Should atheists declare war on religion as a whole?

[Hydra009]

Mike CL and Hydra009 both deserve gold stars here ;-)  Yes, the ego ... reminds me of the Aesop parable about the bull frog.

It's more like the turtle and the scorpion.  I'd help anyone across.  But bear in mind that I can survive being stung and I can also survive longer underwater.  :)

In comparing people, it is almost hopeless to control for extraneous variables.  For instance an equally intelligent theist and atheist (what about the neutral non-theist?)

Never met a neutral non-theist, personally.  Is that someone who does or does not believe in a god?

Atheists also enjoy shooting fish in a barrel.

Guilty as charged.  Easy targets are the best.  My personal favorite punching bag is creationists.  They're the best at being the worst, imho.  It's like going up against people who don't believe in water.  And they live on an island in the middle of the pacific.  And the center of that island is a huge lake.  And it rains on this island all the time.  "If this so-called water exists, then God doesn't!!!"  Well, okay, if you insist...

[Baruch]

Non-theist = agnostic or Buddhist.  A god for a Buddhist is just another kind of creature ... it isn't a Creator.

[doorknob]

While I don't feel we shouldn't go to war that would be a bit extreme, I think we should be anti religion. It holds us back and anything that holds us back should be dispensed with A.S.A.P.

Prehistoric superstitions do not benefit any one.

the problem is that the religious see any argument as an attack. They see a passionate statement or argument as hostility when it often is not. Religion is one of those sore subjects for me. In social situations I avoid it as a topic unless I feel it's appropriate.

[Munch]

While I don't feel we shouldn't go to war that would be a bit extreme, I think we should be anti religion. It holds us back and anything that holds us back should be dispensed with A.S.A.P.

Agreed.

Also, we're not savages, and we while as atheists most of us hold a higher regard for people living a logical standard advanced beyond primitive cult beliefs, there is still the risk of those getting the worst possible idea, and doing what the guy did to those church goers (if he was attacking religious people or because they are black, we don't yet know).

The best way to fight against religion is with education, standing ground, and promoting a world without such things as a standard of life, though things like science and the best parts of just being human without belief fucking it all up.

[Mike Cl]

Prehistoric superstitions do not benefit any one.

I like your points and I agree with them.  Religion is not a good thing for our society--or any society.  But those superstitions do benefit a small core--and therein lies the problem.  Those superstitions do help the Pope and his hierarchy very much.  The Roman Catholic Church is one of the oldest and maybe biggest corporation of all time; rich beyond belief and all based on those superstitions.  The same for the large Protestant churches as well--the Osteen's, Swaggert's, Robertson's, Graham's, etc, are mega rich off their mega churches.  The religious hierarchy is the root of all evil in the religious world.

[Munch]

Simple fact is, education is the biggest weapon against religion there is. Consider how for the longest time, in cultures, only the richest of people could get education, access to books literature and other academic minds, while the everyday man/woman was trapped in whatever small place in life he/she was living in, and the only access to something outside their way of life were things like religious leaders setting up shop in those places.

There is a reason why with the increase of internet access across the world, that people are becoming more and more secular, agnostic or atheist, its because access to information, other people, education and stories are more wide spread now, then the confined limited access to people and subjects it was before the invention of the net.

This is why religion is slowly decreasing in more progressive countries because of that access to information, while in countries like northern africa, the middle east and similar countries, they haven't caught up in the same regard as everyone else, in education and access to information.

So we know, just on matter of fact, education and information will push back the bronze age myths these people still try to still thrust into the modern domain.   

[Atheon]

Yes. But a war of words, not of arms; of brains, not of brawn. By getting the information out there, countering superstition and irrationality with reason, evidence and facts, spiced with humor, criticism, satire and understanding, and when appropriate, ridicule, we can win it. 

[Hydra009]

Non-theist = agnostic or Buddhist.  A god for a Buddhist is just another kind of creature ... it isn't a Creator.

Yeah, I know what you were getting at.  But the simple fact is that there isn't a third option between believing in a god and not believing in a god.  The stances of belief and nonbelief are mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive.  Agnosticism doesn't exist as a third option, but as a subcategory among both theism and atheism.

Buddhism, like Jainism and some schools of Hinduism, is a nontheistic religion.  Buddhists do not believe in a Creator God or any kind of God.  What term is used to describe someone who does not believe in a God?  Atheist.

This also highlights an important fact about the term atheist - it's actually a rather broad and diverse category of people.  Try to visualize the many different beliefs encompassed by theism - monotheists and polytheists galore with nothing necessarily in common except belief in a deity.  Well, atheism much the same.  There are both religious and nonreligious atheists with nothing necessarily in common except a lack of belief in a deity.

Hoped that help clear up some confusion.

[SGOS]

I'd rather have a war on ignorance -- education will do a better job of wiping out religion than attacking it directly.

One of the first things I learned in elementary school that got me to think about the existence of God, was reading the story about The Emperor's New Clothes.  I remember thinking "This story is about God.  People say they see him just because they think they should, just like the people say they see the Emperor's clothes."  There was a time when I was sure that was the author's intent, but maybe he was just writing a fun story.  Naw, I still think that was his intent.  The parallels are just too profound.

[Mike Cl]

One of the first things I learned in elementary school that got me to think about the existence of God, was reading the story about The Emperor's New Clothes.  I remember thinking "This story is about God.  People say they see him just because they think they should, just like the people say they see the Emperor's clothes."  There was a time when I was sure that was the author's intent, but maybe he was just writing a fun story.  Naw, I still think that was his intent.  The parallels are just too profound.

Ya know--until just now I had not thought of that interpretation of that story.  I really like it!

[1liesalot]

Don't know about war but religion must be aggressively challenged and there should be no more exceptionalism and special pleading for these people. The tax exemption situation should be addressed. That would be a good start.

[Baruch]

1liesalot - I agree ... skepticism is good, to a point.  Responding to the challenges of others is good, to a point.  Having the integrity and self confidence to challenge others yourself is good, to a point.  I also agree with the tax exemption reduction idea ... if we put aside the whole question of taxes for now.  Churches should be taxed as the political parties their clearly are.