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05-23-2007, 08:08 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Country:  Points: 16,625, Level: 82 | Level up: 55%, 225 Points needed | | Atheism Gaining Adherents
I see at this blog that atheism is gaining momentum as one of the largest belief systems in the world. Here... Quote: “I pity Hitchens and other atheists of this sort. They seem like very unhappy people.”
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“Even the low estimate of five hundred million would make unbelief the fourth-largest persuasion in the world, after Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. It is also by far the youngest, with no significant presence in the West before the eighteenth century. Who can say what the landscape will look like once unbelief has enjoyed a past as long as Islam’s—let alone as long as Christianity’s? God is assuredly not on the side of the unbelievers, but history may yet be.”
| Just sharing it with everyone here who likes to talk about belief vs. disbelief. OD
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05-23-2007, 08:14 AM
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#2 (permalink)
| | Council Member
Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: The great, dead heart of suburbia
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It seems that when skeptics grow in number, theists grow in conviction, like they need to somehow defend their faith against the onslaught.
I hate Chris Hitchens, though. The guy is a grade A asshole. At least Dawkins has the decency not to insult anybody on a personal level. All he does is attack their faith.
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Last edited by Antithesis; 05-23-2007 at 08:23 AM.
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05-23-2007, 08:36 AM
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#3 (permalink)
| | Block Captain
Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Bristol, UK
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Country:  Level up: 96%, 6 Points needed | | The problem with Dawkins is that he has a "strawman" argument. He thinks that anyone who isn't an atheist must believe in a sort of bearded policeman in the sky called "God", and then provides arguments against that.
The truth of the matter is that many non-atheists have a totally different conception about what "God" means to them.
I think at the moment it isn't a question of traditional religions versus atheists, but traditional religions and atheists both getting nervous about the rise of what they see as "new age" philosophy. More and more people seem to be saying "I'm not religious, I'm spiritual" - and that pisses off traditional religions who see it as a dangerous trend, *and* the atheists who want their own hard-core scientific materialism to be justified. | |
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05-23-2007, 08:38 AM
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#4 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by Fluffmeister  The problem with Dawkins is that he has a "strawman" argument. He thinks that anyone who isn't an atheist must believe in a sort of bearded policeman in the sky called "God", and then provides arguments against that.
The truth of the matter is that many non-atheists have a totally different conception about what "God" means to them.
I think at the moment it isn't a question of traditional religions versus atheists, but traditional religions and atheists both getting nervous about the rise of what they see as "new age" philosophy. More and more people seem to be saying "I'm not religious, I'm spiritual" - and that pisses off traditional religions who see it as a dangerous trend, *and* the atheists who want their own hard-core scientific materialism to be justified. | How perceptive you are Fluffmeister! I know for a fact that you are right.  But I do not know if I would have ever come up with that conclusion, but seeing it now, it is obviously true to me. I am glad you shared that. OD | |
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05-23-2007, 09:47 AM
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#5 (permalink)
|  "The Chief"
Join Date: May 2005 Location: The Cradle of Liberty
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Too many people associate Atheism with Non-spirituality. I am very spiritual, but I also consider myself an Atheist, because I do not believe in a Central Deity.
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05-25-2007, 01:17 PM
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#6 (permalink)
| | Council Member
Join Date: May 2007 Location: Wyoming
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If at first you don’t succeed – try, try again and then quit. There’s no sense in making a damned fool of yourself. – W.C. Fields
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05-25-2007, 04:05 PM
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#7 (permalink)
| | Moderator
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Originally Posted by tadpole256 I agree with Fluff...
Too many people associate Atheism with Non-spirituality. I am very spiritual, but I also consider myself an Atheist, because I do not believe in a Central Deity. | Agreeing with Fluff and Taddy...Im Atheist/Agnostic, little half and half Not sure whats up there if anything but am spiritual in the sense(does that make sense)? 
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What Profit Is It To A Man...If He Gains The World But Loses His Own Soul {Matthew 16:26} | |
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05-25-2007, 04:14 PM
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#8 (permalink)
|  *Premium Member*
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Originally Posted by Hio Agreeing with Fluff and Taddy...Im Atheist/Agnostic, little half and half Not sure whats up there if anything but am spiritual in the sense(does that make sense)? | It means you are deeply confused!
Why do you quote the Bible in your signature?
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05-25-2007, 04:18 PM
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#9 (permalink)
| | Moderator
Join Date: Apr 2007
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Just because I quote something from the bible doesnt mean I follow it. If you said that phrase at any given time and I saw it, I would love it and quote it in my signature...doesnt mean I follow everything you say and believe it but it is a truthful statement and I like it.
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What Profit Is It To A Man...If He Gains The World But Loses His Own Soul {Matthew 16:26} | |
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05-25-2007, 04:21 PM
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#10 (permalink)
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Join Date: Apr 2007
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Country: Level up: 56%, 88 Points needed | | And what I meant is that I dont really care if there is a heaven or hell, Jesus or Buddah, whatever. What I think is that there is something after you die. I can be spiritual in the sense as not believing in a HOLY spirit but there is a life after FOR spirits. Thats my meaning of spiritual.
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What Profit Is It To A Man...If He Gains The World But Loses His Own Soul {Matthew 16:26} | |
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