It’s been a long time since we last published a list of quotes. Many atheists are people of fairly high intellect and their quotes are often witty and thought provoking. Here I have chosen the best 20 (after the first list) and, of course, you can add any that you want to the comments. Here is the first part.

20. A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows. – Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain, pictured)
19. Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. – Anonymous
18. With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. – Steven Weinberg
17. Since the Bible and the church are obviously mistaken in telling us where we came from, how can we trust them to tell us where we are going? – Anonymous
16. The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike. – Delos B. McKown

15. Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer. – Anonymous
14. Blind faith is an ironic gift to return to the Creator of human intelligence. – Anonymous
13. What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. – Christopher Hitchens (pictured)
12. I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. – Stephen Roberts
11. It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand. – Mark Twain

10. Atheism is a non-prophet organization. – George Carlin (pictured)
9. Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power but absolute power is corrupt only in the hands of the absolutely faithful. – Anonymous
8. Gods are fragile things; they may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense. – Chapman Cohen
7. When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion. – Robert Pirsig
6. Animals do not have gods, they are smarter than that. – Ronnie Snow

5. Most religions prophecy the end of the world and then consistently work together to ensure that these prophecies come true. – Anonymous
4. Religions are like pills, which must be swallowed whole without chewing. – Anonymous
3. If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul. – Isaac Asimov
2. Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. – Seneca the Younger (pictured)
1. Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? – Epicurus



















Wow thought provoking words to say the least. Great list for a Friday. These guys sound pretty logical to me but i can see some epic arguments coming .
. My favorite Atheist quote –
"What ,me worry? "- Alfred E. Neuman
Actually, Alfred E Neuman was a born again, catholic, episcopalean, jewish muslim sikh.
Definately not from cracked.
He had no worries because he knew he was going to heaven whatever happened!
Never heard of him.
I actually lol'd, sir.
well played, maggot … well played
Don't worry about it. He never says anything smart anyway.
Ah yes, good old Alfred E. – perhaps the greatest philosopher of all time.
This is a very great list of quotes. I enjoy reading them. Glad to be an faithful Atheist
Can one be faithful to atheism? Is atheism not but a quest for truth and an inability to accept facts not proven?
If something happened that made the existence of God a possibility, would you be forced to keep your atheist views due to being 'faithful'?
I already have an answer for that question. I can go all day explaining my answer to you but I have a better way of doing that. A link! lol http://www.hennessy.id.au/quentingeorge/archives/…
This author makes great claim as to why I'm an Atheist.
interesting read at the link. thanks
I haven't read the link yet as I am at work, but will later. However, essentially you choose to be an atheist, no matter where the evidence takes you?
"facts not proven"? like color not colored or up not up, or facts not factual…"
Fair point! I should have phrased that better.
No faith and atheism have nothing to do with one another.
unlike religion being athiest requires no faith, it is the obvious explanation which claims no absolute truth but scientists are constantly trying to clarify.
I agree. So how can someone be a 'faithful' atheist? There's a feeling that that mind is well and truly closed.
nice list…although i’m sure the number 20 has been on a previous list
Lol love it. I have no religion. I believe in myself
u believe in my ass
Bang-up job.
I am a psychology major so I believe in science and theory. The science part of me knows how I was created. The theory part of me explores the what if's. What is everyone's God is really just a hidden part of your consciousness created to protect your mind from understanding what it isnt ready to. Then there are the truely brilliant who may have broken the gap between their conscious and subconscious and therefor are truely aware of what is real.
That would explain why a lot of the great minds do not believe in God.
>please define the word "real"
>i dont know much about science and theory so i would like to know how do you explain the creation of the very smallest thing or element (if that is the correct term) like the atoms? energy? who or what created the universe? the thing/material/matter/substance that created the universe, what are they made of? im just curious.
All matter is energy condensed to a vibration so minute that multi-cellular beings (such as mankind) have no concept of how to measure it or even see it. Light is the visual end of the vibration; you cannot capture light in a bottle or even see what light consists of but clearly you can see its there. This is one of the reasons music is so evocative. Music can calm a wild beast or make you laugh, cry. Sound can kill It may not be melodious but it is effective. I hope I have at least enlightened you a little bit. (before you say “ok ok well then who made the sound”………….. BANG) ——–Hisdroogness
Theory’s are not about what if’s, if a a theory can be proven wrong then it is no longer a theory and “science” would agree, they have no agenda unlike a religion.
Great list to see as i'm watching BBC News give blanket coverage of the Pope's visit to Britain, and his ridiculous accusations about atheists!
R.I.P. George Carlin
and now carlin is in hell, i wonder if has changed his views
LOL@Fr. Meia !! u believe that theres an existance after death
I'm in hell because I'm not allowed to kill your stupid ass. Religion is a cancer of the planet that needs to be removed.
God is a big fat chick with a fairy wand named Mother Nature.
she's not fat, she's big-boned
LMAO, south park ftw!!!!!!
nice list …
The old list was nice and so is this one. The list of Thomas Aquinas was pretty good!
Atleast there isn't any bias on any beliefs here! I'm still believe in God thought.
And that's your privilege.
Learn to English properly.
In his debates with Christopher Hitchens (which is chronicled in "Collision") Douglas Wilson proposed:
"There are two tenets of atheism. One, there is no God. Two, I hate him."
I know this is supposed to be just a witty remark, but I can't help thinking that there is a strong tendency in the US to abuse the word "hate".
yeah like hate crime , what bull***** is that!
Every Crime is a hate crime!
Bigamy?
Not really. If I shoot a store owner because he was about to attack me while I was robbing his store so that I could pay my rent, it does not mean I hate he store owner.
If I shoot the store owner for the sole reason that I think he's filthy black guy and all filthy black guys need to be shot, then I hate him.
Classifying a "hate" crime is all about motive, not the act of the crime.
if you shoot the store owner *because* he was black — then it's a hate crime. it's a racial hate crime.
if you shoot the store owner because he was charging at you because you were robbing the store, and needed to pay your rent, it's still a hate crime. you hate being attacked by store owners. (self-defence — you hate being violated). the rent thing: you hate earning an honest day's wage. hate is one of the few emotions strong enough to make most people slide into deviance in the first place.
you have one thing obviously correct — it's all in the motivation. and the united states kinda screwed the pooch on this one, a tad. they have broadened and obfuscated the idea of "hate" and generalised it to apply solely to who is being attacked, not necessarily why.
i am in mississippi — and if i attack a black person, it will be looked at as a hate crime. more specifically, a racial hate crime. if i attack him because black people ***** me off, then the assumptions will be correct. if i attack the black man because he accosted my best friend, it will, too, get labled as a hate crime, even though i would have attacked anyone (any creed, any colour) who molests my friend, and ruins her life.
this is one of those stupid ass ideas rooted in political correctness. the people who have tried to put blinders on the horse, have acctdentally covered up it's whole head.
I like southpark too
"…there is a strong tendency in the US to abuse the word "hate".
Yeah, don't you just hate that?
There is one tenet to Athism; God!!??? Huh????????????? (dumbfounded astonishment)
This is what the faithful mistake for wit. It is based upon the false assumption that all atheists secretly believe in God, and that their justifiable anger at all the terrible things that religion has wrought is aimed at this ridiculous phantom in the sky, instead of those really responsible: religious leaders and the credulous nincompoops who follow them.
Ha! Douglas Wilson fails at wit.
If one hates god, can they really be called an atheist? How can one hate that which they propose doesn't exist?
Yes and I also hate the Easter Bunny and Frosty the snowman and Roger Rabbit and Batman and the tooth fairy and santa claus and Thor and unicorns and ogres. It is so utterly pointless to say you hate something you believe does not exist. What atheists hate is the oh-so-obviously human “Gods” that populate creation myths like the Bible and the Qu’ran.
I like the quote number 7, the most.
Jamie, you are a Catholic, right? It is very good of you to publish lists like this. Diversity in listverse, is really great, and that’s why I keep coming to this site.
Well said!
my favourite is still "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car."
classic.
Who said that?
hjro2
Dude, you made me laugh a lot here.
cigarman = god
I agree we shall all worship cigarman now.
"Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven." or "I rather be a Christain and find out that there is no hell then not to be a Christian and to find out that I was wrong when I die."
Yeah but with an attitude like that, it doesn't really sound like you truly believe. You're just making sure.
I can't wrap my head around how people can rationalize that an attitude like that would constitute to a soul worthy of going to heaven.
And what if it turns out there is a Hell(or something like it), but Christianity is the wrong religion? There are many religions in the world. What makes Christianity any more likely than the others?
What Someone said. The “believing in God just in case” (aka Pascal’s Wager) reasoning means that you have to believe in – and worship – EVERY god.
And anyway, paying lip service is not the same as believing. I mean, if you believe, there’s no reason to have the “just in case” clause.
WIN
Most true Christians would agree with that.
That is very true. I had an assistant pastor call me a discusting slut one time and was condemning me. If he were a man of God he would not have said that. The bible claims that Jesus accepted *****s and saved them but then a pastor cannot accept people. There are many people who use religion to make themselves feel important.
I have more than one favourite, I should probably make another list. These are 3 of mine:
“Yes, reason has been a part of organized religion, ever since two nudists took dietary advice from a talking snake.”
― Jon Stewart
“Not only is there no God, but try finding a plumber on Sunday.”
― Woody Allen
“If there was a god, I’d still have both nuts.”
― Lance Armstrong
10. Atheism is a non-prophet organization. – George Carlin (pictured)
That's golden!
I beg to differ… In the absence of the spiritual, there is only the material. And that costs allot of money.
prophet
you are right.
But isn't it ironic that gold, that i mentioned, is at the same time one of the most priced material and the symbol of the highest spirit?
Prophet. Profit. Prophet. Profit. PROPHET. Not profit. In case you don't get it…
http://www.dictionary.com
Yes, I see this. Many people seem to have missed it.
Sweet list!
I don't believe in God, and don't hate on people that do.
