"Atheism Produces Evil on Incredible Levels"

Well, I think you have to divide the issues of your second paragraph from the debate about choice, as it goes more to how we make decisions rather than whether humans are simply carrying out a preordained script for their individual actions.

If you say humans have no choice, then the whole notion of sending humans to hell due to their earthly history starts appearing to be ludicrous. I think things start to fall apart if there is a god and he gives the humans he created no choice.

 

My 2nd part really should state, no God.

As far as us having a choice with a predefined script. Illusional. Can't exist in my feeble mind.

 

I don't plan on an eleventh hour turning. Personally i find that hypocritical, and problematic.

Because essentially it gives criminals and other awful people a way out of being held accountable for the crimes they committed for their victims and there would be no justice for their victims if they were allowed into heaven using that method. And that really bothers me, even though i do believe in forgiveness and second chances, i also believe that victims of crime should have some sort of justice for them and that criminals be held responsible for their actions.

I will repent and renew my faith when I have a lot better proof and evidence of God's existence and that he is not the God of the Bible. far more than claims and argumentations by his followers. This is a promise I have made to myself and I aim to keep it.

The God of the Bible, regardless if he actually exists or not, is very repulsive to me and really offends my sense of morality. I also don't like the behavior of a lot of his followers. It was their bad and hurtful behavior that turned me off of Christianity in the first.

I'm sorry if this offends you, but I really am not trying to be offensive, just being straightforward about how i feel.

 

Probably the largest problem with god is religion. Mankind has been twisting god for the benefit of man for thousands of years. If it weren't for mankind, the notion of there being a god might, in fact, be good - regardless of whether said god actually existed.

So, I don't find the criminality and injustice found in the bible to be an indictment of god. It's more an indictment of man.

The problem with believing there is a god is that there isn't evidence or reason for doing so.

And, I totally agree with you that a "last gasp" or "fire insurance" type of "belief" is pure BS. If there WERE a god, that god wouldn't be an idiot.

 

The bombing of Laos by the American military killed more Lao than communism did. Fact.

 

There's a difference between Atheist and Atheism. If an Atheist is responsible for an atrocity, that doesn't mean Atheism is responsible.

Let me give you an example. The Great Leap Forward was China's attempt to push China from basically an agricultural society into a modern industrialised nation, albeit too quickly.

What Mao and his party did was take the peasant off the field and put him to work in industry and infrastructure building projects. Basically what happened, China lost food security causing famine and millions starved. China also used outdated and unscientific agricultural practices which further compounded the problem. Absolutely nothing to do with Atheism but poor economic measures.

In Mao's mind, his attempts to modernise China were probably honorable. His practices futile. Interestingly, these revolutionaries are very good at revolutions and overthrowing governments but sh!te at administering

 

Atheism is a worldview practiced by the atheist. Your odd attempt to separate the two is cute.

 

No, atheism is a lack of belief in God. Nothing more, nothing less. There are many different worldviews that an atheist can have; humanism, naturalism, relativism, existentialism, nihilism, but atheism is not one of them.

 

Atheism is a worldview no matter what you say. I understand you want to be an ostrich and bury your head in the sand, but that doesn't make my statement any less true.
Observe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

A worldview is simply a train of thought or proclamation. Such a proclamation is followed by ideals in which you, yourself, just listed. I.E. humanism, naturalism, etc. Logically, if you lack the belief in something, then you clearly believe in its exact opposite. Otherwise you'd be considered neutral, and atheism isn't a neutral position. Agnosticism is.

 

A worldview is a comprehensive system of beliefs, a framework of ideas & attitudes that determine our beliefs about the world, ourselves, and life. Atheism is just one belief, and while it may be part of a worldview, it is not a worldview by itself.

 

Atheism isn't a worldview, it is a position on a single subject. There are atheists worldviews and even atheist religions, just as there are theist worldviews and theist religions, but neither atheism nor theism by themselves are worldviews. They are a single position on a single subject. Not all atheists are humanists, and not all atheists are naturalists. I have no idea why you insist on pretending otherwise.

 

god? isnt he some german fella?

why should we all follow some german?

 

What worldview is atheism a part of?

 

God of the bible is the father of Truth.
This makes "him" what we call "Reality."

Other gods suggest insanity, because by definition, we must live in Reality to be called sane.

 

Let's see, Christians killed between 80-100 million Native Americans (if you get to count starvation in atheist countries, then we get to count disease, sorry). The death toll for Christian colonialism easily adds up to another 100 million, conservatively. Honestly, I don't think it would be difficult to break 250 million without ever even broaching the subject of the crusades, witch hunts or inquisition.

 

Secular humanism for one. Communism as another.

 

No. I think you got it backward.

 

How is that backwards?

 

Because atheism belongs to both of those categories, but both of those categories don't necessarily apply to atheism.

 

The best argument for Christianity is how our culture changed when we moved away from it. It seems that when religion loses membership, things go to hell in a hand basket fast.

All of the problem you mentioned are tied to the loss of religion in America. So if nothing else, it serves to bring order and goodness to society, more so than if you do not have it operating.

Now this fact is probably why religion was created in the first place, as a way to bring more order over less order, and to bring less problems rather than more problems, that come from exercising a decent level of morality which like it or not, is tied at the hip with Christianity. Of course the atheists try to weasel out of that fact, and they will spin and squirm, until they get dizzy.

So religion, unless its a violent religion like islam, has had a purpose, and that purpose has been to bring order over disorder to human societies. It's little more than plain old common sense.

 

Oh dear. Is that the best you can do? Your arguments are lame.

So answer me this. Did Mao press the Great Leap Forward on the Chinese people because he was Atheist or some other reason?

 

You asked what worldviews atheism belonged to. Of course the categories don't belong to atheism. How can a category belong to a subcategory?

 

Quite a few actually, even including some Christians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_atheism

 

didnt he say to call him by his name?

 

Actually the countries who moved away from religion decades ago are doing much better than America, in all the ways which count (social health, education, peace, crime rates, equality, etc etc).

Pretending the opposite is true is probably comforting to American Christians, but they're the only ones fooled.