What has atheism done for us lately?

Centre Daily Times ^ | 12/1/01 | Gary L. Morella

[Doctor Doom]

I have a question for those who believe that the atheistic worship of the state is to be recommended over an appreciation of a "higher" or "natural" law as the foundation for the rights that government ought to secure for the common good.

Another false premise here is that atheism precludes belief in natural law.

[BMCDA]

That was my point. I simply can't get it why some people have such difficulties to understand that the (greek) prefix 'a' is a simple negation. There is nothing in between (B) and NOT(B). An (E) that is neither part of (B) nor of NOT(B) simply does not exist.

[elfman2]

Thanks for the link, but I'm very happy with my beliefs. I wish you the best in your journey…

[Brian Kopp DPM]

I would agree. I know atheists who live very moral lives, and their acts of humble charity far outstrip many so-called Christians I know. But this author clearly is not referring to that type of atheist.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

The title is falseAgain, that may well be the case. But again, neither I nor the author gave the title to this piece. The newspaper gave the title to draw readers into an ongoing debate between those who uphold Judeo-Christian morality and beliefs and those who disdain them, in State college PA, home of PSU.

[Blade]

How about 100,000,000 corpses? That should be enough for starters.

Communism did kill with ruthless efficiency: 25 million in Russia during the Bolshevik and Stalinist eras, perhaps 65 million in China under the eyes of Mao Zedong, 2 million in Cambodia, millions more Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America--an astonishingly high toll of victims. This freely expressed penchant for homicide was no accident, but an integral trait of a philosophy....

From The Black Book of Communism

[elfman2]

" That was my point. I simply can't get it why some people have such difficulties to understand that the (greek) prefix 'a' is a simple negation. There is nothing in between (B) and NOT(B). An (E) that is neither part of (B) nor of NOT(B) simply does not exist."

I got you now. I assumed the worst. (As you can see, it exists among others.)

[Doctor Doom]

Order your copy of this inspiring book now. $3.00 Post paid. Good News Unlimited

Does God accept Visa, or is it a cash-only affair?

[Brian Kopp DPM]

Religion still holds on to the "most innocents killed" title.

Pure BS. Religion will NEVER rival the number of innocents slaughtered by atheistic communistic regimes in the last century. If you honestly believe this, your ignorance is worthy of ridicule.

[Doctor Doom]

Statism (in whatever form) does not equal atheism.

[Blade]

Yeah...atheism did a bang up job protecting the tens of millions slaughterd by atheistic communism.

Go atheism.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

for those who believe that the atheistic worship of the state

Please read it again, he sets up no such straw man. He is quite lucid in delineating those to whom he refers.

[elfman2]

" Again, that may well be the case. But again, neither I nor the author gave the title to this piece. "

Again, that may well be the case. So "someone" is an idiot. {smile}

[Doctor Doom]

The flaw in your argument is that it was not a lack of belief in god(s) that caused the Soviets and other communists to commit their acts - it was their collectivist, statist policies that held men to be expendable tools of the state.

Further, comparing body counts in the 20th Century to the body counts of previous, religion-inspired body counts is flawed because the 20th Century had the "benefit" of industrial killing methods (machine guns, gas chambers, etc.)

This argument is fundamentally flawed. No pun intended.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

I too have had a guest editorial published in this paper (after weeks of wrangling over terminology and content) and I can assure you that the editorial staff there are a bunch of liberal idiots.

[rdb3]

Interesting read. I took from it the worship of the state that socialists have, not necessarily atheism.

As a fellow believer, I agree with the author except for this one part:

This is obvious to any Christian who knows that God's supreme gift to us was the opportunity to choose him freely.

No, we can not do this. He chooses us, not the other way around.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

"What ifs" don't count in body counts. "What if" religions had gas chambers and gulags is a moot point. They did not. If they desired them over the last 100 years, they could have obtained them. They did not. States animated by an atheistic hatred of innocents killed hundreds of millions. Religions, be they Judeo-Christian, muslim, or other, have never done such.

Atheism as an animating philosophy of the state always kills, eventually, every time the experiment has been tried, without a single exception.

[Doctor Doom]

States animated by an atheistic hatred of innocents killed hundreds of millions. Religions, be they Judeo-Christian, muslim, or other, have never done such.

This assertion is proven false by the fact that 85% of the Nazi Party membership were Lutherans, the source of their anti-Semitism.

Anyone who places the state over the individual - be they an atheist or religious - is a loaded gun pointed at the head of an innocent. (Sorry for the mized metaphor, but you get the idea.)

[ConsistentLibertarian]

Why is masturbation sinful?