I like how the Pope has come to England, with his 2ton "Popemobile" (haha), and thus costing the taxpayer a lot of money. Surely, if God was all Godly, he would have the leader of his faith a free visit?
By how? Picking up the tab?
How would that work exactly? Should God make the hotel owners desire no compensation for their rooms? How about the other companies involved? Should they receive divine wisdom to provide their goods and services for no charge?
No, but a visit from the leader of a religion (which is fake, to anyone who has a decent head on their shoulders) shouldn't cost the tax payer. We paid for his ticket on the plane, and his petrol in his 2ton Pedomobile; sorry, Popemobile.
hahahaha pedomobile
I'm a proud Christian who has not problem sitting down for a beer with an aethiest. Life is to short to judge people all day, however I want to make one quick point:
The Pope is the leader of the Roman Catholic religion (something that is 100% created by man, not God) he is not the leader of faith.
Just wanted to clear that up. A leader of faith would be any individual who has faith….
Just semantics, I know, but if ANY individual who has faith is a leader… who does he lead?
Maybe he can lead his family?
Actually, Mercedes donated the Popemobile.
I am a Christian and do not follow the pope. There are millions of Christians, you know the people who have faith in God, that do not follow the pope. He only represents one religious group. I don't hate you for being an athiest I believe that you are more in need of God's love than anyone. Also, God gave you a free visit to Earth, how are you using your time?
You do realize there are over 33,000 denomination if Christianity, and over thousands of bible translations companies.
Unless you don’t read the bible and deny the word of god. You go to hell.
just kidding, I have no problem with you, just that…. Religion is a delusional thing to prevent people from the truth.
Maybe that was little harsh, sorry.
"We don`t do God."-Alastair Campbell. "I don`t believe in God."-Nick Clegg.
Alistair Campbell said that about Tony Blair, no?
Yes, he did. "Mr Spin," told the truth for once.
No, he didn't. Tony Blair does 'do God'. He might be a poor Christian in some people's eyes but a Christian he is.
I wish I was born 100 years in the future. I am hoping by then that people can abandon all these primitive religions so we can move forward as a species and be respectful to one another. Religion no longer serves the purpose it was intended to, which was explain the unknown. We know longer need a fairy tell to explain the strange white dots in the sky at night or why it rains on certain days. Yes religion preaches kindness and whatnot, but does that really come across? 95% of the time it doesn't. I find people that aren't religious tend to be more respectful and caring to other humans because you realize everyone is just alone trying to find happiness in this ONE life we live.
dude sadly its going to take way more than a hundred years
Couldn`t agree more! I can`t believe that in this day and age, with all the science and technology that we now have, that people ACTUALLY believe in this nonsense. In The Middle Ages, yes, but in todays day and age? We meant to believe, that there`s a guy in the clouds who decides who lives and who dies, and created everything on the planet? Whatever. Fortunately, you`ve got that idiot who`s on a tour of the country who still believes in this crap. If we didn`t have religion the world would be a better AND SAFER place.
What the … ??? "There's a guy in the clouds"????? I'm a Christian and I don't believe that, and don't know anyone who does. In heaven, yes, but that's not the clouds. That's what agnostics and atheists think Christians believe, that we think God is "up there in the clouds". WRONG!
So enlighten me, where is heaven? If heaven does in fact exist then it has to exist SOMEWHERE. So where is it? You say it's not in the clouds, so is it in the solar system? Another planet? Black hole? A house in the Hollywood Hills? Or is it simply in your mind? I'm going with the last here.
jec you are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO missing the point!!!!
My reply to this is:
Dude, if something works for a person, if he is feeling content and at peace, why would you take that from him? Life sucks enough as it is.
Or, using a Star Trek reference…
Sometimes, the need of the one outweigh the needs of the many. – Kirk, in the 3rd Star Trek movie
I will reference Plato's cave. In his allegory, He says that we are all chained down in a cave, shackled, all of our gazes fixed on a wall. Behind us are flames. In between the flame and the prisoners, are men walking with things fixed on their heads, casting shadows of men and animals. Would these prisoners not interpret these shadows as real life? Even praising those who interpret these shadows as wise men. Their whole society would be based on these shadows, taking them for reality. Then Socrates supposed that a single man was allowed to be freed. He would be confused as to what he sees. the man was compelled to look at the fire: wouldn't he be struck blind and try to turn his gaze back toward the shadows, as toward what he can see clearly and hold to be real? What if someone forcibly dragged such a man upward, out of the cave: wouldn't the man be angry at the one doing this to him? And if dragged all the way out into the sunlight, wouldn't he be distressed and unable to see? Eventually, the man will become acclimated and finally gaze upwards to the sun and see that it is the true source of light. He would disdain honors that were received by people interpreting the shadows on the wall. Moreover, were he to return there, wouldn't he be rather bad at their game, no longer being accustomed to the darkness? "Wouldn't it be said of him that he went up and came back with his eyes corrupted, and that it's not even worth trying to go up? And if they were somehow able to get their hands on and kill the man who attempts to release and lead up, wouldn't they kill him?"
In short, once someone 'see's the light' they want to bring the others out of the darkness. but if the darkness is all that they know, they will be reluctant and stubborn to go.
Just because you reference Plato's Allegory of the Cave doesn't automatically make you right. The same allegory could be used to support the idea of religion. Many great philosophers were also very devout, and some even because more so after they had thoroughly examined their beliefs.
I was going to say that this goes both ways but it was already running to long. But this explains why Atheists (which I am not) pull for religious people to stop, and Religious people try to pull atheists to believe. Everyone thinks they see the light.
People with schizophrenia could be be completely content and at peace, does that mean we should just let them be?
Are you comparing a grave mental illness with well balanced people who just want to live as they choose?
I'm not saying that religious people have done allot of ***** in the past. In fact, many of the schizophrenics were "exorcised" and tortured. Many liberal women were marked as witches and burned at the stake. The Inquisition. The Crusades. But we must not forget that the clerics were the ones who used religion for their own gains. Even in our modern time, the Muslim extremists are nothing more than pawns of manipulators, who twisted the meaning of the Qur'an into a holy war propaganda. Nonsense.
//"Are you comparing a grave mental illness with well balanced people who just want to live as they choose? "//
Banning proven science in schools, preventing the spread of contraception methods, killing/terrorizing abortion and euthanasia doctors ect…. is not a way for well balanced people to act.
//I'm not saying that religious people have done allot of ***** in the past. In fact, many of the schizophrenics were "exorcised" and tortured. Many liberal women were marked as witches and burned at the stake. The Inquisition. The Crusades. But we must not forget that the clerics were the ones who used religion for their own gains. Even in our modern time, the Muslim extremists are nothing more than pawns of manipulators, who twisted the meaning of the Qur'an into a holy war propaganda. Nonsense. //
Nothing to do with my question. So my question still remains. If a schizophrenic is completely content and at peace, does that mean we should just let them be.
PS. Have you read the Qur'an? If you have I'd like for you to explain some passages to me.
//"Banning proven science in schools, preventing the spread of contraception methods, killing/terrorizing abortion and euthanasia doctors ect…. is not a way for well balanced people to act. "//
Exactly. And that's why those are not well balanced people. In my country, for instance, there are a few nutters, fanatics that disagree with abortion and contraception. But they are a small number, and as long as they don't kill anyone, I respect their right to protest and complain how much they want. That doesn't mean that I respect them or what they believe.
Speaking about schools, when studying biology, the subject of evolution is of course presented. It's inevitable and it's very fortunate that it is so. And about religion in schools, as far as I know, the subject is presented as optional. Kids are presented with a choice: to take the class or not.
//"Nothing to do with my question. So my question still remains. If a schizophrenic is completely content and at peace, does that mean we should just let them be. "//
I thought I have answered it. Are you comparing those who believe in one or more Gods with mental illness?
And about the Qur'an… I'm sure there are allot of passages which could stir some nutters into starting a holy war, as I am sure there are in the Bible also. But well balanced people will ignore them, because they conflict with the other positive messages from both (treat others as you want to be treated etc.)
Well balanced people will always put human life, their principles and their own piece of mind before religious teachings.
Ok using that logic. There are people here on the planet NOW that believe that molesting Arabic religion (ok sorry marrying girls as young as 9 is ok ) Don’t look so shocked your neighbours the Chasidic Jews can marry (girls) at 12 and to them its ok. ARE YOU OK WITH THAT? There are peoples in Africa that require young girls to undergo mutilation of the genitals (removal of the clitoris) Heck all jews mutilate the penis! And because they don’t want to be singled out (like in WWII) the have made it standard in the USA and the UK all english speaking countries. In the Middle East it is perfectly ok to stone a woman for adultery. That is their belief its all part of their religious belief. I could go on but don’t think any more will make much difference you either get it or you don’t.ALL OF THESE ARE DUE TO RELIGION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok using that logic. There are people here on the planet NOW that believe that molesting (Arabic religion ok sorry marrying girls as young as 9 is ok ) Don’t look so shocked your neighbours the Chasidic Jews can marry (girls) at 12 and to them its ok. ARE YOU OK WITH THAT? There are peoples in Africa that require young girls to undergo mutilation of the genitals (removal of the clitoris) Heck all jews mutilate the penis! And because they don’t want to be singled out (like in WWII) the have made it standard in the USA and the UK all english speaking countries. In the Middle East it is perfectly ok to stone a woman for *****ery. That is their belief its all part of their religious belief. I could go on but don’t think any more will make much difference you either get it or you don’t.ALL OF THESE ARE DUE TO RELIGION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Take a look at these quotes. If you added the age of these quotes, I would gather they would be more than 100 years old on average.
Would they have wanted a world without 'primitive' religion 100 years after their time? Most likely
What has happened since these people said these words? Nothing.
Will centuries after centuries of rational men knowing the bleak truth change anything? Most likely not
A pitiful truth but one weakness humans as a whole will never overcome.
Yes. Like in Stalin's Russia. People will always find a reason to massacre others.
In my career I help people to make a difference in their own lives. I also believe in the pursuit of scientific discovery. I am also a Christian with faith in God.
