Explain Your Religious Views or Lack Thereof

[Neo Rome Republic]

Well how would you respond then?

(I'm an agnostic, just to let you know)

I made a google doc for it if you're interested. It's not easy material.

Thanks dude, I appreciate it.

[Occupied Deutschland]

Welcome to NSG: Religion thread Redux.
Only surpassed in point-ignoring and bad analogy-making by abortion threads.

And, possibly, one-sidedness. I don't know if I've ever seen the religious or the pro-life win a thread. Ever.

Hell, just one aspect of the Religious have won their own thread.

[Frisivisia]

Another religion thread won for the atheist side.

'Won'? A refusal to address the argument is, like the metaphorical retreat to the keep, neither a victory nor a defeat for either side. Rather, it is a cessation of the engagement and a cause for further conflict - all it is is stalling the inevitable; either death (In the literal sense - old age, sickness, freak accident, etc) or further conflict (Another argument).

They stopped, showing that they did not have an answer, showing that we won.

Cause it's sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet, sweet victory, yeah!

[The Steel Magnolia]

Not at all.

You are an atheist, are you not?

You form the codependent base that allowed Stalin to exist.

Atheism isn't a faction like a religions would be.It just means, people don't believe in God. I can't form a codependent base for Stalin because, I am not a Marxist like he was.

So it applies to everyone, except for the groups you're a part of, eh?

[Aldheim]

I'm an atheist, because there is no evidence to suggest the existence of a god, nor is there any need of one in order to explain anything about the universe.

[Conserative Morality]

They stopped, showing that they did not have an answer, showing that we won.

Cause it's sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet, sweet victory, yeah!

I'm not sure if this is a joke. Is this a joke?

[Blasveck]

Well how would you respond then?

(I'm an agnostic, just to let you know)

I made a google doc for it if you're interested. It's not easy material.

Gladly. I'm always interested in learning new things, and that helps when debating topic like this.

[Frisivisia]

And, possibly, one-sidedness. I don't know if I've ever seen the religious or the pro-life win a thread. Ever.

Hell, just one aspect of the Religious have won their own thread.

When your views go uncontested and mod-enforcedly uncontestable, it's fairly easy to win.

[Frisivisia]

They stopped, showing that they did not have an answer, showing that we won.

Cause it's sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet, sweet victory, yeah!

I'm not sure if this is a joke. Is this a joke?

If I'm acting stupid, it's a joke.

[Occupied Deutschland]

Not at all.

You are an atheist, are you not?

You form the codependent base that allowed Stalin to exist.

Atheism isn't a faction like a religions would be.It just means, people don't believe in God. I can't form a codependent base for Stalin because, I am not a Marxist like he was.

...
So, you have NO idea what religions constitute, do you?
'A faction'? Fuck me.

[The Steel Magnolia]

Hell, just one aspect of the Religious have won their own thread.

When your views go uncontested and mod-enforcedly uncontestable, it's fairly easy to win.

How dare people want to talk to people who believe similarly. How dare people want to be around others who are like them. How dare people want to be a part of their own culture.

[With Teeth]

I made a google doc for it if you're interested. It's not easy material.

Gladly. I'm always interested in learning new things, and that helps when debating topic like this.

I have references for everything. I just decided not to include them.

[Conserative Morality]

Atheism isn't a faction like a religions would be.It just means, people don't believe in God. I can't form a codependent base for Stalin because, I am not a Marxist like he was.

Atheism has factional splits like any other worldview. Talk to a secular democrat, a Laicist, an atheist fascist, avoid the topic of practical governance completely, and watch the sparks fly.

[Neo Rome Republic]

Atheism isn't a faction like a religions would be.It just means, people don't believe in God. I can't form a codependent base for Stalin because, I am not a Marxist like he was.

So it applies to everyone, except for the groups you're a part of, eh?

As I explained Atheism itself, is not a group or base, neither is Theism. For a group of Atheists or Theists to be part of the same base, they have to belong to the same faction or religion.

