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Religion is not evil

Akhenaten said:
It would be, which is why I didn't say it.

What you've described as the seeming implication in what I said is just a poorly constructed straw person, and they always have a certain oddness about them.
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Then perhaps you should be more specific, because outside of the stamp collector analogy, there wasn't a lot for me to address.
 
Audible Click said:
This Communism reference is absurd and irrelevant and has nothing to do with the subject at hand. We are discussing your claim that atheists have a belief system.
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If you won't even read the posts carefully, then how can you argue against them.

I quite specifically said that atheism is not a belief system. Then I said that it is possible for a belief system to incorporate atheism, and gave communism as an example of this.

Another poster did claim that atheism was a belief system, and I contradicted her.

This would be antithetical to everything I've read about atheism and to what I know on a personal level. Atheism is the absence of a belief in any god/gods/deity/Bozo the Clown etc..
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Westprog, they're not gonna let you shoehorn in "Atheism == Communism" to make what seems to be just a gigantic and terrible et tu quoque. They are wise to your game.
 
westprog said:
If you won't even read the posts carefully, then how can you argue against them.

I quite specifically said that atheism is not a belief system. Then I said that it is possible for a belief system to incorporate atheism, and gave communism as an example of this.
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What's this then?

westprog said:
A belief system that includes, as a necessary element, the non-existence of god is an atheistic belief system.
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westprog said:
Akhenaten said:
It would be, which is why I didn't say it.

What you've described as the seeming implication in what I said is just a poorly constructed straw person, and they always have a certain oddness about them.
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Then perhaps you should be more specific, because outside of the stamp collector analogy, there wasn't a lot for me to address.
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As Sir Humphrey Appleby GCB, KBE, MVO, MA (Oxon) would say, "NMP".
 
welshdean said:
The devastation of AIDS [...] And on. And on.

This behaviour is in no way counteracted by the very small percentage of religious orgs that offer aid with no strings attached. To be brutally honest, I'd rather see 10 tents less on a plane to an area devastated by an earthquake than see another witch burning video like the one posted above. And for the few that get a personal satisfaction from their own religion then watch the 3yr old girl have her clitoris removed in 2nd vid and tell me what did their god do to stop it. What has any religion done to condemn and more importantly, stop this kind of behaviour. For chrissakes, the pope nor head of the C of E condemned Islam for 9/11. If they can't or won't police themselves or each other then let's be rid of them all. They are nought better than smallpox.

Please don't tell me that religion is benign, you are far too intelligent to support that pov.
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Lamuella said:
in the post you quoted, mention is made of religious organizations giving aid with no strings attached. Can you point me to an example in this thread of someone saying that "Religion can only be all harm"?
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I'm sure arthwollipot doesn't need my assistance in this, but the mention you mention has a context:

This behaviour is in no way counteracted by the very small percentage of religious orgs that offer aid with no strings attached. [...] Please don't tell me that religion is benign
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Or did you plan on insisting that nobody has posted the string of characters you invented and stuck quote marks round?
 
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Akhenaten said:
As Resume has pointed out, it's nothing of the sort.

Have you never heard of religious communes?
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FFS, what's the point? I specifically stated when I first started on this point that I was referring to Marxist communism. Clearly I needed to say it every time.

Do you seriously see communism as something that people do as an alternative to religion?

Really???

That's bizarre.
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I suggest you look at, oh, say, the history of Poland and it might give some insight into how people actually behave.
 
westprog said:
I've explained this in detail now. I'm happy enough to engage with contrary arguments.
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Your statement:

Belief in god = non belief in god

then divide by "in god"

therefore

belief = non belief.
 
Beelzebuddy said:
Westprog, they're not gonna let you shoehorn in "Atheism == Communism" to make what seems to be just a gigantic and terrible et tu quoque. They are wise to your game.
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I find it hard to imagine that anyone would be so logically challenged as to think that I was arguing that atheism = communism, especially since I specifically said the opposite. OTOH, I've noticed that what people say seems to matter a lot less than what people think people say.

7alj5b
 
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tsig said:
Your statement:

Belief in god = non belief in god

then divide by "in god"

therefore

belief = non belief.
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Now this has to be a script, surely? I'd hate to think that a real person came up with it.
 
westprog said:
Because that is a belief system which includes, as an essential element, atheism.

For some reason, when discussing whether religion is overall harmful or not, what people do instead of religion shouldn't be considered in any way. That seems to me to be an over-theoretical approach.
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Really? The early Christians were communists.

Act 2:44 "And all that believed were together, and had all things in common."

Act 2:45 "And sold their extra possessions and goods, and they shared with all as every one had need."

Act 4:32 "Now the whole group of believers were one in heart and soul, and nobody called any of their possessions their own, instead, they shared everything they had.
 
tsig said:
Really? The early Christians were communists.

Act 2:44 "And all that believed were together, and had all things in common."

Act 2:45 "And sold their extra possessions and goods, and they shared with all as every one had need."

Act 4:32 "Now the whole group of believers were one in heart and soul, and nobody called any of their possessions their own, instead, they shared everything they had.
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If you want to continue with that story, it ends with them no longer believing in God and putting people in Gulags. Your connection, not mine.
 
westprog said:
FFS, what's the point? I specifically stated when I first started on this point that I was referring to Marxist communism. Clearly I needed to say it every time.
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Seems so.


westprog said:
I suggest you look at, oh, say, the history of Poland and it might give some insight into how people actually behave.
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I know how people behave. We've had them here for ages. Maybe even longer than Poland.
 
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westprog said:
If you want to continue with that story, it ends with them no longer believing in God and putting people in Gulags. Your connection, not mine.
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Christians became atheists and put people in Gulags?
 
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