The Death of the American Catholic Church

[Fenton Lum]

What you're "nit" doing is making any sense. I point out some objective facts in your religion's history and you leap to "zero good has come from religion". Once religiosos have come to "believe", there is no thinking going on anymore, they just believe, and are uncomfortable with any who question. What ever works for you, it's your's, as each human being's spiritual path should be; their own.

You made an unbalanced argument which shows your lack of objectivity. Now you are trying to divide and conquer those that believe in God by implying they should keep their beliefs to themselves.

Religion in general and Christianity in specific has overwhelmingly been a force for good.


1) Religion promotes the virtues of thankfulness, forgiveness, humility, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness
a) Religion creates wonderful charities and organizations
b) Religious persons and institutions are usually the first source of literacy, education, and healthcare in the poorer regions
c) Religion has been the source of abundant human services from hospitals, orphanages, nursing homes, and schools, to advocacy on behalf of those with no voice, to supporting cultural outreaches, and seeking always to find ways in which to protect and promote human life and its authentic flourishing
d) Religion gave us the concept of subsidiarity
e) Religion has done what no government can ever do, namely teach morality and civility
f) Religion teaches accountability and responsibility
g) Religion teaches that we have a choice in how we behave
h) Religion teaches that actions have consequences
i) Religion inspires a sense of wonder in nature and the universe
j) Religion helps us feel connected to one another and to nature
k) Religion helps us feel less alone in the world
l) Religion serves to ennoble the human spirit
m) Religion serves to bind the community together
n) Religion inspires love, peace and happiness
o) Religion serves to create traditions
p) Religion brings order to our lives
q) Religion brings comfort to the terminally ill
r) Religion can act as a source of hope for the oppressed
s) Religion teaches that we can transform ourselves
2) Christian values were the foundation which Western Civilization was built upon.
a) No other institution played a greater role in shaping Western Civilization than the Catholic Church
i) Modern science was born in the Catholic Church
ii) Catholic priests developed the idea of free-market
iii) The Catholic Church invented the university
iv) Western law grew out of Church canon law
v) the Church humanized the West by insisting on the sacredness of all human life
(1) The Church constantly sought to alleviate the evils of slavery and repeatedly denounced the mass enslavement of conquered populations and the infamous slave trade, thereby undermining slavery at its sources.
b) Religion gave us great thinkers, leaders and humanitarians
c) Religion gave us America
d) Religion gave us incredible artwork
e) Religion gave us incredible music
f) Religion gave us incredible architecture
g) Christianity has spread democracy
h) Christians fought other Christians in WWII to end their aggression.
i) Christians rebuilt Europe after WWII
j) Christians rebuilt Japan after WWII
k) Christians put a man on the moon.
l) Christians ended the cold war.

Thanks for your subjective list.

So then you tell me what good you believe has come from religion. Fair enough?

I don't recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone.

That's because you don't believe any good has come from religion, right? Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?

Me: "I don't recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone."

You: "That's because you don't believe any good has come from religion, right?"

No, those two things have no relationship to each other at all. If I believe any good has come from religion, then l would recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone? Silly.

You: "Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?"

Again, just silly. Religion is a totally personal decision and belief system, same with athiesm or any other perceptual reality as it relates to human connections to spirituality. And it is utterly subjective by definition, religion itself is subjective. I don't have or wish for that kind of power over another human being, and the only folks I've ever heard talk/think like that, "Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?", are always "religious" folk.

And this all goes back to these male dominator god religions. Once you accept the notion of the creator in human form, who has given mankind (just the proper followers of the particular religion of course, not the others), dominion over the natural world and everything on/in it, followers begin to see themselves as gods with power over others, and they need for their particular religion to prevail over the others.

What should be abolished is any and every religion's goal of inserting itself into the political arena and gaining control over any society wishing itself to be free.

 

[ding]

I'm not sure how you made that leap in logic, but I'm not surprised by it.

You've heard your invisible buddy talk?

You don't recognize your mental illness?

Hearing voices is a mental illness. Didn't your doctor tell you that?

Maybe you should go see a doctor.

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/appi.ajp.161.12.2303

RESULTS: Religiously unaffiliated subjects had significantly more lifetime suicide attempts and more first-degree relatives who committed suicide than subjects who endorsed a religious affiliation. Unaffiliated subjects were younger, less often married, less often had children, and had less contact with family members. Furthermore, subjects with no religious affiliation perceived fewer reasons for living, particularly fewer moral objections to suicide. In terms of clinical characteristics, religiously unaffiliated subjects had more lifetime impulsivity, aggression, and past substance use disorder. No differences in the level of subjective and objective depression, hopelessness, or stressful life events were found. CONCLUSIONS: Religious affiliation is associated with less suicidal behavior in depressed inpatients. After other factors were controlled, it was found that greater moral objections to suicide and lower aggression level in religiously affiliated subjects may function as protective factors against suicide attempts. Further study about the influence of religious affiliation on aggressive behavior and how moral objections can reduce the probability of acting on suicidal thoughts may offer new therapeutic strategies in suicide prevention.

Copying me, how cute.

Yes, I am rather cute.

 

[ding]

I'm not sure how you made that leap in logic, but I'm not surprised by it.

You've heard your invisible buddy talk?

You don't recognize your mental illness?

Hearing voices is a mental illness. Didn't your doctor tell you that?

Duke University has established the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health.[5] The Duke University Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health is based in the Center for Aging at Duke and gives opportunities for scholarly trans-disciplinary conversation and the development of collaborative research projects.[6] In respect to the atheism and mental and physical health, the center offers many studies which suggest that theism is more beneficial than atheism.[7]

1. http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/
2. Jump up↑ http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/about/
3. Jump up↑ http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/publications/latest.html

Is this where you're being treated?

No. It is where you should go to be treated for the disorders caused by your militant atheism.

 

[Mudda]

Yes, I am rather cute.

My gaydar just went off bigtime!

 

[Mudda]

You've heard your invisible buddy talk?

You don't recognize your mental illness?

Hearing voices is a mental illness. Didn't your doctor tell you that?

Duke University has established the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health.[5] The Duke University Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health is based in the Center for Aging at Duke and gives opportunities for scholarly trans-disciplinary conversation and the development of collaborative research projects.[6] In respect to the atheism and mental and physical health, the center offers many studies which suggest that theism is more beneficial than atheism.[7]

1. http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/
2. Jump up↑ http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/about/
3. Jump up↑ http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/publications/latest.html

Is this where you're being treated?

No. It is where you should go to be treated for the disorders caused by your militant atheism.

You admitted that agnostics like myself don't suffer from a mental disorder. Thanks for playing.

 

[guno]

If you like, sure. But isn't that how catholicism works; the middle man scam? Didn’t they used to have this racket whereby they charged folks money so their deceased love ones could get into heaven. Now THAT’S cynical pard.

You know who else thought like you?

...in order to charm the golden birds, out of the pockets of his dearly beloved neighbours in Christ. He puts himself at the service of the other’s most depraved fancies, plays the pimp between him and his need, excites in him morbid appetites, lies in wait for each of his weaknesses – all so that he can then demand the cash for this service of love. (Every product is a bait with which to seduce away the other’s very being, his money; every real and possible need is a weakness which will lead the fly to the glue-pot. General exploitation of communal human nature, just as every imperfection in man, is a bond with heaven – an avenue giving the priest access to his heart; every need is an opportunity to approach one’s neighbour under the guise of the utmost amiability and to say to him: Dear friend, I give you what you need, but you know the conditio sine qua non; you know the ink in which you have to sign yourself over to me; in providing for your pleasure, I fleece you.)

Karl Marx
Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844
3rd paragraph

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/needs.htm

Brillant, the "commie" bit. Mr objective.

Are you disagreeing that he believed like you do? I'm nit calling you a socialist, although you very well may be for all I know. What I am saying is that when it comes to religion, you and him see eye to eye. Do you seriously believe that zero good has come from religion?

What you're "nit" doing is making any sense. I point out some objective facts in your religion's history and you leap to "zero good has come from religion". Once religiosos have come to "believe", there is no thinking going on anymore, they just believe, and are uncomfortable with any who question. What ever works for you, it's your's, as each human being's spiritual path should be; their own.

