"A guy who prays to no one, for things that he doesn't believe can happen, in front of others who also don't believe, after basing his whole identity on his non belief,,,is a very confused person."
The confusion is in your apparent belief that I pray at all. I do not. What would be the point? To what entity would I pray?
If I wish something to happen, and it is in my power to make it happen, I simply do what is necessary to make it happen. If I wish for something to happen, and it is NOT in my power to make it happen, then it will either happen or not happen, regardless of what I might do.
Praying to invisible entities is not one of my techniques for getting things to happen. Hard work is. Convincing people of my point of view is.
Still, few things depend on my convincing anyone of anything, so I rarely bother to do that.
As for my atheism, it is part of who I am. Many here declare themselves as Christians. Some put references to Biblical verses in their taglines. Others make sure they vaunt their Christianity in every message they right.
Yes, my tagline identifies me as an atheist. Another Freeper includes that fact in his Freepname. It's no different from a self-styled Christian doing the same thing.
Still, my unbelief has nothing whatever to do with the Theory of Evolution, which stands on its own merits. It also has nothing to do with school shootings, as you so ineptly implied. It is simply unbelief.
My arguments do not draw on it. I do not attempt to argue the Theory of Evolution based on the existence or non-existence of any supernatural entities. That's irrelevant.
Indeed, I have pointed out that all religions have creation stories. That is a fact. I find it amusing that each religion believes that its creation story is the "true" creation story. I've found such claims to be amusing for as long as I have been studying religions.
And every one of those creation stories is equally irrelevant to scientific theories. As is my atheism. Science is science. It is not related to religious beliefs.
As the judge in this Dover case accurately pointed out, the motivation of the school board was to introduce creationism into a science class, but renamed as Intelligent Design. The story about the wholesale subsitution of the two terms in the "Panda" book is clear evidence of that.
Religion is not science. If it is to be taught, it must be taught as religion. I'm very much in favor of comparative religion classes being taught in our high schools. I think it's a fine idea. I am opposed to the teaching of religious beliefs in science classes. They are irrelevant there.
The confusion is in your apparent belief that I pray at all. No confusion, you claimed it yourself. I'm sure you will figure out a way to backtrack, but the truth is, you said it.
I do not. What would be the point? To what entity would I pray?
That was my point. You are confused.
No God, no right, no wrong, just actions and consequences.
And poor dumb people like your relatives, sitting around a table to eat a meal to celebrate the birth of the savior who you deny exists, and watching them pray to the thin air in several languages while you volunteer to do the same.
Ahh Christmas,, that celebration of nothing by the weak minded and scoffed at by the "enlightened" non believer, while being throughly enjoyed as a delightful spectacle of the chimp relatives.
Great stuff.