Atheism's Army Of The Smug

National Post ^ | 2006-12-23 | Robert Fulford

[RobbyS]

This is a bad anthropology. At least dress it up a bit by saying that "primitive" men (whom we have never seen) personified the "forces" of nature. As the old Indian in "Little Big Man" put it, you think that everything is dead, while the "primitives" thought everything was alive. Vitalism, which was an important school of philosphy at the turn of the last century, may not have been "true" but it understood ancient paganism. You seem not to.

[RobbyS]

No, it is the difference between having limits and not have limits. Islam recognizes limits; Hitler had none, save what he willed.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Most atheists fall into one particular logical fallacy.

Apply this categorical and prepositional logic...

Morality and all of its associated ideals are rooted entirely in the presupposition some higher power defines what is correct for human behavior.

It is a bullet proof syllogism and proves true with truth tables and in categorical logic with Venn diagrams...

[SoCal Pubbie]

That's speculation. Facts, on the other hand, show that in the last century, with equal access to technology, the blood lust of atheist regimes have far outpaced those in which religion was permitted. This is both in terms of not only efficiency but philosophy as well.

[painter]

But without the moral compass of a God-based faith, things quickly spin out of control. Just look at the headlines on any given day.

A perfect example is here on a thread where a friend of a fellow freeper (a bank teller) was gunned down yesterday during a holdup. As the gunman left he yelled Merry Christmas motherf***er at the dying man!

[dangerdoc]

There are people with faith in alot of things. My point is that the apostles were not dealing with faith, they saw with their own eyes.

As far as what happened to the apostles, believe what you want. There are alot of people that don't believe in the Holocaust either. If you choose not to believe in the Christ or what happened to the apostles, it is based on what facts you choose to believe and what facts you choose not to believe, which in the end is a form of faith.

You will live by faith in things that you cannot see. Faith in people you do not know. Faith in things that you are not educated enough to verify for yourself. Athiests hold themselves up as being virtuous for their lack of faith when in fact they choose to have faith in different things but are not willing to acknowledge that faith.

Tonight, I will go to communion. I will confess my sins to a God that I have faith exists. I have faith that those sins are forgiven through the personal sacrifice of that same God. I also have faith that I have a personal relationship with that God. That relationship keeps me from doing things that I am inclined to do and encourages me to be a better person. I have no objective proof to give you about God, Jesus, the afterlife or any grand secrets of the universe. I can tell you that today I am a better person. I have also faced death and found peace rather than fear. Take it for what it's worth. Whether you believe or not, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a good life.

[ripley]

"militant atheists were our most angry and intolerant listeners."


atheists just don't believe in a divine being. militant atheists are something different entirely; they are revolutionaries who just want the revolution to happen without the transition from theism to atheism being so slow. they're just impatient guerrilas dressed in sheeps clothing.

[AmishDude]

All atheists see their God when they look in the mirror.

They think they do. Or more importantly, they hope they do.

You see, if there is no supreme being of the universe, there must necessarily be a superior one. One who is smarter, stronger, more powerful than those he has contact with. There must be one. He will be called "Master".

That is, unless he is restrained by another force, say the state. And the state makes for a very tyrannical master, indeed.

In the United States, God is a legal concept. Rights are given by God, hence the state cannot deny them. All men are equal under God; otherwise, someone will become a slave.

[jonno]

Joseph Smith died a long time ago, as did Mary Baker Eddy. The founder of the modern Krishna movement died almost 30 years ago.

I'm not sure how this ties in to my previous statement. Regardless, comparing Smith & Eddy with the Jesus' disciples' IMO is apples & oranges.

As mentioned previously, history is replete with madmen & charlatans. However, if the disciples of Christ were all party to a hoax, it does not seem reasonable that cutoff and isolated they would all to a man, hold to the veracity of their claim.

Again, if it were one, two, or even half of them holding on - and the other recanting - that would fit the cult model. That they all held on (knowing it all to be a hoax) is not reasonable.

And don't miss the most salient point of all; not only did they hold true, but managed to begin a movement that managed to affect the world as no other idea has...

[antiRepublicrat]

It is a bullet proof syllogism and proves true with truth tables and in categorical logic with Venn diagrams...

Please show those proofs, because it doesn't look like a syllogism, much less a bullet-proof argument.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Please show those proofs,...

Do them yourself. It only takes one side of a sheet of paper and is very easy.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

In the United States, God is a legal concept. Rights are given by God, hence the state cannot deny them.

"...to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them... that all men are created... Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world... with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence..."

[antiRepublicrat]

Do them yourself. It only takes one side of a sheet of paper and is very easy.

IOW, you can't support your statement. Thanks.

[Junior]

Best I can tell, he was either a liar, a lunatic, or - what he claimed to be...

Or a fictitious character in a morality story...

[jonno]

...a morality story...

Yes, and here we are discussing it 2000 years later. Quite a story - wouldn't you agree.

Is there one other single event in history that gets as much attention?

(makes one wonder if there might be something to it...)

[Junior]

People were discussing the travails of Isis and Osiris for several thousand years too. Does that lend credence to those tales?

[jonno]

I would suggest that it is a little more than people discussing the person of Jesus Christ.

Can you name another person who has so profoundly influenced tha affairs of man-kind?

[Junior]

Can you name another person who has so profoundly influenced tha affairs of man-kind?

Well, Mohammed, and to a lesser extent Buddha. And that Princip fellow who shot Archduke Ferdinand is pretty much singularly responsible for the current geo-political situation...

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

IOW, you can't support your statement.

It supports itself...

[ihatemyalarmclock]

Why does there have to be a god? Just because you can't imagine a world without some kind of god figure doesn't mean others can't.

I spent most of my adult life agreeing with that statement. But it's a delusion.