Critiques of Atheism

[KingMerv00]

The article said that the arsonist stole a motorcycle. Since the theists go by "You shall not steal,"...

http://www.holysmoke.org/icr-pri.htm

 

[Sledge]

Can we just go with

?

 

[laca]

Oh my... What does it say about me that it took reading 40+ posts to see the sarcasm in the OP?

 

[Lothian]

Theists usually respect other people gods, so even if he was a Jehovah Witness, for example, he wouldn't burn other people's place of worship

Read the bible much?

 

[DC]

It's time to round up those godless creatures and burn them, like it was done with witches, and it solved the problem, no more witches around. (OK some woman do still look like witches)

 

[Shrike]

That happened in Czech Republic, not in Norway.
He was an atheist by a strong implication: He stole a bike and had a modest criminal record. So he was an atheist.

Yeah so?
You know, from the view point of an atheist (well this one) a satanist is on the same side of the fence as a christian, muslim, moron, hebrew, etc.

 

[Achán hiNidráne]

So as I understand epicx's tirades:

1. Church burns down.
2. ? ? ?
3. Atheists are responsible.

Are you also the party responsible for the theft of my underpants?

 

[paximperium]

So as I understand epicx's tirades:

1. Church burns down.
2. ? ? ?
3. Atheists are responsible.

Are you also the party responsible for the theft of my underpants?

Since he uses Speculation based fantasies as his guiding light; he most certainly did...and he killed the dog as well...poor Mr Bill.

 

[zooterkin]

So as I understand epicx's tirades:

1. Church burns down.
2. ? ? ?
3. Atheists are responsible.

Are you also the party responsible for the theft of my underpants?

Were they on fire at the time?

 

[Schrodinger's Cat]

=epix;6270213]The article said that the arsonist stole a motorcycle. Since the theists go by "You shall not steal," I concluded that the arsonist was an atheist with no moral barrier between him and and other people's property.

The highest crime rates in the nation are in the most religious area of the country (the deep south). The lowest crime rate is in the least religious area of the country (New England).

The nations where atheism is most common (Scandanavia, the NL) have the lowest crime rates in the world.

So their religion says not to do something. So what? I was raised Catholic, and the Church is REALLY big on the whole "no birth control" thing. Yet virtually every Catholic I know, who is still a practicing Catholic, under the age of 50 uses birth control.

Just because you were trained with a moral standard doesn't mean you keep to it. The most likely predictor of whether or not someone will commit a crime is their socioeconomic conditions, not their religion or lack thereof.

Also, non religious people teach their kids right from wrong too. Most people, and this INCLUDES religious people, who don't harm others simply don't do so because they don't want to hurt other people, not because of fear of God's wrath or because they think God wants them to be nice.

Just because you don't care about other people and would steal our bikes and set our houses on fire if God didn't tell you otherwise doesn't mean everyone else works that way. Don't project your own lack of a personal moral center on others.

 

[KingMerv00]

The highest crime rates in the nation are in the most religious area of the country (the deep south). The lowest crime rate is in the least religious area of the country (New England).

The nations where atheism is most common (Scandanavia, the NL) have the lowest crime rates in the world.

One should hasten to point out that religion is not necessarily the cause of crime or that atheism causes a reduction.

 

[Schrodinger's Cat]

One should hasten to point out that religion is not necessarily the cause of crime or that atheism causes a reduction.

Indeed, I edited my post as you were posting yours just to clarify that I do not think religion causes crime. Only that it is not an indicator that one would not commit crime.

Poor socioeconomic conditions make people more likely to be religious, they also make people more likely to commit crimes. Thus a correlation, but not a causation.

I certainly don't think religion CAUSES high crime rates. Only that it fails to prevent it, as atheism, as a variable, fails to create an increased crime rate.

By the way, epix, my foster sister was mericilessly abused and almost killed by her Christian mother. And her mother has a rap sheet a mile long with about every crime you can imagine: theft, assault, drug dealing, etc.

 

[epix]

http://www.holysmoke.org/icr-pri.htm

So?
The statistic merely establishes the proportion of theists in the US prisons based on a different affiliation; it doesn't indicate any proportion between incarcerated theists and atheists. It only evidences that there are theists who don't go by the "You shall not steal" by the decision of the jury. You can actually infer (very roughly) from the statistic how many are doing time. 100, 1000, 10,000 . . . How many? What do you think? (Hey, can you dig out the info on the proportion of theists and atheists doing time? Then we can look at the proportion in the overall population and draw some conclusions about whether those 10 Commandments are still in effect. It would be also good to know whether there is any difference between felonies committed by theists and atheists. Can you ask your prison warden if there is a stat like that?)

When there is a call for building new prisons, you know that atheism is spreading around like a bubonic plague. How about that?

 

[KingMerv00]

So?
The statistic merely establishes the proportion of theists in the US prisons based on a different affiliation; it doesn't indicate any proportion between incarcerated theists and atheists.

Uh...it does exactly that. You clearly didn't read the link and/or you are a troll:

Catholic 29267 39.164%
Protestant 26162 35.008%
Muslim 5435 7.273%
American Indian 2408 3.222%
Nation 1734 2.320%
Rasta 1485 1.987%
Jewish 1325 1.773%
Church of Christ 1303 1.744%
Pentecostal 1093 1.463%
Moorish 1066 1.426%
Buddhist 882 1.180%
Jehovah Witness 665 0.890%
Adventist 621 0.831%
Orthodox 375 0.502%
Mormon 298 0.399%
Scientology 190 0.254%
Atheist 156 0.209%
Hindu 119 0.159%
Santeria 117 0.157%
Sikh 14 0.019%
Bahai 9 0.012%
Krishna 7 0.009%
---------------------------- --------
Total Known Responses 74731 100.001%

...

Note that atheists, being a moderate proportion of the USA population (about 8-16%) are disproportionately less in the prison populations (0.21%).

 

[epix]

So as I understand epicx's tirades:

1. Church burns down.
2. ? ? ?
3. Atheists are responsible.

1. Church burns down.
2. Motorcycle gets stolen.
3. Atheists are responsible (for deliberately witholding any additional information that might cast a negative shade on their system of belief).

Are you also the party responsible for the theft of my underpants?

That's a suggestion based on a wrong premise, coz no individual survives the lethal effects of stealing your underpants. And, please, abide by the Geneva Convention.

 

[paximperium]

1. Church burns down.
2. Motorcycle gets stolen.
3. Atheists are responsible (for deliberately witholding any additional information that might cast a negative shade on their system of belief).


That's a suggestion based on a wrong premise, coz no individual survives the lethal effects of stealing your underpants. And, please, abide by the Geneva Convention.

Hey it's the Atheist of the Week who covets other people's underpants.
Congrats on that title. Keep it up and you'll be Atheist of the Month.

 

[Resume]

This thread illustrates the problem with Phil Plait's recent admonishment to skeptics. It sort of cries out for one to be a dick.

 

[The Norseman]

That happened in Czech Republic, not in Norway.
He was an atheist by a strong implication: He stole a bike and had a modest criminal record. So he was an atheist.

Hey, this reminds me of a joke:

Q: What did the little atheist kid down the street get for his birthday?

A: Your bike.

 

[Madalch]

"How do you know he was a Scotsman?"

"He didn't put sugar on his porridge!"

 

[Olowkow]

Since the theists go by "You shall not steal," I concluded that the arsonist was an atheist with no moral barrier between him and and other people's property.

Wow. You're not embarrassed to put that in print? This is tribal stuff.