The unbearable lightness of atheism

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LKL
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20 Sep 2011, 3:18 am

I'm claiming that people kill people in the name of atheism much, much more rarely than people kill people in the name of their religion, and further that worship of the state or of the leader can be a form of religion when it becomes an article of faith that the state/nation/leader is always right, even when it is wrong, and must be defended from criticism and especially from 'enemies of the state.'

Atheism is characterized by a lack of faith; religion, by its presence.

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20 Sep 2011, 4:03 am

LKL wrote:

I'm claiming that people kill people in the name of atheism much, much more rarely than people kill people in the name of their religion

True

LKL wrote:

and further that worship of the state or of the leader can be a form of religion when it becomes an article of faith that the state/nation/leader is always right, even when it is wrong, and must be defended from criticism and especially from 'enemies of the state.'

Atheism is characterized by a lack of faith; religion, by its presence.

I don't like this argument almost any ideology could be termed a religion. But we can say with a fair degree of certainty that not all ideologies are religions. This gives me the impression that either you are interested in blurring the line between the two to suit your own interests or you are using an overly simplistic definition.

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LKL
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20 Sep 2011, 4:13 pm

I'm perfectly happy with using the words skepticism and faith, rather than atheism and religion, which might suit my definitions better; I think that skepticism and atheism, and religion and faith, are closely enough correlated to be interchangeable in most situations.

Inuyasha
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20 Sep 2011, 7:24 pm

LKL wrote:

Atheism is actually communist/statist in it's very nature, you can argue semantics all day long but it doesn't change the facts.

Atheism is a disbelief in the existance of God, gods and goddesses, etc. -- Though at the same time for someone they don't believe in, they spend an awful lot of time bashing.

Statism, Communism, and Atheism in fact probably most communists are also atheists. When you start putting your trust in man being the absolute authority or the state (which is what people like you do), then you are opening yourself up to statism, communism, or some other dictator. Sorry to break it to you, but Statism and Communism are generally subgroups of atheism.

ruveyn
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20 Sep 2011, 7:28 pm

Inuyasha wrote:

Atheism is actually communist/statist in it's very nature, you can argue semantics all day long but it doesn't change the facts.

.

Horse snot. Atheism is the refusal to believe in your preferred deity because there is no empirical evidence to support the existence of same. Atheism has nothing to do with politics or economic systems as such.

Your so-called "facts" are your misinformed opinions.

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Inuyasha
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20 Sep 2011, 7:31 pm

ruveyn wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

Atheism is actually communist/statist in it's very nature, you can argue semantics all day long but it doesn't change the facts.

.

So who are you saying is the absolute authority on things, where do your rights come from?

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20 Sep 2011, 7:33 pm

Inuyasha wrote:

So who are you saying is the absolute authority on things, where do your rights come from?

From my willingness to defend them, with deadly force if necessary. Rights come from the edge of a blade and the barrel of a firearm.

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Inuyasha
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20 Sep 2011, 7:34 pm

ruveyn wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

So who are you saying is the absolute authority on things, where do your rights come from?

From my willingness to defend them, with deadly force if necessary. Rights come from the edge of a blade and the barrel of a firearm.

ruveyn

So in your view might makes right, okay well I guess the people in Syria and Iran don't deserve to have rights then because they don't have the firepower to back themselves up.

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20 Sep 2011, 7:39 pm

Inuyasha wrote:

So in your view might makes right, okay well I guess the people in Syria and Iran don't deserve to have rights then because they don't have the firepower to back themselves up.

Might has always made Right. But sometimes Right makes it on its own.

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Inuyasha
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20 Sep 2011, 7:44 pm

ruveyn wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

So in your view might makes right, okay well I guess the people in Syria and Iran don't deserve to have rights then because they don't have the firepower to back themselves up.

Might has always made Right. But sometimes Right makes it on its own.

ruveyn

This is how statism and communism are subsets of Atheism.

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20 Sep 2011, 7:52 pm

Inuyasha wrote:

This is how statism and communism are subsets of Atheism.

You can't possible believe that.

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ruveyn
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20 Sep 2011, 7:52 pm

Inuyasha wrote:

This is how statism and communism are subsets of Atheism.

Really?. Mussolini was a Catholic and Hitler was a baptised Christian. Stalin trained for the Russian Orthodox priesthood when he was a young man. He probably knew the Bible better than you. As to Statism, Alexander Hamilton was the Statist from Hell and was a Christian (as most of the Founders were).

Charles the First of England was an absolute Monarch (you cannot get more Statist than that) and a staunch Roman Catholic. The Medicis and Borgias who ran their domains with an iron hand were all "good" Catholics.

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Inuyasha
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20 Sep 2011, 7:57 pm

Lecks wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

This is how statism and communism are subsets of Atheism.

You can't possible believe that.

I said subsets of Athiesm, not that all Atheists are communists or statists. Just that the mentality is there.

ruevyn wrote:

Christianity as a faith condemns violence, and just because someone was born into a religious group from their parents, doesn't mean they stay there.

Also how was Alexander Hamilton a statist from hell?

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20 Sep 2011, 8:03 pm

Inuyasha wrote:

Also how was Alexander Hamilton a statist from hell?

He accompanied President Washington to Pennsylvania with 13,000 Federale Thugs in 1794 to extract the whiskey tax from the good farmers of Pennsylvania. Look up Whiskey Rebellion. Hamilton favored a strong central government, unlike Jefferson who preferred that power reside in the States.

If Washington and Hamilton had their brains blown out during the whiskey rebellion the country would have been much better off.

The country has gone along the lines that Hamilton favored, rather than along Jeffersonian lines.

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20 Sep 2011, 10:20 pm

You may like to look up what the word subset means.

Lecks wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

This is how statism and communism are subsets of Atheism.

You can't possible believe that.

You have no idea of the stuff he believes.

ruveyn wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

This is how statism and communism are subsets of Atheism.

La la la la la *not listening-*

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Inuyasha
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20 Sep 2011, 10:29 pm

Vexcalibur wrote:

You may like to look up what the word subset means.

Lecks wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

This is how statism and communism are subsets of Atheism.

You can't possible believe that.

You have no idea of the stuff he believes.

ruveyn wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

This is how statism and communism are subsets of Atheism.

La la la la la *not listening-*

Vexcalibur I know what a subset means and I'm aware of what it means, I'm also aware it is a math term. Looks more like you don't know what subset means which is essentially a set with in a set.

Would you understand the concept of communism and statism being branches of atheism?

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