LordJagged

Well it finally happened, the big breakup we've all been waiting for has occurred. I'm sure the evangelicals among us are feeling a bit sad at this time, it's always hard when a relationship ends. I think we should all offer our support at this difficult time. You can learn about the breakup in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsMzQA1p0lA&app=de...

-Set in the past

-Use some form or variation of "Once upon a time"

-Fantasy or make-believe elements

-Enchanted setting - can include forests, castles, water or kingdoms

-Clearly defined good and evil characters

-Magical elements

-Characters take on unusual forms (giants, witches, dwarfs, talking animals)

-Groups of 3 (objects, people or events)

-Clearly defined problem, climax and resolution

-Most often they have a happy ending

-Teach a lesson that is important to the culture it came from

If you don't know the name Major Nidal Hasan was the U.S. army soldier that opened fire on his comrades in arms killing 13 and wounding 32 at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009. If you think that monuments to Confederates are "just history" then wouldn't a monument to Nidal Hasan just be history as well? If you think a monument shouldn't be constructed for him why not? Is it because he didn't kill enough Americans? The actions of the Confederates, like Robert E. Lee, led to the deaths of over 365,000 patriots, so why are they celebrated? Wouldn't it make more sense to tear down the Confederate monuments and memorials and raise new ones to the valiant Americans that gave their lives fighting against them? Isn't that the history we should be remembering and celebrating? How about we start by building monuments to General William T. Sherman in every town and city in Georgia that he passed through?

On this, the last day of Saturnalia, won't you keep the great Titan Saturn in your heart?

If the murders had been committed by a Christian would the crime be receiving as much publicity, or would it have been lost among the dozens of other murders committed by Christians on a daily basis? If the murders had been committed by a Christian, and garnered national attention, how many right wing extremists would be trying to spin it as a "good American trying to defend his country from potential terrorists"?

Are you having a good Christmas? I hope so.

In the tradition of giving presents durng the winter solstice, by whatever name you call the celebration, I give the gift of music. A song I find truly beautiful (not for it's theme, but for the talent of the singers), and is a traditional carol dating back to at least the 16th century.

Enjoy, and merry Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoQ3kbxegHY&app=de...

I have often heard Christians make comments along the lines of "Atheists are atheists because they don't want to be held accountable for their actions/sins." But it seems to me they have that backwards, it's Christians that don't want to be held accountable.

If the Christian god exists, and I truly believe he does not, then I take full responsibility for my actions and accept any punishment I deserve for true transgressions. The only thing I won't accept is punishment for not believing him, if he is supposed to be omniscient and omnipotent then he knows exactly what evidence I require to believe in him and is fully capable of giving it to me. If he does not then that is on him.

Christians on the other hand accept an innocent person taking the punishment for their crimes.

Think about it. Let's say you commit a crime, are arrested, go to trial, are convicted and then at sentencing someone comes forward and says that they will take the punishmnt for you. Would you accept his offer? I wouldn't. If I commit the crime I'll accept the punishment, but from the sounds of it Christians see no problem with an innocent person being punished for their transgressions. In what way is that moral or ethical?

Christians say that we're all god's children. They also say that Jesus is his only son. Does that mean god views the rest of us as a bunch of girls? If we're a bunch of girls then aren't we all lesbians?

Several years ago I worked with a young man who was a Christian. He was also one of the friendliest, most thoughtful and imtelligent people I have ever known. One day during some down time at work we began discussing religion and he said "I understand why you're an atheist and I know that my belief in God isn't rational or logical but it feels right to me and makes me happy." No statements about having a personal relationship with his deity, no false claims of evidence that his particular deity exists, just an honest statement that it is an emotional belief that makes him feel good.

Why aren't more Christians honest like him?

I'm not saying all Christians do this, but a lot on here are constantly whining and what's funny is that they're usually the ones accusing others of whining.

Waah! My version of marriage isn't the only one accepted by everybody. I'm going to try to pass laws prohibiting people I don't like from getting married.

Waah! I can't force people to pray to my god in school any more, it's not fair.

Waah! Women shouldn't be allowed to decide what goes on with their own bodies.

