Florida atheists unveil monument to nonbelief in God to sit alongside slab of Ten Com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...nonbelief-god-article-1.1386919#ixzz2Xz621Ham

Classy work christians! I wonder what jebus is thinking when he looks at the state of you?

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I think stealing is a sin BTW... Just a heads up.

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How very christian! Sorry, how typically modern American Christian.

 

I wonder how much money Christians could have spent feeding the poor with all the money they used building elaborate buildings and monuments all throughout the country and making sure their star preachers and leaders are millionaires

 

You obvious don't understand what's going on here. An atheist group is expressing the same rights Christians claim to be expressing by having the ten commandments displayed. As expected, some Christians get all bent out of shape when other groups get equal representation and expression. If Christians would just celebrate our freedom to express our views, there would be no backlash. Why does this atheist display caused so many Christians to feel threatened? Could those who dislike this exercise in expression from atheists feel invalidated?
Your argument that atheist claim a violation of separation while doing the same thing is invalid. Atheist groups are not religious groups. They are not recognized as religious groups from the US government, nor do they get tax exemption for being so. Atheists are simply showing an alternative to what religious groups tout. That's expression of speech, not pent up anger. You should learn to see the difference. I also doubt seriously that atheists are the least trusted group in America. I think that honor goes to Bankers and Lawyers...lol.

 

A lack of belief is NOT a belief. That's like saying we are born with default beliefs just because someone else invented/believes in something.

To do a reduction to the absurd, what you're saying is akin to telling someone they have a belief if they refuse to accept that Invisible Pink Unicorns or Flying Spaghetti Monsters are real.

 

I could conceive of an infinite number of entities and describe their various qualities/powers, would that mean when you refuse to believe in them I'm giving you new beliefs?

Ridiculous logic. The burden of proof is on the person making the claim. I believe in God, but even I think your arguments are absurd.

 

No. It isn't.

Let me ask you this directly - Can recognise the difference between a jury finding a person "not guilty" and a jury finding a person "innocent"?

 

Having a belief isn't the same as being involved in a religion. We should probably start with that fact established.

 

No, they need to go as well. The government needs to be neutral on religion, and this isn't neutral.

 

Who cares if there is or there isn't a god? atheists do not need a god

 

*sigh*

Ok, I'll explain it again: Athiest and agnostic are not mutually exclusive positions. They deal with entirely seperate concepts. Atheism/theism deals with beliefs, gnosticism/agnosticism deals with claims of knowledge.

An atheist is someone who rejects theist claims, specifically the claim of belief in a god. So anyone who doesn't actively assert belief in a god is by definition an atheist.

An agnostic is someone who does not claim to have knowledge of whether or not a god exists. This is entirely seperate to their belief or lack there of in a deity.

Put simply, one can be an agnostic atheist, meaning that you do not believe in a god but also do not assert that a god does not exist because you do not claim to have that knowledge.

Understand?

 

exactly... be best if no one did it... but it's easy to understand why people respond the way they do, even if we ourselves would not respond that way

 

How long before somebody steals the bench since atheists don't want anything to do with Commandment #8

Thou shalt not steal.

 

The intent isn't 'equal representation', it's just to get attention and vent their frustration. It'd be the equivalent of some Christian group trying to put up a monument on public grounds saying "atheists are going to hell", and claiming it's just about representation.

Not to mention, it's pretty silly for minority groups to feel 'persecuted' when they aren't represented equally to begin with. It'd be similar to a Saints fan attending a Cowboys home game and then whining and crying discrimination when the stadium is overwhelmingly pro-Cowboys.

Minority groups - whether atheists, Muslims, gays, etc need to just get over themselves and accept the fact that they are a minority in America, instead of whining like butt-hurt little children.

 

From the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, under "atheist":

Merriam-Webster does not say that the word may mean "that you do not believe in a god but also do not assert that a god does not exist." Or anything like that.

Dictionary.com says the following, as regarding the word, "atheist":

It, too, offers no other definition of the word.

Oh, here are the links: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atheist?show=0&t=1372882370

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/atheist?s=t

 

I'm not going to get into an argument with you about whether God exists or not, because you don't have any evidence that he doesn't. It is a matter of faith, just like you have faith that the sun will come up because it does every morning, Christians have faith because they experience God every moment.

Religion is only important in that it is the "roadmap" for worship. Religion in and of itself does not do anything but show people how they ought to worship.

You can't tell someone that has experienced God that He is not real.

Just because you can't see something does not mean it isn't there. Blind people can't see stars, but they are there for those that aren't blind to see. Heaven and Hell are of another realm, one that you cannot experience in this phase of your life.

I'm not "religious" - I see being "religious" as being super spiritually ritualistic, something that I am not. And, I don't believe I am all knowing. I have studied the Bible and other works that relate to God, and I have also experienced His presence in my life. It would take too long to explain it all to you, but if you don't believe, that is your choice.

It's true that some zealous Christians forget Jesus' method of teaching and bringing people to believe in Him and have become over-bearing and wanting their way. They do give Christianity a bad name.

