Well let's say some drug-dealer gives fifty bucks to charity. You're proud of him for giving fifty bucks to charity, but you're not proud of him as a whole because he's a drug dealer.

Oh puh-leeze! At least wait to be attacked before nailing yourself to a cross.

All that is good comes from God. In all people. God is in you.

Christian.

ok, but what does that have to do with a person's beliefs about the existence of said God?

again, youll need to expand on this comment for us dumb people:

If your life is as you describe, and you are dedicated to truth, service, peace, acceptance, forgiveness, a bit of work, charity, selflessness, then....what makes you think you're an atheist?

I'll start at the end. You can't ask the question because you don't believe in God. So any answer is meaningless because by your own belief system nothing could motivate your choices.

What if "God" is just a name for a force, like gravity, that tends to influence you toward behaviors that we might characterize as manifestations of love like charity and kindness?

Why?

I have no idea why you think because there might be an "all-powerful" being He would choose to use this power in some way on you. Or why you believe I'd believe that.

This is very nice to read.

Very true.

I am an atheist, but I still think that this question is always dumb. If there is/were a God, then it is reasonable to assume that his logic is way beyond us.

Therefore, all "Why does God ..." questions instafail.

Sigh. This whole thread is like the Greek God of Semantics got wasted and barfed all over the place.

"I win the argument because I think this word means this!"

"No, I win the argument because I think this word means this!"

I wonder if you would ask that question to a religious person who doesn't believe our good morals come from One ultimate God. Then....wait what makes you think your a ...?

your godliness cant even get you out of tit-for-tat...

not to be a huge nit, but this is an hilarious sentence to write when you're trying to convince someone that you speak english better than they do. if you were in high school english, this sentence would have a large red line through it.

it never ceases to amaze me that loving christians can't rise above petty poo flinging like this. you'd think having the creator of the universe on your side would make you a better person, but your vitriols is every bit as bad as us bitter nonbelievers.

its almost as if...

Hi Stu.

You said this to the OP:

Not aimed at me, sure, but that which you do to the least of my brethren, that you do unto me. The remark is incredibly condescending at the very best. At worst, it's a naked insult to any non-believer. I think there's an archaic sense of 'atheist' that connotes evil, but it is both archaic and, I believe, adjectival. So when you say:

... it's actually kind of funny. Especially in light of the 'god isn't by necessity a deity' foofarah.

You try to backtrack a little with:

... but that really doesn't satisfy. Because even if it's true, I'm still an atheist. Either you insulted atheists as a class, or you misused the term. It's pretty trivial stuff, but I'm absolutely loving the extreme contortions you seem prepared to adopt to avoid climbing down off a point.

Aaaaand just to be a prick:

Though I can't say I like the style.

I think the "Tame_Dueces" and "atheist" for "atheists" might actually be someone "impersonating" Stu. Both accounts have been logged in at the same time, which seems like a lot of effort.

+10 and i loled when i read it

but not that im a gramatical wizard, and could give a **** less because im posting on an internet forum and everyone knows what prax meant but i gotta hit you up

but this is an hilarious

but this is a hilarious

Actually, it depends somewhat on accent, etc: http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexper...tgrammar/hotel

Though I did wince a bit when I saw it, and I am a grammar nit and I do care, a little - someone has to. In my old job I actually sent around a lengthy email with instructions on the correct use of the apostrophe. It was surprisingly well received.

Its the fact that she claims to be a writer, amongst 14 other things, that made me laugh so much when I read it.

AIF i agree and i guess if the H is silent it would make sense, but i think it would still be improper.

just because i do not speak french does not mean i can pronounce 'my friends' spelled 'mes amis' or phonetically spoken may ahme, because that would mean my friend, where my friends would be mays ahme with the s carrying over to the a, to pronounce a Z sound.

i think if the case is that they are using 'an' instead of 'a' it is because they are pronouncing the word wrong. the way we use a and an is based on the spelling, not by the pronunciation i think, but could be wrong


/derail


yes god is proud of you OP

and after actually reading the link i would appear to be wrong.

disregard my above post

i say "ilarious" fwiw

FYP