Atheists vow to fight monument rejection in Levy County, Fla.

[Triumphant_Loser]

I think that it would be cool if it was declared as a religion. That way, American Atheists could register as a church and get tax reductions.

Maybe I've been going about this "paying taxes" thing all wrong. Everyone... I have an announcement. I've just had a vision from God.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

However, that totally discredits the whole notion that Atheists are being discriminated against, when 'anybody who is not a Christian' is being discriminated against. Do you see my argument?

The fact that people other than atheists are discriminated against is completely irrelevant to the question of whether atheists are being discriminated against.

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

To be brutally honest though (and sorry if this gets me into deep poo)...

The other day, I was walking around my local shopping centre...I passed by our local Medical Centre, read the doctor list and every doctor's name (10 of them) were all Muslim.

It's actually an exercise in total futility to try and find a doctor anywhere who isn't Muslim or Chinese.

A lot of our parliamentarians are Muslim, and those who hold high social office are mostly Muslim...

You walk down the street and playing 'spot the caucasian Aussie' is also an exercise in futility...

There's a Mosque on just about every corner, and most shop fronts are written in Arabic now...Australia has become Iran/Lebanon v2 and we are only visitors in our own country. I now understand how the Aboriginals all felt when Cpt Cook arrived...

If we had a law that said 'only those people born in Australia can hold positions like doctors, lawyers, politicians etc' I would be extremely happy.

We are facing a soft invasion from within due to the thousands of 'economic refugees' we let into our country every year.

They mustn't be too 'bad off' if they can go and open up a doctor's surgery based on overseas qualifications that our government doesn't even recognise, but turns a blind eye to, just because they are Muslim.

Muslims get preferential treatment in our country and the white Aussie is discriminated against really bad! (reverse discrimination).

So, I just thought I would say this.

 

[Revoltingest]

Oh yeah, the last time I said 'Atheism is a religion' on here, I was shot down in flames by everybody.

Perhaps it was context.
Legally, atheism is treated much the same as a religion.
Atheism and religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
But in a non-legal context, atheism doesn't qualify as a religion.
Religion | Define Religion at Dictionary.com
Despite this, atheism might be what you put in the blank on forms demanding
that you divulge your religion. It isn't formally correct, but it fills in the blank.

Note:
I once had surgery for a broken leg scheduled at Good Samaritan Hospital in
Baltimore MD. They required a religion, but I didn't have one (atheist, you know), so
I invented "Born Again Pedestrian". They accepted it....probably just to get rid of me.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Note:
I once had surgery for a broken leg scheduled at Good Samaritan Hospital in
Baltimore MD. They required a religion, but I didn't have one (atheist, you know), so
I invented "Born Again Pedestrian". They accepted it....probably just to get rid of me.

With a broken leg, "Lapsed Pedestrian" probably would have been more appropriate.

 

[Revoltingest]

With a broken leg, "Lapsed Pedestrian" probably would have been more appropriate.

But I knew I'd be born again!
There are now 3 other adherents.
I'm a nascent cult leader....woo hoo!

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

The fact that people other than atheists are discriminated against is completely irrelevant to the question of whether atheists are being discriminated against.

Fair enough. That is logical.

 

[Darkness]

I am not opposed to the erection of a monument to the atheist tradition, but I do think this issue exposes an aspect of hypocrisy among the atheists of today. It appears to me that atheists often abuse the idea of atheism as a positive belief, and as a negative non-belief, to suit the purposes of the task at hand. So for example, if in a debate about religious violence somebody brings up the genocide of Maoist China and Stalinist Russia, most atheists will deny that these are examples of atheistic violence. They will claim that it is Communist violence and that nobody can kill in the name of a negative non-belief. Yet, those same atheists will also protest that atheists are being discriminated against when a news story like this comes along. Of course, I am speaking anecdotally and from my own personal experience of how I reacted when I was a metaphysical naturalist. My point is not to knock atheism, just a vulgar sort of it.

 

[Enai de a lukal]

Atheists vow to fight monument rejection in Levy County, Fla. | Religion News Service

And the 'persecution' against atheists continues. Atheists face more discrimination in this country probably more so than any religious group. Christians are allowed public displays of nativity scenes, the ten commandments, posters, billboards, and anything else selling Christianity, yet atheists get railroaded every time they try to do the same. And Christians want to cry persecution against them? Dark ages, here we come!

Its sad how most people are OK with inequality so long as it favors them, especially folks who belong to a religion which so often attempts to claim the moral high ground. Instances like this give the lie to this pretense.

 

[Enai de a lukal]

I am not opposed to the erection of a monument to the atheist tradition, but I do think this issue exposes an aspect of hypocrisy among the atheists of today. It appears to me that atheists often abuse the idea of atheism as a positive belief, and as a negative non-belief, to suit the purposes of the task at hand. So for example, if in a debate about religious violence somebody brings up the genocide of Maoist China and Stalinist Russia, most atheists will deny that these are examples of atheistic violence. They will claim that it is Communist violence and that nobody can kill in the name of a negative non-belief. Yet, those same atheists will also protest that atheists are being discriminated against when a news story like this comes along. Of course, I am speaking anecdotally and from my own personal experience of how I reacted when I was a metaphysical naturalist. My point is not to knock atheism, just a vulgar sort of it.

Yeah, this isn't really relevant to the issue at hand.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

To be brutally honest though (and sorry if this gets me into deep poo)...