You made an unbalanced argument which shows your lack of objectivity. Now you are trying to divide and conquer those that believe in God by implying they should keep their beliefs to themselves.

Religion in general and Christianity in specific has overwhelmingly been a force for good.


1) Religion promotes the virtues of thankfulness, forgiveness, humility, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness
a) Religion creates wonderful charities and organizations
b) Religious persons and institutions are usually the first source of literacy, education, and healthcare in the poorer regions
c) Religion has been the source of abundant human services from hospitals, orphanages, nursing homes, and schools, to advocacy on behalf of those with no voice, to supporting cultural outreaches, and seeking always to find ways in which to protect and promote human life and its authentic flourishing
d) Religion gave us the concept of subsidiarity
e) Religion has done what no government can ever do, namely teach morality and civility
f) Religion teaches accountability and responsibility
g) Religion teaches that we have a choice in how we behave
h) Religion teaches that actions have consequences
i) Religion inspires a sense of wonder in nature and the universe
j) Religion helps us feel connected to one another and to nature
k) Religion helps us feel less alone in the world
l) Religion serves to ennoble the human spirit
m) Religion serves to bind the community together
n) Religion inspires love, peace and happiness
o) Religion serves to create traditions
p) Religion brings order to our lives
q) Religion brings comfort to the terminally ill
r) Religion can act as a source of hope for the oppressed
s) Religion teaches that we can transform ourselves
2) Christian values were the foundation which Western Civilization was built upon.
a) No other institution played a greater role in shaping Western Civilization than the Catholic Church
i) Modern science was born in the Catholic Church
ii) Catholic priests developed the idea of free-market
iii) The Catholic Church invented the university
iv) Western law grew out of Church canon law
v) the Church humanized the West by insisting on the sacredness of all human life
(1) The Church constantly sought to alleviate the evils of slavery and repeatedly denounced the mass enslavement of conquered populations and the infamous slave trade, thereby undermining slavery at its sources.
b) Religion gave us great thinkers, leaders and humanitarians
c) Religion gave us America
d) Religion gave us incredible artwork
e) Religion gave us incredible music
f) Religion gave us incredible architecture
g) Christianity has spread democracy
h) Christians fought other Christians in WWII to end their aggression.
i) Christians rebuilt Europe after WWII
j) Christians rebuilt Japan after WWII
k) Christians put a man on the moon.
l) Christians ended the cold war.

you forgot

Jewish Persecution | Timeline of Judaism | History of AntiSemitism

Christian Persecution of Jews over the Centuries: Introduction — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

 

[ding]

You made an unbalanced argument which shows your lack of objectivity. Now you are trying to divide and conquer those that believe in God by implying they should keep their beliefs to themselves.

Religion in general and Christianity in specific has overwhelmingly been a force for good.


1) Religion promotes the virtues of thankfulness, forgiveness, humility, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness
a) Religion creates wonderful charities and organizations
b) Religious persons and institutions are usually the first source of literacy, education, and healthcare in the poorer regions
c) Religion has been the source of abundant human services from hospitals, orphanages, nursing homes, and schools, to advocacy on behalf of those with no voice, to supporting cultural outreaches, and seeking always to find ways in which to protect and promote human life and its authentic flourishing
d) Religion gave us the concept of subsidiarity
e) Religion has done what no government can ever do, namely teach morality and civility
f) Religion teaches accountability and responsibility
g) Religion teaches that we have a choice in how we behave
h) Religion teaches that actions have consequences
i) Religion inspires a sense of wonder in nature and the universe
j) Religion helps us feel connected to one another and to nature
k) Religion helps us feel less alone in the world
l) Religion serves to ennoble the human spirit
m) Religion serves to bind the community together
n) Religion inspires love, peace and happiness
o) Religion serves to create traditions
p) Religion brings order to our lives
q) Religion brings comfort to the terminally ill
r) Religion can act as a source of hope for the oppressed
s) Religion teaches that we can transform ourselves
2) Christian values were the foundation which Western Civilization was built upon.
a) No other institution played a greater role in shaping Western Civilization than the Catholic Church
i) Modern science was born in the Catholic Church
ii) Catholic priests developed the idea of free-market
iii) The Catholic Church invented the university
iv) Western law grew out of Church canon law
v) the Church humanized the West by insisting on the sacredness of all human life
(1) The Church constantly sought to alleviate the evils of slavery and repeatedly denounced the mass enslavement of conquered populations and the infamous slave trade, thereby undermining slavery at its sources.
b) Religion gave us great thinkers, leaders and humanitarians
c) Religion gave us America
d) Religion gave us incredible artwork
e) Religion gave us incredible music
f) Religion gave us incredible architecture
g) Christianity has spread democracy
h) Christians fought other Christians in WWII to end their aggression.
i) Christians rebuilt Europe after WWII
j) Christians rebuilt Japan after WWII
k) Christians put a man on the moon.
l) Christians ended the cold war.

Thanks for your subjective list.

So then you tell me what good you believe has come from religion. Fair enough?

I don't recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone.

That's because you don't believe any good has come from religion, right? Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?

Me: "I don't recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone."

You: "That's because you don't believe any good has come from religion, right?"

No, those two things have no relationship to each other at all. If I believe any good has come from religion, then l would recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone? Silly.

You: "Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?"

Again, just silly. Religion is a totally personal decision and belief system, same with athiesm or any other perceptual reality as it relates to human connections to spirituality. And it is utterly subjective by definition, religion itself is subjective. I don't have or wish for that kind of power over another human being, and the only folks I've ever heard talk/think like that, "Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?", are always "religious" folk.

And this all goes back to these male dominator god religions. Once you accept the notion of the creator in human form, who has given mankind (just the proper followers of the particular religion of course, not the others), dominion over the natural world and everything on/in it, followers begin to see themselves as gods with power over others, and they need for their particular religion to prevail over the others.

What should be abolished is any and every religion's goal of inserting itself in the political arena and control over any society wishing to be free.

It never ceases to amaze me how cowardly you militant atheists are. But then again it is really subversion which forces you to hide your true beliefs. If you stated your true beliefs people would gasp in horror at the evil you support. I don't have that problem. I believe your religion of socialism is evil and should be wiped from the face of the earth. See? That's how it is done.

BTW, please keep your religion out of my government and schools.

 

[ding]

You don't recognize your mental illness?

Hearing voices is a mental illness. Didn't your doctor tell you that?

Duke University has established the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health.[5] The Duke University Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health is based in the Center for Aging at Duke and gives opportunities for scholarly trans-disciplinary conversation and the development of collaborative research projects.[6] In respect to the atheism and mental and physical health, the center offers many studies which suggest that theism is more beneficial than atheism.[7]

1. http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/
2. Jump up↑ http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/about/
3. Jump up↑ http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/publications/latest.html

Is this where you're being treated?

No. It is where you should go to be treated for the disorders caused by your militant atheism.

You admitted that agnostics like myself don't suffer from a mental disorder. Thanks for playing.

You aren't an agnostic. An agnostic has no need to troll religious forums like you do and attack the beliefs of others. You are a militant atheist who seeks to subordinate religion.

 

[Fenton Lum]

Thanks for your subjective list.

So then you tell me what good you believe has come from religion. Fair enough?

I don't recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone.

That's because you don't believe any good has come from religion, right? Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?

Me: "I don't recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone."

You: "That's because you don't believe any good has come from religion, right?"

No, those two things have no relationship to each other at all. If I believe any good has come from religion, then l would recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone? Silly.

You: "Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?"

Again, just silly. Religion is a totally personal decision and belief system, same with athiesm or any other perceptual reality as it relates to human connections to spirituality. And it is utterly subjective by definition, religion itself is subjective. I don't have or wish for that kind of power over another human being, and the only folks I've ever heard talk/think like that, "Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?", are always "religious" folk.

And this all goes back to these male dominator god religions. Once you accept the notion of the creator in human form, who has given mankind (just the proper followers of the particular religion of course, not the others), dominion over the natural world and everything on/in it, followers begin to see themselves as gods with power over others, and they need for their particular religion to prevail over the others.

What should be abolished is any and every religion's goal of inserting itself in the political arena and control over any society wishing to be free.

