Atheist Church opens in Chapel Hill, NC

[hipeter924]

Because it is just as legal in America and most of the world for the religious to make fun of atheists. It is surely not hypocritical to believe in the first amendment or freedom of speech for all.

If you want to know why people/groups should have a right to offend, then it comes down to the question, 'what isn't offensive to someone?' The moment the state censor comes to tea, free speech dies, as everything is offensive to at least someone.

I don't make fun of atheist, I don't care what you do or don't believe. You throwing in the first amendment, has nothing to do with you being hypocritical, the amendment is a freedom. Hypocrisy is an action. No one asked to censor anyone, my post certainly didn't.

My stand is you expect Christians to accept or not lump atheist into one category, however it is okay to compare a Christian's God to spaghetti. Your lack of respect, begets lack of respect.

I believe in a God, that doesn't make you or I greater or less than the other. It is a difference in opinion. Atheists can go to a church or whatever floats their boat. I don't care, do it, enjoy it, embrace it. Just respect others and others beliefs.

You have a right to offend, but if you do, as many atheists on this board have done, then expect people to form opinions about you.

Hypocrisy doesn't mean what you think it means. Explain how it is hypocritical to start a thread, with something positive - when the media is mud slinging all Atheists, as if they are boogeymen or communist insurgents. I never said someone should go out and start a local chapter of the Dawkins club, so it isn't even advocacy.

I make fun of other atheists, just as much as I make fun of religious folks and any kind of belief or lack thereof. I am equal opportunity when it comes to making fun of things or people. It is called being human, which means finding humor in all things.

What you don't seem to get, is when the media mud sling one group whoever that group is, more often than not I am going to find some absurdity or stupidity in it.

You ask for me to respect you on basis of an idea, a belief, or what you may or may not have done. I don't ask that people respect me without knowing me, and I treat others as I would myself. Nothing hypocritical in that.

Respect has to earned, but respect isn't always worth the price of admission, especially if it means denying who you are or belittling yourself.

I believe in the free market, and I can see the good things in a lot of things (including a belief in a religion or holding none). I like how you end your reply though, with a threat - as if you head a lynch mob.

I am not here to be popular, or to be a collectivist. So if you hate me on some concept of honor or 'respect', then it is rather silly. Especially since I have defended Muslims and Christians on this board as much as I have atheists (and I disagree with atheists just as often).

I think it is sad that you can't see humor in anything to do with religion, just like Iranian theocrats, and demand that everyone respects what you believe. Forming opinions goes both ways you know.

I don't see the media lumping anymore or any less atheists or Christians. Muslims seem to get lumped in much more. In my reply there is no threat, do you not form opinions about others by what they post? Good, bad or indifferent.

I never asked you to respect me, or my opinions, I don't need your respect. My life will not change by a faceless, unknown person on the internet.

I'm here just for entertainment. I don't take you or others seriously. I also never said the word hate in regards to you, you are the first person to bring up hate. What's up with that?

Lol. You implied it, with all this BS about 'respect' and then a threat about running me off the forum - since you can't run me out of town on the internet.

I don't form opinions of people based on what I view on the forum, as this is basically an anonymous community.

Truth be told, for you to draw major offense at a spaghetti monster reference makes no good sense. Why do you think Atheists make the reference, it isn't just for a laugh, though quite a few people do find it funny?

It is because religious groups claim that their god cannot be disproven on the basis of empirical evidence, and further because each religion claims it follows the one true god.

The flying spaghetti monster analogy, much like the invisible pink unicorn analogy implies that there is no way for religious people to disprove something as silly as either. Unless you make empirical claims or put forward arguments that disprove the plausibility of a god.

That you draw offense at a simplication of a major theological/philosophical argument, doesn't make sense to me, but nor have your other posts so far.

You are getting me confused with some one else, where did I ever say or imply that I would run you or anyone else off this board. Please quote it because I have never implied or posted either

As far as any major offense? I've taken none, your opinion of a God is not important to me.

Please post where I said or implied that I'd run you off this board, come on.

I can't help your ignorance.

My stand is you expect Christians to accept or not lump atheist into one category, however it is okay to compare a Christian's God to spaghetti. Your lack of respect, begets lack of respect.

