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all 41 comments

[–]a-t-k 6 points7 points ago

Atheists, Christians, Muslims, even fanatics are but humans; all humans are able to engage in hateful murder as well as peaceful protest. So there is no contradiction there.

The dogmas of most religions lend themselves to abuse to provide triggers, if not reasons, for hate and violence. Atheism on the other side is no reason to engage in hateful murder, though - atheism is not a reason to do or don't do anything (except not believing in a god).

[–]gleegy[S] 0 points1 point ago

the government uses anti-muslim propaganda to secure public support for the so-called war on terror, which has resulted in the deaths of far more innocent people than even the most perfectly executed terrorist attack. by playing into this anti-muslim frenzy atheists are helping to justify imperialistic wars in north africa, the middle east, and south west asia. so as much as you would like to believe the only thing atheists do is 'not believe in god', its simply not true. passivity is a killer.

[–]a-t-k 0 points1 point ago

If you read my post carefully, you might (or might not, because you seem to have a prejudice against anyone who may be outspoken against muslims) recognize that I don't blame the hatred and violence on religion, but on those who abuse it - and they abuse it in very much the same way that the US government abuses the fact that most of their voters are indifferent about anything that's more than a few miles away, let alone on another continent.

I am german, so it's much easier to see through that propaganda of hatred and bigotry disguised as patriotism that is fed through the media to you guys. Anyway, atheism is not antitheism (even though both are often promoted by the same people).

So the more interesting question is not the one you asked in your headline but: how do atheists, muslims, christians, buddhists, jews, and so on get along great in one country and promote one another's genocide in another (granted, atheists don't promote genocide as a rule in those countries, because most of them are persecuted or even killed there)?

[–]thatwasinpoortaste 5 points6 points ago

What is there to reconcile?

[–]okayifimust 5 points6 points ago

I have yet to see atheists storming a foreign embassy and murdering people because somebody somewhere has insulted the holy Ath. (Or said something bad about Dawkins. Or Atheism)

It's like asking why cancer is so bad - not everybody who dies did have cancer, and sometimes people survive cancer, after all.

[–]gleegy[S] -3 points-2 points ago

What about when the united states drops incendiary bombs on civilians accross the middle east, south west asia and north africa? Isn't this violence, too?

[–]okayifimust 6 points7 points ago

Are you retarded?

Or did I just miss where the USA did so in the name of atheism and with the express purpose of wiping out religion?

[–]thatwasinpoortaste 3 points4 points ago

There was an atheist coup over the weekend. We deposed the current constitutional regime and installed an atheistic bicameral legislature governed by science and reason. We made theists wear little pieces of flair, rounded them up and sent them to science fairs...

[–]okayifimust 4 points5 points ago

and as usual, nobody sent me the memo.

[–]ClaytonG91 2 points3 points ago

you really got to talk to that secretary of yours...

[–]okayifimust 2 points3 points ago

I thought I'd just burn down a house in a different city that has the same street number as her place...

[–]gleegy[S] -3 points-2 points ago

you are retarted, read my response to clayton above.

[–]thatwasinpoortaste 2 points3 points ago

Your response to Clayton is below, you unregulated cock monger.

[–]thatwasinpoortaste 4 points5 points ago

Yeah, but we're on the winning side, making us the writers of history so there is that. Also, we aren't doing it based on the teachings of some seventh century kid toucher that had a boner for cats.

[–]gleegy[S] -4 points-3 points ago

Honestly, I've met so many people who identify primarily as atheists and they barely bat an eye when they hear a dozen people got blown to pieces becase they were amonst a possible insurgest (who was defending his country against foreign invadors).

[–]thatwasinpoortaste 4 points5 points ago

Meh. Atheism is a rejection of theistic claims. there is no mandate to respect human dignity, work peacefully to resolve disputes or even to wash your hands after taking a leak. Those are traits of humanism. hell, I'm an atheist and i think drone strikes are hilarious.

[–]ClaytonG91 2 points3 points ago

of course it's violence, but America is not an atheist country, it is not of the atheist for the atheist by the atheist. If you're looking for why America does things you need to look at capitalism and businesses. I can think of no example in American history where we've gone to war because of Atheist views because if we did, we wouldn't. Atheist views are pretty much, "is what you're doing hurting people? No? carry on."

[–]gleegy[S] -4 points-3 points ago

I just want to point out that there is an underlying islamophobia here because the current wars are in the same tradition of western imperialism which was rooted in religion and capitalism (and if you study history, you know that bush, too, firmly believed that god was on his side) but, yet, when america continues to wage wars against muslim people and spread their hateful anti-muslim propaganda, atheists soak it up like sponges and regurgate it in the most vile manner.