 

God does care whether we believe or not, but He is not going to force Himself on anyone. If He didn't care He wouldn't have sent His Only Son to come and die for us. We are all significant. He would prefer that none would perish.

 

Colloquial/common definitions =/= accurate philosophical definitions.

 

I have faith in the sun raising because there is scientific evidence that concludes the earth rotates on its axis. You're confusing faith with science.

So then what makes your religion more or less valid than Mormans, Jews, Islam, or Scientologists for that matter? How do you asset that the teachings of Jesus Christ are correct compared to the teachings of Bhudda, or Allah?

You also can't tell sociopaths that the voices in their head are not real. Why does the voice in your head suddenly become more validated when you name it god? Not that I compare religious people to mental illness, but there have been many people who committed murder because they experienced god and that god told them to do it.

Correct, you can not see Oxygen, but we have scientific evidence that supports that oxygen is in fact, present. (At least where I am, and hopefully where you are located as well)

So then how do humans know of such realms of Heaven in Hell? Surely if someone had written about the pearly gates of Heaven and the Eternal planes of hell that the ones who wrote about it had seen them.

I grew up and raised Catholic and live with very religiously Conservative parents. I too have studied the bible, along with the religious texts of Islam and Judaism, and never once have myself, or anyone I have known ever felt god in our lives. Religion was written in a day where Humans were still curious to seek the origins of how we came to be and how everything works, and it was written when men lacked the scientific achievements that we have developed. Heaven was supposed to be in the clouds, we have reached Space and have not seen Heaven, or god for that matter.

I personally have no vindication towards Religion, because I know a ton of great and kind people who have used religious teachings to do amazing, and powerful things. Like overcome addiction, turn their life around, and support themselves and their neighbors. I myself can no longer believe in religion for the fact I believe I do not need the dogma or an omnipotent and all knowing god judging my morals and my nature. I donate my

This I agree with completely, but this can be said with every group. I unofficially belong in the Straight Edge Society. While the principle is being strong and purifying your body from drugs, there are Millitant members who identify as Straight Edge and attack innocent people for the only merit of being a smoker or a drinker. I don't wish people to judge me on the actions of the radical few, so I do not judge an entire group of Christians for the acts of the Priests who molest little children, nor do I judge all of Islam for the radicals that kill in the name of their god.

So for a TL: DR of this, I support the people who use religion for good, and damn the ones who use it to defend their racism, bigotry, and violence.

 

You may be right. Free will equals no force. Should I assume your answer is derived from religious scripture? If so both you and I have sinned. Isn't presuming to know the mind of God a sin of sorts? Anyhow you got me. I did presume he doesn't care. That is undeniably an uninformed presumption on my part. I personally know nothing of Jesus beyond religious teachings so no comment.

I find this sentence very interesting. "He would prefer none of us perish".
I would be grateful if you would enlighten me as to your exact thoughts on writing that. You see, since my encounter I no longer fear death. I do not wish it or seek it but I do not fear it. I'm hoping I'll be allowed to find the indescribable peace and happiness that only unfettered knowledge can provide. That is what I was allowed to witness. The knowledge of everything.
Witness only, not retain

 

I have to disagree. There are some leftists that will bash Christianity based on the assumption that all Conservatives are Christian and all Liberals are Non-Christian, those Liberals do not represent everyone on the left. There are Christians on the left also, the difference in a left Christian and a right Christian is that the Christians on the right want to make laws based on biblical morality and the ones on the left want to make laws based on the Constitution.

 

Well, putting up the 10 commandments on public property is pretty much the same as Christians saying "atheists are going to hell". Christians also argue that it's about representation and not separation of church and state.
In this country, our constitution protects minority groups. If you don't like that about this country then you either need to learn to deal with it or move. Minorities are taxed equally, they should be represented equally. The far right wing Christian groups are the ones that start screaming persecution when they don't get their way about every little thing. It give good hearted Christians a bad reputation.

 

The monuments have been there for a long time and have historical significance. The "10 Commandments" are not law and seeing a 10 Commandments monument on a courthouse, or seeing "in God we trust" on money, doesn't force anyone to suddenly start becoming a practicing Christian.

The atheist monument was set up just to provoke angry responses and get attention.

 

OK, then we agree.

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What does that have to do with this topic?

 

You didn't answer my question. Amusing, too, that you assume I am an Obama supporter. What would lead you to that conclusion?

 

So basically, your saying the monument is a historical one and not a religious one? You object to any other monuments being placed around this one because it's historic? I have a question for you, and please answer it as honestly as possible. Say hypothetically that a monument of some Islamic text had been placed on public property 100 years or so ago, would you be ok with leaving that monument up for historical preservation?
The "In God We Trust" was added to our currency beginning in 1956 because it had become our state motto in response to the cold war. The US was trying to distinguish itself from the USSR which was an atheist nation. This was also during the McCarthy period when paranoia reigned supreme. I think we should have never added the phrase to our currency and we should remove it as soon as possible. Keeping church and state separate is vital if we ever hope to keep and secure more personal freedom. Our government was founded to protect our freedoms, not destroy them through religious rule as was demonstrated throughout history.