For you even to suggest the the spaghetti monster (and its alternative the invisible pink unicorn argument) indicates a 'lack of respect', you have to be totally ignorant of the philosophical/theological argument it entails:

The Invisible Pink Unicorn (IPU) is the goddess of a parody religion used to satirize theistic beliefs, taking the form of a unicorn that is paradoxically both invisible and pink.[1] She is a rhetorical illustration used by atheists and other religious skeptics as a contemporary version of Russell's teapot, sometimes mentioned in conjunction with the Flying Spaghetti Monster.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Pink_Unicorn

In January 2005,[11] Bobby Henderson, then a 24-year-old[12] Oregon State University physics graduate, sent an open letter regarding the Flying Spaghetti Monster to the Kansas State Board of Education.[8][13][14] The letter was sent prior to the Kansas evolution hearings as an argument against the teaching of intelligent design in biology classes.[8] Henderson, describing himself as a "concerned citizen" representing more than ten million others, argued that intelligent design and his belief "the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster" were equally valid.[8] In his letter, he noted,

I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; one third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence.

—Bobby Henderson[7]

Flying Spaghetti Monster - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

1] The Invisible Pink Unicorn (IPU) is an imaginary creature devised as a means of arguing
against literalist religious beliefs.1 It is similar to other philosophical constructs that dramatize the tautologies and argumentum ad verecundiam (i.e.,“appeal to questionable authority”) that sometimes inhere in religious thought, such as Carl Sagan’s Invisible Dragon and the Celestial Teapot of Bertrand Russell. A more direct inspiration may have been the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) created by Bobby Henderson as part of his political activism against the teaching of creationism.

http://moses.creighton.edu/jrs/2010/2010-8.pdf

You have a right to offend, but if you do, as many atheists on this board have done, then expect people to form opinions about you.

And then the not so subtle hint, that if I speak my mind you and your ilk will make it difficult. I have already formed an opinion about you, thankfully you will never have the political power to overturn the constitution and destroy America with thought control.*

*Your vision of a perfect America:

 

[hipeter924]

From your very own quote:

""Hitler's architect Albert Speer believed he had "no real attachment" to Catholicism, but that he had never formally left the Church. Unlike his comrade Joseph Goebbels, Hitler was not excommunicated[5] prior to his suicide. The biographer John Toland noted Hitler's anticlericalism, but considered him still in "good standing" with the Church by 1941,"""

How does that prove he was a Christian? The Nuremberg trial papers by Donovan prove the Nazi end game was to replace the church with government once they could. Maybe the Catholics weren't made aware of it, ya think?

The lefty atheists are sooooo desperate because their belief system has been the biggest mass murderer in history..........and the only way they can deny it is to....well...deny it.....

Any belief or lack thereof can be dangerous, when taken to extremes.

 

[Vandalshandle]

Now, I can find hundreds of examples of Christian's killing the ungodly, but I have never heard of an atheist killing a Christian for being godly. Perhaps you can provide a link. And, please, no totalitarian system has made it a policy to kill Christians for being godly. They have killed those that are a danger to their regime, regardless of their religious beliefs.

Wow. It's this kind of ignorance and self-delusion that gives atheists a bad name. Many secularists, not only Communists, have persecuted the religious. If authoritarian regimes were not ardently anti-religious, if these regimes were only interested in maintaining power, they would have reached an accommodation with religious groups. Instead we see this:

The New Soviet League of Militant Godless

Here's a quote: Historically, Christ the Savior was a central shrine both of the Orthodox faith and of Russian national pride, and for that reason, the Bolsheviks targeted it for destruction. In 1931, in a notorious act of cultural vandalism, the Soviet government dynamited the old building, leveling it to the ground, and replacing it with a public swimming pool. Not until 1990 did a new regime permit a rebuilding, funded largely by ordinary believers, and the vast new structure was consecrated in 2000. The cathedral is thus a primary memorial to the restoration of Russia's Christianity after a savage persecution.

It's difficult, perhaps, for Westerners to realize how bloodthirsty that government assault was. Russia in 1917 was overwhelmingly Orthodox, and in fact was undergoing a widespread religious revival. Rooting out that faith demanded forceful action by the new Bolshevik government, which had no scruples about imposing its will on the wishes of a vast majority. Government leaders like Alexandra Kollontai -- the self-proclaimed Female Antichrist -- illegally seized historic churches and monasteries, and used soldiers to suppress the resulting demonstration. Hundreds were killed in those actions alone.

