Are atheists mentally ill? The Impact of Religious Practice on Social Stability

reply to post by Spiramirabilis


The intellectual stupidity that equates spirituality with religious belief is only as mind numblingly dumb as those who prate endlessly on about how religious values bind us together when the facts are, Western society is almost wholly based on Ancient Greek and often humanist, philosophy. Almost every social leap forward in understanding and tolerance of other's views and lifestyles has been roundly opposed and often violently so, by the established religions

On the other hand, people with high IQs and that includes me, are just very good at doing IQ tests and that's that really. I would also point out that, the Daily Telegraph's readership mostly consists of old biddies and duffers who think that, it all went wrong when they allowed working class people on the telebox ergo, anything they publish as "fact" needs to be taken with several ladles of salt.

The United States of America has almost 300,000,000 Christians, almost 80% of the population.

Surely there is one good one.

I think people misunderstand, Christians are not Christ.

You can be an atheist and still relate to the wisdom teachings of the Biblical text.

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.

Have a wonderful day.

peace out

reply to post by EarthCitizen07

The world is full of insane people. Many times I wish I was born on a different planet or maybe I could move there.

I've wished the same sometimes - but we don't know that we won't get the same or worse there. If there's a there to get to :-)

I think the best we could hope for is for all of us to respect each other no matter what our beliefs - and treat each other right

But I'm such a girl scout sometimes - I'm sure that can't be right

:-)

reply to post by Stormdancer777


The new testament is more believable than the old testament. That is not to say that the old testament is full of lies, as grains of truth can be found anywhere. In my opinion there is an interpretation problem with lots of out of context material. It would be like me having a discussion with someone and another person eavesdropping trying to make sense of it all.

Its not a hate issue. Its a contempt issue and feeling sorry for people being mislead enmasse. For me the ancient astronaut hypothesis is the only thing that makes reasonable sense. In other words the gods are aliens from other planets and other solar systems. They have 'magical' abilities because we cannot comprehend teleportation, telepathy, telekinesis, etc.

If the church and government would stop suppressing such hidden knowledge then all of a sudden it does make sense. This is what everyone should push for.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777


You can be an atheist and still relate to the wisdom teachings of the Biblical text.

i would call 'religious practice' in todays world... more of a smattering of Civics- Politics-moral tradition

Clerics, Priests, Monks etc involve their lives with religious practice..
the lay person just picks & chooses which codes to follow or emphasize... and to what degree..

hence the gulf between Jihad and sefless humility & compassion by Buddhist Monks for example


i try not to wrap myself up with reigious conduct or role playing...
but i guess i am not Atheistic, rather i just disgard pop-culture, main-stream religions in favor of the Earth Goddess Gaia....................en.wikipedia.org...


you be the judge if i'm mentally ill or an anti-christian (atheist)

reply to post by St Udio


Nahhh, you;re a Burnt again pagan like wot I am...

reply to post by FireMoon

Almost every social leap forward in understanding and tolerance of other's views and lifestyles has been roundly opposed and often violently so, by the established religions

So true - and yet within all those religions there were people working to make those leaps forward happen

So, it's not religious folk who are the problem - it's not atheists who are the problem...

I think there is a certain kind of personality - fearful, needy, maybe incredibly self critical - a personality that needs to impose their world view on others so that they can have order and security for themselves. They create scales of good and evil and create strict rules that they can follow, and so know that they are good people because they've followed all the rules

Live and let live doesn't really fly in their world I guess - because how sloppy would that be? How would you ever know who the bad people were? Where's the fun in a world where you can't be best and you can't punish everyone else?

:-)

Originally posted by wrabbit2000
reply to post by Klassified

 

Well, this most certainly sounds like the loving and graceful attitude of many who belong to the Abrahamic religions. Christians specifically. And they wonder why atheists feel the way they do.

In all fairness? Is it better when Atheists call people of faith delusional, ignorant, simple minded or unable to grasp reality on a basic level? I can very easily and quickly find numerous threads making precisely those comparisons.

....and they wonder why people of Faith feel how they do.

It seems both sides talk at each other SO loudly and with so little respect? Neither side even realizes they sound just as hateful as they claim the other side does. Just my opinion there.

I love you !
wrabbit, as you said you are wiccan, thank you for having the internal fortitude to have the back of those who believe differently than you.

