Is God dead? Atheism finds a market in U.S

Reuters ^ | 10/18/06 | Michael Conlon

[Secret Agent Man]

'Religion is fragmenting the human community' said Sam Harris....

So is politics. Lets get rid of all of that too.

The human community is fragmented over socialism and communism - let's get rid of all you socialists and communists and your oppressive governments.

Hey, abortion is divisive and fragmenting the human community (and killing a part of it as well). Let's get rid of that altogether - something I'd love to see happen, BTW.

Pig headed, ignorant, condesceding, one-worlder, Gap-shopping Lexus driving elitists.

[jas3]

Reuters, we all know who you speak for.

I think you mean:

Reuters, we all know for whom you speak.

jas3

[VOA]

Recommended reading on the topic:

The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World
by Alister Mcgrath

http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Atheism-Disbelief-Modern-World/dp/0385500610/sr=8-1/qid=1161227434/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1135010-7095115?ie=UTF8&s=books

[Boiler Plate]

Is God Dead?

Well just ask Maddy O'Hare. Oh wait, she's dead.... hmmm.... Next question.

[Jorge]

"So according to you God and Jesus Christ are both liars, and Jesus never really died at all."

Your question makes no sense, unless Jesus is not God.

Sorry. What question are you talking about?

And how does anything I posted imply Jesus is not God?

[SoldierDad]

A fresh wave of atheistic books has hit the market this autumn, some climbing onto best-seller lists in what proponents see as a backlash against the way religion is entwined in politics.

With 300,000,000 Americans now in this country, how difficult can it be to have a book reach the best-seller list? You don't need to sell all that many to get on that list.

[js1138]

Res ipsa loquitur

[VOA]

and you seem to be allied with one another against our Judeo-Christian culture.

In fairness to Sam Harris (and as much as I disagree with him),
the times I've heard him on TV/radio, he's consistently a materialist.
He just thinks belief (in anything other than just matter) is
invalid and dangerous.
I've heard him speaking just as disdainfully of Islam as Christianity
and other religions/faiths.

(Well, except for his evangelical belief in pure materialism!)

[incredulous joe]

I'm familiar with Dawson - I read "River Out of Eden".

I reject the term "atheists" as it is applied to these folks. These people are secular humanists, not atheists.

Dawson and the like expend a great deal of hot air in their fervent desire to dispel the existence of a being that does not exist - according to them.

Now how stupid is that?? I know a few real "atheists" who do not believe in God, and while they might be curious, or interested, or amused by my faith they do nothing to undermine it.

On the other hand, it seems like there is a tremendous profit to be made "proving the nonexistence of a nonexistent being".

[Jorge]

I can understand why you would not want to be understood.

[SoldierDad]

Religious polarization is part of many world conflicts, he said, including those involving Israel and Iran, "but it's never discussed. I consider it the story of our time, what religion is doing to us. But there are very few people calling a spade a spade."

Religion is an ideology, a concept, a vehicle, a way of understanding our place in the world God created. Religion does not do anything to anyone. It is people who commit acts against people (sometimes in the name of religion), not Religion. Now, that is calling a spade a spade.

[Tench_Coxe]

"During the Second World War, in the Niepokalanów friary, Kolbe provided shelter to refugees from Greater Poland, including 2,000 Jews. He was also active as a radio amateur, with Polish call letters SP3RN, vilifying Nazi activities through his reports. On February 17, 1941, he was arrested by the German Gestapo and imprisoned in the Pawiak prison, and, on May 25, was transferred to Auschwitz I as prisoner #16670.

In July 1941, a man from Kolbe's bunker had vanished, prompting Karl Fritzsch, the Lagerführer, to pick 10 men from the same bunker to be starved to death in the notorious torture block, Block 11, in order to deter further escape attempts. (The man who had disappeared was later found drowned in the camp latrine.) One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, lamenting his family, and Kolbe volunteered to take his place.

After two weeks of starvation, only four of the ten men were still alive, including Kolbe. The cells were needed, and Kolbe and the other three were executed with an injection of carbolic acid in the left arm."

Yup. This guy really was gunning to be in charge of things.
Maximilian Kolbe

Go back to trolling prayer threads with some of your buddies.

[antiRepublicrat]

Hope that advances the argument for you.

Thanks for the reply. I hadn't thought of the other meaning of sacrifice for this, although I've read that usage througout the Bible. I'll read up on that angle some more. OTOH, my initial thought is that would be God sacrificing to himself, still not much to be a cornerstone of the most important world religion.

[Mike Darancette]

See Below.

[Mike Darancette]

See Below.

[antiRepublicrat]

Now that he is temporarily existing in the form of a human male, God is subject to the extreme agony of crucifixion.

I've heard that one before and haven't bought it. The fact remains that he is still, for that entire time, an all-powerful divine being, even if he is in human form. The amount of suffering that God could easily endure surely must be much less than, say, a person voluntarily subjecting himself to getting a tattoo.

[antiRepublicrat]

I don't know how you could describe being crucified as "slightly unpleasant".

Compare. You must be like a god to a large water bug. You decide to undergo what would be a cruel death for one of them, say a quick spray from a can of Raid. It isn't much to you, is it?

and offering himself to die in the electric chair so you could go free?

So he could get back up a couple of days later and go home? It sounds like a rather empty gesture.

[pcottraux]

But if He's omnipotent, He can choose to endure that amount of suffering if He chooses. Being omnipotent means He's capable of doing anything, right? It's completely voluntary on His part. And who said He "easily" endured it? He is all-powerful and divine. But at that very time, He Himself admitted that if He chose, He could just say the word and the angels from heaven would come down and slaughter His captors. But He chose not to. He could have chosen to end His suffering at any time. But He did not.

[antiRepublicrat]

It is simplistic to argue that the Bible explicitly commends or permits slavery.

I didn't say commend, I said condone. The Bible regulated slavery, which means it allowed slavery to exist and orders that slaves to be obedient. It never condemned slavery as modern society does.

[js1138]

Pain is not the same thing as suffering.

Suffering is pain plus fear and not being in control.