Through the 1920s, the Bolsheviks systematically wiped out the church's leaders. Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev perished in 1918, shot outside the historic Monastery of the Caves, while Bishop Hermogenes of Tobolsk was drowned in a Siberian river. Archbishop Andronicus of Perm was killed the following year, followed by most of his clergy. In 1920, Bishop Joachim of Nizhni Novgorod was crucified upside down from the iconostasis in his cathedral. In 1922, a firing squad executed the powerful Benjamin, Metropolitan of Petrograd/St. Petersburg. The repression was indiscriminate, paying no attention to the victims' records as critics of Tsarist injustice and anti-Semitism.

Persecution claimed many lives at lower levels of the church, among ordinary monks and priests. We hear of clergy shot in their hundreds, buried alive, mutilated, or fed to wild animals. Local Red officials hunted down priests as enthusiastically as their aristocratic predecessors had pursued wolves and wild boar. The number of clergy killed for their faith ran at least into the tens of thousands, with perhaps millions more lay believers.

The regime also rooted up the churches and monasteries that were the heart of Russian culture and spiritual life. Officials wandered the country, vandalizing churches, desecrating saints' shrines and seizing church goods, and murdering those who protested the acts. Militant atheist groups used sacred objects to stage anti-religious skits and processions. Between 1927 and 1940, active Orthodox churches all but vanished from the Russian Republic, as their numbers fell from 30,000 to just 500.

Vandalshandle please familiarize yourself with the brutality of the League of Militant Atheists and other anti-religious fanatics and apologize for your stupidity.

All of that, and STILL no links to atheists murdering religious people because they are religious. Even Hitler made it very clear that the "Jewish problem" was racial, not religious.

 

[Vandalshandle]

atheists...don't trust them...ever.........

Add atheists to the long list of people that the Right fears: Commies, illegal immigrants, criminals shooting you at Starbucks, government taking away your guns, Occupy Wall Street, lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, democrats, Muslims, voters without photo ID's, abortion clinics, and anyone not earning enough money to avoid living under a bridge.....

 

[Iceweasel]

atheists...don't trust them...ever.........

Add atheists to the long list of people that the Right fears: Commies, illegal immigrants, criminals shooting you at Starbucks, government taking away your guns, Occupy Wall Street, lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, democrats, Muslims, voters without photo ID's, abortion clinics, and anyone not earning enough money to avoid living under a bridge.....

The right has concern about them for reasons you can't wrap your mind around so you think it must mean fear.

 

[DriftingSand]

Interesting. Every atheist I've ever spoken with rejects religion and yet they have "church." A contradiction has reared its ugly head.

 

[DriftingSand]

atheists...don't trust them...ever.........

Add atheists to the long list of people that the Right fears: Commies, illegal immigrants, criminals shooting you at Starbucks, government taking away your guns, Occupy Wall Street, lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, democrats, Muslims, voters without photo ID's, abortion clinics, and anyone not earning enough money to avoid living under a bridge.....

Antichrist has existed for as long as man has inhabited the earth. There's no reason to "add" anything to any "list." With faith in Christ there is nothing to fear!!

 

[hipeter924]

atheists...don't trust them...ever.........

Add atheists to the long list of people that the Right fears: Commies, illegal immigrants, criminals shooting you at Starbucks, government taking away your guns, Occupy Wall Street, lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, democrats, Muslims, voters without photo ID's, abortion clinics, and anyone not earning enough money to avoid living under a bridge.....

Don't forget those scary Chinese:

 

[hipeter924]

Interesting. Every atheist I've ever spoken with rejects religion and yet they have "church." A contradiction has reared its ugly head.

The main reasoning behind it is to get tax exempt status and be treated legally as a religious organization, at least what I get from this: FAQ The Sunday Assembly

What is Sunday Assembly?

Sunday Assembly is a non-religious community that meet regularly to celebrate life. Our motto is “Live better, help often and wonder more” and our mission is to help everyone reach their full potential in this one life we know we have.

How did Sunday Assembly start?

Two comedians, Pippa Evans and Sanderson Jones were on their way to a gig in a car (VW Polo, if you like detail) when they started talking about the idea of a church without God. Pippa had been a Christian and found, when she stopped believing, she missed church (community, volunteering, music) rather than God and Sanderson had noticed the joy at Christmas created by carol concerts and wondered if it was possible to harness all those good bits to celebrate the awesome fact that we are alive.

And so they decided if they had both thought of it, probably more people had thought of it, so they should just get on and do it. In Jan 2013 they did just that. Over 200 people turned up to the first event and since then and more turn up every fortnight in London. They haven’t looked back, with 28 Assemblies across the globe to date.

