It’s true that the kids who get the least amount of indoctrination are the most likely to question those beliefs later in life

But if they havn’t challenged indoctrination in their own mind they’ll remain vulnerable to it, like not being immune to a disease you havn’t had. Mayhaps we could have careful vaccinations that allow us to say “xians believe… but that’s crap because...”

But if you’re never indoctrinated in your life there does remain the advantage of not living in fear and finding yourself doing pointless rituals out of a feeling of compulsion. Some people want to be indoctrinated though, and that’s odd.

It is a shame that the video called ‘atheists are coming’ has its comments and ratings disabled on youtube. Would have been good to see what other people think.

Oh wow I love how the video explains the reason these atheist authors can even spread their message is because they live in christian countries. Yeah christianity is the reason we accept all faiths and world views… Not the founding fathers, or the constitution or anything like that. It’s thanks to the accepting nature of christians.

Gaaack.

I just finished ‘The God Delusion’ and am awaiting ‘God is Not Great’ to come in on my library order.

At my work there is a bit of discussion re: Huckabee...”...he seems like a smart guy...” “....We need a guy like that..”

And I bite my tongue whilst screaming in my head...."He believes and teaches that the rapture is near and that sky daddy will be here soon to right all wrongs!”

But, do I say anything? No, I am in NoMich and I have a pretty good paying/great benefit job, which are very few and far between around here..

And the xians say they’re oppressed.

Hey, don’t forget, ‘Jesus Camp’ is on A&E;tonight at 10pm.

http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com/

Scariest movie I have seen in years.

Dawkins, an “emotional screed?” I think my irony meter will have to be recalibrated.

I will say that it’s a mistake to equate present-day Christianity with radical Islam.  American Christians export death and torture by cruise missiles, ‘volunteer’ armies, and proxies.  For radical Islam, those are ‘do it yourself’ projects.  Huge difference!

I guess it’s a little anal of me that the thing that stuck in my mind was the banner listing Geisler as the author of ‘I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Athiest’.

Still, it is important to realise that it is the atheists who are the violent and aggressive ones. Remind me to renew my subscription to the Westboro Atheist Church when I post my application to join the Atheist Phalange Militia.

Where’s you Scarlet letter?

I’m putting one on my new blog

I dunno about Les, but for now I have not put a Scarlet Letter on my blog. 

Nothing wrong with the concept at all, and I think the closet does as much damage to society as a whole as it does to individuals in it.  But group labels make me queasy because they oversimplify.  It’s lets other people cheat on the test, the way wearing a big honkin’ cross around one’s neck does.

But here’s a thought: it may be that people who self-identify as atheists are more likely to be honest even if it costs them something than self-identified Christians are.  After all, “Christian” is a widely accepted external marker for ethical intentions, whereas “Atheist” is the opposite.  In a pinch you might be better off trusting the guy with the scarlet letter.  At least until Atheism becomes more respectable, if you want to hide bad intentions, you do it behind a Cross.   

(For those who have not seen it, Dawkins’ ”Out Campaign” proposes a scarlet letter ‘A’ on atheist t-shirts & blogs & coffee cups)

Funny how when the similarities between Christianity and Islam come up, Islam is yet again portrayed as “radical Islam”, waking the whole Orwellian terrorism thing again. And when that guy says that atheists should go and hold their speech in Saudiarabia, he conveniently forgets that a mere couple of centuries ago, he’d have been burned by the holy inquisition here just as well.

Oh, and atheism is a religion, they say. Tells you a lot about how much they truly know about it.

Two comments:

One, The unexamined life is not worth living - applies to both atheists and theists

Two, Can you spell “Spanish Inquisition”

SG

Oh wow I love how the video explains the reason these atheist authors can even spread their message is because they live in christian countries.

I believe this we are seeing the dawning of the Age of Irony. Of course, most of these folks have no sense of humor, let alone a grasp of irony, so the age shall be lost I fear. I fear Mike Judge’s vision of the future as laid down in Idiocracy is inevitable. The superstitious idiots have won by sheer weight of numbers, it’s only a matter of time before they decide to evict the rest of us. All I can say is: “Good luck getting your computers to work, dumbasses!”

Get ‘em while they’re young - that’s why I taught my son from birth to question everything he’s told about religion, and make up his own mind when he’s ready as to whether and what to believe.  My Catholic mother tells me every time we talk on the phone to be sure to get him to believe the RIGHT things.  I just tell her that I do.  She’s still asking me when I’m getting The Baby baptized - he’s 13 years old now.

He’s a good healthy skeptic, leaning towards Paganism for ancestral respect and historical reasons.  He eats up all those history channel and discovery channel shows, and can argue science /faith fairly well.  He actually puts serious thought into these things.  I think I’ve done well.

Yeah, let’s make atheism verboten.  That’ll kill its cool factor and keep the young’uns away. ‘Spesh’ly when they hit rebellious puberty.  Brilliant thinking, that. 

Wow, do they grow’em stupid at that git’s church.  I’ll second Bog Brother’s “All I can say is: “Good luck getting your computers to work, dumbasses!”

I’ve not decided whether I want to put a Scarlet A on my blog yet or not. While I agree with the goals of the OUT Campaign I’m still one of those atheists who don’t tend to join groups on a whim. I keep kicking the idea around and have been too lazy to make a decision on it.

Don’t do it Les. Like you I agree with the campaign but I don’t need an identifying symbol to do so. I don’t want a cross, a star of david, or a star and crescent to define me. For me the scarlet A is another symbol used to lump people into groups.

Despite how cliche it may sound, I’m an individual!

I’m all for teaching R.E. in schools, has been taught in UK and Norway for the longest time and now they are two of the most athiest countries around, I guess familiarity does breed contempt or too much of a ‘good thing ?’, so go ahead teach creationism in USA schools and see the flock of sheep gathering in church dwindle.

I’m all for it too…

... so long as it’s done in a sociology or comparative religion class and not science class.

Ack!  I feel like I need a shower after watching that.  Lies, mixed in with half-truths and they’re acting like the Athiests fired the first shot, like they were minding their own business and Atheists were suddenly getting in their face.

I don’t remember Athiests going to private schools and saying “You have to teach what we want you to teach, regardless of your beliefs.  I don’t remember Athiests standing on street corners and preaching that the end of the world is not here.  I don’t see Athiests going door to door and asking you to not believe in God before it’s not too late.  How many Athiest youth groups are out there compared with Christians?  How many Athiest groups out there are pretending not to be Athiest groups.

Most of the Athiests “political” movements came about because they were tired of having religion shoved in their face on a daily basis.  Now that the Athiests are mobilizing and trying to honestly get the word out that “Hey, you don’t HAVE to believe in God” the Christians can’t handle it.

What is wrong with these people.  They can dish it out but they can’t take it?  They think Athiests are intolerant?  If the Athiests started using all the same techniques the Christians use, they’ll get an education in what the word “Intolerance” really means, and they won’t stand a chance.