Atheism is a Religion . . . . but a good one.

[AtheistMoFo]

Although it may be impossible to prove a nonexistence beyond a doubt, whether it be a teacup orbiting Jupiter or a deity, I think we can categorically deny the existence of the gods of the catholic, jew, christian, muslim holy books.  The holy books are full of contradictions.  These contradictions are sloughed off by the followers of each respective cult with ludicrous claims that some parts of their book are literal while other parts are figurative.  (But only they know which parts are literal and which are figurative.)  

Taking it a step further, none of them can even agree with each other even within their own given cult.

Yet they all swear up and down that every word in the book is true.  How can every word of it be true when on this page it says such and such, but on another page it says quite opposite?

[josephpalazzo]

Yet they all swear up and down that every word in the book is true.  How can every word of it be true when on this page it says such and such, but on another page it says quite opposite?

Are you saying that God can't change his mind?  :P

[the_antithesis]

The bottom line is that if you are an Atheist and you state that you don't belive in God; that is absolutely and perfectly fine. However, if you state, as a matter of fact, that there is no God, you are taking a Leap of Faith and crossing over into the world of Religious Dogma. If you state that a God-belief is stupid, you are a religious fanatic.

What's a god?

[AtheistMoFo]

People sometimes say that the "Mac" is not an operating system, it is a religion.  (No doubt there are at least a few Mac users on these forums!)  But what does it mean?

Not too long ago I was doing some background research on the Mac.  At the local Mac shop, I was talking to one of the store personnel.  We talked for a while and he answered all my questions.  Unbeknownst to me, a queue of Mac users began to form behind me.  When I turned around, there were several people clutching their MacBooks or whatever those machines are called, and they had come to seek the help of the Mac professional.

The Mac guy motioned to the first customer behind me and as they started working on solving his problem, that left me free to talk to some of the Mac users in the queue.  My feeling after talking to them was that Mac really is a religion.

So how does one define "religion" anyway.  Is it necessarily a belief in one or more deities?  Or is it more like the adherence to a particular belief that may or may not be related to deities and divinity?

[stromboli]

re·li·gion noun ri-?li-j?n
: the belief in a god or in a group of gods
: an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods

The "organized" part is important. To give religious like attributes to something like Mac owners is one thing, but I don't think anyone is going to give up their lives or commit murder in order to appease "Mac." there may be a bunch of Mac users coming together for meetings, but I doubt they have a set of dogmatic rules like "thou shalt not access porn."

Atheism is a lack of belief in deity. Period. There is no organization implied in the definition. Just because somebody does want to imply certain things, and insist that we all agree on certain things, doesn't make it so. As I said earlier, the second someone starts trying to put atheism into some form dogmatic belief and electing officers, I'm out of there. Commonality of belief doesn't imply religion. Calling someone a Democrat doesn't make him an atheist or a Christian.

[Thumpalumpacus]

re·li·gion noun ri-?li-j?n
: the belief in a god or in a group of gods
: an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods

The "organized" part is important. To give religious like attributes to something like Mac owners is one thing, but I don't think anyone is going to give up their lives or commit murder in order to appease "Mac." there may be a bunch of Mac users coming together for meetings, but I doubt they have a set of dogmatic rules like "thou shalt not access porn."

Atheism is a lack of belief in deity. Period. There is no organization implied in the definition. Just because somebody does want to imply certain things, and insist that we all agree on certain things, doesn't make it so. As I said earlier, the second someone starts trying to put atheism into some form dogmatic belief and electing officers, I'm out of there. Commonality of belief doesn't imply religion. Calling someone a Democrat doesn't make him an atheist or a Christian.

Hey, man -- you're on the Internet, you'd better stop thinking.

[Sal1981]

B.A. has only made one post, the OP - I'm pretty sure this is just a theistic fly-by.

[the_antithesis]

B.A. has only made one post, the OP - I'm pretty sure this is just a theistic fly-by.

A fly-by cunt, more likely.

[josephpalazzo]

B.A. has only made one post, the OP - I'm pretty sure this is just a theistic fly-by.

Is B.A. for Bad Attitude?  

[The Skeletal Atheist]

This thread is still alive? Man, you guys need a good chewtoy.

[stromboli]

Hey, Eve was banned. I still got a trunkful of stuff on Mormonism I haven't used yet.