It never ceases to amaze me how cowardly you militant atheists are. But then again it is really subversion which forces you to hide your true beliefs. If you stated your true beliefs people would gasp in horror at the evil you support. I don't have that problem. I believe your religion of socialism is evil and should be wiped from the face of the earth. See? That's how it is done.

BTW, please keep your religion out of my government and schools.

Militant athiest? Socialist? Labels for all who won't fall in line with the power structure. See? You need control, it has nothing to do with spirituality at all, your religion.

 

[Fenton Lum]

Hearing voices is a mental illness. Didn't your doctor tell you that?

Duke University has established the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health.[5] The Duke University Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health is based in the Center for Aging at Duke and gives opportunities for scholarly trans-disciplinary conversation and the development of collaborative research projects.[6] In respect to the atheism and mental and physical health, the center offers many studies which suggest that theism is more beneficial than atheism.[7]

1. http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/
2. Jump up↑ http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/about/
3. Jump up↑ http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/publications/latest.html

Is this where you're being treated?

No. It is where you should go to be treated for the disorders caused by your militant atheism.

You admitted that agnostics like myself don't suffer from a mental disorder. Thanks for playing.

You aren't an agnostic. An agnostic has no need to troll religious forums like you do and attack the beliefs of others. You are a militant atheist who seeks to subordinate religion.

You brought your religion to a political forum pard, you're being very, very subjective again.

 

[ding]

Yes, I am rather cute.

My gaydar just went off bigtime!

No wonder... There does seem to be a correlation between being gay and being a militant atheist.

 

[ding]

Duke University has established the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health.[5] The Duke University Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health is based in the Center for Aging at Duke and gives opportunities for scholarly trans-disciplinary conversation and the development of collaborative research projects.[6] In respect to the atheism and mental and physical health, the center offers many studies which suggest that theism is more beneficial than atheism.[7]

1. http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/
2. Jump up↑ http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/about/
3. Jump up↑ http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/publications/latest.html

Is this where you're being treated?

No. It is where you should go to be treated for the disorders caused by your militant atheism.

You admitted that agnostics like myself don't suffer from a mental disorder. Thanks for playing.

You aren't an agnostic. An agnostic has no need to troll religious forums like you do and attack the beliefs of others. You are a militant atheist who seeks to subordinate religion.

You brought your religion to a political forum pard, you're being very, very subjective again.

lol, this is a religious and ethics forum, pard. You brought your religion of socialism to the right place. Did I mention that socialism is evil and that it's adherents practice evil and that I will be glad when they Darwinize themselves out of existence? Too bad you can't say what you really want to say, pard. It must be building inside you like a bomb. I wonder who you will take your anger out on today since you can't say what you really want to say, pard.

 

[ding]

So then you tell me what good you believe has come from religion. Fair enough?

I don't recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone.

That's because you don't believe any good has come from religion, right? Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?

Me: "I don't recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone."

You: "That's because you don't believe any good has come from religion, right?"

No, those two things have no relationship to each other at all. If I believe any good has come from religion, then l would recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone? Silly.

You: "Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?"

Again, just silly. Religion is a totally personal decision and belief system, same with athiesm or any other perceptual reality as it relates to human connections to spirituality. And it is utterly subjective by definition, religion itself is subjective. I don't have or wish for that kind of power over another human being, and the only folks I've ever heard talk/think like that, "Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?", are always "religious" folk.

And this all goes back to these male dominator god religions. Once you accept the notion of the creator in human form, who has given mankind (just the proper followers of the particular religion of course, not the others), dominion over the natural world and everything on/in it, followers begin to see themselves as gods with power over others, and they need for their particular religion to prevail over the others.

What should be abolished is any and every religion's goal of inserting itself in the political arena and control over any society wishing to be free.

It never ceases to amaze me how cowardly you militant atheists are. But then again it is really subversion which forces you to hide your true beliefs. If you stated your true beliefs people would gasp in horror at the evil you support. I don't have that problem. I believe your religion of socialism is evil and should be wiped from the face of the earth. See? That's how it is done.

BTW, please keep your religion out of my government and schools.

Militant athiest? Socialist? Labels for all who won't fall in line with the power structure. See? You need control, it has nothing to do with spirituality at all, your religion.

Militant atheism is a term applied to atheism which is hostile towards religion. Militant atheists have a desire to propagate the doctrine, and differ from moderate atheists because they hold religion to be harmful. Recently the term militant atheist has been used to describe adherents of the New Atheismmovement,[11] which is characterized by the belief that religion "should not simply be tolerated but should be countered, criticized and exposed."[12]

1. Michael Hesemann, Whitley Strieber (2000). The Fatima Secret. Random House Digital, Inc.. Retrieved on 9 October 2011. “Lenin's death in 1924 was followed by the rise of Joseph Stalin, "the man of steel," who founded the "Union of Militant Atheists," whose chief aim was to spread atheism and eradicate religion. In the following years it devastated hundreds of churches, destroyed old icons and relics, and persecuted the clergy with unimaginable brutality.”
2. Jump up↑ Paul D. Steeves (1989). Keeping the faiths: religion and ideology in the Soviet Union. Holmes & Meier. Retrieved on 4 July 2013. “The League of Militant Atheists was formed in 1926 and by 1930 had recruited three million members. Five years later there were 50,000 local groups affiliated to the League and the nominal membership had risen to five million. Children from 8-14 years of age were enrolled in Groups of Godless Youth, and the League of Communist Youth (Komsomol) took a vigorous anti- religious line. Several antireligious museums were opened in former churches and a number of Chairs of Atheism were established in Soviet universities. Prizes were offered for the best 'Godless hymns' and for alternative versions of the Bible from which ... the leader of the League of Militant Atheists, Yemelian Yaroslavsky, said: "When a priest is deprived of his congregation, that does not mean that he stops being a priest. He changes into an itinerant priest. He travels around with his primitive tools in the villages, performs religious rites, reads prayers, baptizes children. Such wandering priests are at times more dangerous than those who carry on their work at a designated place of residence." The intensified persecution, which was a part of the general terror inflicted upon Soviet society by Stalin's policy, ...”
3. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Julian Baggini (2009). Atheism. Sterling Publishing. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “Militant Atheism: Atheism which is actively hostile to religion I would call militant. To be hostile in this sense requires more than just strong disagreement with religion—it requires something verging on hatred and is characterized by a desire to wipe out all forms of religious beliefs. Militant atheists tend to make one or both of two claims that moderate atheists do not. The first is that religion is demonstrably false or nonsense, and the second is that is is usually or always harmful.” Karl Rahner (1975). Encyclopædia of Theology: A Concise Sacramentum Mundi. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “ATHEISM A. IN PHILOSOPHY I. Concept and incidence. Philosophically speaking, atheism means denial of the existence of God or of any possibility of knowing God. In those who hold this theoretical atheism, it may be tolerant (and even deeply concerned), if it has no missionary aims; it is "militant" when it regards itself as a doctrine to be propagated for the happiness of mankind and combats every religion as a harmful aberration.” Kerry S. Walters (2010). Atheism. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “Both positive and negative atheism may be further subdivided into (i) militant and (ii) moderate varieties. Militant atheists, such as physicist Steven Weinberg, tend to think that God-belief is not only erroneous but pernicious. Moderate atheists agree that God-belief is unjustifiable, but see nothing inherently pernicious in it. What leads to excess, they argue, is intolerant dogmatism and extremism, and these are qualities of ideologies in general, religious or nonreligious.” Phil Zuckerman (2009). Atheism and Secularity: Issues, Concepts, and Definitions. ABC-CLIO. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “In contrast, militant atheism, as advocated by Lenin and the Russian Bolsheviks, treats religion as the dangerous opium and narcotic of the people, a wrong political ideology serving the interests of antirevolutionary forces; thus force may be necessary to control or eliminate religion.”
   