What happens at a Sunday Assembly?

A Sunday Assembly service consists of songs (pop songs mainly) sung by the congregation, a reading (usually a poet), an interesting talk (that fits into live better, help often or wonder more), a moment of reflection and an address, which sums up the day and hopefully gives a take home message. Afterwards we have tea and cake (well, in Britain anyway!) to encourage people to stay and mingle with one another.

Outside of the event we organise small groups (Smoups), and other social activities such as book clubs and choir, peer-to-peer support and local volunteering.

Though American Atheists is tax-exempt and they don't run any kind of 'church' or 'assembly', so this is a new idea.

 

[Papageorgio]

I don't make fun of atheist, I don't care what you do or don't believe. You throwing in the first amendment, has nothing to do with you being hypocritical, the amendment is a freedom. Hypocrisy is an action. No one asked to censor anyone, my post certainly didn't.

My stand is you expect Christians to accept or not lump atheist into one category, however it is okay to compare a Christian's God to spaghetti. Your lack of respect, begets lack of respect.

I believe in a God, that doesn't make you or I greater or less than the other. It is a difference in opinion. Atheists can go to a church or whatever floats their boat. I don't care, do it, enjoy it, embrace it. Just respect others and others beliefs.

You have a right to offend, but if you do, as many atheists on this board have done, then expect people to form opinions about you.

Hypocrisy doesn't mean what you think it means. Explain how it is hypocritical to start a thread, with something positive - when the media is mud slinging all Atheists, as if they are boogeymen or communist insurgents. I never said someone should go out and start a local chapter of the Dawkins club, so it isn't even advocacy.

I make fun of other atheists, just as much as I make fun of religious folks and any kind of belief or lack thereof. I am equal opportunity when it comes to making fun of things or people. It is called being human, which means finding humor in all things.

What you don't seem to get, is when the media mud sling one group whoever that group is, more often than not I am going to find some absurdity or stupidity in it.

You ask for me to respect you on basis of an idea, a belief, or what you may or may not have done. I don't ask that people respect me without knowing me, and I treat others as I would myself. Nothing hypocritical in that.

Respect has to earned, but respect isn't always worth the price of admission, especially if it means denying who you are or belittling yourself.

I believe in the free market, and I can see the good things in a lot of things (including a belief in a religion or holding none). I like how you end your reply though, with a threat - as if you head a lynch mob.

I am not here to be popular, or to be a collectivist. So if you hate me on some concept of honor or 'respect', then it is rather silly. Especially since I have defended Muslims and Christians on this board as much as I have atheists (and I disagree with atheists just as often).

I think it is sad that you can't see humor in anything to do with religion, just like Iranian theocrats, and demand that everyone respects what you believe. Forming opinions goes both ways you know.

I don't see the media lumping anymore or any less atheists or Christians. Muslims seem to get lumped in much more. In my reply there is no threat, do you not form opinions about others by what they post? Good, bad or indifferent.

I never asked you to respect me, or my opinions, I don't need your respect. My life will not change by a faceless, unknown person on the internet.

I'm here just for entertainment. I don't take you or others seriously. I also never said the word hate in regards to you, you are the first person to bring up hate. What's up with that?

Lol. You implied it, with all this BS about 'respect' and then a threat about running me off the forum - since you can't run me out of town on the internet.

I don't form opinions of people based on what I view on the forum, as this is basically an anonymous community.

Truth be told, for you to draw major offense at a spaghetti monster reference makes no good sense. Why do you think Atheists make the reference, it isn't just for a laugh, though quite a few people do find it funny?

It is because religious groups claim that their god cannot be disproven on the basis of empirical evidence, and further because each religion claims it follows the one true god.

The flying spaghetti monster analogy, much like the invisible pink unicorn analogy implies that there is no way for religious people to disprove something as silly as either. Unless you make empirical claims or put forward arguments that disprove the plausibility of a god.

That you draw offense at a simplication of a major theological/philosophical argument, doesn't make sense to me, but nor have your other posts so far.

You are getting me confused with some one else, where did I ever say or imply that I would run you or anyone else off this board. Please quote it because I have never implied or posted either

As far as any major offense? I've taken none, your opinion of a God is not important to me.

Please post where I said or implied that I'd run you off this board, come on.

I can't help your ignorance.

