Hey wow HR and I xpost and reference the same event.

Forcibly reeducating theists seems like an excellent idea. I don't think anyone has an issue with people holding bizarre beliefs. It's when they force those views onto others or invoke them as a basis for government there's a problem.
In the UK we have Bishops in the House of Lords, the Pope farts and billions of people follow the smell.

“Forcibly reeducating theists seems like an excellent idea. I don't think anyone has an issue with people holding bizarre beliefs. It's when they force those views onto others or invoke them as a basis for government there's a problem.”

That’s uhhhhhhh not self-consistent.

I think that's called satire, Prado.

One would hope.

@Jamiet, Ogion,

I was specifically responding to the idea that people who get in groups. This was presupposing that a certain atheist had joined some sort of atheist group. I understand the fact that this is uncommon, but I was trying to answer what Ogion was talking about people in Christian groups being "self-righteous assholes."

Also I'm not saying that Christians don't create anti-_____ movements, just that not all Christian groups are that way. You can argue all you want about what proportion are, but there are many Christians who just want to get together to pray, or sing, or work for the poor, etc.

And yeah, what HR and Prado said. Atheism hasn't been "mainstream" for very long, but it's sure done a whole lot of shit since it has.

Almost 0% of atheists get into any kind of organised atheist group. I have no interest in joining some sort of weird club of people whose only connection is that they share my inability to comprehend the concept of god.

Once again, specifically answering the points made by Ogion that people of group X that get together to celebrate the fact that they are not Y are assholes. This is not the majority of groups. X or Y can be Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Conservatives, Liberals, Atheists, Pastafarians, etc., interchangeably.

What is "a whole lot of shit," KC? If you want to actually compare Christianity and atheism, you're going down one hell of a rabbit hole but you should actually put up something other than empty rhetoric to fight with.

Christianity and Bigotism ain't the same thing. At the same time as you have extreme Christians militantly backing said "Muslim Ban" in America, you had Angela Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union opening the doors of Germany to unlimited Syrian refugees.

Christianity may be a powerful factor in American politics, but a lot of that is down to more extreme branches of Christianity being popular there. Christian Democrats are pretty common across Europe, and whilst they're generally centre-right by European standards, they're way to the left of American parties, and they are not linked to the rising Far Right in Europe.

I mean, communist regimes' persecution is the first thing to come to mind, but I really don't want to get into "body counts" as HR said.

I feel inclined to point out that there is a subgroup of members of the alt right who are proud and vocal atheists, who drive anti-Muslim sentiment just as strongly as any of their Christian peers.

There definitely is, Prado. It's really a matter of how extensive that is, though, and whether you can pin that down to atheism or the same general assholishness that the so-called alt right carries like a badge of honor.

Oh absolutely. Me pointing it out comes more down to pointing out the flaw in Jeff’s argument that:
Because there is anti-Muslim sentiment in the US, and because a large majority of people in the US identify as Christian, then it is logical to assert that the sentiment is BECAUSE of Christianity.

Religion is invention of man. Like a steam turbine. Except man found better version of steam turbine after 30-40 years of trying while he did not found improved version of religion after 5000 years and 1.000.000 different religion updates, each time beleiving the current one is the only one and all others are false - that is until the next update is published. When new version is published all who are using the outdated version shoud be burned to death of course.

That is why I prefer steam turbines. Less complicated and deadly.

Did any of you actually listen to Trump during 2016? He routinely praised "Judeo-Christian values" and repeatedly attacked Muslims.

I'm not making an argument. Trump is now the president. IT IS FACT.

MAGA..Make America's God Allah

Trump also talked about grabbing people by the pussy. Does that mean all Christians support sexual assault?

Trump also mocked a disbaled person. Does that mean all Christians think its ok to mock a disabled person.

You are transposing a single viewpoint of an elected official and saying that because he was elected an entire religion supports that viewpoint.

HR and others are right. Its not a question of atheist vs. Christian. It is a question of extremest vs. non-extremest.

“Trump is now the president. IT IS FACT.”

If all and only Christians voted for Trump, you’d have a point.

Actually, HR, Communists did that in opposition to the church because of their hostility to the institution. They didn't do it because out of a deep love of atheism. If we're going there, then Christians have to take responsibility for the Holocaust as a "Christian" phenomenon, even though Nazism used religion as a tool, rather than arose out it.

The fundamental difference is that Christians have sought to burn atheists and the stake and the like BECAUSE of their church teachings for a long time.

So, actually, the two aren't really that comparable.

As for the idea that freedom of religion is more fundamental than freedom of speech, that's a joke. Without speech, you can't have a democracy and that will erode all freedoms. Without religion, well arguably society would be better off.

Actually, King Cyrus, it was YOUR point that said that atheists who get together in groups are assholes. I just quoted you and changed "atheist" to "Christian."

So, by the same token that there are all kinds of exceptions, how about admitting you don't know shit about atheists except for your bigotry and shutting the F up?

I challenge all of you to honestly state that Trump's understanding of his Christian values did in no way inform his call for a Muslim ban.

I never said #NotAllChristians, but we've got one calling the shots who is calling for purges in no small part because of his beliefs.

The reality is that bigotry is stupid, but as long as the likes of King Cyrus and Trump and Roy Moore and his ilk keep it up, i'm inclined to put the shoe on the other foot.

Christianity has been around for a long time and has been responsible for massive and regular genocides, from the invasion of the Americas, to the Holocaust, to the Bosnian war, to the crusades. It's quite a serious record of mass murder, frankly.

What do you mean by including KingCyrus? He’s one of the most measured people on this site and has never displayed a capacity of bigotry.

Also:
Invasion of America’s came almost strictly out of economic interest, and several high ranking Nazi’s showed clear disdain for Christianity as weak and they quarreled pretty openly with the Catholic Church and several Christian groups in Germany.

So. my vote is Yeah, in an internet forum self interest reigns supreme.

I second the notion that KC is a pretty laid back guy that doesn't harass people.