   Yang, Fenggang (2004). "Between Secularist Ideology and Desecularizing Reality: The Birth and Growth of Religious Research in Communist China". Sociology of Religion 65 (2): 101–119. Sign In. "Scientific atheism is the theoretical basis for tolerating religion while carrying out atheist propaganda, whereas militant atheism leads to antireligious measures. In practice, almost as soon as it took power in 1949, the CCP followed the hard line of militant atheism. Within a decade, all religions were brought under the iron control of the Party: Folk religious practices considered feudalist superstitions were vigorously suppressed; cultic or heterodox sects regarded as reactionary organizations were resolutely banned; foreign missionaries, considered part of Western imperialism, were expelled; and major world religions, including Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism, were coerced into "patriotic" national associations under close supervision of the Party. Religious believers who dared to challenge these policies were mercilessly banished to labor camps, jails, or execution grounds.".
   
   Yang, Fenggang (2006). "The Red, Black, and Gray Markets of Religion in China". The Sociological Quarterly47 (1): 93–122. http://www.purdue.edu/crcs/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Yang3Markets.pdf. "In contrast, militant atheism, as advocated by Lenin and the Russian Bolsheviks, treats religion as a dangerous narcotic and a troubling political ideology that serves the interests of antirevolutionary forces. As such, it should be suppressed or eliminated by the revolutionary force. On the basis of scientific atheism, religious toleration was inscribed in CCP policy since its early days. By reason of militant atheism, however, atheist propaganda became ferocious, and the power of “proletarian dictatorship” was invoked to eradicate the reactionary ideology (Dai 2001)".
4. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Karl Rahner (28 December 2004). Encyclopædia of Theology: A Concise Sacramentum Mundi. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “ATHEISM A. IN PHILOSOPHY I. Concept and incidence. Philosophically speaking, atheism means denial of the existence of God or of any (and not merely of a rational) possibility of knowing God (theoretical atheism). In those who hold this theoretical atheism, it may be tolerant (and even deeply concerned), if it has no missionary aims; it is "militant" when it regards itself as a doctrine to be propagated for the happiness of mankind and combats every religion as a harmful aberration.”
   
   Charles Colson, Ellen Santilli Vaughn (2007). God and Government. Zondervan. Retrieved on 21 July 2011. “But Nietzsche's atheism was the most radical the world had yet seen. While the old atheism had acknowledged the need for religion, the new atheism was political activist, and jealous. One scholar observed that "atheism has become militant . . . inisisting it must be believed. Atheism has felt the need to impose its views, to forbid competing versions."”
5. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Kerry S. Walters (2010). Atheism. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “Both positive and negative atheism may be further subdivided into (i) militant and (ii) moderate varieties. Militant atheists, such as physicist Steven Weinberg, tend to think that God-belief is not only erroneous but pernicious. Moderate atheists agree that God-belief is unjustifiable, but see nothing inherently pernicious in it. What leads to excess, they argue, is intolerant dogmatism and extremism, and these are qualities of ideologies in general, religious or nonreligious.” Karl Rahner (28 December 2004). Encyclopædia of Theology: A Concise Sacramentum Mundi. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “ATHEISM A. IN PHILOSOPHY I. Concept and incidence. Philosophically speaking, atheism means denial of the existence of God or of any (and not merely of a rational) possibility of knowing God (theoretical atheism). In those who hold this theoretical atheism, it may be tolerant (and even deeply concerned), if it has no missionary aims; it is "militant" when it regards itself as a doctrine to be propagated for the happiness of mankind and combats every religion as a harmful aberration.” Julian Baggini (2009). Atheism. Sterling Publishing. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “Militant Atheism: Atheism which is actively hostile to religion I would call militant. To be hostile in this sense requires more than just strong disagreement with religion—it requires something verging on hatred and is characterized by a desire to wipe out all forms of religious beliefs. Militant atheists tend to make one or both of two claims that moderate atheists do not. The first is that religion is demonstrably false or nonsense, and the second is that is is usually or always harmful.”
6. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Harold Joseph Berman (1993). Faith and Order: The Reconciliation of Law and Religion. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. Retrieved on 2011-07-09. “One fundamental element of that system was its propagation of a doctrine called Marxism-Leninism, and one fundamental element of that doctrine was militant atheism. Until only a little over three years ago, militant atheism was the official religion, one might say, of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party was the established church in what might be called an atheocratic state.” J. D. Van der Vyver, John Witte (1996). Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective: Legal Perspectives. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. Retrieved on 2011-07-09. “For seventy years, from the Bolshevik Revolution to the closing years of the Gorbachev regime, militant atheism was the official religion, one might say, of the Soviet Union, and the Communist Party was, in effect, the established church. It was an avowed task of the Soviet state, led by the Communist Party, to root out from the minds and hearts of the Soviet state, all belief systems other than Marxism-Leninism.”
7. ↑ Jump up to:7.0 7.1 Alister E. McGrath. The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World. Random House. Retrieved on 2011-03-05. “So was the French Revolution fundamentally atheist? There is no doubt that such a view is to be found in much Christian and atheist literature on the movement. Cloots was at the forefront of the dechristianization movement that gathered around the militant atheist Jacques Hébert. He "debaptised" himself, setting aside his original name of Jean-Baptiste du Val-de-Grâce. For Cloots, religion was simply not to be tolerated.”
8. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Gerhard Simon (1974). Church, State, and Opposition in the U.S.S.R.. University of California Press. Retrieved on 2011-07-09. “On the other hand the Communist Party has never made any secret of the fact, either before or after 1917, that it regards 'militant atheism' as an integral part of its ideology and will regard 'religion as by no means a private matter'. It therefore uses 'the means of ideological influence to educate people in the spirit of scientific materialism and to overcome religious prejudices..' Thus it is the goal of the C.P.S.U. and thereby also of the Soviet state, for which it is after all the 'guiding cell', gradually to liquidate the religious communities.” Simon Richmond (2006). Russia & Belarus. BBC Worldwide. Retrieved on 2011-07-09. “Soviet 'militant atheism' led to the closure and destruction of nearly all the mosques and madrasahs (Muslim religious schools) in Russia, although some remained in the Central Asian states. Under Stalin there were mass deportations and liquidation of the Muslim elite.”
9. ↑ Jump up to:9.0 9.1 9.2 The Price of Freedom Denied: Religious Persecution and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved on 2011-03-05. “Seeking a complete annihilation of religion, places of worship were shut down; temples, churches, and mosques were destroyed; artifacts were smashed; sacred texts were burnt; and it was a criminal offence even to possess a religious artifact or sacred text. Atheism had long been the official doctrine of the Chinese Communist Party, but this new form of militant atheism made every effort to eradicate religion completely.”
10. Jump up↑ Rodney Stark; Roger Finke (2000). Acts of Faith: explaining the human side of religion. University of California Press. Retrieved on 16 July 2011. “The militant atheism of the early social scientists was motivated partly by politics. As Jeffrey Hadden reminds us, the social sciences emerged as part of a new political "order that was at war with the old order" (1987, 590).”
11. ↑ Jump up to:11.0 11.1 11.2 Ian H. Hutchinson. Ian Hutchinson on the New Atheists. BioLogos Foundation. Retrieved on 29 September 2011. “Ian Hutchinson tells us in this video discussion that New Atheism -- a term used to describe recent intellectual attacks against religion -- is actually a misnomer. It is better, he says, to call the movement “Militant Atheism”. In fact, the arguments made by New Atheists are not new at all, but rather extensions of intellectual threads which have existed since the late 19th century. The only unique quality of this movement is the degree of criticism and edge with which its members write and speak about religion. According to Hutchinson, the books written by New Atheists in the past decade simply restate many of the same arguments which have emanated from atheist thinkers for decades. The militant edge of these arguments is what makes “New” Atheism unique and elevates it to a level of popularity within a subset of the population. It is because these Militant Atheists show no respect at all for religion, says Hutchinson, that they are receiving status as a new movement.”
12. Jump up↑ Multiple references:
    • Simon Hooper. The rise of the 'New Atheists'. Cable News Network (CNN). Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “What the New Atheists share is a belief that religion should not simply be tolerated but should be countered, criticized and exposed by rational argument wherever its influence arises.”
    Amarnath Amarasingam. Religion and the New Atheism (Studies in Critical Social Sciences: Studies in Critical Research on Religion 1). Brill Academic Publishers. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “For the new atheists, tolerance of intolerance (often presented in the guise of relativism of multiculturalism) is one of the greatest dangers in contemporary society.” Stephen Prothero. God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter. HarperOne. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “For these New Atheists and their acolytes, the problem is not religious fanaticism. The problem is religion itself. So-called moderates only spread the "mind viruses" of religion by making them appear to be less authoritarian, misogynistic, and irrational than they actually are.”