I don't undertand how people can actually argue that if we as mankind abandonded faith completley that we would all be better off? I get just as angry when I hear about child rape, honor killings, terrorism all carried out by extremisits who are obviously not your ever day believer but to pin all the violence in the world carried out in the name of religion on religion in general is absurd.
Anyone who argues that religion or faith hinders us as a species has blinders on.
Religion spawns elitism. It tells you that you are better off than those that do not believe. Anything that tells you you get another life for doing what someone considers 'good', while everyone else goes to hell, hinders society in my opinion.
I have to wonder if you REALLY believe in a heaven though? I respect the ideals of religion, but the execution and other factors are almost laughable. Every night you turn on the TV you see paid programming of a man screaming through the TV that if you are in debt, to BUY a blessed cloth to get you out of debt.
Do you really think all of your actions are tallied up at the end of your life to see if you are worth at another life, where get this…. YOU GET EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED! tada! your problems are over! Doesnt that seem FAR to convenient? No. You dont die. You just go live for eternity in the clouds. Why is it the clouds? because primitive people viewed clouds as a heavenly figure. whereas nowdays we know its just condenses condensation. You just have to step back and detach your fears and emotions and you logic and it all comes apart. I used to go to church every sunday and sing along to Newsboys and stuff like that. I just grew up.
Eternity is not in the clouds … rain and vapour is in the clouds. Get it right!
As does atheism good sir. As a Christian i believe in a monotheistic god, on who sent his son te bring salvation. I am always confused as to why atheist try so hard to prove th non existence of a God. Do you also show up at christmas and tell the children that there is no santa to judge our morality? I assume not because they are children and you view them as fairy tales, as many do the bible, so why, why would you try to hard to argue against this one?
I'm sorry but theres a few points wrong there.
1. Atheism is the disproving or at the very least ridiculing of of ALL Gods. Not just 'a' god or your god. What makes you think you have more of a chance at being right than a scientologist? Don't be so self centered!
2. The difference between Santa and God is that children eventually grow out of it and find out Santa is imaginary. The fact that you use the Santa *****ogy is like you sort of saying "Don't spoil our delusions when we are having fun!"
3. Don't go all defensive. Atheists hardly do the attacking. Only in the modern day where we have the likes of Richard Dawkins have atheists actually pushed their position. Christians, more than any other religion have overbearingly interfered with secular society.
AIDS is because we are *****ually open, condoms and the morning pill are bad, abstinence is better than ***** education, creationism should be taught in SCIENCE, stem cell research is wrong, abortion is the same as killing etc…
@lordofreimes:
Atheism is the non-belief in any gods. “Disproving” and “ridiculing” are not part of the package, though some atheists (and agnostics, and even some theists) do actively ridicule or attempt to disprove religious beliefs.
Your points on 2 & 3 remain valid, but keep in mind that #3 applies more to the ultra-religious types. There are lots of religious folks that agree with you on those points.
In Soviet Russia, gun fires you!
Also, if anyone would like to read about the hell that was Russia, read Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn
And Russia wouldn’t allow for Religion…..interesting.
you really believe that people will be more respectful if religion evolved? i have nothing against atheist's, i don't buy into church anymore. But I have yet to find a person who is respectful whether atheist or religious when it comes to what someone believes. most atheists i have run into are rude and condescending when I explain I have Beliefs, most religious people are just rude because i don't believe the same thing they do.
"Religion no longer serves the purpose it was intended to, which was explain the unknown," I'm curious whatever gave you the idea that religion was set up to explain the unknown? Science was what people turned to, to explain the unknown. Religion was set up to give people something to hope for. I maybe wrong but for the most part that's what i was always taught in school, and by various teachers throughout college.
In the beginning, the questions were. Why are we here? who put us here? where do we go once we die? why is there 'good' & 'bad'? All questions that were answered by religion. & until we can prove that you don't go to a divine version of a resort for the rest of eternity, then there will always be religion.
Most atheists I meet are only impolite when someone is trying to force religion on them (a la the Westboro Baptist Church, or faith-based laws, etc.). Most religious people I know are at the very least polite toward me when they find out I have a different belief system (casual Shinto, less on the mythology & more on the basic practices of honour & universal respect).
But then, I live in NYC, where being a fundie of any sort doesn’t really work. Your mileage may vary.
Wow. The first two sentences of your post could totally be on this list.
These quotes make me happy.
I’m also surprised at the lack of arguments in the comments.
me too. i was expecting a clash of belief and unbelief.
anyways, it`s a good sign believers respect the non-believing readers.
nice and educated comments so far.
Very true about the believers respecting the non-believers. Too bad it doesn't go the other way around. I'm just sayin'.
In all honesty I think some people do respect beliefs and some don't regardless of which grouping they come from. I do respect people's faith but have met many from both sides that don't.
i think there's no arguments because almost everyone on the page is an atheist, so they have no competition. almost every comment seems to be an atheist one. also, every religious comment is thumbed down, and every atheist one thumbed up. as much as i like variety in the listverse lists, all this is going to do is provoke more religious argument due to the massive wave of atheists that have somehow found this page.
That’s only because the “angry atheists” are the vocal minority. The majority have nothing to say, and generally don’t bother anyone (unless they’re poking at the crazy fundamentalist “yer goin ta hell” types).
I agree with you about how “angry atheists” seem to be the vocal minority, but personally I feel that it is because of how most atheists, myself included, are afraid of being ostracized by the religious members of their society if they were to speak about their beliefs, as religious people are allowed to talk about theirs.
I grew up in a small town in Arkansas where my best friend was a devout and very outspoken Baptist, and when I finally got the courage to tell her that I did not believe in her God or any other, she stopped talking to me, spread rumors, and apparently forgot all the reasons we had been friends for so long.
I don’t mean to sound like I am disrespecting religious people, I know from personal experience that they can sometimes be very kind. I am just stating that there are way more atheists than the few who post on this website and those who directly tell religious people they are idiots.
I was expecting there to be some arguments, but perhaps that is just because 'those' people haven't got here yet.
Its nice to see that people can accept the beliefs of others even if they differ wildly from their own.
'those' people ?!?
do you mean negroes? bwah ah
What is wrong with you?
I agree – now why do you have such a mean name? I would change it if I were you. Seems nasty and sour grapes imo.
Ah, well mom424 I was wondering how long it would take for someone to notice and comment, your the first.
I just wanted a silly name and this one fit listverse well for it's purpose.
I noticed ages ago but didn't think I should say anything until we were better acquainted. It's just that in my case I offend enough folks by accident, that I can't imagine doing it on purpose. But whatever rocks your socks – as long as you keep coming back.
Matthew 7:1-2 (paraphrased)
do not judge or you will be judge in the same haste and measure in which you have judged.
Christians who read the good book will not judge you but will try to assist you into what they believe is correct. Arguing with people only builds distrust and helps cement their opinions of their "rival".
But the fact that christians think they should strive to "assist" people to follow the "correct" path is condescending. They think that whoever doesn't believe exactly what they believe is wrong so they should help them to see the light. That's basically judging people, which, by your paraphrased verse, shouldn't be done.
Sorry, I just had to comment because that kind of .. self-righteousness (for lack of a better word) rubs me the wrong way.
This is basically called Social Darwinism. It’s the belief that some groups are more evolved or sophisticated than others, and that they need to share their greatness with the sad, poor people who happen to be different than them.
It’s a lot like the idea that the first thing a starving, poverty stricken child that has no roof over his head needs is Christianity . What the child needs is not Christianity, but actually, food.
(As a disclaimer: I am not trying to offend anyone, your beliefs are your beliefs, so let me have mine as well.)
I was also. I think it is great how people are really open to other people's ideas and opinions. The religious people on here must be true believers to not judge other people for their beliefs.
me aged 10: you seriously believe this?
Does who seriously believe what?
Atheism Religion
1 0
On this list or in general? I would argue that a list of quotes that are well written and very clever cannot be defined as a goal. I would think that any good deed done from one human being to another in the name of faith would score for religion? And you can't argue that every horrible crime done in the name of religion scores for atheism because atheism is not responsible for that. Atheism at the end of the day is a non-belief that doesn't help or save anyone? Unless you consider being free of belief in God as freeing in which case I find it funny you need to not believe in something to feel free in your OWN life.
anyways… thats my ramble. I hope you enjoy your day!
Winning since 2000BC
Depends upon how you define 'winning'?
Because religiosity appears to part of human nature ( we need blind faith as children to learn from our parents and elders) Religion has always had a way of popping it's fecund head up just when rationalism appears to have some ascendancy.
It's simply the way people are.
The Roman civilisation gave way to a thousand years of the dark (christian) ages.
Knowledge was lost and barely survived in the islamic world to re-seed european civilisation.
It was only when men were permitted to question religious dogma that progress towards the heights of this current golden age.
Lest we forget barbarity and religion are equal.
religiosity is not a word
Oh yes it is!
Seriously. It is.
Yes, Epicurus, but 2000BC? (Epicurus (341-270 BCE)
Lucy, you gots some 'splaining to do.
Dont listen to this infidels!!
lol, why not? are there too many proofs that you don't exist?
I just believe in Bill Gates.
Thank you!
Finally a list that is worthy of my love
Atheists rock big time
Coming from a Nazi they'll love that!
"Jesus Saves", "Jesus Loves"…..
Doesn't this guy have anything important to do?
Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior! Believe in Him! Do not be afraid; He loves us for who we are.
Believe! in common sense.
It is not too late to repent and draw yourselves closer to God. He is loving and forgiving. He has come to flesh in the form of His son Jesus Christ who will save us from our sins.
Can he validate my parking ticket too? Not to sound cheap or anything but…it's 12 bucks! I'm sure he can afford it, being omnipotent and all, probably can "think" the money to my wallet. It's like that bread thingy he did, the multiplication and all, just with a couple of hundies! As silly as what you just read sounds, so does walking on water, resurrection, adam and eve, etc., etc., etc. We are just born into it so we think it's sane, but it's not. And deep deep deep down inside, you know this to be true!
It is written in the scriptures. We need not think of material things to prove that He exists. We must walk by faith and not by sight. "Man does not live on bread alone, but through the Word of God."