My stand is you expect Christians to accept or not lump atheist into one category, however it is okay to compare a Christian's God to spaghetti. Your lack of respect, begets lack of respect.

For you even to suggest the the spaghetti monster (and its alternative the invisible pink unicorn argument) indicates a 'lack of respect', you have to be totally ignorant of the philosophical/theological argument it entails:

The Invisible Pink Unicorn (IPU) is the goddess of a parody religion used to satirize theistic beliefs, taking the form of a unicorn that is paradoxically both invisible and pink.[1] She is a rhetorical illustration used by atheists and other religious skeptics as a contemporary version of Russell's teapot, sometimes mentioned in conjunction with the Flying Spaghetti Monster.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Pink_Unicorn

In January 2005,[11] Bobby Henderson, then a 24-year-old[12] Oregon State University physics graduate, sent an open letter regarding the Flying Spaghetti Monster to the Kansas State Board of Education.[8][13][14] The letter was sent prior to the Kansas evolution hearings as an argument against the teaching of intelligent design in biology classes.[8] Henderson, describing himself as a "concerned citizen" representing more than ten million others, argued that intelligent design and his belief "the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster" were equally valid.[8] In his letter, he noted,

I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; one third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence.

—Bobby Henderson[7]

Flying Spaghetti Monster - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

1] The Invisible Pink Unicorn (IPU) is an imaginary creature devised as a means of arguing
against literalist religious beliefs.1 It is similar to other philosophical constructs that dramatize the tautologies and argumentum ad verecundiam (i.e.,“appeal to questionable authority”) that sometimes inhere in religious thought, such as Carl Sagan’s Invisible Dragon and the Celestial Teapot of Bertrand Russell. A more direct inspiration may have been the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) created by Bobby Henderson as part of his political activism against the teaching of creationism.

http://moses.creighton.edu/jrs/2010/2010-8.pdf

You have a right to offend, but if you do, as many atheists on this board have done, then expect people to form opinions about you.

And then the not so subtle hint, that if I speak my mind you and your ilk will make it difficult. I have already formed an opinion about you, thankfully you will never have the political power to overturn the constitution and destroy America with thought control.*

*Your vision of a perfect America:

I see you can speak your opinion and have an opinion but any opinion I have is hate.

I'm sorry if you misinterpreted my thoughts as hate. I don't hate people it is a waste. I also apologize if you think I was trying to run you off. I don't desire that at all.

As far as the spaghetti thing, I don't care and it doesn't offend me.

 

[Papageorgio]

atheists...don't trust them...ever.........

Add atheists to the long list of people that the Right fears: Commies, illegal immigrants, criminals shooting you at Starbucks, government taking away your guns, Occupy Wall Street, lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, democrats, Muslims, voters without photo ID's, abortion clinics, and anyone not earning enough money to avoid living under a bridge.....

I must not be on the right because none of those people frighten me.

 

[MaryL]

I'm am an atheist, too. I don't need a multitude of shotguns. Never owned a firearm in my life. Had a multitude of outlanders steal my parking, blare out loud hoochi coochie musica and intimidate me. But that's than other issue, not that it maters ANY. I relate to this guy, sadly.

 

[DriftingSand]

Interesting. Every atheist I've ever spoken with rejects religion and yet they have "church." A contradiction has reared its ugly head.

The main reasoning behind it is to get tax exempt status and be treated legally as a religious organization, at least what I get from this: FAQ The Sunday Assembly

What is Sunday Assembly?

Sunday Assembly is a non-religious community that meet regularly to celebrate life. Our motto is “Live better, help often and wonder more” and our mission is to help everyone reach their full potential in this one life we know we have.

How did Sunday Assembly start?

Two comedians, Pippa Evans and Sanderson Jones were on their way to a gig in a car (VW Polo, if you like detail) when they started talking about the idea of a church without God. Pippa had been a Christian and found, when she stopped believing, she missed church (community, volunteering, music) rather than God and Sanderson had noticed the joy at Christmas created by carol concerts and wondered if it was possible to harness all those good bits to celebrate the awesome fact that we are alive.

And so they decided if they had both thought of it, probably more people had thought of it, so they should just get on and do it. In Jan 2013 they did just that. Over 200 people turned up to the first event and since then and more turn up every fortnight in London. They haven’t looked back, with 28 Assemblies across the globe to date.

What happens at a Sunday Assembly?

