If they are equal in every respect except (a)theism, this necessitates a religious theist and atheist who follows revealed religion or an theist and atheist who both reject revealed religion.

I would never vote for the former, and the difference between the latter is of no importance to me.

You should be more careful with the h-word. You see, some of us have principles - not arbitrary and useless emotions connected to buzzwords.

If it makes you feel better I think everyone is a hypocrite from time to time...myself included.

My point was that if you are willing to reject a candidate for the sole reason that they believe in God you don't really have much moral capital to criticize people for rejecting candidates for the sole reason they don't believe in God.

You seem to be lementing the fact that atheists are being held up as immoral (and thus unfit for public office) by people who believe in faires(which is your derrogatory term for God) but it seems you would be content if the situation was reversed.

How is that not being hypocritical? Because your veiw is necessarily right and it doesn't matter what other people think?

Now I am going to toss out another emotionally connected buzzword. If you arn't hypocritical you certainly are elitest.

Was this point ever offered? I can't really answer for imaginary statements that have never been put to paper.

We're not talking about people who believe in God, we're talking about Christians. These two terms are not interchangeable - so either you rephrase or there is nothing to answer.

Christians don't believe in fairies so we arn't talking about them either.

If we assume a scale of supernatural beliefs with Christianity in one end and deism in the other where we measure necessary suspension of disbelief, fairie-belief is going to be hovering right around the Christianity-mark...Irish mythology requires little more than the Bible on such a metric.

Angels, fairies, oh my!

It's amazing that someone wouldn't trust me because I don't believe in fairy tales. Backwards much?

Comments like you made above only cast atheists in a bad light.

Do Christians who say others beliefs are myths cast Christianity in a bad light? Its not like its just atheists who look at others beliefs as fairy tales. Pretty much all groups do it.

I mean if im honest i think its a myth or fairy tale Jesus came back from the dead. I can keep quite about it or use tact when discussing it. But in the end i think it. Just like they would think my view that it didn't happen is a fairy tale.

You have a point.

I just think his comment was a stupid thing to say in a thread about atheists gaining political acceptance from religious people. You should hope people like him don't show up at your rally because he certainly isn't further your cause.

Not so sure about that. I think the atheists (or believers) who mock or belittle don't help much and i'd agree mostly they are hurting their case.

But part of the cause should be being treated in the same manner as everyone else and being allowed the same truthfulness when expressing views.

He stated a fact. He thinks Christainty and other views on God are fairy tales. The reality is many Christians think that view is a fairy tale and they express it with not much thought of the hypocrisy of telling others not to. Maybe by him expressing it and pointing out to others that they have the same type of thoughts will allow them to see that hypocrisy.

Not sure why both sides cant agree to disagree and allow each other to view and truthfully say the others views are myths and fairy tales. But i dont think someone saying my views are myth is belittling so ymmv.


Besides its not like atheists, through their long years of comparative silence, were ever accepted or trusted in the US.

Yes, because I'm consistent and refuse to give the Bible special status I am a militant, aggressive and intolerant man.

You called me elitist. If it is elitist not to believe in tales of talking animals, magically summoned bears, evil spirits, superhuman strength, clairvoyance and supernatural realms - then I'm certainly elitist. The bible contains all of this.

Oh, I know most Christans masquerade it as something else and tend to ignore most of the parts I listed. But cherrypicking is not an intellectually endearing trait in my book.

This isn't ridicule, this isn't aggression - it is reason.

I am an atheist and I don't care at all what religion someone is. My favorite political candidate is very religious - Mr. Ron Paul. I have friends who are both intelligent and god fearing. If someone wants to believe in something, so long as it doesn't hurt me, then power to them. I really mean that.

What I do care about is having things like "In God We Trust" or "One Nation Under God" part of our national mottos/songs/currency/etc. Why does my passport have several references to God in it? This is a blatant disregard for the separation of church and state. This is absolutely not okay with me at all as I don't believe in any of these things. I am not religious and this should not at all be part of being an American citizen. I don't understand how this ever happened and I want it to go away. And fortunately, since atheists are a very fast growing demographic it is very likely that we will in fact do away with this garbage eventually.

We need more Atheists in political positions.

Sorry man I just can't differentiate Christianity from other fairy tales/myths.

Except that not believing in God shows rational thought in process, which most would say is a necessary ability to hold political office. While believing in God shows a blind-spot in a person's rationality, and that could be enough to not trust that person to hold political office.

So your comparison is not really relevant at all.

I would probably reject any candidate who rejected the possibility of the existence of God for all the reasons you stipulated. Now if a candidate said he did not believe in any particular religion I don't have a problem with that. If they come out an say they are atheists then I will reject them because true atheism is an untennable position for any rationale person.

By "atheism" I mean taking the veiw that there is no God or it is likely there is no God.

There is no logical reason to believe there is a Personal God; i.e., one that has a vested interest in your life. No reason at all.

However, just like it would be wrong of me to say "there definitely is no God," it would be equally wrong of me to say, "there definitely is a God."

In other words, I can't say for sure that God doesn't exist. But I also don't know for sure if dragons actually exist or have existed. I can, however, make a reasonable assumption based on experience, reasoning and common sense.

You understand this means that the world as we know it would not exist without irrational people? Does that freak you out?

Santorum: Separation Of Church And State 'Makes Me Want To Throw Up'

persecution complex much?

Is this the first time you've paid attention to American politics?

Atheist spew crap like this all the time but they never make any compelling arguments to back up their claims. They want to be believed simply on the basis of faith.

I haven't read what Santorum had to say, but I have read the bill of rights and the phrase "seperation of church and state" isn't in there.

lol

greatest troll of all time

So you want him to make a list of zero reasons to believe in god? Let me help you. Here it is: