The “right thing to do”?? If there is no God and we are all here by some collision of particles in space billions of years ago, what is “right”? There can be no right thing to do for we are all an accident and nothing we say or do matters one bit. You are born, you live, you die.

It was I and not Anonymous — either one — who made that comment and I stand by it. Apply the principles of Utilitarianism ["the greatest good for the greatest number"] and see whatcha come up with.

On a rational level, this can be defined as:

1)the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness;
2)and the right to be left alone.

The right thing to do would be to defend these principles in your own life, defend them for others when able to do so, and to not abrogate these rights in others.

Of course, that’s just my opinion; I might be wrong.

That’s a mighty thin caricature of atheism you wield, by the way. You seem to’ve bought the Christian “without god there is no morality” argument.

There can be no right thing to do for we are all an accident and nothing we say or do matters one bit.

Oh no, people don’t have an imaginary friend to tell them what to do, descending into nihilism without the rigorously deluded ourselves and children with god nonsense. Since religion is created by man all your rules are man made, thus what you mistakenly consider “what is right” comes from the same place as where atheists consider “what is right”. Atheists don’t need an imaginary friend to project their values and ethics onto, to give a false sense of authority, and excuse for not thinking rationally, critically, and logically about “what is right”.

The “right thing to do”?? If there is no God and we are all here by some collision of particles in space billions of years ago, what is “right”? There can be no right thing to do for we are all an accident and nothing we say or do matters one bit. You are born, you live, you die.

As for my motive, it’s simple. I’m opposed to any movement that tells a certain class of people that they should all think or act the same way, whether an ethnic class, religious class, gender class, and so on. In other words, I believe in free thought, and so follow the maxim “to each his own.” Do what you want to do, not what someone tells you to do.

While you have some good points, you forget that sometimes even us shamefully materialist atheists break out of the steroetype and do something because it’s the right thing to do.

But I must admit, your epithet “Dear Leader” [obvious reference to Kim Jong-Il] calls into question your motive. Why else the slander?

This assumes that atheists are 1. numerous enough to make a political difference (kinda doubtful) and 2. can be “mobilized” to do anything as a group.

Freethinkers are notoriously difficult to get to think the same way, which shouldn’t be surprising when you think about it.

The last I checked, the “Nones” tend to go their own way and do what they want, and don’t do things just because some self-appointed leaders tells them to do things or think they should.

And atheists are only some small fraction of the Nones. Maybe atheists can be “herded” better than “Nones” in general, but I’d put my chips on them being as difficult to “herd” or even more difficult to herd than “Nones” in general.

On top of that, as I said, I doubt that atheists (even including agnostics, which outnumber us) are numerous enough to make any difference politically.

Until that changes, there is no point trying to “mobilize” them for anything, and even if their numbers become large enough some day, it’s still an open question if they have the temperment to do things just because someone else says do this “because I said so.”

What I’m getting at is that to convince atheists to do anything as a whole, you have to give them some reason, or some incentive, for doing what you want them to do. Think: What’s in it for me? I don’t think any good reason, or any incentive, exists. Nothing is in it for them.

Atheists aren’t going to do things just because some “leader” insists. Atheists aren’t to “Dear Leader” as Catholics are to the Pope. And in the US, Catholics don’t even take the Pope’s demands very seriously, either.