|
|
Post by Michael on Dec 21, 2009 11:57:29 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by sandyprice on Dec 21, 2009 14:05:17 GMT -5
Nice links, thanks Michael. I have been an Atheist for over 60 years and when I began writing commentaries on politics I was always shocked at the apathy among American voters. It was easier in California to discuss politics with anyone as they seemed to be eager to understand the laws in the Constitution.
When I moved to Arizona I hit a blank wall. It was as if there is a state law against discussing religion or politics. I soon learned that many here are snow birds and were here only for the winters. I also discovered that these people took orders from their church clerics not to discuss either subject.
In the years since WW2, it seems as if religion is the new form of terrorism. We got through Communism and learned how to hide under a table if bombs were coming and that passed as nonsense. Then came the Birch Society with their Evangelical fear of the afterlife and we learned to confess our sins and put some money into the churches and we would be saved.
2000 brought a born again Christian into the White House and literally all hell broke loose and Islam became the terrorism of the decade. American Christians are at war with Islam.
I wonder what will be next. I keep hoping (not praying) for a culture of Secularism to appear and reason returned to America. I asked this question on a very old reliable political forum and I have been removed and banned. I have annoyed the people there and with good reason.
In my trying to prove a negative and the damage this God has caused not just America but the entire planet I tripped over the American dream of being a Christian nation.
I not only annoyed them but pissed off the owner of the site. When I came back from Seattle last month filled with the joy and courage of the Freedom From Religion group I soon met reality and got busted.
I spent 10 years on another forum asking the members to explain to me why being a Christian was an asset. There was nothing from that group that would convince me they were better people, more ethical with higher standards of integrity and soon the dirty words and labels showed that had no idea what I was talking about. Before I left I was the Whore of Babylon.
Must I go back in the closet and pretend to believe in God to write again?
|
|
|
|
Post by Michael on Dec 21, 2009 15:14:40 GMT -5
I keep hoping (not praying) for a culture of Secularism to appear and reason returned to America. I thought it had arrived in the 1960's when "God is dead" became the catch-cry of the times. Sadly, the fundies went on the attack and suddenly there were "Jesus Freaks" all over the place, hogging the headlines and convincing the waverers that atheists are immoral. These days though, the waverers are not so easily convinced. The established churches have lost their clout since they became more famous for abusing children than for "good works', and the televangelists are recognised by all except their hard-core followers as money-hungry con men. But the churches are nothing if not cunning and now direct all their energy into political lobby groups. Instead of trying to convince thousands of uninterested people to be born again, they have discovered that a few dollars donated into the campaign coffers is usually enough to buy a politician's vote. Who cares whether or not they have mugs in the pews on Sunday, they've got the politicians in their pockets and that allows them to rule by proxy. So don't get back in the closet sandyprice. Keep on writing and give 'em hell. |
|
|
|
Post by sandyprice on Dec 21, 2009 15:42:12 GMT -5
Thank you Michael, I certainly will try.
Sandy
|
|
unbeliever
New Member
He has the most who is most content with the least
Posts: 9
|
Post by unbeliever on Feb 18, 2010 19:24:09 GMT -5
Thanks Michael for pointing out the ease with which negatives can indeed be proven. People often parrot such silliness that they've heard, thinking they're being very profound in their air of certitude. I've often heard people spout things like "Lightning never strikes twice in the same place." I like to let them know that, not only does lightning strike twice in the same place, but that the reason it struck a particular place is that there are physical forces that attract the bolts, and that if those forces aren't altered the lightning has every chance of striking there over and over again.
As far as proving the existence/non-existence of a [G]od, it can never be done either way without a concise definition of the thing. Any such being must be amenable to logic, and if the defined deity (or anything else) cannot logically exist, then it does not, in fact, exist, no other proof needed.
|
|
