Atheist congregation meets every Sunday morning to discuss how they've rejected organized religion

It's not always easy being an atheist. A 2008 Gallup poll found that only Scientologists fared worse than atheists in the public's views.

"Where I work, I'm not really out as an atheist," Bruce Harris, 36, a graphic designer who lives in Cary, said during the gathering Sunday. "My boss assumes that everyone around him has some religion. It doesn't occur to him that there are atheists."

Okay i see how athiests have it soooooo bad. If people only knew what a scientologist has to put up with on a day to day basis, this Athiest guy would have no problem going through life since all they do is cry hard whenever someone uses god or jesus because they think it is infringing on their rights. His boss assumes everyone has a religion? What his boss is nice and says things like ill pray for you time to time or he says god bless you? If people were to go around quoting the god delusion Athiests would be alright with others saying god and jesus all day, so long as it is bashing. Their little group does not seem that different from any catholic or christian social group i have seen.

Originally posted by ExistenceUnknown
Atheism is not a religion. Even if it was what difference would it make really? You get to go to church and instead of just bashing atheists individually now you get to bash the "Religion" of atheism? Does that really seem worth all the fuss? This is an argument over semantics and it is completely useless.

[edit on 22-5-2009 by ExistenceUnknown]

Oh it doesn't actually make a difference, nor do I actually care. The title of the thread is hilarious and it is obviously ironic, not to mention, very "religious" of them. So I guess I decided to have a little bit of fun but still have a good discussion about it without hitting below the belt. My opinion really is that Atheism is a religion, regardless of what the dictionary definition of a religion is, and as I stated before, to me a religion doesn't need a god, nor any church, commandmants, etc. To me if it is in the category of religion or it is a religious issue (such as atheists trying to separate themselves from the god believers) and get together to discuss their beliefs, then to me it's a religion. As I said in an earlier post, I like conversating with Atheists more than I do any god religion.

Originally posted by Watcher-In-The-Shadows

Gee your arguments are fun.

Im sure they amuse you. Well i guess we're done here then, since you obviously cant or wont understand what people including me are saying. All you do is laugh and (purposly?) misunderstand every post.

If you can answer two things at least,

1)
WHY is ATHEISM a religion? List it up, and remember the definition of religion.

2)
Why is NOT believing in Odin NOT a religion if atheism is a religion?? I dont see how you can say that atheism IS a religion but "A-Odinism" or "non-Odinism" is NOT a religion.

reply to post by The Mack


I do not resemble that type of atheist what-so-ever. I am always polite to my christian friends, if they don't preach to me about my life choices then we don't have a problem. I say Bless you when people sneeze and I am very thankful when someone says that they will pray for me. I don't know what kind of atheists you hang around but you are making sweeping generalizations about the ones you dont know.

What I find humorous is that most athiests don't realize that they are, and act as an organized religion, just one with no higher deity.

Generally, when you actively 'believe' something, its religion and/or spirituality. it is when you don't really even have a concept of it in teh first place is when you're not religious.

Actively opposing something is generally the same as actively supporting it in practice.

reply to post by ExistenceUnknown


which is why i was not talking about athiests like you. The statement

I do not resemble that type of atheist what-so-ever.

. acknowledges the fact that you recognize that there are those types of athiests. Although it may have been unclear it was more aimed at the type of athiest it mentions. I do not have problems with all athiests. Just the closed-minded preacher types that resemble their christian counter-parts so.

[edit on 22-5-2009 by The Mack]

For some reason this idea of atheists getting together once a week to discuss Atheism is hilarious to me. I just picture it as a bunch of people having a service discussing how much all the religious institutions suck.

What else would they discuss? Can you really take up an hour every week talking about something that you think doesnt exist? That would be like having a meeting about why the tooth fairy doesnt exist. After the first week, you would pretty much be done.

I just hope the other atheists start picking on these atheists.

reply to post by ExistenceUnknown


LOL, you say bless you when people sneeze. What are you blessing them with? Nothing.

What is the answer to the Great Question?

www.southparkstudios.com...



Tickles me pink.

Originally posted by justsomeboreddude
For some reason this idea of atheists getting together once a week to discuss Atheism is hilarious to me. I just picture it as a bunch of people having a service discussing how much all the religious institutions suck.

What else would they discuss? Can you really take up an hour every week talking about something that you think doesnt exist? That would be like having a meeting about why the tooth fairy doesnt exist. After the first week, you would pretty much be done.

I just hope the other atheists start picking on these atheists.

You are THREAD SNIPING without analyzing your target before shooting

You did not read the thread!!!!!

AT

ALL

Go back, re-read what was said, come back, rethink what you typed.

You missed some KEY points! Like the entire beginning of the thread.

If you DID read you would have seen it involves parents taking children to talk with other parents and children about discussing things like this and explaining it to your children.

You would have ALSO noticed how they talk about not being "out" about religious choices at the work place or dealing with other family members.

R.I.F.

Reading Is Fundamental

L2

reply to post by TurkeyBurgers


Guess I was thread sniping. How are you going to meet for weeks on end to discuss that. What are you going to teach your kids about your belief in nothing. Here is the whole discussion.
kid: Dad, is there a God?
dad: No
kid: Why not?
dad: Because I that is what I believe.

How are you going to prove a nothing is the correct answer to your kids.

Originally posted by justsomeboreddude
reply to post by TurkeyBurgers

 

Guess I was thread sniping. How are you going to meet for weeks on end to discuss that. What are you going to teach your kids about your belief in nothing. Here is the whole discussion.
kid: Dad, is there a God?
dad: No
kid: Why not?
dad: Because I that is what I believe.