 

[Fenton Lum]

Is this where you're being treated?

No. It is where you should go to be treated for the disorders caused by your militant atheism.

You admitted that agnostics like myself don't suffer from a mental disorder. Thanks for playing.

You aren't an agnostic. An agnostic has no need to troll religious forums like you do and attack the beliefs of others. You are a militant atheist who seeks to subordinate religion.

You brought your religion to a political forum pard, you're being very, very subjective again.

lol, this is a religious and ethics forum, pard. You brought your religion of socialism to the right place. Did I mention that socialism is evil and that it's adherents practice evil and that I will be glad when they Darwinize themselves out of existence? Too bad you can't say what you really want to say, pard. It must be building inside you like a bomb. I wonder who you will take your anger out on today since you can't say what you really want to say, pard.

You came on here and attempted to bait someone into saying "religion should be abolished" and you failed son. Objectively speaking of course.

 

[Fenton Lum]

I don't recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone.

That's because you don't believe any good has come from religion, right? Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?

Me: "I don't recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone."

You: "That's because you don't believe any good has come from religion, right?"

No, those two things have no relationship to each other at all. If I believe any good has come from religion, then l would recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone? Silly.

You: "Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?"

Again, just silly. Religion is a totally personal decision and belief system, same with athiesm or any other perceptual reality as it relates to human connections to spirituality. And it is utterly subjective by definition, religion itself is subjective. I don't have or wish for that kind of power over another human being, and the only folks I've ever heard talk/think like that, "Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?", are always "religious" folk.

And this all goes back to these male dominator god religions. Once you accept the notion of the creator in human form, who has given mankind (just the proper followers of the particular religion of course, not the others), dominion over the natural world and everything on/in it, followers begin to see themselves as gods with power over others, and they need for their particular religion to prevail over the others.

What should be abolished is any and every religion's goal of inserting itself in the political arena and control over any society wishing to be free.

It never ceases to amaze me how cowardly you militant atheists are. But then again it is really subversion which forces you to hide your true beliefs. If you stated your true beliefs people would gasp in horror at the evil you support. I don't have that problem. I believe your religion of socialism is evil and should be wiped from the face of the earth. See? That's how it is done.

BTW, please keep your religion out of my government and schools.

Militant athiest? Socialist? Labels for all who won't fall in line with the power structure. See? You need control, it has nothing to do with spirituality at all, your religion.

Militant atheism is a term applied to atheism which is hostile towards religion. Militant atheists have a desire to propagate the doctrine, and differ from moderate atheists because they hold religion to be harmful. Recently the term militant atheist has been used to describe adherents of the New Atheismmovement,[11] which is characterized by the belief that religion "should not simply be tolerated but should be countered, criticized and exposed."[12]

1. Michael Hesemann, Whitley Strieber (2000). The Fatima Secret. Random House Digital, Inc.. Retrieved on 9 October 2011. “Lenin's death in 1924 was followed by the rise of Joseph Stalin, "the man of steel," who founded the "Union of Militant Atheists," whose chief aim was to spread atheism and eradicate religion. In the following years it devastated hundreds of churches, destroyed old icons and relics, and persecuted the clergy with unimaginable brutality.”
2. Jump up↑ Paul D. Steeves (1989). Keeping the faiths: religion and ideology in the Soviet Union. Holmes & Meier. Retrieved on 4 July 2013. “The League of Militant Atheists was formed in 1926 and by 1930 had recruited three million members. Five years later there were 50,000 local groups affiliated to the League and the nominal membership had risen to five million. Children from 8-14 years of age were enrolled in Groups of Godless Youth, and the League of Communist Youth (Komsomol) took a vigorous anti- religious line. Several antireligious museums were opened in former churches and a number of Chairs of Atheism were established in Soviet universities. Prizes were offered for the best 'Godless hymns' and for alternative versions of the Bible from which ... the leader of the League of Militant Atheists, Yemelian Yaroslavsky, said: "When a priest is deprived of his congregation, that does not mean that he stops being a priest. He changes into an itinerant priest. He travels around with his primitive tools in the villages, performs religious rites, reads prayers, baptizes children. Such wandering priests are at times more dangerous than those who carry on their work at a designated place of residence." The intensified persecution, which was a part of the general terror inflicted upon Soviet society by Stalin's policy, ...”
3. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Julian Baggini (2009). Atheism. Sterling Publishing. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “Militant Atheism: Atheism which is actively hostile to religion I would call militant. To be hostile in this sense requires more than just strong disagreement with religion—it requires something verging on hatred and is characterized by a desire to wipe out all forms of religious beliefs. Militant atheists tend to make one or both of two claims that moderate atheists do not. The first is that religion is demonstrably false or nonsense, and the second is that is is usually or always harmful.” Karl Rahner (1975). Encyclopædia of Theology: A Concise Sacramentum Mundi. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “ATHEISM A. IN PHILOSOPHY I. Concept and incidence. Philosophically speaking, atheism means denial of the existence of God or of any possibility of knowing God. In those who hold this theoretical atheism, it may be tolerant (and even deeply concerned), if it has no missionary aims; it is "militant" when it regards itself as a doctrine to be propagated for the happiness of mankind and combats every religion as a harmful aberration.” Kerry S. Walters (2010). Atheism. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “Both positive and negative atheism may be further subdivided into (i) militant and (ii) moderate varieties. Militant atheists, such as physicist Steven Weinberg, tend to think that God-belief is not only erroneous but pernicious. Moderate atheists agree that God-belief is unjustifiable, but see nothing inherently pernicious in it. What leads to excess, they argue, is intolerant dogmatism and extremism, and these are qualities of ideologies in general, religious or nonreligious.” Phil Zuckerman (2009). Atheism and Secularity: Issues, Concepts, and Definitions. ABC-CLIO. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “In contrast, militant atheism, as advocated by Lenin and the Russian Bolsheviks, treats religion as the dangerous opium and narcotic of the people, a wrong political ideology serving the interests of antirevolutionary forces; thus force may be necessary to control or eliminate religion.”
   
   Yang, Fenggang (2004). "Between Secularist Ideology and Desecularizing Reality: The Birth and Growth of Religious Research in Communist China". Sociology of Religion 65 (2): 101–119. Sign In. "Scientific atheism is the theoretical basis for tolerating religion while carrying out atheist propaganda, whereas militant atheism leads to antireligious measures. In practice, almost as soon as it took power in 1949, the CCP followed the hard line of militant atheism. Within a decade, all religions were brought under the iron control of the Party: Folk religious practices considered feudalist superstitions were vigorously suppressed; cultic or heterodox sects regarded as reactionary organizations were resolutely banned; foreign missionaries, considered part of Western imperialism, were expelled; and major world religions, including Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism, were coerced into "patriotic" national associations under close supervision of the Party. Religious believers who dared to challenge these policies were mercilessly banished to labor camps, jails, or execution grounds.".
   
   Yang, Fenggang (2006). "The Red, Black, and Gray Markets of Religion in China". The Sociological Quarterly47 (1): 93–122. http://www.purdue.edu/crcs/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Yang3Markets.pdf. "In contrast, militant atheism, as advocated by Lenin and the Russian Bolsheviks, treats religion as a dangerous narcotic and a troubling political ideology that serves the interests of antirevolutionary forces. As such, it should be suppressed or eliminated by the revolutionary force. On the basis of scientific atheism, religious toleration was inscribed in CCP policy since its early days. By reason of militant atheism, however, atheist propaganda became ferocious, and the power of “proletarian dictatorship” was invoked to eradicate the reactionary ideology (Dai 2001)".
4. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Karl Rahner (28 December 2004). Encyclopædia of Theology: A Concise Sacramentum Mundi. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “ATHEISM A. IN PHILOSOPHY I. Concept and incidence. Philosophically speaking, atheism means denial of the existence of God or of any (and not merely of a rational) possibility of knowing God (theoretical atheism). In those who hold this theoretical atheism, it may be tolerant (and even deeply concerned), if it has no missionary aims; it is "militant" when it regards itself as a doctrine to be propagated for the happiness of mankind and combats every religion as a harmful aberration.”
   