That sounds like the typical answer of someone who has no answer.
@One: "That sounds like the typical answer of someone who has no answer"
sir– if you are atheist, then this comment belongs on this 'quotes by atheists' list.
Prove it.
do you love your mother? prove it
Dude… just… dude
What you say is true, Believer. But when you sell Christianity like that ("He is loving and forgiving…he will save us"), you're not giving people the whole story. That's prosperity gospel when we try to sell "Jesus" to one another so that we can be saved.
According to God's word, God commands us to repent NOT for ourselves. NOT so that we can go to heaven. NOT so that we can avoid hell. But so that the glory may be unto God. And God has promised us salvation for eternity, but that should not be our motive. Nor should we try to present it to other people that way. It is all aboutGod.
Thank you, Believer : ) I hope my last comment was not too harsh. I was not being harsh for the sake of being harsh, I assure you.
It is not too late to repent and draw yourselves closer to God. He is loving and forgiving.
If that’s the case, why waste time doing that now? Why not just enjoy yourself living it up in total debauchery and then repent on so-called Judgement Day?
Good point! hahaha!
ok, enjoy yourself, dont accept God as your Lord and personal Savior…. just dont cry too hard and too loud when you burn in hell.
Maggot that was great, lol!!
Jesus Christ is Santa Claus for grown-ups.
Come now, play nice, everyone. Don't pull out the usual stupid atheism vs religion argument.
When that comes up, it ruins everything.
Because Hint: they're both wrong.
You have santa syndrome. Always good for a laugh.
I am sure that is a great comfort to Marc Dutroux (sp), Peter Sutcliffe, Fred West…
Cheers
Lee
It must be fun going through life with blinders on. God is not there! Religion is a crutch for the weak.
I think this was covered in another list about 10 things that should not be discussed online. On another note, you are a moron. Religion is the opiate of the masses and several other reasons why religion is BS.
That's good to hear. Then he'll love me for being an atheist.
Michael Jackson loves you, too.
Uh, Believer? I respect your right to believe whatever you want, but proselytizing here (besides being a violation of Romans 14:22) seems a bit… self-righteous and pompous.
Besides, would telling you how it’s not too late to change your ways & turn to Krishna convert you to Hinduism? If not, then maybe you can understand why the only people convinced by your posts are already members of your faith.
I FORESEE A MASSIVE DEBATE COMING ON. awesome list though
Debate is absolutly pointless. After all the debating, arguing, and name calling, atheists will still be atheists and believers will still be believers.
Debating with people who use circular logic to fortify their side of the argument is pointless. . .
THATS NOT THE ONLY MASSIVE THING COMING ON!!!!!
I am ashamed that this juvenile comment caused me to laugh uncontrollably.
oh my god, me too, that was hilarious
Miss you George ='[ Greatest comedian ever.
i sent this list in an email message to one of my friends on facebook.. and said "i like 15, 16 and 19 the best" but then deleted that part of the message as all these quotes are insanely awesomeeeeee (H)
An Atheist's belief that there is no god is still a belief. for an atheist to say that faith is nonsense STILL has faith in his own convictions. Irony anyone?
You mistake irony for hypocrisy.
But it is not faith that Athiests have a problem in, it's the belief in an all powerful God for which there is no proof. There is nothing wrong with a little faith- I have faith that my employer will pay me this month. Belief however is very different to faith.
Hypocrisy is the act of "pretending" to believe in something that you really don't believe in. so… no hypocrisy in my statement, simply irony in it's truest form. Christians don't pretend to believe in god in the same way that Atheists don't pretend to believe in the absence of god. it is all still a belief.
So you didn't essentially say that an Athiest pretends that he has no faith when really he does? Because that is what I am reading in that statement.
Irony however needs to be a comparison between a literal meaning and a non literal meaning and I am not seeing that.
Think of Atheism as the default. It's not a belief in a deity, it's the lack of belief in one. It is not the belief in a lack of a deity. It isn't a belief seeing as we don't believe in any god.
saying you don't believe in a god is the exact same thing as saying you believe in no god. there is no difference. period. A lack of belief in something is equal to a belief in nothing.
me. I personally believe that there is someone watching over us. whether it be a christian's God or a muslim's Allah doesn't matter. I just know there is something there because I believe it to be so. No Atheist can take that from me.
For an atheist to deny the existence of any deity is to deny the foundation of human existence.
whether you believe in the Bible, Koran, Torah, The Satanic Verses or in Darwin, there is no denying the FACT that more humans have always believed in a greater power, compared to humans that believe in the non-existence of one.
Belief doesn't equal knowledge.
Your philosophy on believers and atheists having faith is a conclusion you have drawn based on the fact that you need to justify your beliefs as "sane" and therefore you generalize having faith as something common to all man, putting you in line with the rest of us. However, you doing this because there is a part of you, the intellectual, rational part, that has since grown from when you originally believed (child) and that questions these "not so plausible" scenarios which is of course is questioning ones faith. Couple this with just a glimpse of religion's evolution and you are drawn to the inevitable conclusion that we made it all up to cope with what we don't know.
Believers have faith there is a God
Atheists KNOW there isn't, no faith here, just fact.
"I just know there is something there because I believe it to be so."
When you where a child, did you not also believe in a fat, kind man made of magic that had a white beard and would bestow gifts to all the good little boys and girls of the world on Christmas Eve, which just so happens to be the day the Savior of Christianity was born? that never made "him A FLESH AND BLOOD LIVING BEING…JUST A FABRICATION OF SORTS…
Also, it has always disturbed me that it is acceptable for parents to LIE to their children about such fantasies as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny as a means to ease their children into the more absurd beliefs of Christianity. it is far easier to convince a child that Santa gives them gifts, like Jesus received gifts from the Magi, and that a bunny gives them chocolate and bikes on Easter, the day their God was murdered, than have them understand the bizarre concepts straight from the Holy Bible?????
Just because you believe it is so does not make it real. That is the beauty of science-it is constantly correcting, reaffirming, and challenging itself…with religion, it remains the same, only changing to fit the individual interpretations and needs of it's followers.
darwin is not a 'greater power' or a prophet he is a scientist that discovered one of the elements that renders religion obsolete. Others of which (not discovered by Darwin) are carbon dating, dinosaur fossils and the extent of the universe (which makes the idea of Adam and Eve or Noahs Ark laughable).
Actually @abielectric, what you've described is the way an agnostic thinks, not an atheist. Most people get the 2 mixed up. There really isn't much of a difference b/w an atheist &a religious nutter. If you reckon its likely there isn't a god but you acknowledge that no one can say for sure without some hard evidence, then you're an agnostic. I'm an agnostic, which means i see religion as a ridiculous joke (and religious people as having a lower level of intelligence) but id never go so far as to say there is no god, I'm always open to evidence to the contrary. To say there's no god is to take the other extreme in the "blind faith" spectrum. Thats atheism. Put another way, I'm almost 100% sure there's no god but (b/c I have a logical rational brain) i realise no one can know for sure, one way or the other. If you're 'belief' falls short of that surety, then you're an agnostic not an atheist.
here here!
@Niki: You’re wrong. Agnostic means you are undecided, or take an “I don’t really know” stance on the existence of a god or gods. Atheism means you do not believe in any gods, but only “hard” atheism says “there is no god.” “Soft” atheism says “I do not believe there is a god.”
And despite what ciremelf says, there IS a difference between saying “I don’t believe in god(s)” and “I know there is no god(s).”
An athiest does not have a 'belief' that there is no god.
Deep within me I have a belief or feeling that there is a god, this is my upbringing. My knowledge tells me otherwise.
To have Convictions you do not neccassarily need faith.
Saying an atheist is a belief is like saying bald is a hair colour. A lack of faith and belief does not equal a belief. Come on ciremelf, this is basic logic
That is such a nonsense statement.
The sole reason for me being an atheist is people believing in God. I never asked to be an atheist, if it wasn’t for people believing in God then there would be no need for a label for my lack of belief. It wouldn't be something I ever thought about, spoke about or let control or interfere with my life in any way whatsoever. Faith has nothing to do with it.
You can't just take the words "belief" and "faith " and assign them to only be relevent to Christian or any other religious ideals. If I believe that the Steelers have great defense and if I have faith in Dick LeBeau's ability to coordinate that defense I have not just made the Steelers into a religion and Dick LeBeau a God.
uh no thats not irony and you're an idiot.
You are wrong, atheism is a lack of belief in gods. An atheist does not have to believe there is no god, just not believe in one because of the lack of evidence, they still accept that there could be one. Its a lack of belief, not believing the contrary.
Sounds a bit vague, there are some good youtube videos that explain this better.
But it isn't a faith based belief, faith is believing in something which has no evidence to support that belief, so you don't need faith to not believe in god.
I don´t believe that there is no god. I know it. There´s no irony, it´s just a fact.
faith is beliving something with no proof,coming to a logicul conclusion base on facts,or the lack of facts is not faith.
'If it wasnt for religion, we would be 2000 years in the future'.
Actually, if it weren't for men who USED religion for their own aims it would be more like… 200 years in the future.
Meh, not really, I'd say 1,999 years at the most. Who knows.
*GOD* ACTUALLY IT WOULD BE EXACTLY 421 YEARS 3 MONTHS 1 WEEK AND 3 DAYS
Gee thanks xD
lol
Can't we all just get along. Believers and non-believers should not judge one another. We should all be respectful of eacho
How do you respect someone who believes in such out dated rubbish? I mean, I try to SHOW respect and don’t force my opinion on others, but I can not honestlyin my heart FEEL respect for thoes who in this age of science where all the fairy tales of religion are proved wrong, actually RESPECT religious people; at all.
I believe in science, in fact and reason.
How do you respect someone who believes that everyone who doesn’t believe the same as them is believing in such outdated rubbish? I mean, I try to SHOW respect and don’t force my opinion on others, but I can not honestly in my heart FEEL respect for those who in this age still hate on those who disagree with them.
Hawkeye: "Are you really an atheist?"
Wounded soldier: "Swear to god!"