[Asshatland]

Nice non sequitur and borderline Godwin's Law there. I guess it's your turn to make false accusations.

Not at all.

You are an atheist, are you not?

You form the codependent base that allowed Stalin to exist.

By following Lenin? Seriously, the tendency of the religious to try to hold up Stalin and Mao as though they were atheist prophets is something which baffles me. How divorced from reality are you people? Can you really not distinguish between Soviet Communism and atheism in general?

[Frisivisia]

When your views go uncontested and mod-enforcedly uncontestable, it's fairly easy to win.

How dare people want to talk to people who believe similarly. How dare people want to be around others who are like them. How dare people want to be a part of their own culture.

Hey, hey, woah. I never said that. Jesus Christ, didn't you see the winky face?

Why the pent-up frustration?

[The Steel Magnolia]

Not at all.

You are an atheist, are you not?

You form the codependent base that allowed Stalin to exist.

By following Lenin? Seriously, the tendency of the religious to try to hold up Stalin and Mao as though they were atheist prophets is something which baffles me. How divorced from reality are you people? Can you really not distinguish between Soviet Communism and atheism in general?

Can you not distinguish between religious extremism and religious beliefs?

[Conserative Morality]

By following Lenin? Seriously, the tendency of the religious to try to hold up Stalin and Mao as though they were atheist prophets is something which baffles me. How divorced from reality are you people? Can you really not distinguish between Soviet Communism and atheism in general?

I believe the argument being made is that, just like Stalin and Mao were part of a factional Marxist form of atheism, so too are religious extremists often or perhaps even always part of a factional form of the religion - Wahabbi, etc.

[With Teeth]

I still want someone to explain how I, a person living in the 21st century, by being an atheist, formed a base that allowed a man to kill people more than six decades ago.

[Athylon Prime]

Most of them can be found

http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=12670546#p12670546

I thank Knoxs for this very well written compilation.

Thank you very much.

You are very welcome.

[Occupied Deutschland]

Not at all.

You are an atheist, are you not?

You form the codependent base that allowed Stalin to exist.

By following Lenin? Seriously, the tendency of the religious to try to hold up Stalin and Mao as though they were atheist prophets is something which baffles me. How divorced from reality are you people? Can you really not distinguish between Soviet Communism and atheism in general?

Atheists appear to be incapable of distinguishing between fundamentalist wackjobs and non-literalist/reformist/et. al. religious people.

That was...kind've the original point.

[The Steel Magnolia]

I still want someone to explain how I, a person living in the 21st century, by being an atheist, formed a base that allowed a man to kill people more than six decades ago.

Ask him:

I agree. Religious people as a whole are not dangerous. There are dangerous people with and without religion. Extremists on both sides. We shouldn't judge the bunch for a few bad eggs.

I think that's a cop-out. The "nice" religious people form the codependent base that allows the "extremists" to exist in the first place.

[Frisivisia]

By following Lenin? Seriously, the tendency of the religious to try to hold up Stalin and Mao as though they were atheist prophets is something which baffles me. How divorced from reality are you people? Can you really not distinguish between Soviet Communism and atheism in general?

Atheists appear to be incapable of distinguishing between fundamentalist wackjobs and non-literalist/reformist/et. al. religious people.

That was...kind've the original point.

I just can't see the difference. It's sort of like them Oriental people.

[The Realm of God]

Well how would you respond then?

(I'm an agnostic, just to let you know)

I made a google doc for it if you're interested. It's not easy material.

I'll give it a full read however I noticed that axiom number 1 is only valid if the universe has been existing for an infinite length of time which is a current hypothesis but it (has to my knowledge) has yet to be verified.

[With Teeth]

I still want someone to explain how I, a person living in the 21st century, by being an atheist, formed a base that allowed a man to kill people more than six decades ago.

Ask him:

I think that's a cop-out. The "nice" religious people form the codependent base that allows the "extremists" to exist in the first place.

He's referring to the present moment. You guys used that to argue that he forms the base for something that happened sixty god damn years ago. The difference is that he's not endorsing retro-causality.