[–]okayifimust 3 points4 points ago

you just claimed Bush's belief that he had god on his side is evidence for these wars to be fought on grounds of atheism?

[–]ClaytonG91 1 point2 points ago

I think you're looking too much into what is published and what is said by the main steam media. Here on this particular subreddit we bash them because it's funny. this is not a serious place this is not an intellectual place. there are pockets of it around in this subreddit but mostly we come here to laugh and have a good time at the expense of religious idiots.

Current events have a lot of anti-american/anti-muslim news and hate flying around because of that video on youtube and the incredibly disproportionate response by muslim communities in the middle east. It may take some digging or even outright asking users of this subreddit, but you'll find posts about peaceful protests that we value and acknoweldge and you'll find some really supportive stuff about the counter protests in Libya.

Americans are very much afraid of muslims and the media has whipped the american populace into a frenzy i think everyone can agree on that. However, if you're going to single out Atheists as people who sling out vile anti-muslim propaganda you have to remember that in parts of the middle east Atheists are being stoned by the governments of these countries. let alone the private killings, beatings, and general harassment we have to suffer at the hands of our fellow muslim citizens in these countries. If you want to call us out on our mudslinging please do so, but bare in mind that while we throw out words they are literally throwing rocks, and yes you bet your ass we have a bone to pick about it.

[–]gleegy[S] -2 points-1 points ago

i just thought atheists on this subreddit would be against being led around by the nose, but apparently they aren't capable of critical thought, just dogmatic atheisism and 'having fun'.

[–]WeaponsGradeHumanity 2 points3 points ago

Atheism has no dogma. That's kind of the point.

[–]ClaytonG91 1 point2 points ago

... troll ...

no, we are. in our private lives we are and do. however! as i said, this is our place! this is our club house where we can share inside jokes and laugh at everyone and be stupid and laugh and share crude jokes. We know how to think, we know that what we're saying isn't 100% true, however, we say it because it's funny. because it makes us laugh, because we are so sick and tired of dealing with idiots who have stupid fucking imaginary friends that convince them that calling us faggots, idiots, morons, physically attacking us and in some cases murdering us is perfectly acceptable if not commanded!

DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE HATED BY YOUR OWN MOTHER!? Because honestly if you haven't been sat down and looked in the eye by your own fucking mother and have her tell you that she hates you, cannot understand why you're so fucked in the head, and why you chose a life of sin then you cannot and will not understand this subreddit.

But... we deal with that in the real world. we smile, we argue where possible, we fight legally for our rights as human beings and we move on. However... here in our clubhouse we can say what we want, we can talk shit all we want and we can do whatever we want because we don't have to deal with stupid theists and their imaginary friends.

you want real discussion and debate that's fine. but don't fucking insult me and the rest of the atheists here by saying we just get lead around by the nose because we choose to laugh at stupid fucking muslim idiots who over react to having their stupid fucking prophet mocked on a stupid fucking video. You want to make fun of famous atheists go right the fuck ahead no one fucking cares, you are not going to be threatened, harmed, or killed. we might mock you, we might laugh, we might even send you crude drawings of ourselves fucking your mother in the ear, but we aren't going to storm your embassy and murder your fellow countrymen.

P.S. there is no such thing as dogmatic atheism. we trust science, if something comes back wrong we change it. we don't stick to anything we adjust and reevlaute anything and everything based on evidence.

[–]gleegy[S] 0 points1 point ago

nope, not a troll. sorry but everyone deals with the things you mentioned in all sorts of simmilar ways. and who said this was your 'clubhouse' for sharing crude jokes, etc? The exact description is:

Welcome to r/atheism, the web's largest atheist forum. All topics related to atheism, agnosticism and secular living are welcome here.

I can post things related to atheism and hope to find an intelligent conversation, although, apparently its not possible. I, too, am an atheist. I haven't believed in god for 10 years. I have the same set of beliefs as you, but I've also recognized the limits of atheism. Please tell me, is it a concidence that the media obsesses over violent muslims but fails to talk about muslims who get murdered by the united states precisely because of their religion? Or that the media doesn't even mention when a dozen muslims get incinerated by a us bomb dropped from a drone? Or when muslims are spied on in their communities, rounded up and sent to die in guantanamo without charge or trial? Now, if its not a coincidence that the media focuses more on instances of 'muslim rage' than on instances of muslims being persecuted then I would hope, above all, a ration atheist would question why thats the case. Because, in fact, it is the case and, luckily, I have an answer for you: the United States Government is at war with a large part of the muslim world, it is at war for resources and geopolitical influence throughout asia. Now, when the media goes into a frenzy about these angry muslims they are also whipping the public into a frenzy, and this frenzy helps to provide the ideological support (islamophobia and anti-muslim sentiments) for continued war in the middle east. The ideology says that we have to bring democracy to these backwards people, that we have to free them from corrupt dictators and protect their women. All of these reasons are blatant lies and racist, and I could write forever here about the hypocrisy of the US government, but I'm afraid I don't have time right now.

