How the Web is killing faith

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He probably POed Billy & he done his usual whining & had Simpson banned.

 

I find it disturbing that this man thinks he has "apostles."  I just hope he isn't a Baptist. My one feeble attempt at humor after a long day. His posts are sometimes very disturbing.

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Your attempt made me laugh.  

bless your heart

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Indeed DF,
Each theist on this board is actively, though inadvertently, contributing to the overall demise of religious faith and power by trying their best to defend the absurd and impossible on the internet.

good on us robustus WE WIN yea!!!!

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Fortunately for all freethinkers with internet access, this is now a problem of the distant past. Even though I had never been a believer (or maybe because of it) I didn't know the word atheist or what it was until I saw a friend of mine blogged about realizing that he was one about twelve years ago.

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Christian Sarcasm?

 

Sarcasm, in general, is the language of the devil. - Thomas Carlyle

I love this!

 

GodBlock is a web filter that blocks religious content. It is targeted at parents and schools who wish to protect their kids from the often violent, sexual, and psychologically harmful material in many holy texts, and from being indoctrinated into any religion before they are of the age to make such decisions. When installed properly, GodBlock will test each page that your child visits before it is loaded, looking for passages from holy texts, names of religious figures, and other signs of religious propaganda. If none are found, then your child is allowed to browse freely.

 

http://godblock.com/

Dark can I buy you a copy to install on your computer?

I think Dawkins should require all atheists to maintain the software on their computers at all times.

 

What a great freekin' idea this software.

 

This is the funniest thing I've heard yet on this religious forum.

 

Thanks darkangle you da man. LOL

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The fact you call it "abandoning faith" shows you have NO idea about atheism/atheists.

Originally Posted by Bestworking:

I only 'know' what i read on forums.  I would say about 90% of atheist have all said they believed at one time and then lost faith. I have only seen one or two who claimed to never have any belief to start with. Of course, that would require having parents who also were atheist so as not to influence the person.

 

What I 'know' about atheism is people complaining about something they consider to be a fairy tale. I really don't see a point for that.

 

The 'godblock' app mentioned above would appear to appeal to people afraid their children might read something they don't agree with.

 

Makes as much sense as an 'atheistblock' for those Christians afraid their kids might find out that religion is not mandatory.

 

So as I said, the web is not killing religion, it's allowing more expression of ideas about religion.

 

Pick and choose or ignore, your choice.

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Google the rate at which non-religious and atheist numbers are rising and religion is falling.

 

In this article they use data from the latest U.S. Religion Census to show that the fastest growing religion is Islam. I wonder what the Christians will do when the tables are turned and they are in the minority here in the U.S.? I think they will change their views on Church and State.

 

 

From the article:

Back in 1990, one survey found that 86 percent of all Americans identified themselves as "Christian" of one sort or another.

 

By 2008, only 76 percent of all Americans identified themselves as "Christian" of one sort or another.

 

Meanwhile, atheism and the "not religious" are experiencing huge gains in numbers. For example, the U.S. Census Bureau says that the number of Americans with "no religion" more than doubled between 1990 and 2008.

 

Even many of those that still apply the label of "Christian" to themselves are not very committed. The latest U.S. Religion Census found that approximately 150 million Americans are not actively engaged with any religious community at all. That is nearly half of the population.

 

So America is changing.

 

It is becoming less religious and it is becoming less Christian

http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/239780.html

 

Do you know what happened between 1990 and now? The internet...

Originally Posted by DarkAngel:

I don't know if the atheist number actually doubled or if more people are just comfortable now saying they are. Much like gays coming out in force. I can agree with the lack of activity in religious communities, many people skip church because it has also become a political machine and not a religious one.

Just FWIW:

The survey mentioned used refusals to answer as part of the 'no religion'.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...ited_States#Religion

 

The United States government does not collect religious data in its census. The survey below, the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) 2008, was a random digit-dialed telephone survey of 54,461 American residential households in the contiguous United States. The 1990 sample size was 113,723; 2001 sample size was 50,281.

Adult respondents were asked the open-ended question, "What is your religion, if any?". Interviewers did not prompt or offer a suggested list of potential answers. The religion of the spouse or partner was also asked. If the initial answer was "Protestant" or "Christian" further questions were asked to probe which particular denomination. About one third of the sample was asked more detailed demographic questions.

Religious Self-Identification of the U.S. Adult Population: 1990, 2001, 2008[67]
Figures are not adjusted for refusals to reply; investigators suspect refusals are possibly more representative of "no religion" than any other group.

