could you guys have just taken the option to die if it was anthrax and avoid the fiasco? i'd prob take the 1/zillion chance and move on with my day...

we did, but my boss called the store he ordered the package from and asked if anything theyd put in it could cause there to be a white powder (bc it was on the clothes he bought) and they said no. then they called back 10 min later and said they had the police on the other line. so really it wasnt our choice.

Yeah. Hated Ash Wednesday. Raised Catholic, became non practicing, then agnostic and now athiest. Took a long time to feel like it was ok. Family pressure/guilt/cultural pressure/parental loyalty is a bitch.

HA HA RELIGION

ditto.

They're all cults.

Yeah, members of my family are still very devout every weekend goers. I haven't practiced since I was 18. Definitely causes issues with my family but I just avoid conversations about it at all costs. And thats pretty much true of all my personal beliefs as it basically goes against everything that my family believes, lol.

Meh, to me its whatever. I fully support people that believe in their specific religions. The only major issue I have with those that practice is the whole pushing their beliefs onto others(though this is just as true of agnostics and atheists).

I do know that the catholic church gets a ton of negative press, and all of it well deserved and I'm not for a second defending the negatives that it has. But individual parishes and many people within the church do so much for so many people. I don't know how to hate on a group of people that volunteer to go to areas of poverty and held build homes and give weeks to months of their lives helping people. Again, that does not excuse the evils that occur, but those people are not part of those evils, they are just members of a church.

I don't know. I have a belief that church is a very important component in this world and it has an extremely good role for many. That's not to say you should go join one or I'm a hypocrite for not practicing, I just think there is a purpose for many.

The whole "cult" thing. Meh, that's not for me to comment on or decide.

Sounds similar but I stopped at agnostic because it doesn't require believing anything, thus it appeals to my sense of not giving a ****. Say you're atheist and you risk offending the religious or even worse having them engage you in dialogue about it. Ugh.

Having kids are for fish, but I do understand the idea behind raising a child in a religion as a way to help them learn right from wrong etc. I don't know if there is an easy way to do this in a godless setting.

atheism probably the least self conscious cult

oh look Ray projecting onto people who don't believe the same thing he does again

what do I believe again?

Yeah. I grew up around a lot of Mormons, including my best friend for many years. They certainly believe some pretty whack **** but they are also mostly really nice people who tend to be ethically very strong and tend not to hurt other people.

I assume you're some of kind of Christian because you keep attacking atheists or people who find problems with Christianity. And before you say "wrong, lol @ u," then maybe you should stop posting that way if you don't want to be taken that way.

The superior option is to not waste a single minute thinking about what label to put on yourself.

+1

Atheism doesn't require you to believe anything either. It's right there in the name: "A-" = "Lack of -". There are a lot of people who confuse atheism with anti-theism, or who assume outspoken, militant atheists like Richard Dawkins et. al. represent the way anyone who chooses to identify that way, or who doesn't believe in the Judeo-Christian God, feels.

getting mad at religious people is strange to me.. a lot of time disagreement comes down to either unfair generalizations or a misunderstanding of what either side believes

by far the most annoying thing super religious people do is infect Facebook feeds with dumb quotes and pictures

That's Apatheism.

Boom! Labeled.

Meh, I don't know. Having self-awareness is usually a good thing. But even if thats not the point I can see that having a stance and getting into a rational discussion can lead to a larger degree of learning when the topic comes up.

Though with all that said, I do completely get the "I don't give a ****" stance as I take it on many things.

ok then I may convert to atheism if it doesn't require any actual work.

religious facebook statusses are certainly annoying but i'd say the most annoying thing religious people do is purposefully stunt the growth of young minds or attempt to stunt scientific progress in general.

You use this word "cult" but I'm not sure you know what it means.

Atheism is the idea that one accepts that there is no God. Nothing more than that constitutes atheism. Atheism is neither a religion nor a system. It also doesn't carry any intrinsic devotion. There's actually no formality to the ism qua ism at all beyond that conclusion.

How individual atheists choose to express themselves and conduct themselves is up to those individuals, along with how those individuals choose to organize, but those are chosen actions upon atheism, not of any element of atheism.

not labeling oneself and being self-aware are not mutually exclusive

belief