M*A*S*H
i find it quite comical that the atheists are so offended by what the pope has said about them, but when the atheists have made comments about the pope that were less than flattering he has chosen to act with great dignity unlike "the non-believers" me thinks that the atheists can dish a whole load of ***** but cannot take it back, sad really. i dont agree with some of the things that the pope teaches, but the man is truly great.
its not that , the fact is atheists are ripping on an overpaid , pedophile protecting , self righteous , man in a funny hat , who has the control of million based on a fairy tale lie ( who excommunicated a 12 year old girl for getting an abortion after her step father raped her when she was 11 thats right "sent her to hell " !!!!!").
Who the hell is HE ( sick *****) to dare pass judgment on anyone else ? ? ? And someone tell that guy he needs to take an iron supplement or put cucumbers on his eyes cause that guy has got some luggage going on…
It almost sounds like you are afraid of religion. If what you say is true in your post about the 11 yr old being excommunicated, i disagree with his decision, but primarily the man teaches love, why is that such a bad thing? your comments are quite offensive btw to all the Catholics who dont see Jesus christ and his teachings as "fairytale".
The Bible teaches love but many don't practice it which is the problem. Last time I went to church a few years ago the Pastor was preaching about how much a perversion of nature gays were and how unseemly they were. I could feel the love in the room.
Who rated this comment down? You know its true.
not afraid , I'm not an atheist , i believe in a god , i have to , someone has to take responsibility for bailing my dumb ass out of the ***** all those times . Except my god isnt petty , illogical or vengeful , he's cool, he thinks condoms suck but he knows that they are usefull to save lives, he doesn't expect me to go to someone else's business (church) to show my face in order for him to know i appreciate being alive . According to what Ive heard Jesus was a solid dude , however the church has perverted his story for selfish controlling purposes . I wasn't trying not to be offensive in fact i find the catholic church highly offensive and condescending . Is it THAT hard to stop his old men priests from raping little kids ? HUH? How hard can it be for the LEADER OF THE BIGGEST RELIGION ON THE PLANET to stop HIS PRIESTS for RAPING LITTLE KIDS?? Why does your god allow that ? Oh yes he works in mysterious ways, dont lay your ***** on god dude, it is the MEN who run the church responsible , no-one else . And by supporting them , you are contributing to child rape . ONLY the public members of the catholic faith can put a stop to it , but guess what ? the flock of bleating blind ignorant sheep dont . just keep chewing the cud ….
Jesus wasn`t "A solid dude." he`s a madman. He said, "I come not to bring peace, but a sword." "bring them hither and slay them before me." "I have come to set fire to the Earth." Hmm. He talks like Hitler!
you have just said you believe in a god, yet u say
"How hard can it be for the LEADER OF THE BIGGEST RELIGION ON THE PLANET to stop HIS PRIESTS for RAPING LITTLE KIDS?? Why does your god allow that ? Oh yes he works in mysterious ways, dont lay your ***** on god dude"
your god lets these things happen aswell.
"And by supporting them , you are contributing to child rape . "
so because people support an institution in which the believe so strongly in because they believe this is jesus's church, they are supporting child rape?
your hilarious.
yup because it , is the leaders of the church who are committing the rape , and if you follow the leader and pay their salaries , then quiet logically you are supporting and enabling them in all their actions . Bad things happen , god isn't responsible , in most cases people are responsible(sorry for the misunderstanding sarcasm doesn't work well in text) .
You should not believe so strongly in a institution that flagrantly allows such horrors to be inflicted upon the innocent. My god doesn't let these things happen YOU do, a catholic . Most church going people a reasonably good ( probably alot better than me) just ignorant and nieve to the power and responsibility they have regarding these kids. Only you can stop it at least give it a try instead of getting defensive and turning a blind eye . ***** you guys let them do what ever they want . Come on rise up against them brother , i said RISE UP LIKE LAZARUS!!
any way have a nice day . My intense debate is going to overload and i wont be able to read and reply properly. But feel free to have the last word .
cheers for the last word, here it is . IDIOT
danny you ignorant stupid dumb retard *****. You Don't listen and you talk too much! You Idiot.
shut up you *****ing reprobate.
Price is wrong … *****
Suck my uncut christian dick (its ok i be the priest you be the altar-boy)
LOL like God intended.
Good use of "uncut", ironic since Bob Barker was for getting your pets "fixed"
I know you know what I said; But do you know that what I said is not what I meant? Now go and play with your sister.
settle down , dont take ***** the wrong way
I agree.
Got a quote about the pope:
Nothing says 'I believe in God' more than 3 inch bullet proof glass. ~ Anonymous
zing!
perfect quote to end off that ridic string
i agree, Atheists are ironically now slowly forming into their own new religion! there shouldnt be a label on it, if you dont believe in God then thats fine but DONT FORCE YOUR ATHEISM ONTO OTHER PEOPLE, the exact thing that most Atheist complain that religion does!
I dont believe in a God, but i also dont believe in creating a religion of Non-believers whos sole aim is to laugh at and mock those that have faith…. defeats the object.
couldnt of put it better myself
i had no idea you were such an imbecile.
But its so fun to make fun of you people. And seeing how there is no god, i can’t get in trouble! Hahahaha!
Now, this is where harm comes in. If you don't believe in God, you have to create your own moral boundaries. You can't go on committing disrespectful acts just because you believe there is no one to punish you for them. We, as a society, cannot exist like that.
One of the thing I can't stand about Christians (the ones who say this sort of thing, anyways) is 'if you don't believe in God, how can you have morals? And I'm just like… wtf? What bullsh*t. When Christians stop preaching from a bible which condones infanticide, rape, murder, slavery and numerous other atrocities THEN they can lecture me. Until then, STFU.
Its not a religion, it is a group of people who agree in an idea. A bunch of people who agree with the ideals of capitalism are not members of the church of capitalism. similarly people who are capitalists try to get others to be capitalists as they see it as a better way of life. Atheists don't try to force anything on anyone. they simply try to convince through reason. sure sometimes they are jackass and get provocative but for the most part they are simply trying to reason with you. Also they make no kind of threat as to what happens to you if you don't do as they do, they simply think that you would be better off if you did.
The pope is a crazed hateful monster.
couldn't have put it better myself
crazed almost certenly but not hateful
The fact is, he is the one who is preaching hate to those he sees as enemies,so therefore he is hateful. I don't want him to die, but turning a blind eye to pedophilia is sickening. And, equating atheists to Nazis is utterly ridiculous.
No…Not offended by what he has said. We point out his hypocrisies and downright lies he spreads…..but because we have stayed silent for so long it now looks as though we are attacking…hahaha….He LONG started this fight against non-believers. We are just now defending ourselves, loudly and with logic to back us up and we are *****ing HIM off. We fall out of his range of control.
Good on us.
farmers with pitchforks and torches
Against you or the pope?
Nice insult to farmers, btw.
But it was these same farmers that overthrow their leaders for a better life. It's already starting. So, I would rather be the farmer….than the sheep.
against the pope, insults and stupid arguments coming from faceless people mean nothing to me lol.
I didn't insult you nor had a stupid argument so that was baseless. Not sure where you were going with that.
The pope is not exempt from criticism. He started the attack and we defend….yet we atheists get all the blame. What a great showman he is…could have tried out for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus!
He is the one that cannot take the criticism. It's fun to watch him become so upset that we are not in his control.
i wasnt talking to you personally, i was talking to an above poster, so what you just said was baseless. "he started the attack, and we defend", your not at war kid, just live and let live and leave the bloke alone.
Ah…I see. Since it was under my name….and not to him….I thought it was directed at me. I stand corrected.
As for war…yes we are. When you have one person telling everyone how to think, act, who to love, who to sleep with…That's similar to a dictator. If it was as simple as just allowing people to believe what they want, act how they want (paying the consequences and all), love who they want and have faith in what they want, then I wouldn't have any issues or concerns. But when lies and outright hatred is perpetrated by this mega church, I'm not just going to sit back and say live and let live. NO..not anymore.
The Pope can ***** off! I cannot be alone in wishing to see your hatemonger pope swinging from a rope this Christmas. Nothing would brighten up my holidays more than a dead pope, trussed up like a turkey and stuffed full of cocks. Ho ho ho.
danny boy, nobody cares, no one likes you, and nobody gives a *****.
you obviously give a ***** because you posted a reply.
i'm just gonna say it,
I'm pretty sure oouchan thinks you're an imbecile as well.
I'd be surprised if he didn't ( not to put words in anyones mouth)
SOCCER SUCKS!!
You sure are spending a lot of time responding to to those faceless people that mean nothing to you.
You SHEEP.
I realize you're pointlessly angry with every atheist you've never come across, but if there's one christian tenet I ever liked, it's live and let live. On the other hand, my mother is catholic and she hates Ratzinger. She thinks he's set the religion back, and i can see where he has. She feels the same way about Ratzinger that the French feel about de gaulle, and likely the same way a good chunk of 12er shia feel about ali khamenei. No one likes it when their leader is rubbish.
also, the site's comment box takes eons to type within. probably a bad connection, but it could be an sql messup somewhere.
They don’t have to deal with hollow claims with zero proof or evidence, and the tired use of circular logic. Plus why would anyone wish to support child molestors and pedophiles in the first place, you don’t see atheists covering for atheists who rape children.
I do not believe that God created existence in 6 days.
But I also do not believe that all of the Universe was a giant coincidence, a random occurrence that led, eventually to me sitting on my chair and writing this reply.
Fundamentalism sucks. Atheism sucks. In between are the healthy people who question reality.
Fundamentalists do not question anything because they are convinced that God is responsible for anything and everything that occurs or exists.
Atheists question, sure, but dismiss anything that is not scientific. For more details, watch these 2 South Park episodes : http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103800/ http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103801
In the end, what both of these groups have in common is a pure sense of superiority of those who do not side with either of them. For both of them think their way is the only one to understand the Universe.
Youre using south park episodes as proof of your position? Are you serious?
And fence sitters are just as bad as theists, you cant make your mind up whether there is an invisible man in the sky or not? What happened to having the intellect and guts to make decisions and not just simply try to appease all groups?
