Comments on: Yes, Virginia… There Is No God

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 22:43:07 +0000

There’s no need to always say “probably.” The existence of God is an absurd claim, it’s not a philosophical sin to refute it completely. I would think such a well-rounded atheist as yourself would not fall victim to the fallacy of agnosticism. Simply because someone claims something, we must then legitimize their ridiculous claim (and diminish our argument) by being forced to say it’s only “probably” not true? If someone walks up to you and says “Hello, I’m an orange,” we can say without a doubt that that is not true. However, if the person were to prove he was in fact an orange, you should then acknowledge that it is true. But are we really expected to treat every ridiculous claim as a legitimate hypothesis?
There’s nothing wrong with claiming something 100%; this obsession with taking the most noble philosophical stance is pointless. We have every reason to say there is no God, because there is no evidence. The only philosophical obligation we have is to keep an open mind; which simply means that we are willing to change our minds if the evidence requires it. If Christians prove God exists, or Muslims prove Allah exists, or it turns out that the Greeks were right, I’ll be the first to convert. That’s all open-mindedness requires of us. Until that day, I say with complete certainty THERE IS NO GOD.

By: dude

dude — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:30:45 +0000

Jennifer, who says atheists don’t believe in anything? Atheists just don’t believe gods exist. Do you understand that?

Do you believe unicorns exist? No? Then does that mean you don’t believe anything? Think of how stupid your comment was.

Oh, and Merry Christmas to you too. Thanks for coming by to spread your Christian love.

By: hoverfrog

hoverfrog — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:50:47 +0000

Merry Christmas Jennifer. Sadly my office is closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and on the following Monday as a bank holiday. I don’t have a choice about going to work. This is the same on the other bank holidays. In my country some of us also get the Queen’s birthday off. My partner is employed by the education authority and works term time only. She also has no choice about the days that she works.

With that in mind I spent the day with my family free in the joy that there is no hypocrisy in not going to work when the workplace is shut.

Unless you are suggesting that people who work days are hypocritical for not working nights as well?

Also who is decrying Christmas? Christmas is great. It just isn’t religious any more.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:14:47 +0000

I celebrate the holiday as celebrated by people of my faith — as to whether the holiday incorporates ancient Pagan rituals, that should be immaterial to people who claim not to believe in anything.

And, actually no, I’m not surprised by the hypocrisy of atheists who decry Christmas, yet are only too happy to benefit from Christianity by taking Dec. 25 off.

In fact, I find it hilarious that people who go around claiming that they’re good, moral and ethical people without a belief in a god can’t even bring themselves to pass up one day off to prove just how principled, ethical and committed to their non-belief that they really are!

So consider yourself challenged, atheists. If you really don’t believe in a god — so much so, that you have to blatantly try to ruin the holidays for those who do believe — then put your money where your mouth is and go to work tomorrow. If not, then do the rest of us a favor and keep your self-righteous hypocrisy to yourselves.

And to those of you who do stay home tomorrow…MERRY CHRISTMAS!

By: Hammurabi

Hammurabi — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:18:36 +0000

Jennifer, are you expecting the non-christians to refuse a day off? Besides, there is barely anything about christmas that is uniquely christian. Throwing away the obvious (Santa, reindeer, frosty, christmas trees, rampant consumerism, etc.) the whole idea of a winter feast with family and friends long, long predates christianity. Beyond that, the whole nativity story is a patchwork of previous myths (virgin births, marked by a star, visited by sages, endangered by the local ruler, son of god, etc.)

It should also be noted that Dec 25 was not considered to be jesus’ birthday until the church decided to co-opt the day to overtake the popular pagan traditions/mythra’s birthday/saturnalia. The nativity story states that the “shepherds watched the flocks at night” which would only happen in the spring, when newborns were about. Therefore, jesus’ birthday was originally celebrated in the spring and was a very solemn and reverent holiday much in the jewish tradition that proceeded it. In the United States christmas regained the solemn and reverent tone it once had because the christians here knew that all the fun parts were inherited from pagans and they rejected that.

So, I wrote all that to write this:

Um, so just to confirm, you’re planning to celebrate the birth of your savior respectfully and without all the fun pagan parts in the spring, correct?

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 06:43:35 +0000

Um, so just to confirm, you’re all planning to be at work bright and early on December 25, correct?

I mean, if you don’t believe in the Christian God (or any god for that matter) then you can’t believe in Christmas — so why would you take a day off from work that day? Or are you only too happy to benefit from the perks of that in which you don’t believe? If so, then you’re hypocrites.

If not, thanks for holding down the fort!

By: Mariano

Mariano — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:06:12 +0000

How long will the FFRF go on positively affirming God’s non-existence without evidence?

Is this not what they condemn as “faith”?

They are doing it this year and they did it last year:

http://atheismisdead.blogspot.com/2008/12/dan-barker-and-neo-pagan-atheism.html

By: Bo Parker

Bo Parker — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:22:21 +0000

I find this add very ironic if you have actually read the letter “Yes Virginia …” The letter itself is more of a critique of atheism than a support for belief in Santa Claus. Consider the opening paragraph
“VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.”

By: heather

heather — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:08:32 +0000

**that is not to say that this specific ad is doing such, it is a free statement and is not directly condescending to anyone, and those who take it overly offensive need to take a step back and look at what they do.

By: heather

heather — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:05:05 +0000

back to the original statement. it’s all opinion. there is nothing to prove or disprove items that are not based on science. whether or not the statement is “correct” is irrelevant. as a statement of opinion it is completely acceptable under the first amendment, likewise, other religious statements are permissible as free speech. NO ONE NO MATTER WHAT THEIR STANDING SHOULD BE CUTTING OTHERS DOWN WITH THEIR STATEMENTS; that means statements damning homosexuality and atheism, as well as statements mocking the intelligence of others’ beliefs.