Hummingbird
<<<I think one of the Ten Commandments says something about "no other gods before me" so isn't that an admission that there are other gods? And since there is a virtual marketplace of gods to choose from it seems they should have to show why they are worthy of worship in the first place. >>>

This is a small part of my contention. I can find no reason to believe ANY of what is written regarding any diety(s) as there's no credible foundation for the claims, only supposition and ideology. And those purporting these dieties had reasons to be biased and prejudiced so as to provide their own spin on matters religious. Aside from the writers, the content published has too many flaws and contradictions to have any credibility. Based on this and the unliklihood that any diety would be so secretive and stealthy revealing itself to some and not others, I can comfortably assert that TO DATE this entity doesnt exist based on what has been presented and the faulty logic of those purporting the reasons they believe.

Now, I am not atheist for complicated reasons that take far too long to explain. But I have a serious problem with people taking this imagined bullshit and using imagined rules to impose them on me. Many people believe what they believe because of classical conditioning through indoctrination from parents, friends, family members and society. Here in the U.S. we have a large part of the population that are christian occultists, so most children grow up hearing and being conditioned to god and Jesus. In some other countries they grow up with muslim beliefs. My point being what people are believing in is HEARSAY and not factual evidence or anything that is inate.

The desire to perpetuate our species is instinctive and I think that may be one reason the hearsay is so readily accepted by many people. Some sort of promise of afterlife has been showed to be desired by civilizations down through history. But if it were fact, the ideologies would not have evolved into other unprovable ideologies. They would have evolved into fact supported by evidence.

There was a time when I did not care who believed what. But as we see the theist ideologies seeping more and more into legislation, I have a problem with that and it is incumbant upon those posing this crap to PROVE IT. Otherwise they need to shut the fuck up and leave me and mine alone while they take their unprovable little fantasies back to their little tea parties at the church house with like minded believers. The mere fact that we have "IN GOD WE TRUST" on our money is testimony to just how widespread the ignorance is. Trusting something that has been learned through hearsay is fucking crazy!

>>I think those of us who do not believe in god can also view the existence of a god (or multiple gods) as a theory.<<

"I agree; I think that's the best way to go about... well, doing something utterly pointless and wasteful with one's time," he said while typing a response to the HD forum regarding Dr D's quip about selective morons and how they strangle each others' brains.

When you have disproved the existence of the YHVH specifically mentioned in each book of the Bible, then you can get on to disproving all the cultural variations of YHVH, Jehovah, Allah, El, &c&al. Then it's onto Hindu. After that, your great-grandchildren can tackle Raven - perhaps O∂hinn, or something wild like Ajatar or maybe Azathoth (good luck: that motherfucker actually exists). OR you could cultivate an understanding of what these various myths refer to, OR you could learn enough about a single religion to understand the error you made in the first place by preferring to argue with sheep rather than undertake a sane study of your own, OR you could ignore the whole thing like that big sticky ball of goo that it is.

Most religions don't work the way atheists (cum Christians) think they do. That single fact alone pretty invalidates most of the argument I've seen proceed from atheist dialectic. When you proceed to philosophy from ignorance, you are being a dumbass. The belief that Streghans, for an example, "believe" in their gods the way you believe the sidewalk is under your feet when walking to the store not only misses the point of that religion 100%, it simply reveals that most Streghan talk is a zillion times smarter and more interesting than most atheist talk. Heathens, too. Some heathens make the whole of atheistdom look like whiny teens. I haven't met the atheist yet that was more crushingly logical than some of the hidebound heathens I've chatted with. These people will hard-logic-stiffarm you right into a coma.

I am, personally, immensely impressed by the deity of the universe. I'm habitually annoyed with the goofballs that worship it stupidly and attribute their own human failings and finiteness to it, and I've become sensitized to the paragoofballs that strain to insist "but Zeus doesn't exist!" as if that's some sort of interesting point or cogent argument. The 'Zeus' argument (appeal to ridicule) and the "if you don't believe in Gazumtäch then how can you pretend to believe in Shananay?" (false dichotomy) arguments are frivolous, ignorant, and baseless, but that is not what damns the sayer, in my eyes; what does is the acrimony that these utterly worthless tactics invite upon atheists. Yes: I am saying that I am annoyed to frustration by the way you folks idiotically heap shit on yourselves.

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ABORTION: Right, or Wrong?