Atheists The Most Feared Group In America (?)

Started by stromboli, July 10, 2013, 01:11:04 PM

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surly74

Quote from: "josephpalazzo"Truth is the most potent weapon. That's why theists fear us.

they fear truth? or they have a different version of it?
God bless those Pagans
--
Homer Simpson

Solitary

Quote from: "surly74"
Quote from: "Solitary"How is it decided one is an alcoholic? Is it one drink too many, or something else? Is it when drinking controls one's life like religion does? Or is it just a crutch or slow form of suicide? I'm being sincere with this and want answers. Solitary


controlling your life is a big thing. i'm struck but the connection to religion...i've never heard it put like you just did. I have heard that religion is a substitute for alcohol in the recovery process but for whaterver reason never thought in those destructive terms.


Thanks for answering my stupid questions!

Both of my parents were alcoholics, and drug users, that was legal when they were young. I think it was a way to escape they learned from the Great Depression. The ultimate escape from an insane world is suicide. Life can really be a bitch at times, and using drugs or alcohol for that reason and not for recreation can be destructive. When I've been in really bad times I have used alcohol or weed to relax, but when it no longer worked I'd quit.

However, I do believe there is a chemical imbalance that causes drug or alcohol addiction. I've had PTSD for most of my life and finally got treatment for it. I can't believe a little pill can make such a difference. It supplies a hormone or chemical that was out of balance in my brain. So much for a soul that isn't created by the brain.  :shock: Good luck with must be a problem if you go to AA with their religious BS. Have you ever talked to your doctor, not psychologist, about something you could take to help? Pharmacology has come a long ways even in the last few years.
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.

Jesus

Quote from: "stromboli"Intellectual atheists have a nasty habit of thinking that atheists are smarter, more rational, or generally superior to theists. They themselves would also benefit from acknowledging atheists are not a homogeneous group.


Intelligent? Meh, perhaps rational is a better word choice. One doesn't need intelligence to rule out the inconsistencies in religion.
I like to appear in various forms, but my favorite is as a toast.

Solitary

Oh what the hell does Jesus know? :roll:  Just kidding! Good point! Most people think intelligence is how much you know. I agree with Einstein: "Intelligence is what is left after you have forgotten everything you have learned." This is the very reason he would never take an IQ test. Look how many Republican candidates that ran who are well educated and have even gone to more than one college and say the dumbest things---"Drill baby drill!"  Or that are Republicans:


10. Chuck Winder (R-ID): "I would hope that when a woman goes in to a physician with a rape issue, that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage, was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage or was it truly caused by a rape. I assume that's part of the counseling that goes on." - March 2012

 9. Rick Santorum: "I think the right approach is to accept this horribly created — in the sense of rape — but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you... rape victims should make the best of a bad situation." - January, 2012

8. Mitt Romney: "I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that's the America millions of Americans believe in. That's the America I love." – January 2012

7. Mitt Romney: "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there." — January 2012

6. Roger Rivard (R-WI): "Some girls rape easy." – October 2012

5. Mitt Romney: "I went to a number of women's groups and said 'Can you help us find folks?' and they brought us whole binders full of women." —October, 2012

4. Richard Mourdock (R-IN): "I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen." – October 2012

3. Todd Akin (R-MO): "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways of shutting that whole thing down" - mid 2012 Senate Campaign

2. Mitt Romney: "As president, I will create 12 million new jobs." —Second presidential debate

1. Mitt Romney: "Government does not create jobs. Government does not create jobs." — 45 minutes later (Oct. 16, 2012)

Honorable Mention:
I cannot drop this subject without giving honorable mention to one of my favorite Romney quotes of 2012:

Mitt Romney: Mocking a group of NASCAR fans wearing plastic ponchos, "I like those fancy raincoats you bought. Really sprung for the big bucks."





rollin:  Solitary
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.

josephpalazzo

Quote from: "surly74"
Quote from: "josephpalazzo"Truth is the most potent weapon. That's why theists fear us.

they fear truth? or they have a different version of it?

Well of course they have their own version. It goes without saying. But their leaders always fear that we will put a dent on their truth and consequently draw their members away. So it is always imperative for the leadership, be it the minister, the pope, or the slew of apologists, to guard against such a possible hemorrhage.

Plu

Quote from: "Solitary"How is it decided one is an alcoholic? Is it one drink too many, or something else? Is it when drinking controls one's life like religion does? Or is it just a crutch or slow form of suicide? I'm being sincere with this and want answers. Solitary

There will never be a good way to decide when one is considered an alcoholic until society reaches the point where it realises that alcohol is a hard-drug on par with cocaine and not some jokey-fun liquid.

Ask yourself: how much cocain does one need to use to be considered an addict? I think it pales compared to how much alcohol people we consider "regular people" consume.

Seabear

#21
My theory is that on some level or another, theists fear the implications of atheists rather than atheists themselves.

Specifically, the implications should we be right. In many cases, they have lived their entire lives being convinced that something is true, and that its evil to even question its veracity in any way. And here we are, doing just that, in very effective ways, in some cases. And, without any lightning bolts from heaven.

