Pope Says: We're Not So Different, You And I...

Woah, what's with the Atheist bashing outta nowhere?! Keep it light, sonny Jim.

blood for the blood god

You clearly misunderstood what I said. The church has works it does, missionary and charitable. Those works cost money, the money has to come from somewhere. Tithing funds those programs and one responsibility of church leaders is to get butts in pews and coins in the plates.


These progressive edicts recently are designed to draw back disenfranchised people of faith, because attendance is critical to the church.

What that has to do with atheism, I don't know, and I wouldn't describe myself as an atheist anyway. I'm a-religious, the concept of god or gods don't factor into my thinking on any level, and that's the literal absence of a belief system.

So by that definition, the only way we can truly be Atheists is if we became Nihilists.

"Ve believes in nuhsing, Labawski!"

Actually nope.

It's the theist making the claim God exists as you have and the theist who needs to pony up the evidence that said God exists amidst all the competing claims from competing theists that their God too also exists. Make a claim? Prove it.

Atheism is merely the null set and you'd do well to remember that. They don't believe Gods exist because the evidence is insufficient. That's it. Nothing more.

And now for my worthless opinion:
The evidence points towards Gods being nothing more than transitory entities conjured up by individuals looking for a sense of higher order and this is codified by rulers seeking to piggyback on these entities as a means of rule. Just as religions rise, they are well documented to fall. Your religious belief is nothing more than geographical convenience and where you happen to be born on a timeline of human existence. How arbitrary.

Much as Pizzaro lay low the Gods of the Inca in short order so too have the Norse beliefs become means of entertainment and Greek legends become bloody M rated games we trade among our friends. I guess Odin, Viracocha and Zeus just don't give a *** anymore to exert their influences or more likely they never actually existed.

I find it infinitely arrogant that people - fallible, transitory, hypocritical people - believe themselves in possession of the ultimate 'truth' when our seventy year lifespans are but a mere flash in the pan. Yes, you of all humans who have existed throughout time with varied beliefs have gotten it right where so many have gotten it wrong. Yeah, ok.

Just because you don't believe in a god doesn't make you Atheist. I don't "BELIEVE there isn't a god I KNOW there isn't a god. Take a look around and tell me there is a god. There is more evidence to disprove the existence of God than there is to prove existence.

I would argue most people who claim to be atheist fall under the category of agnostic atheism, in that, they don't believe in any Gods as there is no evidence to support the existence of God.

Oh boy, looks like we're about to get into another gnostic/agnostic theism/atheism discussion.

Well if God does exist he isn't worthy of the all the praise he's getting because he's done nothing to warrant it.

There's a sense of ambiguity to most forms of Atheism, they don't claim to know if there is or isn't a god. The term is mostly just misused. That's why I don't subscribe to the tag, I don't feel the need to label my non-belief. Sort of how I don't live in India and don't speak Pashtow, the pronunciation of a word in Pashtow isn't something I have an opinion on, the same logic follows to theism. I don't think I'm unique in that approach by any means, but I do think that people who fervently believe there is no god have a different approach to life than I do that is more in line with the approach that religious people take.

I don't really care what people choose to believe, only how they choose to approach life. And more often than not, religious people tend to inject their beliefs into every facet of life because their beliefs require it. That's the essence of my distaste for religion, it's not enough to believe something, you have to push it on everyone around you. Rarely to atheists push their non-belief on others and never do a-religious people.

This address from the Pope is annoying to me because Science and religion may seek to explain the nature of the universe, but they are not alternative or competing theories. Just as Geography has no business being taught in Math classes, so religion to Science.

Agnostic atheism is a thing?

A lot of atheists describe themselves as such, it seems.

Almost every atheist you meet is by default agnostic atheist. A gnostic atheist would be a hypocrite because it's impossible to know there are no Gods.

I disagree with just about all of this...

Most religious people are just as you describe most atheists.. They wish to live their own life with their own beliefs not bothering anybody.

Both sides have obnoxious people...

Yeah, actually.

Gnosticism as a root deals with order and meaning, a Gnostic - Atheist would believe there is a supernatural order to the universe but not necessarily a deity who designed or controls it. An Agnostic - Atheist wouldn't claim any specific order or deity. There are Agnostic Theists, too.

Atheism is poorly represented by the term. When religious people claim that Atheism is a religion, they aren't entirely wrong, just that religious people are using the etomology of the word and Atheists are using the modern cultural meaning of the word to describe themselves.

And yet the holy books are meant to be an insight into the minds of the monotheistic Gods. See, I typically don't care about deists or pantheists because honestly those Gods don't claim to have specific rules that govern your afterlife / soul. Some guy sitting on a mountain trying to tap into the spirits of the universe with huge amounts of peyote has no bearing on me or my life so he's free to chase that, despite my disagreements.

There's a reason many people dislike the idea of these hands off type Gods and it has everything to do with power. You can't control and dominate the masses without a hands on God that punishes stepping outside established guidelines that coincide with your rulers ambitions.

I don't have a religion but have a phylosophy(which is also malleable with time and new knowledge as I don't adamantly refute new information), and also there is no god in it.
I define myself as atheist as I don't conform to any religion, nor believe in deities, but gnostic, agnostic, whatever, is it so important? It's just a word.

Spreading their beliefs is a core principal of MOST religions. If people choose not to, it's no different than not killing an insolent child, it's just a tenet they choose not to follow.

It's always the vocal minority that define a group, but that doesn't change the fundamental difference in the belief structures.

Spreading their beliefs is a core principal of Islam and Christianity for the sake of this discussion as there are plenty of religions that don't give a *** about world domination and are fit as a fiddle containing themselves to a regional presence. Judaism finding itself the genesis of the other two monotheistic faiths is both part of fulfilling Christian prophecy and as the old guard Islam needs to overthrow.

And yet Judaism maintains its exclusivity despite two splinter faiths. It's difficult as *** to convert into for a reason.

That's of course the main problem with the above two. They ruthlessly pursue other beliefs and are committed to driving them out as a means of doctrine. If both were quarantined to their patches of the Middle East we wouldn't be here discussing the Pope making a sales pitch.

I will agree that religion will always be apart of human society so long as there is fear, disparity, poverty and hopelessness but the current barbaric incarnations are what concern most atheists. The wanton license to kill, the apocalyptic overtones, the backwards idea regarding women and outsiders among the other 'sanctioned by God' ideas.

Yeah man, don't touch the swine. It's unclean.

Despite my best efforts to keep this light.

People started having philosophical discussions that no one can or ever will (probs) prove..............

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