Blue Nine asks:
Could someone please explain to me why Christians always seem to think we have not thought about this? Or that we have not read the Bible?

Because most of THEM don’t.

As for the “atheism of the past.” I have to guess it means when atheists stayed in the closet and pretended to be theists.

Naturally, that was entiely a result of theists killing atheists, torturing them as heretics, and shunning them in business. Yeah, Christians preferred those “atheists of the past”. They hate it when any minority gets “uppity,” vocal, and claim their rights.

I’m not sure that this generalization is true. I’m a part of “them” and I do. And quite frankly I much prefer atheists like the ones I have generally found here. I also agree that any person or persons should stand up for their rights (provided that they actually are rights)…I wouldn’t limit that to minorities.

Believe it or not, there are a bunch of us out there that are pretty much like you guys and gals. We’re just not as high profile as the annoying ones.

Could someone please explain to me why Christians always seem to think we have not thought about this? Or that we have not read the Bible?

Because most of THEM don’t.

As for the “atheism of the past.” I have to guess it means when atheists stayed in the closet and pretended to be theists.

Naturally, that was entiely a result of theists killing atheists, torturing them as heretics, and shunning them in business. Yeah, Christians preferred those “atheists of the past”. They hate it when any minority gets “uppity,” vocal, and claim their rights.

“By any measure the godless countries put the USA to shame. They far outrank us in healthcare, equality of women, GDP, social order, the absence of crime…. Wonder how Daniels would respond to that?”

First, the US has the highest GDP (nominal or real per capita) in the world, even exceeding those two countries combined. Second, how is social order quantified? If going on World Affairs’ most recent ranking of social stability, then we outrank both. Third, I am sure you’re oversimplifying healthcare. Most popularly quoted rankings are based on life expectancies and infant mortality rates – neither which eliminate bias. (For instance, we have a higher homicide rate. For every citizen that is shot dead from murder the national average life expectancy goes down, assuming the victim was under the national average. But was healthcare at fault? Likewise, we have more auto fatalities, heart diseases due to poor diet and lack of exercise, etc. As for infant mortality, we have a higher number of teenage pregnancies, which is strongly correlated with infant mortality.) In other, more pure, measures of healthcare – ones that measure treatment, recurrence of diseases, etc. – the US consistently ranks in the highest.

(Sorry, don’t mean to troll, but as a health actuary those misconceptions really bother me.)

With that aside, even as an atheist I do like Gov. Daniels in office. He’s done a good job balancing the state’s budget and keeping unemployment low.

I prefer him (relative to the other options) in office. Unfortunately, all the reasonable options are also religious.

“And atheism leads to brutality”

Phil Zuckerman blew all that nonsense out of the water with his book, “Society Without God”. Zuckerman spent 15 months in Denmark and Sweden, both “godless” countries. There he found societies that are “gentle, calm and inspiring”.

By any measure the godless countries put the USA to shame. They far outrank us in healthcare, equality of women, gross domestic product, social order, the absence of crime(it’s sometimes difficult to find a policeman because there is so little crime they don’t need many) leading to a wide and deep sense of security. Even their public bathrooms are clean.

Wonder how Daniels would respond to that?

It’s a shame that in order to get elected to public office in this county, one must profess to a delusion of some sort. Doesn’t matter much what kind of delusion. Eating and drinking Jesus or dead men walking and animals talking; doesn’t matter, but buddy you better have one or you won’t be fit for office.

I think that folks who believe they’ve come to that opinion ought to think very carefully, first of all, about how different it is from the American tradition; how it leads to a very different set of outcomes in the real world.

Why do people get so orgasmic over things solely because they are traditions? Seriously. It’s like, “People did it before, so we should do it too.” People had slaves before, maybe we should go back to that. Or not. Ugh. -.-

And he really ought to consider the implications of his own ideas as well. Oh, why hello there, crusaders, inquisition, wars, airplanes flying into buildings, suicide bombers, bigotry, willful ignorance. I’m an atheist, and I have no desire for power, no desire to commit mass murder, no desire to do anything but do as much as I possibly can to benefit people.

Derek, thank you for this:

As a Christian, I do rather feel the need to point out that we’re not all evangelical Christians. I for one have never tried to convert anybody. The concept of being a fake friend is quite foreign to me.

For the record, I’ve known a lot of Christians like you. Some have even told me when I asked about testifying for Jesus (sorry, I had that drilled into my head from my previous church), that they believed in doing so by example, not preaching tediously. These are the ones I’ve called friend.

He may not be taking anyone’s rights away, but he is making the kind of statements that sometimes eventually lead to such actions.

As for his “argument;” all of the factual errors are overshadowed by the logical fallacy of the entire statement. He argues that society would crumble without people believing in god (presumably, his specific god,) but this goes nowhere towards proving there is a god. My life would be much easier if I had a million dollars, but I have yet to convince anyone that, because of that fact, I must therefore have a million dollars in the bank.

Mr. Daniels, it would appear to be you who needs to think very carefully about your “opinion” and it’s implications.

But yes, I think that folks who believe they’ve come to that opinion ought to think very carefully…

Could someone please explain to me why Christians always seem to think we have not thought about this? Or that we have not read the Bible? Or that we have never been to church?

littlejohn: Sorry Derek, but now you know where we live. We have no choice but to kill you. Atheists, you know.
But your Christian blood won’t go to waste, if you get my drift. Let the orgy begin!
Bwahahaha!

I understand. Just so long as my blood doesn’t go to waste.

>.>

<.<

Does the orgy take place before or after the sacrifice? =D