This.
Well, the good thing is that you've found a way to feel superior to both.
[courtesy of xkcd]
best comment I've read so far
I recommend that you read some athiest literature, also some literature on evolution. Most athiests DO NOT think that this is all random. In fact evolution is the OPPOSITE of random. You are of course entitled to your opinion that there may or may not be a God or some kind of divine plan, but your belief that the opposite of a plan is randomness is wrong. Also, its pretty short sighted to call yourself healthy and dis evryone with a different opinion, especially since you are mistaken in what those opinions happen to be.
How have I dissed everyone with a different opinion? I can dis opinions,sure. But I don't dis persons that I haven't met before which have those opinions. You confuse attacking an idea with attacking a person who had it. If you haven't read right, ATHEISM and FUNDAMENTALISM suck. NOT ATHEISTS and FUNDAMENTALISTS suck. I am sure there are many people of the two groups which I could get along with and respect. But I have, as they have, the right to disagree with certain concepts. As you have the right to disagree with me. I respect the fact that you disagreed, although I may not respect your counter-arguments.
I know that evolution means environmentally determined changes on a genetic and macro level during a massive number of years. The fact that I do not agree with the whole "the Universe formed in 6 days" proves that I think evolution had a considerable part to play in this planet's history. But I can't see why both evolution and the existence of a spiritual being (aka God) can't be right. For all we know, God is just a school kid from a macroverse who undertook a science experiment in a test tube and our universe is a byproduct of it, an infinitesimally small existence, invisible to their most advanced electronic microscopes, living our existence in the time it would take for him to blink…
You don't understand atheism, and yet you rant against it. Atheism isn't staunch anything, atheism isn't a set of beliefs, atheism isn't even uniform. There are religious people who0 are atheists and there are pure materialists who are atheists. Atheism is simply the lack of the god belief. Babies are atheists. Buddhists (some) are atheists. People who have never heard of god and haven't invented the concept themselves are atheists.
Stop characterizing atheism as an extreme position in order to make your position seem superior. There are extreme positions in atheism, just as there are extreme positions amongst the members of most groups, but to tar all atheists with the same brush is irresponsible and invalidates your position.
I'm an atheist. I don't hate god or believe such a thing is impossible. I just reserve judgement until I see proof. I've been on this earth for 35 years, and I have yet to see a shred of evidence that supports god. I'm not the atheist you describe, who knows there's no god, I'm simply choosing to reserve judgement. Isn't that the sensible choice?
You clearly neither understand atheism nor science. Atheism is simply a lack of belief without sufficient evidence. Some call it skepticism. Science does not say the Universe was a giant coincidence or a random occurrence. But most importantly, atheism is not equivalent to science.
Allow me to suggest that you learn about something before criticizing it. You tend to look less foolish that way.
Well I'm a practising muslim but I still love atheist quotes. Most of the time they are so witty that they do make you question your belief. But me being a hard core muslim, I don't find it difficult to stay with my belief. Anyways guys, why don't you add more quotes ? I mean there have to be more witty ones & I'd love to read more
oh God, a bloody Muslim.. What has the Pope done THIS time? The Pope talks some rubbish, but he`s spot on with Islam, about it being violent. and Muhammad WAS violent. Look at the website, Pictures of Muhammad if you don`t believe me. Where`s there`s Medieval drawings of him, doing some ghastly things. And you can slate me all you want. And if Muslims are so peaceful, how come they go off their rocker whenever Islam is critized? Remember they wining like children because that guy wanted to burn Korans? if South Korea burnt Korans then how come Terry Jones was afraid to?
And what's your problem? They guy never mentioned the pope or muhammad…
No, but Muslims are always going on, about how Muhammad was a great guy. "Nothing is more important than our prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him." And that "Islam is more important than anything else." It`s some of the most ridiculous things I`ve heard. From what I`ve read about him, Muhammad was more like Atilla the Hun than what Muslim nutters say about him.
All of the things you said there could be applied to all religious nutters not just Islam. It's just muslims are documented more since there's some kind of smear campaign going on.
I agree that there's presently a smear campaign against Islam. I suspect it's being conducted mainly by people who have never known many people of the Islamic faith. Many of these people have a lot of ideas about what the Koran actually says without ever having read it.
There are smear campaigns against Jews, Christians, Muslims, Atheists, Agnostics, and every other religious classification. Humans love to divide themselves against one another and fear and hate anything they don't understand or agree with.
Again, really ? Just what books have you been reading ? The Prophet was a great person. The teachings which he brought prohibited female infanticide ; the killings of civilians during wartime ; gave women the right to inherit and choose their own husbands ; allowed women to initiate divorce known in Islam as ' khulu ' ; he attached himself to non-Muslims who are allied to Muslims saying that hurting them is like hurting him ; he prohibited animals of burden from carrying more than they can carry ; prohibited the killings of animals without reason such as for sport ; he allowed the Christian delegation fron Najran who visited him to stay and pray in his mosque ; he declared that Arabs and non-Arabs are equal like the teeth of a comb ; he elevated the position of mothers over fathers three fold ; he declared that a man who by taking good care of his daughters by feeding them, clothing them, educating them, protecting them has paved for himself a way to paradise ; he prohibited accusations against women ; he encouraged women to speak up and indeed women during his time were working, taking part in expeditions etc.
The points I've raised above are either in the Quran or in the Hadith, meaning that they are intrinsic parts of Islam.
Again the question, what books are you reading ?
Well what happened since then towel- head?
Please change your username, as it is making me and other Americans present look bad.
Propaganda. You know, the techniques used by the Muslims to tell everyone that their religion is good is the "TELL THE TRUTH BUT NOT THE WHOLE TRUTH METHOD".
A site that i stumbled called faithfreedom.org (as of writing is currently down) stated that Muhammad was a pedo, a rapist, a mass murderer and robber. Apparently the writer's sources are from the Quran. He debated with many Islam scholars and he won all of them. He even put up a challenge in his website with a 50000 USD prize to beat him.
Before you defend Islam with the argument "BUT EVERY RELIGION HAS ITS SHARE OF BAD THINGS. CRUSADES, CORRUPT CHURCHES ETC ETC". Keep in mind that those crimes are done by the followers not the founders of the religion. MUHAMMAD himself done bad things.
To me Islam is like a successful Jim Jones' People's Temple.
And no i am not a typical "American Who Hates Islam Blindly". For my whole life i have been living in country where the Muslims are the majority.(Hint: look at my name)
Yeah, and Christians are always saying Jesus is a nice guy. Get over it. I know you are only trolling, so this is probably useless, but ***** off of him for being a Muslim. It isn't like he said anything anti-Semitic or wants to blow ***** up. Those would be STEREOTYPES.
And in both the Bible and the Quran, what was said at the time by both Jesus and Muhammad was probably at some point copied down wrong, misheard or misremembered by the people who actually heard it and most likely weren't taking notes, and passed along by word of mouth and constantly changed until it was finally written down, often well after said figure's death. Muhammad wrote down his revelations, but the compilation of those revelations into the Quran occurred after his death and doubtless involved the miscopying of something. Nothing about Jesus was written down until several decades after his death. This is why religious texts should be used only as moral guides, not fact books, and is why you shouldn't believe everything you hear about anything.
You need to just go back to whatever BNP loving *****hole you crawled from and get that big arse chip off your shoulder you hate filled *****.
Most people who are utterly contemptuous about or hateful towards something, especially a belief system or an idea, misunderstand and misinterpret it. This guy clearly had something against Muslims and was looking for an excuse to rant. Armadillotron, not a single thing you said about Islam is correct.
Yeah 7raul7 wrote the list , settle down armadillotron ,
@armadillotron
Suck it buddy, islam is the largest and fastest growing religion in the world. Majority rules hey?
It isn't the largest and it isn't the fastest growing, get your facts straight scumbag.
It isn't the largest (yet), it IS the fastest growing. Suck all over it, douche!
Of course it is the fastest growing one when no apostates are allowed and forced conversion is a must if you were to marry a Muslim. I must say Muhammad is the most cunning prophet. If you think about it, the rules in Quran ensures a guaranteed propagation of the Islam faith.
The halal concept, no apostate rule and the force conversion.
All this might not seem clear at first but if you think for a long time all this rules will come into place to form a big picture.
Really, Islam is violent ? What exactly do you know about Islam or are you confusing Islam with Muslims ? I'm a Muslim and I can tell easily what is Islam and what is erroneously done in its name. Therefore I can tell the difference. You obviously can't. To refer to the pictures of Muhammad drawn by those who had even less knowledge about Islam as proof that he was a violent man is simply ridiculous. Have you read about the Prophet yourself ?
Yes, many Muslims acted insane whenever Islam is criticized. But who say that is how Islam wants them to behave ? You obviously can't tell the difference.
The Quran itself offers those who do not believe in it to criticize it openly.
One of the verses of the Quran says " And if you are in doubt concerning that which God have sent down to His slave (Muhammad), then produce a chapter like it and call your supporters and helpers (if you have any) besides God, if your doubts are true. " (Chapter 2 : verse 23)
And there are several other verses like this.
There are also several others that contradict this verse.
Yeaa….. and one of the verses is "Smite the infidels" if i am not wrong. Islam and Muslim are violent. Mohammad waged war and killed jews.
Hey, “Dawkins”:
The Bible says roughly the same things. It specifically mentions several instances in which God instructs his followers to wipe out people of other faiths simply for believing the wrong thing.
Also, just as many (if not more) atrocities have been committed in the name of Christianity as in the name of Islam.
Islam is not violent. Muslims as a whole are not violent. It’s the fringe minority, just like with Christians (and whatever you are, because you’re a hateful nutcase yourself).
Look at the complexity of the natural world. Look at the intelligence and creativity of man. Look at beauty in the clouds. God makes his presence felt.
We ignore him because to do otherwise demands we ask questions we do not wish to ask.
Right!
As if something devine has got anything to do with that: http://www.aboutintelligence.co.uk/why-humans-mor… http://alex.edfac.usyd.edu.au/blp/sample%20lesson…
If you believe in God, then answer me this: why is their fear-danger-pain in the world? If he is almighty, we doesn't he intervine? To learn us a lesson? What lesson?