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I think it might be a bit of both. I know many atheist that have just recently come out but have been atheist for most of their lives. Then I know many that have been introduced to more information and then began to loose their faith. After a while and with much anguish they had to admit they were living a lie and could no longer believe in the myths of religion.

 

 

 

I think it might be a bit of both. I know many atheist that have just recently come out but have been atheist for most of their lives. Then I know many that have been introduced to more information and then began to loose their faith. After a while and with much anguish they had to admit they were living a lie and could no longer believe in the myths of religion.

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There are probably a lot who found faith by linking with others through the net. I don't see how any extra information would cause someone to lose faith, but I'm sure it happens.

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Actually they gave it a separate category.

 

None/ No religion, total	14,331	29,481	34,169	138.4%	8.2%	14.2%	15.0%	6.8%
Agnostic+Atheist	1,186	1,893	3,606	204.0%	0.7%	0.9%	1.6%	0.9%
Did Not Know/ Refused to reply	4,031	11,300	11,815	193.1%	2.3%	5.4%	5.2%	2.9%

 

It simply says they suspect it is more representative of "no religion"

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Many people simply believed what they had always been taught in church. Sometimes things didn't add up, but they really didn't have a lot of resources to argue against the church. They were also told that they just had to have faith and to not question. When they were exposed to the internet and had so much information at their finger tips, they educated themselves and realized that many things the church had told them was not accurate or flat out lies. This helped them move on from religion.

Sounds like you are fumbling the ball dark angle. Turn on your software. LOL

The Christian body as a whole doesn’t read atheist hogwash on the internet to begin with so the atheist uses religious forums to peck at Christians.  The Christian forum is an interesting read while something like the skeptic forum is rarely visited once the atheist finds a forum such as this one.

All the hard work by atheists to proselytise  on here falls on deaf ears.

we can tell you aren't paying attention... by how you respond to every post!

What I 'know' about atheism is people complaining about something they consider to be a fairy tale. I really don't see a point for that.

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 It's been explained to death why atheists post here. It's been explained to death why atheists HAVE to pay attention to religion. It's too dangerous to ignore. Why are you here? Why do you feel christians are allowed to come on here and "complain" that "they've taken gawd out of our schools and gubment and we need to put him back", but atheists aren't allowed to speak out against that?

 

How is it that you think christians are allowed to be here lying about the things atheists believe, and how they and others live? For example, do you think it's wrong to speak against a man, and the people who allow him to do it, that says gays should be dropped on an island and left, until they "die out"?  You don't oppose such ignorance/hatred cloaked in religion? I'd hate to think what he wants to do to atheists and the agreement he'd get from "christians".

 If people aren't allowed to speak out against that and other issues on this and other forums, then where?   

 

 

I don’t reckon Christians lie about what atheists believe

Best you need a copy of godblock software. Dark angle is a source for it.

Originally Posted by DarkAngel:

The web made things easier but there has always been the information counter to any religion. I have never been one to follow something just because someone tells me to. If I have questions, I ask, usually to the point of becoming annoying. LOL

I'm not sure that people 'move on' from religion as much as they do self reflection. It may be they move to another form of gregarious activity where they feel part of the group. Or they find that a chosen faith is not welcomed  in certain groups.

Do you think that  being educated would tend to make one move away from religion? While statistics show a higher prevalence of religion in what we would consider the uneducated regions of the world,  people of faith exist in even the most advanced areas of modern technology. So I don't think that ignorant=religious nor do I believe that educated=atheism or agnosticism.

Remember that back during the times of Christianity's beginnings, the most educated people were the religious leaders

Originally Posted by Bestworking:

One, it may have been explained to death, but I have not been reading long.

Two, I am here to observe interactions among people.

Three, I have not said anything about atheists speaking out. I said that to complain about the existence of something you don't believe in is pointless.

Four, lying is wrong by anyone.

Five, I have no problem with the gay lifestyle. The preacher who wants to drop them on an island is an idiot.

Six, speaking out about stupidity is one thing, lumping all people into a group based on the actions of a few is wrong.

 

If I said all atheists want to kill religious people, would that be an accurate statement? Of course not.

 

People naturally don't like someone different from them. Genetics or rearing, people like to organize things into neat little cubby holes. If someone messes up the system, they feel threatened. I think gays and atheists should not be shocked by the response they receive. They have now labeled themselves as different. At least, they have the option to 'hide from view' as it were if they want to. Someone born with a birth defect or the 'wrong' color of skin has no choice but to be harassed from day one.