I will simply say that ideology and government propaganda is a very powerful thing and, although fundamentalist islam is fucked up in many ways, it is even more fucked up that the government literally uses peoples hatred for islam to justify imperialistic wars, which, despite popular belief, results in far more deaths than so-called terrorist attacks. For example, look at the death toll from 9/11 compared with the civilian death toll for the iraq war, or the estimated death toll caused by the sanctions that the US placed on Iraq in the 90's. If y'all hate death so much, why not get a broader perspective?

[–]ClaytonG91 0 points1 point ago

"I have the same set of beliefs as you" no, you don't. i can promise you that. my religious ideologies are that there isn't any higher power. that is more than likely all the thought processing we share in common, that and basic reasoning skills to a certain extent which after said extent you seem to lack and only get really pissed off.

You seem to think that we as atheists have some kind of moral obligation or some kind of a uniting factor that binds us together as some kind of a unified group. You're wrong.

We're atheists and we acknowledge that other people are also atheists but that's about where it stops. Perhaps you've heard of the term "chruch family" yes? There is no such thing as an atheist family, it simply does not exist. we're not a unified group, we have no moral obligations to the world. we don't owe you, or anyone else anything.

Can most of us see the bullshit, yea most of us can. the question is do any of us actually care about it? My personal answer is that no, i could give a fuck what my country is doing to muslim citizens i'm more worried about what it's doing to its own citizens. once i get the fact that protesters in my own country are being arrested without cause and trail handled maybe then i'll give a fuck about a bunch of muslims being bombed and killed. till then, honestly i just don't give a fuck.

Is that horrible? yea. is it cold hearted and jaded? absolutely.

The media doesn't even mention when American soldiers get killed in action anymore why the fuck would it mention muslim citizens? think about that for a minute, your son was KIA and didn't get a mention but the muslims who killed him got air time because of a drone attack, in what america is that going to be acceptable?

I'm aware of everything you're saying, in fact most people are. However in order to help muslim communities out, in order to draw out our troops, withdraw our countries presence we must fix our nation first. So, while i feel bad for the innocent people who die because of my nation's actions, i cannot do anything for them while my own citizens are being arrested in the street for peacefully protesting.

TLDR: I know what you're saying, i have other shit that's on the top of my priorities list of shit my government is fucking up that i need to handle.

[–]gleegy[S] 0 points1 point ago

Nah, I'm just being real. Political "repression" at home is directly related to the wars abroad. guess you got some learning to do, till then peace out.

[–]WeaponsGradeHumanity 1 point2 points ago

Which Bush are we talking here, cos Dubya was practically yesterday.

[–]gleegy[S] 0 points1 point ago

yesterday is history

[–]WeaponsGradeHumanity 0 points1 point ago

... tomorrow, a mystery...

[–]devicerandom 1 point2 points ago

What about when the united states drops incendiary bombs on civilians accross the middle east, south west asia and north africa? Isn't this violence, too?

Is this due to atheism?

[–]gleegy[S] -1 points0 points ago

no but atheists came out in droves to support obama, who waged imperialistic wars in the name of a christian god

[–]hinoryu 3 points4 points ago

What contradiction?

[–]ClaytonG91 2 points3 points ago

Pretty easily actually.

The actions of a few atheists does not speak to the thoughts of the entire "community" if you could apply such a term to atheists.

The actions of a few muslims does not speak to the thoughts of the entire muslim community.

[–]keystroker007 2 points3 points ago

http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/10drdg/the_peaceful_protest_you_wont_hear_about_on_the/

Vuhman and his little buddy gimmesomeoftheat didn't like what I had to say

[–]unicock 2 points3 points ago

By not being racists.

[–]gleegy[S] -5 points-4 points ago

Instaed of this knee-jerk boarderline racist reaction against muslims people should be engaging in a boarder historical analysis about the history of a people and of nations. FYI I'm an atheist y'all.

[–]thatwasinpoortaste 3 points4 points ago

I think you're missing the point.

[–]gleegy[S] -1 points0 points ago

oh, do explain.