   Charles Colson, Ellen Santilli Vaughn (2007). God and Government. Zondervan. Retrieved on 21 July 2011. “But Nietzsche's atheism was the most radical the world had yet seen. While the old atheism had acknowledged the need for religion, the new atheism was political activist, and jealous. One scholar observed that "atheism has become militant . . . inisisting it must be believed. Atheism has felt the need to impose its views, to forbid competing versions."”
5. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Kerry S. Walters (2010). Atheism. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “Both positive and negative atheism may be further subdivided into (i) militant and (ii) moderate varieties. Militant atheists, such as physicist Steven Weinberg, tend to think that God-belief is not only erroneous but pernicious. Moderate atheists agree that God-belief is unjustifiable, but see nothing inherently pernicious in it. What leads to excess, they argue, is intolerant dogmatism and extremism, and these are qualities of ideologies in general, religious or nonreligious.” Karl Rahner (28 December 2004). Encyclopædia of Theology: A Concise Sacramentum Mundi. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “ATHEISM A. IN PHILOSOPHY I. Concept and incidence. Philosophically speaking, atheism means denial of the existence of God or of any (and not merely of a rational) possibility of knowing God (theoretical atheism). In those who hold this theoretical atheism, it may be tolerant (and even deeply concerned), if it has no missionary aims; it is "militant" when it regards itself as a doctrine to be propagated for the happiness of mankind and combats every religion as a harmful aberration.” Julian Baggini (2009). Atheism. Sterling Publishing. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “Militant Atheism: Atheism which is actively hostile to religion I would call militant. To be hostile in this sense requires more than just strong disagreement with religion—it requires something verging on hatred and is characterized by a desire to wipe out all forms of religious beliefs. Militant atheists tend to make one or both of two claims that moderate atheists do not. The first is that religion is demonstrably false or nonsense, and the second is that is is usually or always harmful.”
6. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Harold Joseph Berman (1993). Faith and Order: The Reconciliation of Law and Religion. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. Retrieved on 2011-07-09. “One fundamental element of that system was its propagation of a doctrine called Marxism-Leninism, and one fundamental element of that doctrine was militant atheism. Until only a little over three years ago, militant atheism was the official religion, one might say, of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party was the established church in what might be called an atheocratic state.” J. D. Van der Vyver, John Witte (1996). Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective: Legal Perspectives. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. Retrieved on 2011-07-09. “For seventy years, from the Bolshevik Revolution to the closing years of the Gorbachev regime, militant atheism was the official religion, one might say, of the Soviet Union, and the Communist Party was, in effect, the established church. It was an avowed task of the Soviet state, led by the Communist Party, to root out from the minds and hearts of the Soviet state, all belief systems other than Marxism-Leninism.”
7. ↑ Jump up to:7.0 7.1 Alister E. McGrath. The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World. Random House. Retrieved on 2011-03-05. “So was the French Revolution fundamentally atheist? There is no doubt that such a view is to be found in much Christian and atheist literature on the movement. Cloots was at the forefront of the dechristianization movement that gathered around the militant atheist Jacques Hébert. He "debaptised" himself, setting aside his original name of Jean-Baptiste du Val-de-Grâce. For Cloots, religion was simply not to be tolerated.”
8. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Gerhard Simon (1974). Church, State, and Opposition in the U.S.S.R.. University of California Press. Retrieved on 2011-07-09. “On the other hand the Communist Party has never made any secret of the fact, either before or after 1917, that it regards 'militant atheism' as an integral part of its ideology and will regard 'religion as by no means a private matter'. It therefore uses 'the means of ideological influence to educate people in the spirit of scientific materialism and to overcome religious prejudices..' Thus it is the goal of the C.P.S.U. and thereby also of the Soviet state, for which it is after all the 'guiding cell', gradually to liquidate the religious communities.” Simon Richmond (2006). Russia & Belarus. BBC Worldwide. Retrieved on 2011-07-09. “Soviet 'militant atheism' led to the closure and destruction of nearly all the mosques and madrasahs (Muslim religious schools) in Russia, although some remained in the Central Asian states. Under Stalin there were mass deportations and liquidation of the Muslim elite.”
9. ↑ Jump up to:9.0 9.1 9.2 The Price of Freedom Denied: Religious Persecution and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved on 2011-03-05. “Seeking a complete annihilation of religion, places of worship were shut down; temples, churches, and mosques were destroyed; artifacts were smashed; sacred texts were burnt; and it was a criminal offence even to possess a religious artifact or sacred text. Atheism had long been the official doctrine of the Chinese Communist Party, but this new form of militant atheism made every effort to eradicate religion completely.”
10. Jump up↑ Rodney Stark; Roger Finke (2000). Acts of Faith: explaining the human side of religion. University of California Press. Retrieved on 16 July 2011. “The militant atheism of the early social scientists was motivated partly by politics. As Jeffrey Hadden reminds us, the social sciences emerged as part of a new political "order that was at war with the old order" (1987, 590).”
11. ↑ Jump up to:11.0 11.1 11.2 Ian H. Hutchinson. Ian Hutchinson on the New Atheists. BioLogos Foundation. Retrieved on 29 September 2011. “Ian Hutchinson tells us in this video discussion that New Atheism -- a term used to describe recent intellectual attacks against religion -- is actually a misnomer. It is better, he says, to call the movement “Militant Atheism”. In fact, the arguments made by New Atheists are not new at all, but rather extensions of intellectual threads which have existed since the late 19th century. The only unique quality of this movement is the degree of criticism and edge with which its members write and speak about religion. According to Hutchinson, the books written by New Atheists in the past decade simply restate many of the same arguments which have emanated from atheist thinkers for decades. The militant edge of these arguments is what makes “New” Atheism unique and elevates it to a level of popularity within a subset of the population. It is because these Militant Atheists show no respect at all for religion, says Hutchinson, that they are receiving status as a new movement.”
12. Jump up↑ Multiple references:
    • Simon Hooper. The rise of the 'New Atheists'. Cable News Network (CNN). Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “What the New Atheists share is a belief that religion should not simply be tolerated but should be countered, criticized and exposed by rational argument wherever its influence arises.”
    Amarnath Amarasingam. Religion and the New Atheism (Studies in Critical Social Sciences: Studies in Critical Research on Religion 1). Brill Academic Publishers. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “For the new atheists, tolerance of intolerance (often presented in the guise of relativism of multiculturalism) is one of the greatest dangers in contemporary society.” Stephen Prothero. God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter. HarperOne. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “For these New Atheists and their acolytes, the problem is not religious fanaticism. The problem is religion itself. So-called moderates only spread the "mind viruses" of religion by making them appear to be less authoritarian, misogynistic, and irrational than they actually are.”

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn, I suppose a frothy mouthed zealot's work is never done, paste away friend, in the name of jesus of course.

 

[Mudda]

Hearing voices is a mental illness. Didn't your doctor tell you that?

Duke University has established the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health.[5] The Duke University Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health is based in the Center for Aging at Duke and gives opportunities for scholarly trans-disciplinary conversation and the development of collaborative research projects.[6] In respect to the atheism and mental and physical health, the center offers many studies which suggest that theism is more beneficial than atheism.[7]

1. http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/
2. Jump up↑ http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/about/
3. Jump up↑ http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/publications/latest.html

Is this where you're being treated?

No. It is where you should go to be treated for the disorders caused by your militant atheism.

You admitted that agnostics like myself don't suffer from a mental disorder. Thanks for playing.

You aren't an agnostic. An agnostic has no need to troll religious forums like you do and attack the beliefs of others. You are a militant atheist who seeks to subordinate religion.

You're just jealous because I have a sane position and you can't attack it.

 

[ding]

No. It is where you should go to be treated for the disorders caused by your militant atheism.

You admitted that agnostics like myself don't suffer from a mental disorder. Thanks for playing.

You aren't an agnostic. An agnostic has no need to troll religious forums like you do and attack the beliefs of others. You are a militant atheist who seeks to subordinate religion.

