning more and more converts every year.

The superstition of atheism

Of course, it's not quite fair to say that atheists believe in nothing. They do believe in something — the philosophical theory known as Materialism, which states that the only thing that exists is matter; that all substances and all phenomena in the universe are purely physical.

The problem is that this really isn't a theory at all. It's a superstition; a myth that basically says that everything in life — our thoughts, our emotions, our hopes, our ambitions, our passions, our memories, our philosophies, our politics, our beliefs in God and salvation and damnation — that all of this is merely the result of biochemical reactions and the movement of molecules in our brain.

What nonsense.

Article continues.

We can't reduce the whole of reality to what our senses tell us for the simple reason that our senses are notorious for lying to us. Our senses tell us that the world is flat, and yet it's not. Our senses tell us that the world is chaotic, and yet we know that on both a micro and a macro level, it's incredibly organized. Our senses tell us that we're stationary, and yet we're really moving at incredible speeds. We just can't see it.

But the most important things in life can't be seen with the eyes. Ideas can't be seen. Love can't be seen. Honor can't be seen. This isn't a new concept. Judaism and Christianity and Islam and Buddhism have all taught for thousands of years that the highest forms of reality are invisible and mysterious. And these realities will never be reducible to clear-cut scientific formulae for the simple reason that they will never be fully comprehensible to the human mind. God didn't mean them to be.

No less a genius than Albert Einstein once said: "The most beautiful thing we can experience in life is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: for his eyes are closed."

Too many people go through life today with their eyes closed. They miss out on the mysterious because they're so fixated on what they can see and smell and touch and taste and hear. They're so steeped in the "superstition of materialism" that they're totally blind to the existence of another world — a radically different world than the one they're familiar with, but a world nonetheless: a world of miracles, a world of grace, a world of angels, a world of diabolical warfare, a world where the highest values are completely opposite from those of our secular society — where weakness equals strength, sacrifice equals salvation, and suffering equals unlimited power.
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#2
RE: "Atheism is a superstition."
Before having written that article, the author should have looked at the dictionary which defines supersition as the following;

1. a : a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation
b : an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition

2 : a notion maintained despite evidence to the contrary

Anyway I want to reply to this section

Quote:Too many people go through life today with their eyes closed. They miss out on the mysterious because they're so fixated on what they can see and smell and touch and taste and hear. They're so steeped in the "superstition of materialism" that they're totally blind to the existence of another world — a radically different world than the one they're familiar with, but a world nonetheless: a world of miracles, a world of grace, a world of angels, a world of diabolical warfare, a world where the highest values are completely opposite from those of our secular society — where weakness equals strength, sacrifice equals salvation, and suffering equals unlimited power.

Superstitious people are too absorbed in their fantasy world, that are blind to the real "material" universe and all it's wonders which puts anything imagined up by superstitions to complete and utter shame.
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#3
RE: "Atheism is a superstition."
Jerry Coyne replies.
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#4
RE: "Atheism is a superstition."
Quote:A highly supported claim that everything in life — our thoughts, our emotions, our hopes, our ambitions, our passions, our memories, our philosophies, our politics, our beliefs in God and salvation and damnation — that all of this is merely the result of biochemical reactions and the movement of molecules in our brain.

What nonsense.
Nonsense? So a long dead Jew coming back to life makes more sense does it?

The truth? You want the truth? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - Carl Sagan

Mankind's intelligence walks hand in hand with it's stupidity.

Being an atheist says nothing about your overall intelligence, it just means you don't believe in god. Atheists can be as bright as any scientist and as stupid as any creationist.

You never really know just how stupid someone is, until you've argued with them.
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#5
RE: "Atheism is a superstition."
Is there some sort of law like Godwins law that covers religiofucktards that misquote Einstein to support their gormless arguments?
[Image: mybannerglitter06eee094.gif]
If you're not supposed to ride faster than your guardian angel can fly then mine had better get a bloody SR-71.
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#6
RE: "Atheism is a superstition."
Fail Article Wrote:They do believe in something — the philosophical theory known as Materialism, which states that the only thing that exists is matter; that all substances and all phenomena in the universe are purely physical.
Fail.
  • There are plenty of atheists who are not materialists.
  • Materialism is not a "superstition" - it is a particular view in metaphysics.
  • Materialism does not necessarily reduce all mental activity to "merely biochemical reactions and movement of molecules" - there is such a view as non-reductive materialism.
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#7
RE: "Atheism is a superstition."
(April 30, 2011 at 9:42 am)Zen Badger Wrote: Is there some sort of law like Godwins law that covers religiofucktards that misquote Einstein to support their gormless arguments?

You make quote-mining sound like a bad thing. What about all those quote-miners that risk their lives every day so you can have a nice piece of stupidity to rip apart? Would you stomp to the depths they do to provide us with our daily chuckles and guffaws? Oh, I don't think so. You probably think those just magically appear on the forum, without any blood being shed or lives being lost. Well, my friend, I dare you to go Googling by yourself some time! Copying random quotes without bothering to learn the context is dangerous, dirty and stupid work. Normal people just can't do it, it takes a special breed of fool to even want to try it.

You should be ashamed of yourself, really.

Wink
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#8
RE: "Atheism is a superstition."
(April 30, 2011 at 9:48 am)Gawdzilla Wrote: You make quote-mining sound like a bad thing. What about all those quote-miners that risk their lives every day so you can have a nice piece of stupidity to rip apart? Would you stomp to the depths they do to provide us with our daily chuckles and guffaws? Oh, I don't think so. You probably think those just magically appear on the forum, without any blood being shed or lives being lost. Well, my friend, I dare you to go Googling by yourself some time! Copying random quotes without bothering to learn the context is dangerous, dirty and stupid work. Normal people just can't do it, it takes a special breed of fool to even want to try it.

You should be ashamed of yourself, really.

Wink

I'm sorry your mighty lizardness

Accept the apologies of this humble badger.


On second thoughts....

Fuck offBig Grin
[Image: mybannerglitter06eee094.gif]
If you're not supposed to ride faster than your guardian angel can fly then mine had better get a bloody SR-71.
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#9
RE: "Atheism is a superstition."
(April 30, 2011 at 10:02 am)Zen Badger Wrote:
(April 30, 2011 at 9:48 am)Gawdzilla Wrote: You make quote-mining sound like a bad thing. What about all those quote-miners that risk their lives every day so you can have a nice piece of stupidity to rip apart? Would you stomp to the depths they do to provide us with our daily chuckles and guffaws? Oh, I don't think so. You probably think those just magically appear on the forum, without any blood being shed or lives being lost. Well, my friend, I dare you to go Googling by yourself some time! Copying random quotes without bothering to learn the context is dangerous, dirty and stupid work. Normal people just can't do it, it takes a special breed of fool to even want to try it.

You should be ashamed of yourself, really.

Wink

I'm sorry your mighty lizardness

Accept the apologies of this humble badger.


On second thoughts....

Fuck offBig Grin

No points for style. [Image: pawiz.gif]
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#10
RE: "Atheism is a superstition."
So let me recape on this mess... Anthony DeStefano asserts Atheism is partly the belief in nothing, but mainly accepting worldviews such as Materialism to be true, which in of itself is a superstition because as a philosophical theory its only concerned with matter and therefore incompatible with any reality-transcending deity or deities. He then unscientifically attacks the sensory systems within organisms that provide us our inputs for attaining a perception of our environment.

Well, the article fails from the get-go, but I expected this level of coherency from the man who writes books such as "A Travel Guide To Heaven".
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