Originally Posted By mawnck >>Playboy, Penthouse and other adult magazines were exchanged for Bibles, Torahs, Korans, and other religious texts at the annual Smut for Smut event hosted by the UTSA Atheist Agenda on March 1. A screaming, singing throng of UTSA students circled around the steps running from the JPL to the MS, anchored to a small booth offering the strange trade as opponents of the Atheist Agenda’s methods gathered in protest.<< ------- You go on any website nowadays and whenever the topic of religion comes up, it never fails to stir up angry posts about fairy stories and moral hypocrisy. We're talking serious knee-jerk HATRED of religion. 74% of YOUNG PEOPLE in the USA consider themselves religious. Do you Athiests REALLY feel so strongly about this that you're willing to lose the support of 74%? Mighty hard to win elections that way. ------- >>Michelle Brossart was offended not by the Atheists' view but by what she saw as their obvious intentions. “They admitted it’s a publicity stunt. They want to evoke crazy emotions out of people because they want to make their agenda known,” Brossart, a pre-Dental hygiene major, said. “But only very, very few people are actually gaining anything from this.”<< <a href="http://www.paisano-online.com/news/porn-for-bibles-1.1216882" target="_blank">http://www.paisano-online.com/....1216882</a>
Originally Posted By plpeters70 <<We're talking serious knee-jerk HATRED of religion.>> And I've seen just the same hatred towards people who deliver un-religious views. Or about people who believe in climate change. Or against gays. The list goes on and on. What's the point? Are you really trying to claim that the atheists are somehow MORE hateful than others?
Originally Posted By plpeters70 <<Smut for Smut event hosted by the UTSA Atheist Agenda on March 1>> Also, I don't see how this is any worse than the morons who used to stand in the plaza at my university and scream at everone passing by that they were "going to hell". That sounds pretty hateful to me.
Originally Posted By DAR <<Are you really trying to claim that the atheists are somehow MORE hateful than others?>> I think it's that atheists can be just as hateful.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 <<I think it's that atheists can be just as hateful.>> And I don't think anyone on here has ever said otherwise? So what's the point?
Originally Posted By fkurucz The title of this thread seems to imply that Progressive == Hateful Atheist. This is known as the Strawman fallacy, IIRC. You build a strawman and knock it down to "prove" your point. The truth is that Progressives come from many walks of life. Some are atheists, some are agnostics and some are people of faith. They also have different understandings of what it means to be "Progressive". Some might be for universal healthcare while unsupportive of homosexual rights. It's not a monolithic movement by any means.
Originally Posted By DAR And not every religious person is out to banish gays, say global warming is a myth or is against universal health. Yeah yeah I know nobody ever said that, on WE.
Originally Posted By mele Why do you think people would feel the need to react to religion so vehemently, mawnck? Is it all a knee-jerk reaction or do you think anyone has a valid reason for being so opposed to religion in any form?
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>74% of YOUNG PEOPLE in the USA consider themselves religious.<<< Wow, I am glad I live in Europe where it is no where near as hi. They shipped all the religious zealots to the US where 200+ years of procreating led to the GOP and Mormons. ;-p
Originally Posted By mawnck >> Are you really trying to claim that the atheists are somehow MORE hateful than others?<< Dang, EVERYBODY missed my point. (And I see why now - since my saying "you athiests" made it sound like I was addressing ALL athiests, which was not my intent.) What I'm trying to show is that WHEN athiests behave this way, it hurts their cause considerably more than when religious people do it. But they do it anyway, and in increasing intensity and frequency, especially on online discussion boards and comment sections. And I'm suggesting they should knock it off, and do some self-reflection on why they feel the need to do it in the first place. (And BTW, stop trying to justify it with what the other guys are doing.)
Originally Posted By mawnck >>Why do you think people would feel the need to react to religion so vehemently, mawnck? Is it all a knee-jerk reaction or do you think anyone has a valid reason for being so opposed to religion in any form?<< Validity is beside the point. Such reactions are counterproductive - cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Such reactions are counterproductive<< I don't know about that. It sure seems to be working for the tea baggers. I wish it weren't the case, but extremism seems to be increasingly popular.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo That reminds me I must sign up for the coffee party. Signed a questioning agnostic
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Ditto on the Coffee Party. <a href="http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/" target="_blank">http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/</a>
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I don't know about that. It sure seems to be working for the tea baggers.<< Yes, but the tea baggers aren't attacking the religious beliefs of 3/4 of the country. It's all about where the wedge is being driven. I see athiesm and progressivism becoming associated in the minds of a lot of people on both sides. Not good for progressivism, that.
Originally Posted By DAR Just a little aside. Coffee is probably the most overrated beverage. It smells great, but the overall taste is blech. And I'm not a big tea drinker either, but at least that's sometimes proceeded by the words Long Island Iced. As for the issue on hand. I have never and will never attack anyone for their lack of religious belief on these forums. All I ask is the same in return for my religious beliefs.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Wow, I am glad I live in Europe where it is no where near as hi.<< Dave, do you feel that way about Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr, Mohandas Gandhi, The Dalai Lama. etc? Being "religious" does not necersarily imply being a wild eyed fanatic.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 <<Being "religious" does not necersarily imply being a wild eyed fanatic.>> Unless you live in the United States, of course. ;-)
Originally Posted By ecdc So...when rabid, crazy atheists go out there, it's cool to say "atheists" are the problem (as mawnck does in post 16). But when atheists are critical of religion, they're expected to offer a gazillion caveats as to how they know all the good religion does, that not everyone who's religious is crazy, etc., etc. And the hypocrisy continues.