How are you going to prove a nothing is the correct answer to your kids.

I am sure that is what they are there to discuss. So many factors would affect a discussion like that. Here is how it would go.

kid: Dad, is there a God?
dad: Here is what I believe
kid: Why do you believe that?
dad: here is why I believe what I believe.

Not the old NO! Because I said so!

reply to post by TurkeyBurgers


I am all for freedom. If someone wants to be atheist then let them be atheist. I am past half way there myself.

But to sit around and discuss it just seems like you are trying to emulate the exact same thing you are against.

I just dont see how you can sit around and discuss NO GOD. What is NO GOD like. He is like nothing. What does NO GOD look like. He looks like nothing. What happens when I die. YOU DIE. Why should I take on the morals that were created by people who believe in the very God we dont. You shouldnt except for when you can be punished by not following the rules..

reply to post by justsomeboreddude


There is more to it than discussing NO GOD.

They are talking about how their belief affects their lives.

How does not believing in any God or God's or faith based system that follows certain procedures relating to a god or god's affect EVERYTHING in their lives.

LIKE IT SAYS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE THREAD (which I can still see you did NOT go back and read)

The guy talking about his boss might treat him different after finding out he carries no torch of a god or god's.

How would him being treated different at work because of his religious beliefs affect his entire family? That is what they discuss.

How does other family members who are religious treat them or their children differently.

THAT is what they discuss.

Man please GO READ THE THREAD before you post.

reply to post by TurkeyBurgers


Oh sweet feathery Jesus! If your boss treats you bad because you are an atheist then tell him to kiss your fat white... and go find another job. You could say that certain people are also discriminated against because they believe one form of Christianity over another. I bet they dont sit around their church all day whining about it.

It's an informative article and these groups are nothing to make fun of. That these people want a sense of community and a sense of safety in numbers isn’t in opposition to their unbelief in an anthropomorphic creator. It’s a shame that anyone needs a group to feel secure but that’s still the case as the one gentleman describes in his workplace. His is not an isolated story. That atheists at times need to hide their unbelief is the only thing similar to the early Christians who had to hide their belief. Of course we no longer have the Romans to bully people into hiding. Others have shouldered the burden.

What’s so funny about a group of like-minded people or families gathering? Many different groups do this and not strictly religious sects. I imagine people huddled in caves long before a god myth was created. Our connection with some ancient behaviors does not deem that all the ancient beliefs must be carried forward. If that were the case, slavery as depicted in the Decalogue and common during that time would still be widely accepted.

Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife. Neither shall you desire your neighbor's house, or field, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. - Deuteronomy 5:6-21.

We want to stand upon our own feet and look fair and square at the world -- its good facts, its bad facts, its beauties, and its ugliness; see the world as it is and be not afraid of it. Conquer the world by intelligence and not merely by being slavishly subdued by the terror that comes from it. The whole conception of God is a conception derived from the ancient Oriental despotisms. It is a conception quite unworthy of free men. When you hear people in church debasing themselves and saying that they are miserable sinners, and all the rest of it, it seems contemptible and not worthy of self-respecting human beings. We ought to stand up and look the world frankly in the face. We ought to make the best we can of the world, and if it is not so good as we wish, after all it will still be better than what these others have made of it in all these ages. A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men. It needs a fearless outlook and a free intelligence. It needs hope for the future, not looking back all the time toward a past that is dead, which we trust will be far surpassed by the future that our intelligence can create. - Excerpted from "Why I Am Not A Christian" by Bertrand Russell

Peace out!

Originally posted by justsomeboreddude
reply to post by TurkeyBurgers

 

Why should I take on the morals that were created by people who believe in the very God we dont.

The correct answer is because the foundations of our current morals were universal truths needed to form societal harmony. These morals have been fine tuned, added to and some even discarded over time. And of course the first moral laws were created by people who either had no concept of a god or believed in various gods long before the Jewish and Christian gods were imagined. I don't believe in the ancient gods and I don't believe in those somewhat ancient gods.

The whole thing is funny to me, athiests meeting every sunday.
The main thing i think atheists and christians get confused on is. Atheists when they talk about religion are for the most part talking about judeo-christian. And Christians think they can convert said atheist, and that quoting the bible has some effect on people.
Now this is where the problems come in. Atheists think they have to hide their unbelief (bwaaaaaa) from people because of blah blah blah blah. Why do they have to hide it? IMO they hide it becuase they cannot leave it at "i do not believe in that" or "I am an athiest", I honestly think that people who have to hide it can't express their own non-religious views without degrading others thus they hide it. Why have a church of subgenius and the flying spaghetti monster? I know they are not real churches or anything but the point is they bash religion, and that is why they have a bad reputation.Just like the god hates fags group and the KKK give christianity a bad name. A christian church does not get together every sunday mock and degrade all other religions, they talk about their beliefs. Does an athiest group do the same?Atheist forum

Originally posted by The Mack
Why have a church of subgenius and the flying spaghetti monster? I know they are not real churches or anything but the point is they bash religion, and that is why they have a bad reputation.Atheist forum

We get it, it's funny to you. Enjoy. That there is a need to deflect religious agendas with false religious agendas is sad and that's what brought about the FSM.

Open Letter To Kansas School Board

The people in the groups mentioned in the posted article don't mention anything about religion bashing. That's funny too. May the "sauce" be with you!

Originally posted by justsomeboreddude
reply to post by TurkeyBurgers

 

Oh sweet feathery Jesus! If your boss treats you bad because you are an atheist then tell him to kiss your fat white... and go find another job.

This is the perfect climate for that. He's atheist, not brainless.