The other day, I was walking around my local shopping centre...I passed by our local Medical Centre, read the doctor list and every doctor's name (10 of them) were all Muslim.

It's actually an exercise in total futility to try and find a doctor anywhere who isn't Muslim or Chinese.

Hyperbolic, much?
What exactly is your issue with Chinese or Muslim doctors? Or is prejudice on nationality or religious belief fair game?

A lot of our parliamentarians are Muslim, and those who hold high social office are mostly Muslim...

And from hyperbole to outright fallacy.
I'd offer the following list of Australia's actual parliamentarians as evidence to the contrary.

Senators & Members Search Results – Parliament of Australia

I might also offer the following reaction to Australia's first Muslim front-bencher daring to use the Koran in his swearing in ceremony;

Muslim MP Ed Husic Abused For Taking Parliamentary Oath on Koran

You walk down the street and playing 'spot the caucasian Aussie' is also an exercise in futility...

Again, this is completely hyperbolic. If you are talking about particular suburbs, within particular areas of Australia, then it's pretty true.
So what?

There's a Mosque on just about every corner, and most shop fronts are written in Arabic now...

Again, this is completely hyperbolic. You go and take photos of each street corner with a mosque, and I'll take photos of each one without one. Or we could do shop fronts.

Australia has become Iran/Lebanon v2 and we are only visitors in our own country.

Okay, so the Lebanese are the largest immigrant group from the Middle East, as far as I am aware. They are also the most religiously diverse group from the Middle East, and a good percentage of Lebanese are Christian, rather than Muslim. So, is your problem with Middle Eastern immigration, Islam, Arabic-speaking, or anything which doesn't conform to how you think things should be?

I now understand how the Aboriginals all felt when Cpt Cook arrived...

Hostile? Defensive?

If we had a law that said 'only those people born in Australia can hold positions like doctors, lawyers, politicians etc' I would be extremely happy.

And I'd wonder where the hell Australia forgot Australian values.

We are facing a soft invasion from within due to the thousands of 'economic refugees' we let into our country every year.

They mustn't be too 'bad off' if they can go and open up a doctor's surgery based on overseas qualifications that our government doesn't even recognise, but turns a blind eye to, just because they are Muslim.

Let me get this straight...you assume that the refugees landing on our shores by the thousands are then opening doctor's offices, and more than that, the government actively encourages this by not regulating qualifications?

First, we are ranked (approx) 47th in terms of the number of refugees we take in compared to capita.
List of countries by refugee population - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If I did the ranking as a comparison of space, or of wealth, we slot in even lower. We're hardly a country that should be shouting out the world that we're being flooded by refugees.

Second, the requirements and recognition of overseas qualifications are pretty stringent. Do you have any source at all for your assertion that overseas doctors are practising in Australia without qualification on any sort of scale, and moreover that the government is aware of this, and turning a blind eye to it due to their religion?

Muslims get preferential treatment in our country and the white Aussie is discriminated against really bad! (reverse discrimination).

Who is doing the discriminating? You make it sound like systemic discrimination...so where is it?

So, I just thought I would say this.

I just thought I'd call you on it. There might be people who haven't been to Australia, and they might assume the picture you paint is accurate.

In terms of how this relates to the OP, I'm really not sure. I am guessing you are relating the 'problem' that minorities cause. Suffice to say, I think you've offered barely the most tenuous of links, and then used the thread as a means of venting a bunch of your own personal frustrations, without feeling the need to offer anything much in the way of evidence for anything you've asserted.

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

Just say that I am racist and we'll leave it there.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Just say that I am racist and we'll leave it there.

It doesn't seem to only be race you have an issue with.

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

I live in Sydney, so the problem may just be confined to here, not Melbourne.

Okay, I am racist and an Islamaphobe. I believe we are being invaded (I can see it) and nothing will change my made-up mind.

I mean, ten doctors at my local medical centre all with Islamic names. I'd just like to see one caucasian Aussie in the mix...just one...that's not asking too much.

However, this has nothing to do with the topic, you are correct, so I shall drop it and know to keep my racist views to myself in future.

 

[Triumphant_Loser]

Just say that I am racist and we'll leave it there.

Well...the first step to solving the problem is to admit you have one, I guess.:areyoucra

 

[camanintx]

*Since when was Atheism considered a 'religious minority group'?

Atheism doesn't have to be a 'religious minority group' to be discriminated against religiously when the person doing the discriminating because of their own religious beliefs and not the beliefs of others.

However, that totally discredits the whole notion that Atheists are being discriminated against, when 'anybody who is not a Christian' is being discriminated against. Do you see my argument?

Does it discredit the claim that blacks are being discriminated against if the discrimination affects all non-white people?

 

[camanintx]

The other day, I was walking around my local shopping centre...I passed by our local Medical Centre, read the doctor list and every doctor's name (10 of them) were all Muslim.

How can you tell someone's religion from their name? I know quite a few people with middle eastern names that are Christian.

 

[Revoltingest]

How can you tell someone's religion from their name? I know quite a few people with middle eastern names that are Christian.

Chinese family names with 2 words are often Muslim.
Although that trend disappears in 2nd generation types here.

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

I have said all I am going to say here.

I know what I know and I don't have a problem with what I know.

 

[Revoltingest]

I have said all I am going to say here.
I know what I know and I don't have a problem with what I know.

Ain't none of us perfect.
Might as well say what you think.
Even I have pi**ed off a few here before.
Yes, it's true...hard to believe, but true!