So in my opinion, while we are taught to accept every one as they are, something is hardwired that causes us to reject what we choose to be wrong or different.

I can sympathize with the frustration as I have one of those 'can't hide it' problems, but lashing out in anger does not help the cause.

Discuss the situation without attacking each other and you may find common ground.

 

I am not speaking only to the atheists here, but the 'holier=than=thou' group as represented by the Vega persona  or the Bill Gray's as well. They need to sit back and read their own posts objectively. Those posts show a lot of fear that what they deem as 'right' is being threatened. Fear leads people to do stupid things. Like round up gays and put them on an island.

 

I hope this made some sense, I seem to be rambling a little. I also hope I did not offend or insult you in any way. That was not my intention.

You done good zazu.

As an apostle of Rram let me jump in here as in DeepFat.

To pretend you are concerned about gay folks is pretentious to say the least.

The conservative religious assemblage where I attend has several gay members and I myself have gay friends and work associates.  I attended a Christian college where there was one gay dude on our floor in the dorm and he was not singled out in any way.

To pretend you atheist dudes are saving gays from Christians is BS.

 

Originally Posted by vega:

If this is directed to me I would prefer to actually hear from this 'DeepFat'.  I have not seen that screen name here.  Is this someone that rarely posts?

....not directed at you zazu. DeepFat was a poster of days gone by and he was always saying " if I may jump in"  Get it now?

Originally Posted by vega:

Not really. Your post is disconnected from the topic.

 

I am not atheist nor Christian.

DeepFat was an old dude on here who along with Bill held the rare title of “never been banned”.

One of Deep’s friends got banned one day for some infraction and out of love for this individual Deep cast himself headlong into the pit of hell by uttering the ”F” word. At first there was a pall of silence hovering over the forum while Deep contemplated wide-eyed the vile evil deed he had done.

   After what seemed an eternity, suddenly cries rose up, “ban him ban him”. the sin was so great the moderators cried who will I set free DeepFat or the devil and the forum shouted “give us the devil” and they have been giving us the devil ever since.

I seem to remember learning the word atheist long before I attended Deshler high school. I'm not sure what grade, but it was on a spelling list, along with the definition, as it was with all words on the list. And A. Robustus, you didn't know what it meant until 12 years ago? Hmmmm.

Just as all your attempts to impress people here falls on deaf ears Rramm? You should know all about that. 

His reading comprehension appears to be non existent. He tries so hard to look important but sadly misses the mark every time. 

What's a dark angle? Is that some kind of evil, new math you created in your head? Turn on your brain vega. LOL

Vega is busy rubbing suntan lotion on the chicks backs.

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Yup. Having not been indoctrinated with mythical silliness in the first place, the word "atheist" was not part of my vocabulary until relatively recently. It wasn't necessary. I'll let Sam explain:

In fact, "atheism" is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a "non-astrologer" or a "non-alchemist." We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs. - Sam Harris

No actually he's busy online right now pretending to be a woman. Feeling especially feminine today Rramm? You can play pretend all you want but nobody's buying it. 

I said that to complain about the existence of something you don't believe in is pointless.

I am here to observe interactions among people. I think gays and atheists should not be shocked by the response they receive. They have now labeled themselves as different. At least, they have the option to 'hide from view' as it were if they want to.

At least, they have the option to 'hide from view' as it were if they want to. Someone born with a birth defect or the 'wrong' color of skin has no choice but to be harassed from day one.

So in my opinion, while we are taught to accept every one as they are, something is hardwired that causes us to reject what we choose to be wrong or different.

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Since we don't believe in gods you won't ever find an atheist complaining about their existence. If you're here to "observe" why comment on other's posts? Yes, anyone with any conscience and human feelings should be shocked by the things  people "receive" from the radicals that preach/speak out for their demise, destruction, or the denial of their rights. How have WE labeled ourselves as "different"?  Besides not believing in a god how are we "different"? There is nothing wrong with who we are and there is no reason in the world for us to choose to hide. Hide from who? The bill grays of the world? Not going to happen.

The "hardwiring" comes from the same type of ignorance that makes that preacher think he can put people he doesn't like on an island and let them die out. That kind of hardwiring/thinking is what allows bullies to go after others. That kind of hardwiring/thinking is why some think they're better than others and their religion is the only "right" one. That kind of hardwiring/thinking is what allows some to oppress/kill others, and that kind of hardwiring/thinking is what needs to die out.