Excuse me Chuck Pelto, I can only apologise on my personal lack of response to this thread, but I have been and will be very busy. So don’t expect another response from me for a while, but I will try, I promise.
Anyway, this thread has somehow gone from multiculturalism to atheism. My thoughts on the matter … you are right to say that religions are more organised, and much much better at organising than atheists. The only thing that makes someone an atheist is disbelieve in a god. And this is why secular society should be wary of extremist or simply religious groups.
But if, and this is a big if, a war between one religion and atheists were to break out, the atheists would have to fight to defend themselves. Yes they wouldn’t be organised, but where would there limits be? Atoms colliding against other atoms. They wouldn’t be fighting for a believe but simply for life itself. They would also be fighting with the knowledge that they are fighting against idiots. No matter how many weapons they have.
Chuck – “The future, from my perspective, i.e., Christian, is hardly ‘dark’. A bit messy, here and there, but hardly the doom you seem to think.”
Are you sure its the future I seem to think? Sarcasm is easily misunderstood.
Chuck – “After all, from the atheist perspective there is either (1) eternal nothingness or (2) the unfortunate discovery that Christianity—or some other group—was correct; albeit too late for a change of heart. The former is merely ‘dark’. The latter is literally horrific; a much worse form of ‘dark’.”
This is just an attack on atheism, which has nothing to do with the point at hand. But whilst where here:
You see I have the, oh? What would you call it? “self-indulgence”? To think that what some (most) people believe in is rubbish. Just as you are either a Christian or a Muslim, and have the “self-indulgence” to choose what you believe in, the consequence will be bad if you happen to be wrong.
The difference between me and you is I’m not self-indulgent enough to want heaven, or even a reasonable after-life. And I am not a coward, afraid of God, or afraid of being wrong, but standing up for the truth, which I believe is right.
Chuck – “Atheists are probably the most self-indulgent people on the face of the planet.”
What do atheists believe? Many believe in scientific theory. The same scientific theory that save thousands of lives a day in medicinal, health practices, surgery and diagnosis. The same scientific theory that puts moving images on my TV, and makes planes fly.
I am not self-indulgent enough to pick and choose what scientific theory is right and wrong. It’s saved my life before, and that’s enough for me to trust all scientific theory – even the stuff about there being no God.
Hey, I would have LOVED a good stab at an after-life, the whole idea of a god is a lovely idea that I would love to believe in. But I’m not self-indulgent enough to believe in something just because I want it too be true.
How can you call atheism self-indulgence? Putting my faith in science that might one day discover a cure for cancer. Will religion discover a cure for cancer? No, it will lie to the dying person to make them happy.
I’m not going to have an after-life, but I believe in the truth. And I’ve never felt better knowing that there is no chance of me being deceived. Just atoms.
So I suppose your right about atheists being bad organisers, and not really having to care for the future. But they are human, they want to have emotion and make memorise. So when the time comes I’m sure they will do a damn good job of fighting.
Chuck – “I can only wonder why….
…NOT!”
No, No, No. Sarcasm just doesn’t suit you.