You brought your religion to a political forum pard, you're being very, very subjective again.

lol, this is a religious and ethics forum, pard. You brought your religion of socialism to the right place. Did I mention that socialism is evil and that it's adherents practice evil and that I will be glad when they Darwinize themselves out of existence? Too bad you can't say what you really want to say, pard. It must be building inside you like a bomb. I wonder who you will take your anger out on today since you can't say what you really want to say, pard.

You came on here and attempted to bait someone into saying "religion should be abolished" and you failed son. Objectively speaking of course.

I don't believe I did. You have not admitted that you believe religion has done any good in mankind. In fact, the only things you attribute to religion are bad things. Your logical conclusion is that you do be,lieve that religion should be abolished but you are to cowardly and deceitful to say so. I don't have that problem. I believe your religion of socialism is evil and that the people who practice it - like yourself - are liars. See? Don't you wish you could do that?

 

[ding]

Duke University has established the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health.[5] The Duke University Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health is based in the Center for Aging at Duke and gives opportunities for scholarly trans-disciplinary conversation and the development of collaborative research projects.[6] In respect to the atheism and mental and physical health, the center offers many studies which suggest that theism is more beneficial than atheism.[7]

1. http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/
2. Jump up↑ http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/about/
3. Jump up↑ http://www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org/publications/latest.html

Is this where you're being treated?

No. It is where you should go to be treated for the disorders caused by your militant atheism.

You admitted that agnostics like myself don't suffer from a mental disorder. Thanks for playing.

You aren't an agnostic. An agnostic has no need to troll religious forums like you do and attack the beliefs of others. You are a militant atheist who seeks to subordinate religion.

You're just jealous because I have a sane position and you can't attack it.

You are the opposite of sane, brother.

 

[ding]

That's because you don't believe any good has come from religion, right? Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?

Me: "I don't recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone."

You: "That's because you don't believe any good has come from religion, right?"

No, those two things have no relationship to each other at all. If I believe any good has come from religion, then l would recognize your authority to demand anything from anyone? Silly.

You: "Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?"

Again, just silly. Religion is a totally personal decision and belief system, same with athiesm or any other perceptual reality as it relates to human connections to spirituality. And it is utterly subjective by definition, religion itself is subjective. I don't have or wish for that kind of power over another human being, and the only folks I've ever heard talk/think like that, "Would you abolish religion if you had the power to do so?", are always "religious" folk.

And this all goes back to these male dominator god religions. Once you accept the notion of the creator in human form, who has given mankind (just the proper followers of the particular religion of course, not the others), dominion over the natural world and everything on/in it, followers begin to see themselves as gods with power over others, and they need for their particular religion to prevail over the others.

What should be abolished is any and every religion's goal of inserting itself in the political arena and control over any society wishing to be free.

It never ceases to amaze me how cowardly you militant atheists are. But then again it is really subversion which forces you to hide your true beliefs. If you stated your true beliefs people would gasp in horror at the evil you support. I don't have that problem. I believe your religion of socialism is evil and should be wiped from the face of the earth. See? That's how it is done.

BTW, please keep your religion out of my government and schools.

Militant athiest? Socialist? Labels for all who won't fall in line with the power structure. See? You need control, it has nothing to do with spirituality at all, your religion.

Militant atheism is a term applied to atheism which is hostile towards religion. Militant atheists have a desire to propagate the doctrine, and differ from moderate atheists because they hold religion to be harmful. Recently the term militant atheist has been used to describe adherents of the New Atheismmovement,[11] which is characterized by the belief that religion "should not simply be tolerated but should be countered, criticized and exposed."[12]

1. Michael Hesemann, Whitley Strieber (2000). The Fatima Secret. Random House Digital, Inc.. Retrieved on 9 October 2011. “Lenin's death in 1924 was followed by the rise of Joseph Stalin, "the man of steel," who founded the "Union of Militant Atheists," whose chief aim was to spread atheism and eradicate religion. In the following years it devastated hundreds of churches, destroyed old icons and relics, and persecuted the clergy with unimaginable brutality.”
2. Jump up↑ Paul D. Steeves (1989). Keeping the faiths: religion and ideology in the Soviet Union. Holmes & Meier. Retrieved on 4 July 2013. “The League of Militant Atheists was formed in 1926 and by 1930 had recruited three million members. Five years later there were 50,000 local groups affiliated to the League and the nominal membership had risen to five million. Children from 8-14 years of age were enrolled in Groups of Godless Youth, and the League of Communist Youth (Komsomol) took a vigorous anti- religious line. Several antireligious museums were opened in former churches and a number of Chairs of Atheism were established in Soviet universities. Prizes were offered for the best 'Godless hymns' and for alternative versions of the Bible from which ... the leader of the League of Militant Atheists, Yemelian Yaroslavsky, said: "When a priest is deprived of his congregation, that does not mean that he stops being a priest. He changes into an itinerant priest. He travels around with his primitive tools in the villages, performs religious rites, reads prayers, baptizes children. Such wandering priests are at times more dangerous than those who carry on their work at a designated place of residence." The intensified persecution, which was a part of the general terror inflicted upon Soviet society by Stalin's policy, ...”
3. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Julian Baggini (2009). Atheism. Sterling Publishing. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “Militant Atheism: Atheism which is actively hostile to religion I would call militant. To be hostile in this sense requires more than just strong disagreement with religion—it requires something verging on hatred and is characterized by a desire to wipe out all forms of religious beliefs. Militant atheists tend to make one or both of two claims that moderate atheists do not. The first is that religion is demonstrably false or nonsense, and the second is that is is usually or always harmful.” Karl Rahner (1975). Encyclopædia of Theology: A Concise Sacramentum Mundi. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “ATHEISM A. IN PHILOSOPHY I. Concept and incidence. Philosophically speaking, atheism means denial of the existence of God or of any possibility of knowing God. In those who hold this theoretical atheism, it may be tolerant (and even deeply concerned), if it has no missionary aims; it is "militant" when it regards itself as a doctrine to be propagated for the happiness of mankind and combats every religion as a harmful aberration.” Kerry S. Walters (2010). Atheism. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “Both positive and negative atheism may be further subdivided into (i) militant and (ii) moderate varieties. Militant atheists, such as physicist Steven Weinberg, tend to think that God-belief is not only erroneous but pernicious. Moderate atheists agree that God-belief is unjustifiable, but see nothing inherently pernicious in it. What leads to excess, they argue, is intolerant dogmatism and extremism, and these are qualities of ideologies in general, religious or nonreligious.” Phil Zuckerman (2009). Atheism and Secularity: Issues, Concepts, and Definitions. ABC-CLIO. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “In contrast, militant atheism, as advocated by Lenin and the Russian Bolsheviks, treats religion as the dangerous opium and narcotic of the people, a wrong political ideology serving the interests of antirevolutionary forces; thus force may be necessary to control or eliminate religion.”
   
   Yang, Fenggang (2004). "Between Secularist Ideology and Desecularizing Reality: The Birth and Growth of Religious Research in Communist China". Sociology of Religion 65 (2): 101–119. Sign In. "Scientific atheism is the theoretical basis for tolerating religion while carrying out atheist propaganda, whereas militant atheism leads to antireligious measures. In practice, almost as soon as it took power in 1949, the CCP followed the hard line of militant atheism. Within a decade, all religions were brought under the iron control of the Party: Folk religious practices considered feudalist superstitions were vigorously suppressed; cultic or heterodox sects regarded as reactionary organizations were resolutely banned; foreign missionaries, considered part of Western imperialism, were expelled; and major world religions, including Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism, were coerced into "patriotic" national associations under close supervision of the Party. Religious believers who dared to challenge these policies were mercilessly banished to labor camps, jails, or execution grounds.".
   
