marc9000 writes:
No one particular religion is permitted to be established in the U.S. Atheism has ALL the characteristics of religion. I know the standard talking point is that it's just a lack of belief, so it's not a religion.
Yes, it is simply a lack of belief and no requirement for anyone to follow it to participate in any of the fields of science. In fact, the only real requirement to be allowed to participate in the fields of science is that the individual actually does science....this is where ID fails.
marc9000 writes:
Then why would a"lack of belief" cause so much organization? Why are there so many atheist groups?
How many Marc? Your claim of so many atheist groups does not hold any water, especially when compared to the number of religious groups in the United States. The wiki entry for "List of Secularist Organizations" (which includes American Atheists) has about 40 groups listed under the United States. I would not even want to attempt to count the number of religious organizations that play in politics.
List of Secularist Organizations
Also, you state, "Why are there so many atheist groups"? But, then why are there so many religious groups? More atheist groups have sprung up in recent times because it is slowly becoming acceptable to be an atheist. Atheists are looked at by so many individuals with disdain, pity, and sometimes even hate simply because they don't bow to an invisible sky-daddy/mommy. Did you see the survey out of Canada which placed atheists as the equivalent of rapists?
Source
Of course, when individuals are being given no trust, they will defend themselves using the political structure as it was designed...to protect their rights from those who would remove them. You have a right to religion, just as atheists have a right to be free from your religion. I, for one, agree with your groups paying
your own money to place Christian things up (even in capitol buildings). However, atheists need to be afforded the same freedoms to celebrate the Winter Solstice (as an example). Here is the kicker....neither group should be funded by the government for their displays, private funds only.
marc9000 writes:
They have political motives the same (or worse) than any religion, and the founders of the U.S. knew what a worldview, not only a religion, would do to a free society.
This is just inane...everybody has a political goal and to think otherwise is ignorant. Atheists current political motives rest around gaining freedom and trust for a hated minority, as well as equality for all....technically, there is nothing wrong with these political motivations, while the current Christian motivations are to remove freedom from specific groups and create a separatist world. This is evidenced by Faith's insistence that she would love to live in a theocracy where Christianity is the ruling authority...Yay Dark Ages!!!
marc9000 writes:
"Constrained"? When it allows atheist activists like Barbara Forrest to be a board member of a group that influences public science education?
Yes, constrained to methodological naturalism...that is the constraint science must operate under. As for board members, science does not give one rat's behind (or even two) about your religious affiliation or lack thereof...all it cares about is that you are doing proper science, which requires methodological naturalism. Allowing an atheist on the board doesn't affect it, as long as she trusts in the principles of science and how science should be completed.
I get it, you are afraid that atheists are coming in and ruining your once great nation. However, you would be wrong in your assumptions. Atheists, at least the majority of them (such as myself), could care less what you choose to believe. If you want to believe an ancient man, with a flowing white beard created man and animals and all that is...then destroyed his creations, just to make them back up again. then feel absolutely free to do so. However, this also means that I have the freedom to know that the evidence for such a proposition is shaky (at best) and to deny the existence of said ancient man until actual evidence is put forth outside of a bronze age text. The only time I have an issue with the religious is when they attempt to shoehorn non-science into science class. This has nothing to do with my atheism, but it does have to do with my love for science and the benefits that the study of the natural world has given us. If you want to claim to be doing science, then there is a process in place that will show you if what you are doing is science. Until then, your claims are mere window-dressing placed in front of religion to try and hide it before someone notices the lack of evidence. Stop turning your views into a cross-dresser to try and get them accepted into a field where they do not belong.
The theory of evolution by cumulative natural selection is the only theory we know of that is in principle capable of explaining the existence of organized complexity. - Richard Dawkins
Creationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night. - Issac Asimov
If you removed all the arteries, veins, & capillaries from a person’s body, and tied them end-to-endthe person will die. - Neil Degrasse Tyson
What would Buddha do? Nothing! What does the Buddhist terrorist do? Goes into the middle of the street, takes the gas, *pfft*, Self-Barbecue. The Christian and the Muslim on either side are yelling, "What the Fuck are you doing?" The Buddhist says, "Making you deal with your shit. - Robin Williams
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