Waah! Why are people so mean and persecute me by disagreeing with me? Don't they know that my beliefs are the only correct ones?

Waah! The mean atheists keep pointing out how I don't have any evidence for my belief in god. Don't they know that the bible says they're fools, and the bible is always right and the perfect source of evidence because it says it is.

Have you taken, and passed, a college level biology class at an accredited college or university? If you have, was evolution part of the curriculum? If it was how did you pass the class?

Bonus question for young earth creationists:

Have you taken, and passed, a college level geology class at an accredited college or university?

I put it to you that there are ONLY atheists in foxholes. If you truly believe in your god, that he loves you and that you get to go to heaven when you die, why are you taking cover? Why are you not trusting your god and putting your life in his hands? Are you having a crisis of faith? Are you doubting the existence of god?

I hear Christians talk about god giving us free will, but is it really free will? We are threatened with eternal punishment for any choices other than the ones they say god wants us to make. That's not free will, that's coercion, it's threatening someone to get what you want. Would you say it was of her own free will if a woman has sex with a man after he walks up to her, pulls out a pistol, aims it at her and says:

"Hi, I'd like to have sex with you and I would like you to choose of your own free will to have sex with me. Now you can say no, but there will be repercussions for doing so. So, what do you say? Do you want to choose, of your own free will, to have sex with me?"

Would you call that rape or her consensual sex? So, what do you say, is there really free will as long as threats of eternal torture exist?

I'm curious, state your religious beliefs and then how many different books you think you read in the average year. If you read your religious book 6 times a year that still only counts as one book and the bible only counts as one book, you don't get one each for The book of Mark, The book of Luke etc..

I'll go first. I'm an atheist and I probably read around 60 books a year.

Back when I was in high school I had a friend who's family was Mormon, rather than using his real name let's call him Bob. Bob's parents thought that he was out of control, he listened to heavy metal music (Iron Maiden was his favorite band), started to grow his hair long, often preferred to spend his time at home in his room rather than with the family, drank Coke (gasp), and he didn't always listen to his parents and occasionally spoke back to them. Basically he was a pretty normal teenager in the 80's except that unlike most of my other friends I can't remember him once drinking alcohol or using drugs. But to his parents he was out of control. So when he was 17 they had him institutionalized in the juvenile wing of the local mental health hospital. He was in there for about 5 or 6 months. On his 18th birthday he was released from the hospital, since there was absolutely nothing wrong with him. When he called home to get a ride from the hospital he found the number had been changed. He eventually got in touch with a friend who gave him a ride home. There he found that his key did not work in the door and knocked. A woman he did not answered. When he asked who she was and where his parents were she informed him that she had bought the house 3 months earlier. So basically his family locked him away, moved, left no information of where they had gone to and completely abandoned him. Luckily he had an aunt who lived several hours away who had escaped the church 20 years earlier, she came to get him and took him in until he got his life back together. So Mormons, I thought you guys were all about the family? Is this how you would treat your child?

I've been an atheist my whole life and never had religion forced on me, it was there if I wanted it but never forced. My mother is an agnostic, her parents were lip service presbyterians that only rarely attended church. My father was not around but his family was Catholic but only a few attended church regularly. The one sort of exception was my uncle Charles, he was a Jesuit monk and botanist. He left the brotherhood before I was born when they wanted to move him out of Australia where he was working studying and classifying plants in the Queensland rain forest, he had also met a woman that he fell in love with and eventually married. She also just happened to be a wealthy widow who continued to finance his research. Even he never cared that I was an atheist, he was totally cool with it and understood completely why I couldn't believe in a god without evidence. So anybody else this lucky?

Several years ago a friend and I were at a diner having dinner and when a man at the next table started talking to us about Jesus. I informed him that I was an atheist and my friend stated that he was a pagan, we were polite and never rude to him. He kept preaching at us getting more and more agitated as we pointed out our problems with organized religion in general and Christianity in particular. Eventually he stated his sorrow that heretics like us could no longer be burned at the stake. How many other Christians feel the same way and want to go back to making bonfires out of those who disagree with them?