   Yang, Fenggang (2006). "The Red, Black, and Gray Markets of Religion in China". The Sociological Quarterly47 (1): 93–122. http://www.purdue.edu/crcs/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Yang3Markets.pdf. "In contrast, militant atheism, as advocated by Lenin and the Russian Bolsheviks, treats religion as a dangerous narcotic and a troubling political ideology that serves the interests of antirevolutionary forces. As such, it should be suppressed or eliminated by the revolutionary force. On the basis of scientific atheism, religious toleration was inscribed in CCP policy since its early days. By reason of militant atheism, however, atheist propaganda became ferocious, and the power of “proletarian dictatorship” was invoked to eradicate the reactionary ideology (Dai 2001)".
4. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Karl Rahner (28 December 2004). Encyclopædia of Theology: A Concise Sacramentum Mundi. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “ATHEISM A. IN PHILOSOPHY I. Concept and incidence. Philosophically speaking, atheism means denial of the existence of God or of any (and not merely of a rational) possibility of knowing God (theoretical atheism). In those who hold this theoretical atheism, it may be tolerant (and even deeply concerned), if it has no missionary aims; it is "militant" when it regards itself as a doctrine to be propagated for the happiness of mankind and combats every religion as a harmful aberration.”
   
   Charles Colson, Ellen Santilli Vaughn (2007). God and Government. Zondervan. Retrieved on 21 July 2011. “But Nietzsche's atheism was the most radical the world had yet seen. While the old atheism had acknowledged the need for religion, the new atheism was political activist, and jealous. One scholar observed that "atheism has become militant . . . inisisting it must be believed. Atheism has felt the need to impose its views, to forbid competing versions."”
5. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Kerry S. Walters (2010). Atheism. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “Both positive and negative atheism may be further subdivided into (i) militant and (ii) moderate varieties. Militant atheists, such as physicist Steven Weinberg, tend to think that God-belief is not only erroneous but pernicious. Moderate atheists agree that God-belief is unjustifiable, but see nothing inherently pernicious in it. What leads to excess, they argue, is intolerant dogmatism and extremism, and these are qualities of ideologies in general, religious or nonreligious.” Karl Rahner (28 December 2004). Encyclopædia of Theology: A Concise Sacramentum Mundi. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “ATHEISM A. IN PHILOSOPHY I. Concept and incidence. Philosophically speaking, atheism means denial of the existence of God or of any (and not merely of a rational) possibility of knowing God (theoretical atheism). In those who hold this theoretical atheism, it may be tolerant (and even deeply concerned), if it has no missionary aims; it is "militant" when it regards itself as a doctrine to be propagated for the happiness of mankind and combats every religion as a harmful aberration.” Julian Baggini (2009). Atheism. Sterling Publishing. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. “Militant Atheism: Atheism which is actively hostile to religion I would call militant. To be hostile in this sense requires more than just strong disagreement with religion—it requires something verging on hatred and is characterized by a desire to wipe out all forms of religious beliefs. Militant atheists tend to make one or both of two claims that moderate atheists do not. The first is that religion is demonstrably false or nonsense, and the second is that is is usually or always harmful.”
6. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Harold Joseph Berman (1993). Faith and Order: The Reconciliation of Law and Religion. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. Retrieved on 2011-07-09. “One fundamental element of that system was its propagation of a doctrine called Marxism-Leninism, and one fundamental element of that doctrine was militant atheism. Until only a little over three years ago, militant atheism was the official religion, one might say, of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party was the established church in what might be called an atheocratic state.” J. D. Van der Vyver, John Witte (1996). Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective: Legal Perspectives. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. Retrieved on 2011-07-09. “For seventy years, from the Bolshevik Revolution to the closing years of the Gorbachev regime, militant atheism was the official religion, one might say, of the Soviet Union, and the Communist Party was, in effect, the established church. It was an avowed task of the Soviet state, led by the Communist Party, to root out from the minds and hearts of the Soviet state, all belief systems other than Marxism-Leninism.”
7. ↑ Jump up to:7.0 7.1 Alister E. McGrath. The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World. Random House. Retrieved on 2011-03-05. “So was the French Revolution fundamentally atheist? There is no doubt that such a view is to be found in much Christian and atheist literature on the movement. Cloots was at the forefront of the dechristianization movement that gathered around the militant atheist Jacques Hébert. He "debaptised" himself, setting aside his original name of Jean-Baptiste du Val-de-Grâce. For Cloots, religion was simply not to be tolerated.”
8. Jump up↑ Multiple references:Gerhard Simon (1974). Church, State, and Opposition in the U.S.S.R.. University of California Press. Retrieved on 2011-07-09. “On the other hand the Communist Party has never made any secret of the fact, either before or after 1917, that it regards 'militant atheism' as an integral part of its ideology and will regard 'religion as by no means a private matter'. It therefore uses 'the means of ideological influence to educate people in the spirit of scientific materialism and to overcome religious prejudices..' Thus it is the goal of the C.P.S.U. and thereby also of the Soviet state, for which it is after all the 'guiding cell', gradually to liquidate the religious communities.” Simon Richmond (2006). Russia & Belarus. BBC Worldwide. Retrieved on 2011-07-09. “Soviet 'militant atheism' led to the closure and destruction of nearly all the mosques and madrasahs (Muslim religious schools) in Russia, although some remained in the Central Asian states. Under Stalin there were mass deportations and liquidation of the Muslim elite.”
9. ↑ Jump up to:9.0 9.1 9.2 The Price of Freedom Denied: Religious Persecution and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved on 2011-03-05. “Seeking a complete annihilation of religion, places of worship were shut down; temples, churches, and mosques were destroyed; artifacts were smashed; sacred texts were burnt; and it was a criminal offence even to possess a religious artifact or sacred text. Atheism had long been the official doctrine of the Chinese Communist Party, but this new form of militant atheism made every effort to eradicate religion completely.”
10. Jump up↑ Rodney Stark; Roger Finke (2000). Acts of Faith: explaining the human side of religion. University of California Press. Retrieved on 16 July 2011. “The militant atheism of the early social scientists was motivated partly by politics. As Jeffrey Hadden reminds us, the social sciences emerged as part of a new political "order that was at war with the old order" (1987, 590).”
11. ↑ Jump up to:11.0 11.1 11.2 Ian H. Hutchinson. Ian Hutchinson on the New Atheists. BioLogos Foundation. Retrieved on 29 September 2011. “Ian Hutchinson tells us in this video discussion that New Atheism -- a term used to describe recent intellectual attacks against religion -- is actually a misnomer. It is better, he says, to call the movement “Militant Atheism”. In fact, the arguments made by New Atheists are not new at all, but rather extensions of intellectual threads which have existed since the late 19th century. The only unique quality of this movement is the degree of criticism and edge with which its members write and speak about religion. According to Hutchinson, the books written by New Atheists in the past decade simply restate many of the same arguments which have emanated from atheist thinkers for decades. The militant edge of these arguments is what makes “New” Atheism unique and elevates it to a level of popularity within a subset of the population. It is because these Militant Atheists show no respect at all for religion, says Hutchinson, that they are receiving status as a new movement.”
12. Jump up↑ Multiple references:
    • Simon Hooper. The rise of the 'New Atheists'. Cable News Network (CNN). Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “What the New Atheists share is a belief that religion should not simply be tolerated but should be countered, criticized and exposed by rational argument wherever its influence arises.”
    Amarnath Amarasingam. Religion and the New Atheism (Studies in Critical Social Sciences: Studies in Critical Research on Religion 1). Brill Academic Publishers. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “For the new atheists, tolerance of intolerance (often presented in the guise of relativism of multiculturalism) is one of the greatest dangers in contemporary society.” Stephen Prothero. God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter. HarperOne. Retrieved on 10 March 2011. “For these New Atheists and their acolytes, the problem is not religious fanaticism. The problem is religion itself. So-called moderates only spread the "mind viruses" of religion by making them appear to be less authoritarian, misogynistic, and irrational than they actually are.”

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn, I suppose a frothy mouthed zealot's work is never done, paste away friend, in the name of jesus of course.

Sure.

Communism is naturalized humanism. Karl Marx

 

[Mudda]

Is this where you're being treated?

No. It is where you should go to be treated for the disorders caused by your militant atheism.

You admitted that agnostics like myself don't suffer from a mental disorder. Thanks for playing.

You aren't an agnostic. An agnostic has no need to troll religious forums like you do and attack the beliefs of others. You are a militant atheist who seeks to subordinate religion.

You're just jealous because I have a sane position and you can't attack it.

You are the opposite of sane, brother.

See? You can't attack my position, just me personally. You fail.