Astaroth wrote:
snip
Not you, Dylan. I didn't quotes you. Your big boo-boo was supposing that Atheism could be used as a front for greed and such in the same way as a dogmatic religion. I was just compressing my rants into one post.
For one, I'M NOT A FUCKING ATHEIST. Agnosticism is very different, I think Atheists made just as much of an intellectual faux pas as fundies.
Atheists can be jerks, but then it doesn't matter that they are Atheists unless they do it
for Atheism, does it? Religion can be used as a front for something, Atheism can't. If they had political motives, their Atheism is irrelevant, especially if their motives are obvious. Hitler was a (shoddy) vegetarian, but it had nothing to do with his deeds.
Compare and contrast the only
Atheist Pro-Life League there iswith the barrage of religious Pro-Life groups and smell the difference. The Atheists can't say that God loves life, or that Mother Theresa said that the loss of any child was horrible, but have to rely on evidence and some bits of non-religious, society-wide ethical mores such as "the inherent value of all life". They oppose the actions of many religious pro-life groups (abortion-related violence for example) as much as they oppose abortion.
I'm not getting offended, I just think you repeatedly fail to understand what others have said in this thread already. It just happens that when talk of how bad religion is pops up, someone inevitably badmouths Atheism, as if it's a religion. I have no clue why they do it. Is it an attempt to equalize all belief systems and make them all look bad? Make belief systems irrelevant?
I think faith can be alright, but rigid, unbendable dogma beyond a few timeless principles is a great evil. "Love your fellow human being" sounds good, but "kill your kids if they fuck up" doesn't fit in with it. That way I can pop out an unwanted kid, abuse him physically and emotionally until he or she misbehaves, and then take them to get them stoned to death. Kind of a lengthy abortion.
I'm just ranting at everyone who said anything I don't quite agree with here, amalgamating them into one big religious group.