If there is a divine entity than it's a big sarcastic one
That's a leap in logic. Why is he sarcastic? How could you possibly know the intentions behind a being beyond our comprehension?
There is the concept of free will. If God merely wanted us to be 'good', with no other choice, what would be the point? There may be evil acts, but they are choices we make.
That's how he's 'learning' us a lesson.
So god makes poor people live in poverty every day without food and sometimes water just so that rich christians can help them and prove how good they are? How insulting.
dude, you couldn't be more wrong.
ok, being good or bad is a choice, but what is up with all the misfortune in the world? what did we do to deserve this?
check out the list on bizarre birth defects, what did these children do to earn that?
if your god is responsible for that, what is his motivation?
oh right, we can't understand gods will, mysterious ways and all that. good answer.
I always imagine the god as a table pool player… carefully placing the balls and calculating the odds and then with one shot, everything starts to move and in the end all balls are in the holes. Sure you can pick up with your hand and throw it but that is for losers
WHEN will we please realize, that THERE IS NO GOD. For Christ`s sake wake up. How come whenever there`s a debate about religion, you have this kind off bull*****, saying, "there is a God," "there isn`t a God.." Some advice: GET ON THIS PLANET. I`m sick of Catholics and their bull*****. Catholicism is a gutter religion. Why we stopped persecuting them, is beyond me. And how can Atheism, be a religion? Beliving in nothing, is a religion? I`ve never heard anything so stupid.
There is fear, danger, and pain because God has allowed us free will. This was not to test or harm us . God could have created us to be obedient (never evil) but that would not be genuine worship…we would be as robots. God makes people that can reject Him. We had to sin to understand grace and forgiveness. God gave us the opportunity to rebel or obey. This was so that there would be a distinction between good and evil. There is fear, danger, and pain because God is allowing us to know the difference between good and evil.
God is incomprehensible. We are not worthy or lovable, yet He loves us because He chooses to love us. What needs to be understood is that God is entirely beyond our ability to understand.
Dont speak on my behalf *****. I am making you guys suffer because apparently the top guys in my company need to check for quality control before you guys are sold. Bad people are sent to the furnace. Good ones are sent to the shelf. That's it.
amen to that
Because God gave man a freewill and man chose to sin. That is where most of the pain comes from. But if He hadn't given us a freewill, we would simply be puppets. No pain, sure, but we would simply be His puppets. And God DOES intervene. In His sovereignty, He doesn't always choose to do so, but He still does.
Just because you dont understand how the natural world works, doesnt mean a big invisible man had to be a part of it.
Ignorance doesnt equal proof Scotty.
see #20
No. I ignore him because he's not real and I'm smarter than that to believe in such a stupid fable.
Where did you go to school?
What a selfish human proof of “god” . . .
Some great quotes in there. Nice list.
Am i the only person who`s glad Henry VIII split from Rome?
You appear to be the only person who cares. Which is strange, but I think people are too caught up in the present war to comment on this. It was an interesting turn of history though, and maybe you can post this on some other list where we can get a discussion going on it.
This list is too Hawiian
lmao
That's twice you've made me laugh on these comments
Sounds like you need a good lei.
Too black also
Wow, starting early today
fakebrock, replying to this sort of post gives them a sense of legitimacy and purpose. next time just don't reply to them.
Understood
you understand?- u must not be black
i kinda wish kimbo slice would just sit on you
My favorite quote of all time is
"When I die, I want to go to heaven, whatever the hell that is." – Anonymous
I'm not scared of dying, I just don't want to be there when it happens. -Woody Allen-
There's no more evidence that the Christian god created the universe than there is for my toenail clippings creating it. If I believed that everyone who doesn't worship my toenail clippings will burn in a fiery hell, I can't imagine anyone respecting that belief.
At least you can see 'n touch my toenail clippings. Not that you'd want to.
Right because you being a human means you've been here less than 100 years. That means your toenails have been here the same. So of course your toenail clippings that have been here less than 100 years must have created the universe long before they even existed. It only makes sense right? -_-
About as much sense as any other religion…
the reason there is no arguments in the comments is because religouse people take one look at the title of this and say 'no, i dont feel like being proven wrong today'.
No, I think it's mostly a fear of being flamed in the forum. Anonymous forums are brutal. I think many people know when to lay low. If you read other LV forums, you will notice there is a surprising amount of religious people.
…either that or both sides are learning to be respectful of each other.
OK, George Carlin's quote was kind of funny.
I don't adore quotes like many people do. Are they not just clever quips? Many may contain a nugget of truth or cleverness. Some are witty, but obviously lacking in substance. If a person really wants to understand and define their world view, it's done by serious meditation, not one liners. Quotes are just clever springboards into deeper issues, which can be debated and discussed for eons.
Good list, Raul, even though I must admit I am not an atheist.
A witty saying proves nothing. –Voltaire.
ergo, God exists?
Ergo, tibi ipsi discepta, sed non pona quem nescio ingeniosus dicit vir.
Great, FlameHorse!
I'll go get a knife and carve that on the wall.
The problem with witty sayings is that people become enchanted by them, and then use them to substitute for their own critical thinking. Much easier to toss out idioms than think for oneself.
That's what the Latin says above.
I am beautiful. –Divine
Great article. Atheist quotes are actually insightful, as they put forth their own ideas. I always remember being an Atheist.. I remember thinking once, in like kindergarten or grade 1, "How come the Egyptians had so many Gods and we only have one? How do we know they weren't right, or if we're wrong". I'm still an Atheist, but I tell people I'm a buddhist. To me, it's the path of the 'good atheist', because it has incredibly fair moral practices.
Does anyone else consider themselves an atheist/buddhist?
I am a Buddhist. Buddhists are atheist because they do not believe in a "creator god". Being a Buddhist makes you an atheist, but not vice versa.
I know there are people out there that think that Buddhists think Buddha was a god, but he wasn't.
I consider myself an atheist, but I like what I know of buddhism. If I lived in a bible-belt area, I would call myself a lackadaisical buddhist – just to keep from having my house firebombed.
The "Buddhist" practice of meditation (vipassana) will gradually decommission the part of you that subscribes to beliefs. So there'll be no belief that there is a god and no belief that there isn't. No "atheism" and no "protheism."
I have a friend in one of my classes who is a Buddhist, and when I asked her about it she pretty much said that she chose this because she liked the principles, but also the lack of a big 'god' and the fact that it wasn't like all the major religions. Her views are pretty much along par with mine, and I'm an atheist.
yes.
I'm an atheist, but not abuddist. However I like a lot of buddist ideas, and I have the greatest respect for the Dalai Lama. Of all the self-professed "holymen" out there, I really think he may actually be one. I've read some of his writings and think he really has a handle on some things.
What if God was one of us?
Just a stranger on the bus?
Just a slob like one of us?
I'd ask to borrow money
I believe you would.
Great song
Believing in God is a personal decision.
Believing in The Church is a social decision.
Seems people get those confused all the time.
Heb. 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
And to rebutle the last quote: Man has been given the gift of freewill. God could make us all "do the right thing" and not do evil acts, but that would not go with the desire of God for man to choose to do the right thing.
And if God were to show Himself to us and prove his existence, then there would be no faith in Him, but the knowledge of his existence and it would no longer be our freewill that chooses to believe in Him.
I really do enjoy the debate of religion and the Bible. I am VERY respectful to others and their beliefs. I do not try to change your beliefs, but in debate, I am only debating to you why I chose to believe. A good start on proving the Bible to be true is proving the Flood. This is something that there would be evidence of here on this Earth and, in my opinion, the core of scientifically proving the Bible.
Once again, God could prove to us that this is all true, but then there would be no freewill.
Geologists don't use the bible to find subsurface structures or to make models of how the Earth works.
There IS evidence of floods, Lots of floods, over billions of years.
Droughts too.
Oceans where there is land now.
And land where there is the sea.
Why limit god to just one book??
If God revealed himself to us and proved His existence, the Amazing Randi would show up and explain what REALLY happened.
My problems with this logic are 1) So that would mean that God's primary desire for us is not to do "right", but to exercise free will. If that's the case than I should (not can, but should) do whatever I want regardless of its moral value. I think you would have a pretty difficult time arguing that God would rather us have free will than to do right. Does he want us to choose to do right, or to just do it. If you pick the former than it seems arbitrary. Why is he so concerned with this idea of choice. At the end of the day, He's God. Make us WANT to do right and then it's still our choice and we're doing right…
2)Again, what is God's concern here. Why is it so important that we believe in Him under the most unfavorable conditions. So having faith is more important than believing in him? What reason does God have to intentionally make it difficult for us to believe in Him? It would not take away our freewill. You can look up Obama's birth certificate on Google, does that stop people from saying that he still hasn't produced one? Of course not. God proving his existence would still leave us with the choice of whether we wanted to follow his teachings.
Science and Religion actually work quite well together if people put together both sides evenhandedly. For the Atheists who look so highly upon science I recommend at least a couple of them reading the work of fellow Atheist and world renowned physicist, Stephen Hawking, who writes, more than once, that he can only prove scientifically what happened at and after the big bang and that anything that came before the big bang is speculation for both believers and atheists alike.
Hawking and Sagan are not atheists.
I didn't mention Sagan, but you are correct he is not an atheist and actually talks quite a bit about religion in his work. Another great scientist to look at is Francis Collins who did a large part of the work on the Human Genome Project. And it seems that you are right about Hawking as well, although his background seems to be more ambiguous and debated than many other scientist.
"…His attendant then told me that I had misunderstood what Dr. Hawking had said at his press conference, which was that he didn't believe in a personal god, not that he believed in an impersonal god.
HAWKING: It is better not to use the word "god" to describe what I believe because most people use the word to mean a being with whom one can have a personal relationship."
"I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking. The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence. "
– Carl Sagan, 1996
Did you read the latest thing Hawking said? He proposed that the entire Universe might be just an experiment. Which would make some sense. And empower deists (aka people who believe that God created the Universe, but didn't intervene since).
