faithless (minority, atheist, recall, catholic, God)

[faithless]

To Sky 87: You do read English, don't you? From your answer, I have to wonder. There is a distinct difference, sir in lack of belief in god and a denial of the existence of god. A good many atheists do not understand what people mean by god in the first place, and a large number of professed theists are unable to give a clear picture of what their god might be. If you, a theist, believe in an anthropomorphic god, then I would have to demur. If you believe in some bodyless being that exists only in space and without corporeal being, I also have to demur, not because I deny such existences, but because I cannot find any evidence to make such a claim remotely credible. Give some evidence. Lacking that, I am WITHOUT BELIEF, which is clearly different, Sky 87, from denying the existence of said god. This is not a contradiction, although you may persist in your confusion. As far as you not considering atheists a danger, good for you, and thank you, but you are mistaken when you say that fundamentalists are not interested in doing away with atheists, i.e., killing them. As I write this, there is a trial going on in Afghanistan against a man who is accused of converting from Islam to Christianity. The penalty, should he be convicted, is death. Muslims who leave the fold for any other religion or, heaven forbid, atheism, are condemned to death. Now, as to Christians, there are a good many Christians who "know" the truth and the right, and they will not long countenance the existence of heathen and hence communist atheists, because atheists pose a danger in their failure to believe in the "correct" god, that is, their god. Atheists often use their intellects, such as they are, to come to their unbeliefs, and intellect is not looked on favorably by fundamentalists of whatever stripe. Sir, when people are certain in their faith, it very often devolves into intolerance, and intolerance further sinks to repression. The repressed often balk, and when this happens, and the religious hold ultimate power (remember, I said when [if] the fundamentalists take complete control), they will see to it that those repressed (atheists) are done in. You spoke of Galileo in passing, and said those things don't happen anymore. Maybe not here in the West, but I maintain that the reason is because the church no longer holds political power. It took them 450 years to apologize for what they did to Galileo as it was. The religious right in this country is making great inroads into the government and how laws are made and upheld, and if you think that is a good thing you and I continue to have vast and deep differences. These people are not content to believe as they wish, they are bound that you and I believe the same way, and they are trying to make their idea of sin the law of the land. I give you their attitudes regarding abortion, gay rights, god on money and in the Pledge of Allegiance, as well as stem cell research, suicide, drug use, and on and on. They want you and me to conform to what they deem "right." If you think they are going to let us get away with breaking their laws, should they take complete control, you are sadly mistaken. They will be inflicting their righteousness on you as well as me, an admitted and open atheist. I invite you to read the hate mail on, for instance, The Flying Spaghetti Monster site, if you think it is only "extremists" who would kill anyone who dares to mock their idea of god. Flaming on the net does not clearly translate into actual violence, but it gives one a good idea of the hatred out there, just waiting for some underwritten authority. I give you the torture our country now not only countenances, but supports. Just who do you think are the people doing the nitty gritty, a bunch of morons from West Virginia? No, they are the rank and file, doing what they think the higher ups want them to do, and they are not wrong in that belief. People high in the government sanction this and defend what is being done, including the idiot in the WH, King George. They claim it is not torture, because "we do not torture." I would like Alberto Gonzales, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, George himself to undergo waterboarding and then tell us it is not torture. As for your statement "just to let you know," don't talk down to me, sonny. If you want to make a point, make it, but keep a respectful tone in your words. I do agree with you that the world needs to (and does, indeed) fear America. Just who do you think is taking America down this dark and dismal road? It is an idiot who is one of those frightening Christians I have been talking about. If they have their way, and it is not at all impossible that they will, what with their control of the voting process not to mention the judiciary, both houses of congress, and nearly all of the electronic media, they will be completely out of control, and people like you and me had better lay very, very low...

[faithless]

To Super Universe: I would point out that the attitude of our government in 1945 compared to the idiots running the country today is considerably different. The people in power today are interested only in increasing American power and influence in the world, and they do not care how they do it. Force is clearly the first method they use, and persuasion or more subtle ways are beyond their comprehension. They use power because it is available and is much easier than diplomacy or a soft sell. Thinking is so damned much work! Why not use force, especially when you have a powerful armed force that is blindly following what they perceive to be a just cause, having been seduced by lies and chicanery. I am interested in just what you think the war in Iraq is about. If not oil, then what? What are we doing over there, other than spinning our very expensive wheels and demonstrating to the rest of the world each and every day the limits of our military power? If you think we are there to free Iraq, you have been smoking the wrong kind of weed. We are there because we are driven by a group of idiots who have made the greatest mistake in the last 100 years, a mistake that will ultimately make the tragedy of Vietnam look mild.

[Super Universe]

You shouted blanket statements against the US. How does our current administration have anything to do with using atomic weapons against Japan in WW2?

The military is not blindly following anyone, they are not seduced or tricked. They are in Iraq to remove a man to killed more Muslims than any other person ever, one who used chemical weapons on children, one who's sons kidnapped women off the streets and raped them.

The Americans are also building schools, improving the infrastructure, and putting themselves on the front lines to battle the insurgency. If the Iraqi's truly want peace then they need to stand up and make it happen in their own country. The insurgents live among them, surely they know who they are just as you know your neighbor.

I assure you the American's over there want nothing more than to be finished with it and go home but they will tell you that they cannot leave early. The job is not done until it's done.

What is the war in Iraq about? After 9/11 America realized that we cannot just sit back and allow dangerous world leaders to threaten instability in the world and the US. And Saddam Hussein tried to kill President Bush's father.

I don't know what kind of freedom, if any, Iraq will have. But I know that there is a thousand times more hope for it than there was with Saddam Hussein.

If you think this war in Iraq is the greatest mistake in the last 100 years then you need to review history.

[Bright-ness' Shadow]

This thread is off topic. I'm closing it