A Sunday Assembly service consists of songs (pop songs mainly) sung by the congregation, a reading (usually a poet), an interesting talk (that fits into live better, help often or wonder more), a moment of reflection and an address, which sums up the day and hopefully gives a take home message. Afterwards we have tea and cake (well, in Britain anyway!) to encourage people to stay and mingle with one another.

Outside of the event we organise small groups (Smoups), and other social activities such as book clubs and choir, peer-to-peer support and local volunteering.

Though American Atheists is tax-exempt and they don't run any kind of 'church' or 'assembly', so this is a new idea.

So we're left with one of two scenarios:

1) Atheism IS a religion or
2) Atheists are lying and misleading the public to get a tax exemption.

 

[Vandalshandle]

Interesting. Every atheist I've ever spoken with rejects religion and yet they have "church." A contradiction has reared its ugly head.

The main reasoning behind it is to get tax exempt status and be treated legally as a religious organization, at least what I get from this: FAQ The Sunday Assembly

What is Sunday Assembly?

Sunday Assembly is a non-religious community that meet regularly to celebrate life. Our motto is “Live better, help often and wonder more” and our mission is to help everyone reach their full potential in this one life we know we have.

How did Sunday Assembly start?

Two comedians, Pippa Evans and Sanderson Jones were on their way to a gig in a car (VW Polo, if you like detail) when they started talking about the idea of a church without God. Pippa had been a Christian and found, when she stopped believing, she missed church (community, volunteering, music) rather than God and Sanderson had noticed the joy at Christmas created by carol concerts and wondered if it was possible to harness all those good bits to celebrate the awesome fact that we are alive.

And so they decided if they had both thought of it, probably more people had thought of it, so they should just get on and do it. In Jan 2013 they did just that. Over 200 people turned up to the first event and since then and more turn up every fortnight in London. They haven’t looked back, with 28 Assemblies across the globe to date.

What happens at a Sunday Assembly?

A Sunday Assembly service consists of songs (pop songs mainly) sung by the congregation, a reading (usually a poet), an interesting talk (that fits into live better, help often or wonder more), a moment of reflection and an address, which sums up the day and hopefully gives a take home message. Afterwards we have tea and cake (well, in Britain anyway!) to encourage people to stay and mingle with one another.

Outside of the event we organise small groups (Smoups), and other social activities such as book clubs and choir, peer-to-peer support and local volunteering.

Though American Atheists is tax-exempt and they don't run any kind of 'church' or 'assembly', so this is a new idea.

So we're left with one of two scenarios:

1) Atheism IS a religion or
2) Atheists are lying and misleading the public to get a tax exemption.

I think that you are on the wrong thread. The thread on Scientology has pretty much expired.

 

[2aguy]

atheists...don't trust them...ever.........

Add atheists to the long list of people that the Right fears: Commies, illegal immigrants, criminals shooting you at Starbucks, government taking away your guns, Occupy Wall Street, lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, democrats, Muslims, voters without photo ID's, abortion clinics, and anyone not earning enough money to avoid living under a bridge.....

I must not be on the right because none of those people frighten me.

Well

Commies....murdered 100 million people...nothing to fear there....

illegal immigrants....will vote democrat and their big government corrupt policies...nothing to fear there...

Criminals....break the law, rape people, rob people, murder people...nothing to fear there...

Government taking away guns......look under commies and other socialists...and what happens when they have guns but their victims don't......( hint: 100 million people murdered) ...nothing to fear there...

Occupy Wall street....tons of rape in the camps....vote for democrats and their big government policies...smell bad....nothing to fear there...

Lesbians, gays, bisexuals.....if you aren't a baker, photographer or any other business that believes in religion...nothing to fear there....

democrats....see commies, democrat are the larva of big government.....see commies and big government....nothing to fear there....

muslims.....19 muslims murdered over 3,000 Americans and some foreigners in biggest attack on U.S. soil....taking over Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen, muslims in Iran want a nuclear weapon to kill all the Jews in Israel....nothing to fear there....

Voters without voter I.D....vote for democrats and their big government policies creating the sucky civilization like Mexico and venezuela....yeah, nothing to fear there....

Abortion clinics.....if you are an innocent human baby....could be a problem...for adults....nothing to fear there....

Anyone not earning enough to avoid living under a bridge.....you mean people supporting democrat policies....who then may turn to rape, robbery and murder to get money....yeah nothing to fear there....