I am a non practicing baptist, Meaning I believe and love God, but I have no faith in the estabished church or the bible. I respect any persons’ right to believe in what they like, I have had good freinds that were atheist, different religions than mine, and even wiccans. In my opinion a good Atheist will do better in the afterlife than an evil christian.
Ken Griffey is that you?
The evil Christian (and all Christians are "evil" because we all still sin) will be in heaven for eternity and the good atheist will be in hell for eternity . Hmmm . . . doesn't sound like such a good plan for the atheist in the afterlife to me.
Its pretty human of god to look at someone and say he doesn’t like me he goes to hell regardless of how good the individuals life was lived. Vanity, not very omnipotent.
Beautifully said. I was raised Catholic, but my family goes back on many of the Church's teachings. I do not like organized religion as a whole, but this is the kind of faith people should have—should they so choose to believe.
I read the quotes above and it's good to know what an atheist believes, or, what they don't believe in.
I'm a Christian, so I do believe in God. I also believe He gave us free will to question Him and His motives in creating us, which means he also gave the free will to not believe in Him. It's like saying "I love you so much, that I will give you the freedom to not trust me or belive in me." Now that is true love, not some sort of " You better love me or else" bullcrap.
but it IS "you better love me or else" It's either believe in God and accept him in your heart, or suffer eternal damnation in the fires of hell.
Sounds a lot like and "or else" statement to me!
…but if an atheist does'nt believe in God, then surely he would'nt believe in hell too, right? then that makes it not an 'or else' decree.
The decree exists. It is what it is. Whether you believe it or not is an entirely different matter.
…i understand. so it's like this: atheists believe there is no God but they are a little uneasy because there is hell? coz the way i see it, God and hell come along together. you cant have one and ignore the other, right? because God created hell too, im sure. if atheists believe God does'nt exist, then they dont have to worry about going to hell for not believing, right?
The decree exists because some church official nearly 2000 years ago decided to tell his illiterate flock, who knew nothing of the Bible or Christianity except what they were told (as they couldn't read), that they had to do exactly as he said, or else, in order to obtain more power over them. Most religious doctrines that are rightly attacked by skeptics as idiotic were not based on scriptural writings but on political decisions designed to give organized religion more power, especially in Dark Ages Europe, where the church was the only political entity with any semblance of organization and capability of uniting Europe.
Exactly. Free will has equal choices – not believe in me or burn in hell for eternity. I have difficulty getting my mind around the idea that a person who doesn't believe in god is going to spend eternity in the same place as Hitler, Stalin, etc.
Hitler and Stalin's punishment in hell is that they have to be around each other.
This really has nothing to do with the list, but…
Do you believe that Islam is the fastest growing religion because the how serious it is considered by the middle-eastern world? For example, here in the west, if someone is like "screw god," no one would say anything… its perfectly fine. We dont have to go to church every sunday (assuming you are christian) and dont have to adhere to the bible etc without harsh sanctions.
But then in the muslim world, if you were to say "screw muhammed," then you would be punished dearly? i remember some newspaper comic drew muhammed as a terrorist or something like that and received death threats, whereas we are able to picture god as a paedophile and no one would say anything?
im an atheist btw so dont get all hatey and anti-muslim on me. but doest anyone see things similar?
but dont you think that is is why islam is so fast growing? westerners arent too fond of religion… we question it becos of democracy. repressive taliban regimes and the like cause islam to be fundamental in many cases.
PEACE!
Did you just say screw Muhammed? Holy ***** , here it comes now
Not only he wrote SCREW MUHAMMED but he made us both read those cursed words!!!
Oh my! i wrote that myself
Now we are doomed. And it's all your fault Stefan!
ahahahaha i actually 'lol'd'
WHAT HAVE I DONEEEEEEEEE
*holy war begin now*
Damn you Stefan, damn you now the those peaceful Muslims are gonna come after us all- I just hope the FBI has a good place we can run in hide
Because of Europe's experience with Christianity, many people seems to think that all religions are like that. The experience of the Muslim world is totally different from Europe, in most cases anyway.
In Europe of those times, for example, no one could question the Church, why it did the things that it did. In the Muslim world however scholars could, and can, be questioned for their rulings. In one famous example, the Caliph Umar Al-Khattab was speaking in a mosque and he had announced a law prohibiting how much a woman could demand for her dowry when suddenly a woman raised up and contradicted him by quoting a verse from the Quran.
Immediately, he corrected himself by saying " Umar is wrong and the lady is right . "
In the fields of science, many Muslim scholars were also scientists such as Avveroes and Avicenna. So once again, the experience of the Muslim world with regards to religion and science is the total opposite of Europe and Christianity.
So forth and so now.
Therefore while people in the West find it easy to make fun of religion, Muslims don't and I think the two groups' differing experiences with religions have something to do with that.
Actually that is not the real reason for the growth of Islam. Throughout history whenever religion was imposed on others by force people actually started despising it instead of growing fond of it and recruiting followers.
Furthermore, you think Islam is only limited to Middle Eastern mentality but that is not true. The number of converts alone is in a continuous increase in various societies around the world with different cultures and mentalities, whether democratic or not. There are even muslims in China and Japan for example. Also the number of Muslims in UK has increased by 10 folds within the last 5 years.
But most interestingly, did you know that atleast 20 thousand Americans convert to Islam every year? Did you know that this number was far less BEFORE the 9/11 attacks? It is those people who actually study Islam without bias or hate who tend to find it overwhelmingly appealing in many regards and thus they choose to convert by their own free will.
no, i do not think that islam is strictly confined within the walls of the middle-east… i just had to use something as an example to compare the west against… and i used the middle-east, so yea.. my apologies.
i am one to read, and i am not ignorant nor am i an idiot. so i understand everything you have said and i do agree.
but the question i was asking was; when a census is conducted and religions have to be tallied and what not, the fact that many muslim nations (such as afghanistan, iraq, dubai etc) are a very religious people where society is almost a theocracy, that has to contribute (CONTRIBUTE, not saying this is the only factor) in why there is such a growth in islam?
i'm not going to baptise my kids, ill leave it up to them to decide.. but if i was in a deeply religious islam society.. wouldnt i be punished for doing so? thats basically what im saying
i was a christian, well, greek orthodox…. and i lost all faith in it because i simply see it as crap. so do not think of me as biased etc.
have a good day/night sir.
what the ***** are you talking about?? you are a big vat of fallacious statements! *shudder*
these religious debates really bring out the idiot in some people.
(this is directed at ALI's statement)
For God`s sake, leave the Pope alone. Some 5 nutters have already tried to attack him. So what if he was a member of The Hitler Youth? It`d be different if he`d been a member of the SS. The way that people are talking about him, you`d think The Queen had invited Hitler over for dinner. Nobody complained when she met Nichole Cescescu, Idi Amin or gave Robert Mugabe a KNIGHTHOOD did they? Give it a rest.
STFU Doc.
I take it your not Jewish
And tell the Pope to leave the rest of us alone, I always love the phrase " Roman Catholic"- I know when I think of Rome I think of fairness, equality, and all the "Rules" the " Good Book" teaches, what a joke , the most corrupt ,incest – loving, sodomizing , murdering, group of people on the face of the Earth- yeah lets go with what they say
I don`t get it.
In their history Romans were'nt very "Christian", even after they claimed to be
The Romans were so bad they make the British come in second – Church of England was a great idea
The reason why there`s a Church of England is because The Pope wouldn`t give Henry VIII a divorce, so he could marry Anne Boleyn. So he thought, "Fine, I`ll just split from the morons." a bit extreme, but looking back, it`s the most sensible thing he did.
Agreed but not very "Christain" IMO
German children were forced to be in Hitler Youth whether they wanted to or not. My great grandfather was a college professor and critic of the Nazi Regime, and did not want my grandfather to participate in Hitler Youth. However, shortly before the war Hitler made all German boys join Hitler Youth, and my great grandparents decided forced participation in Hitler Youth was better than a family visit to a concentration camp.
Is the Pope a pedophile Nazi? I would say yes.
LOL- and you'd be right
No. That would be a very simplistic way to look at things. I am not a Catholic myself, so I've got no interest in defending the Pope, but before you make a commentary, you should at least know what the words "pedophile" and "Nazi" mean. The Pope might have been an accessory (if you're familiar with the legal term) in either of those things, but nobody has ever accused him of committing anything like that himself.
Quotes like these make me so proud to be an atheist.
That has to be my favorite.
What a fun and interesting list. I use some of these for my FB status. Here is one of my favorites:
I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood. ~~ George Carlin
Oh…forgot one. I have this on my FB status now:
Telling an atheist that they are going to hell is the same as telling a theist that they are going to candyland. ~ me
Good list. Sure to provoke a flurry of activity in the comments.
I'm a reluctant atheist….I would like to believe in a supreme being looking out for me, guaranteeing me eternal life. And I do appreciate the feeling of brotherhood and tradition in Church. But still, rationality wins out.
But, but, #9 is bull*****. It isn't even very clever, nor is it true. You certainly can be absolutely corrupt without absolute faith. Humans are good at corrupt, whatever they believe or don't believe.
@plum13sec: We will never, ever be without religion in one form or another. Both China and Russia, who outlawed religions almost entirely, were never once without religion. It just took on a different form, that's all. I observe that most of those without religion behave very much, on the whole, in principle, as those with religion. Not better or worse, just the same human desires and tendencies, be it for dogma, tenets, "Truth Determinism" (as if truth can molded and shaped by sheer force of will), and some kind of authority to worship. Couple that with another human tendency (and an extremely nasty one at that) – that of the burning inner desire people generally have to exert behavioral control over others, and far beyond what is usually necessary. Put all of that together and you have the essence of most religions, both secular and metaphysical, regardless of whether or not a deity is involved.
The only thing worse than someone's strange version of a metaphysical god that I can simply reject and ignore in this day and age, is the presumptuous desire for secular authority on the parts of idiots who crave that role, and all the attendant worship, adoration, and embraces of authority, for themselves, or their causes.
All Hail The Mighty Sky Wizard!