Satanic statue in Oklahoma: approved

[Passion of Christ]

So under your childish, make-believe religion Atheism with a capital A, an atheistic Buddhist and an atheistic philosophical naturalist have the same tenets,  beliefs, and dogma.  You sir, are an ignoramus of the first order.

Buddhist believe everything is God and everyone is a part of God as far as I understand it, it's a kind of pantheism. Atheists believe something similar I guess only they have matter as the ground of reality and consciousness as the illusion of matter, the exact of opposite of what Buddhists believe. Atheists also believe in the annihilation of the self but this is a little more literal than mystical and rebirth but only as your atoms going into a tree or something.

[youtube:2co1vt9i]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXtVzj9y-bo[/youtube:2co1vt9i]

The only way to not have a religion is to be a "None". Nones don't oppose religion or beliefs in God as they don't have any better ideas.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

The only way to not have a religion is to be a "None". Nones don't oppose religion or beliefs in God as they don't have any better ideas.

Also known as *le gaspe* atheism.

[Passion of Christ]

Also known as *le gaspe* atheism.

A lot of Nones believe in God though. I think surveys show most of them do. So that would technically mean they aren't atheists.

[Plu]

Then you have a weird definition of "nones".

[Passion of Christ]

Then you have a weird definition of "nones".

They have been surveyed and most of them believe in God, so they're not atheists they just don't follow an organised faith. Atheism has more of a shared belief system and philosophy so more like a religion.

[Plu]

Then what makes you say that all of these people

don't oppose religion or beliefs in God

if they're just a bunch of people whose only trait is "not following an organised faith"?

Atheism has more of a shared belief system and philosophy so more like a religion.

Oh really now? So what would those beliefs be?

[Hijiri Byakuren]

Then you have a weird definition of "nones".

They have been surveyed and most of them believe in God, so they're not atheists they just don't follow an organised faith. Atheism has more of a shared belief system and philosophy so more like a religion.

Then they are Deists.

And you can claim that atheism has a shared belief system all you like. It will be as much a lie today as it was yesterday. I have nothing in common with Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong except for lacking belief in deities.

[leo]

So under your childish, make-believe religion Atheism with a capital A, an atheistic Buddhist and an atheistic philosophical naturalist have the same tenets,  beliefs, and dogma.  You sir, are an ignoramus of the first order.

Buddhist believe everything is God and everyone is a part of God as far as I understand it, it's a kind of pantheism. Atheists believe something similar I guess only they have matter as the ground of reality and consciousness as the illusion of matter, the exact of opposite of what Buddhists believe. Atheists also believe in the annihilation of the self but this is a little more literal than mystical and rebirth but only as your atoms going into a tree or something.

[youtube:3dhpk2jw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXtVzj9y-bo[/youtube:3dhpk2jw]

The only way to not have a religion is to be a "None". Nones don't oppose religion or beliefs in God as they don't have any better ideas.

Buddhists don't believe in a creator god. Buddhists believe in the impermanent gods in the impermanent heavens as part of samsara. The infinite circle of rebirths. I'm talking about orthodox buddhists. Secular buddhists don't believe in rebirth.

[aileron]

Buddhist believe everything is God and everyone is a part of God as far as I understand it, it's a kind of pantheism. Atheists believe something similar I guess...

You're not getting it.  Atheist means no belief in a god or gods.  That's it; no more - no less.  Is it really so hard to understand?  There are atheists who are philosophical naturalists (myself included).  Others believe in ghosts, spirits, and all kinds of supernatural mysticism.  

Atheists also believe in the annihilation of the self...

You just don't get it, do you?  Did the Pope of Atheism write a papal bull declaring annihilation of the self official Church of Atheism doctrine, and teaching otherwise is heresy subject to excommunication?

There most certainly are atheists who believe in various forms of life after death.

The only way to not have a religion is to be a "None".

That's the god atheists believe in, none.  Of the hundreds of thousands of gods imagined by humans, we believe in none, including a deity that was obscure and little known for most of human history named Yahweh.  Funny how all it took was a government killing people by the scores 1700 years ago to make Yahweh a much more popular god.

Nones don't oppose religion or beliefs in God...

Why not?  Why not be opposed to people teaching what appears to be false (and making massive piles of cash in the process)?

...as they don't have any better ideas.

Did you ever stop to consider that nature is completely disinterested in what we humans think is a "better idea"?  Victorians in England opposed evolution because they didn't like the notion of "nature red in tooth and claw."  "We don't like the implications" isn't a tenable scientific position concerning the validity of a theory.

[PickelledEggs]

There's nothing wrong with have other religions represented but isn't Satanism kind of a parody/satirical joke religion? It would like having a statue of the Flying Spaghetti Monster no-one is seriously a Pastafarian.

Can you define "joke religion"? I think all religions are pretty funny.

Satanists in the satanic church don't even believe in Satan. They are just basically atheists with a set of rules that they all follow.

[atheist_in_a_foxhole]

There's nothing wrong with have other religions represented but isn't Satanism kind of a parody/satirical joke religion? It would like having a statue of the Flying Spaghetti Monster no-one is seriously a Pastafarian.

Can you define "joke religion"? I think all religions are pretty funny.

Satanists in the satanic church don't even believe in Satan. They are just basically atheists with a set of rules that they all follow.

True, but that is something that I never bring up to Christians because then they start to associate Atheist with Satanist.

[aileron]

True, but that is something that I never bring up to Christians because then they start to associate Atheist with Satanist.

Tell them that the Christian concept of Satan, while evil, fits the definition of a god.  So atheists don't believe in Satan since they don't believe in gods.  Continue to explain that Satan is one of many gods in the polytheistic Christianity.  

Remind them also, that all it took for Christianity to earn its "monotheistic" credentials was massive persecution and murder of Jews who resented the co-opting of their henotheistic religion into a Pagan-inspired polytheistic religion, as well as massive persecution and murder of Pagans who mocked Christians for claiming to be monotheistic while introducing loads of Paganism into the religion.

Tell them this... You'll make loads of friends at that Christian university of yours  :-D

[AT7iLA]

wow... what has the world come to... these christians don't even follow the bible. smh.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I still want a statue of a big impacted molar to represent her Dental diety,  The Tooth Fairy, the one true mistress of dental pain!  when you rejected her in favor of your mom giving you money for teeth THAT is original sin as a child!  And besides,  where do you think dinosaur bones come from? Ground kids teeth,  that's where! Yea he who brush regularly is doomed to eternal torture of dental pain in the hereafter.  :Hangman:

[Jason Harvestdancer]

Passion of Christ, there is a difference between "religious opinion" and "religion."  That difference has the words you are looking for.

Atheism is a religious opinion, but not a religion.