WE need to have each others backs.

In most Christian circles my understanding of the Bible and diversity of beliefs would not be accepted.

But we are all on different levels of understanding, So I can accept/respect where an atheist stands, because that is where they are on this spiritual journey called life.

The op Stormdancer first post drew 12 stars.
Afterinfinity response drew 22 stars
Storm 1 star
After infinity 7 stars
Storm 2, 3 stars for two consecutive comments
Pistoche 20 stars
Destroy destroydestroy 14 stars
Storm 1 star
Neoparadigm 12 stars
Storm 1 star
Lab tech 4 stars
Jimmyx 15 starsstorm 1 star
Dominicus 5 stars
Storm 1 star
Alfa1 10 stars

The Christians in this thread are only getting one or two stars for each of their individual replies.
The atheists in this thread are getting from 10 to 22 stars for each of their posts.

The first post in this thread immediately after the opening post of storm received 22 stars.
Tthis indicates that 22 atheists came to this thread and supported the poster Afterinfinity.

The most logical conclusion to be drawn from this revelation:

Obtusely excessive musca domestica alight and consume particles of preemptive environmental superfluity much more readily than an identical quantity of apis mellifera excretions.

or
Atheists are subject to be victims of groupthink.

or
That man is strongest who stands alone.

This is probably similar to the pagans feeding Christians to lions for their entertainment.
atheists post on this thread for their entertainment,
Christians post here to try to help and even save atheists
from their refusal to admit that there is an intelligence greater than themselves.

reply to post by LionOfGOD


Calm down.
sheeese

Originally posted by FireMoon
reply to post by St Udio

 

Nahhh, you;re a Burnt again pagan like wot I am...

Yup, Pagan....or even Heathen as i also engage in pleasure seeking...

let's say indulging in the Hedonistic Imperative.../www.hedweb,org

reply to post by spirited75



Whew, that was a spirited post,

They are also fulfilling biblical prophecy. All over ATS.


you will be hated by all for my name's sake

reply to post by spirited75

There isn't a single recorded episode of Christians being fed to the lions. They tried it with criminals of other sorts and discovered they had to drape hunks of fresh meat off the people to stir up the remotest interest amongst the large puddys. it was dropped from then on, having been shown to be a total damp squib. Then again logic, research and learning don't seem to figure very prominently in your life so, ho hum...

Wow, the butthurt in his thread is strong. I guess atheists aren't too keen on being made fun of. Did you know: making fun of Christians is all the rage these days? Treat others the way you would want to be treated.

If atheists are mentally ill, would they know it?

reply to post by spirited75

More flies swarm around a pile of sh*t than a pile of honey. or Atheists are subject to be victims of groupthink. or That man is strongest who stands alone.

Wow, more reasoning along the line of "the devil put dinosaurs here".






The most logical explanation would be that there are more people here on ATS that agreed with the statements made by "atheists". Simple as that.

Furthermore, you included me, but I am not an atheist, and I made that clear in this thread before.


Stormdancer allegedly posted this thread "to make people" think but just as one would expect, it turned into a flamefest.

Stormdancer, you are pretty lousy at trolling. Some people just don't have it in them.

Do you love a Christian?

Is there a Christian in your life that you love?

Do you love others unconditionally?

Do you forgive those you love?

Can you love someone that hates you?

Can you forgive someone that hates you?

reply to post by spirited75


Agnostics disagree with atheists but we tolerate them more than religious followers. The reason being is that they have caused less hardships for their fellow human beings than the religious nutjobs have. I am going back to the holy crusades in the middle east and how many people have died because of religious differences for thousands of years.

As for who gets more stars I think it depends on the hour, day, week, etc. Start a topic and get 5 flags today, or start a topic and get 200 flags tomorrow. Luck of the draw as to who is on ATS at the moment.

Originally posted by rickymouse
Stormdancer, you are pretty lousy at trolling. Some people just don't have it in them.

TY Ricky, you made my day, no I don't have it in me,


It is because, I love them.

All these posters, I have read their comments for years and grown found of them all, even the ones that hate me make me smile.

I must be sick.

This thread reminds me of the old joke....

How many deeply devout religious people does it take to change alight bulb? Answer.... None, they burned the poor schmuck who invented it and agreed never to speak of such evil again.