See, now I understand there is nothing to fear from any of these groups....you are one smart dude or dudette....

 

[Thunderbird]

Thunderbird....where is the link...I would like to add this source to my notes......makes it easier than finding it each time a silly leftist says the communist atheists don't murder people because of their religious beliefs....

Thanks, great find....

RealClearReligion - The New Soviet League of Militant Godless

Glad to be of help.

 

[Thunderbird]

All of that, and STILL no links to atheists murdering religious people because they are religious.

Your mind seems nailed shut against the facts.

Devoted atheists working in atheist organizations in the name of an atheist ideology involved in the mass murder of religious folk especially the clergy - do you think maybe these religious people were killed because they were religious?

What do you think Communism was all about - it certainly didn't help out working folk! At the heart of Marxism-Leninism is hatred of religious people.

Here are some quotes from Marx, Lenin, and others:

“The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion” (Karl Marx)

“The World has never before known a godlessness as organized, militarized and tenaciously malevolent as that preached by Marxism. Within the philosophical system of Marx and Lenin and at the heart of their psychology, HATRED OF GOD is the principle driving force, more fundamental than all their political and economic pretensions. Militant atheism is not merely incidental or marginal to Communist policy; it is not a side effect, but the central pivot. To achieve its diabolical ends, Communism needs to control a population devoid of religious and national feeling, and this entails a destruction of faith and nationhood. Communists proclaim both of these objectives openly, and just as openly put them into practice.” (Alexander Solzhenitsyn, former communist, Nobel prize winner)

“Atheism is the natural and inseparable part of Communism.” (attributed to Vladimir I. Lenin)

“Our program necessarily includes the propaganda of atheism.” (V.I. Lenin)

The official journal of the Soviet Academy of Pedagogical Sciences published a government directive Atheistic Education in the School as a resource on how to separate God from human society. The opening paragraph is revealing: “The Soviet school, as an instrument for the Communist education of the rising generation, can, as a matter of principle, take up no other attitude towards religion than one of irreconcilable opposition; for Communist education has as its philosophical basis Marxism, and Marxism is irreconcilably hostile to religion.

‘Marxism is materialism,’ says V. I. Lenin; ‘as such, it is as relentlessly hostile to religion as the materialism of the Encyclopedaists of the eighteenth century or the materialism of Feuerbach.’

 

[DriftingSand]

Interesting. Every atheist I've ever spoken with rejects religion and yet they have "church." A contradiction has reared its ugly head.

The main reasoning behind it is to get tax exempt status and be treated legally as a religious organization, at least what I get from this: FAQ The Sunday Assembly

What is Sunday Assembly?

Sunday Assembly is a non-religious community that meet regularly to celebrate life. Our motto is “Live better, help often and wonder more” and our mission is to help everyone reach their full potential in this one life we know we have.

How did Sunday Assembly start?

Two comedians, Pippa Evans and Sanderson Jones were on their way to a gig in a car (VW Polo, if you like detail) when they started talking about the idea of a church without God. Pippa had been a Christian and found, when she stopped believing, she missed church (community, volunteering, music) rather than God and Sanderson had noticed the joy at Christmas created by carol concerts and wondered if it was possible to harness all those good bits to celebrate the awesome fact that we are alive.

And so they decided if they had both thought of it, probably more people had thought of it, so they should just get on and do it. In Jan 2013 they did just that. Over 200 people turned up to the first event and since then and more turn up every fortnight in London. They haven’t looked back, with 28 Assemblies across the globe to date.

What happens at a Sunday Assembly?

A Sunday Assembly service consists of songs (pop songs mainly) sung by the congregation, a reading (usually a poet), an interesting talk (that fits into live better, help often or wonder more), a moment of reflection and an address, which sums up the day and hopefully gives a take home message. Afterwards we have tea and cake (well, in Britain anyway!) to encourage people to stay and mingle with one another.

Outside of the event we organise small groups (Smoups), and other social activities such as book clubs and choir, peer-to-peer support and local volunteering.

Though American Atheists is tax-exempt and they don't run any kind of 'church' or 'assembly', so this is a new idea.

So we're left with one of two scenarios:

1) Atheism IS a religion or
2) Atheists are lying and misleading the public to get a tax exemption.

I think that you are on the wrong thread. The thread on Scientology has pretty much expired.

Considering the fact that your post has ZERO to do with anything I said I can only say that perhaps you're in the wrong thread or, maybe, the wrong forum.