I think that most people are subject to rationality, at least to some extent. Our logic has to raise some uncomfortable questions in all but the most obtuse theist. It's emotionally disturbing for them - what if maybe, just maybe, we are right? Everything they have lived their whole lives believing and emotionally relying upon MIGHT just be a lie. It's not hard to see how that sort of emotional insecurity could result in hate.
"There is a saying in the scientific community, that every great scientific truth goes through three phases. First, people deny it. Second, they say it conflicts with the Bible. Third, they say they knew it all along."

- Neil deGrasse Tyson

Jmpty

If you continue to do something, IE, drink alcohol, or use drugs, that causes you problems, you have a problem. It's not how much, or how often, but what happens when you use these chemicals.
???  ??

Plu

Quote from: "Jmpty"If you continue to do something, IE, drink alcohol, or use drugs, that causes you problems, you have a problem. It's not how much, or how often, but what happens when you use these chemicals.

By that logic, a lot of people are alcoholics, even though most of them don't consider themselves to be alcoholics, nor does society.

Colanth

Quote from: "stromboli"I also wonder how much bias is built into the study. The University of Tennessee, far as I know, is not a hotbed of atheism. Your thoughts?
Quite a lot of bias, since most of it is written from the Christian perspective.  For instance, it's not that atheists are smarter, it's that people more able to think rationally don't accept religion as sensible.  The average intelligence of atheists (IOW, averaging the intelligence of all atheists, if that were possible) is probably higher than the average intelligence of all theists, but Christianity reverses cause and effect, the same way this study does.

BTW, I've seen the Christian fear of not believing in any kind of god - some of them just can't fathom it and some, while they can accept it - at least intellectually - are terrified by it.  One fundy actually told me that claiming to not believe in any supernatural being is a form of terrorism (because hearing it terrified him).
Afflicting the comfortable for 70 years.
Science builds skyscrapers, faith flies planes into them.

Solitary

Quote from: "Jmpty"If you continue to do something, IE, drink alcohol, or use drugs, that causes you problems, you have a problem. It's not how much, or how often, but what happens when you use these chemicals.



 :-k  You may be on to something there. I never thought of it like that. I do believe there are addictive personalities, and that fits right in with that hypothesis. Solitary
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.

stromboli

I've been involved with a few xtian sects and Mormons both, and there are some intelligent people there, many smarter than me. Many people live in religion because it is easier than confronting it. I have always believed the truth is that far more people are agnostic or nonbelievers than studies show, because a large number of them don't reveal their true beliefs.

My experience is that most people tend to ride the tide, so to speak, rather than buck it, simply because it is easier. In my case it took a fairly drastic situation to confront my beliefs. Lacking that, people don't bother. An example is the fact that more than 40% of Mormons are inactive- almost half, even though their numbers are counted as members. They just don't care.

I also believe that the numbers of atheists are rising partly because it no longer carries the stigma it once did, and people who were neutral are less afraid to identify as one.

Jmpty

Quote from: "Plu"
Quote from: "Jmpty"If you continue to do something, IE, drink alcohol, or use drugs, that causes you problems, you have a problem. It's not how much, or how often, but what happens when you use these chemicals.

By that logic, a lot of people are alcoholics, even though most of them don't consider themselves to be alcoholics, nor does society.

That's correct. A lot of people are. It's somewhat accepted in society to drink till you puke, crash your car, beat your wife, spend the rent money at the bar, get divorced because your spouse can't deal with your drunk ass, lose your job, etc. Some people continue this pattern until they die from it.
???  ??

Jesus

Quote from: "Solitary"Oh what the hell does Jesus know? :roll:  Just kidding! Good point! Most people think intelligence is how much you know. I agree with Einstein: "Intelligence is what is left after you have forgotten everything you have learned."


I completely agree. There are distinct differences when comparing intelligence, wisdom, and rationalism. Intelligence is perhaps the one that is most straightforward; it merely pertains to the amount of information one has in his or her mind, whilst wisdom is the application of intelligence during specific times. Oh, and rationalism falls in between the lines of common sense and intelligence.



Oh, and I remember reading that Einstein was a mediocre student at his school, earning average marks and performing poorly in many subject areas.
I like to appear in various forms, but my favorite is as a toast.

Plu

Quote from: "Jmpty"
Quote from: "Plu"
Quote from: "Jmpty"If you continue to do something, IE, drink alcohol, or use drugs, that causes you problems, you have a problem. It's not how much, or how often, but what happens when you use these chemicals.

By that logic, a lot of people are alcoholics, even though most of them don't consider themselves to be alcoholics, nor does society.

That's correct. A lot of people are. It's somewhat accepted in society to drink till you puke, crash your car, beat your wife, spend the rent money at the bar, get divorced because your spouse can't deal with your drunk ass, lose your job, etc. Some people continue this pattern until they die from it.

At least we agree there :) So many people still see alcohol as some harmless pastime.