At 8/18/09 07:24 PM, Patton3 wrote: I know the feeling goth. I went to catholic school for 8 years.

I didn't go to a religious school, but I lived in western Illinois and most people there are at a whole new level of delusional. I remember in like Junior High School, there was the place called The "In" Zone about 40 minutes from our city, which had 3000 people in it. Every Tuesday, buses would come down to the baptist church in our city and take all the kids out there. This place was the cool place to be. If you didn't go to the in zone, you can kiss any chance of having a girlfriend or being popular away. I know those are petty things, but in junior high, that's a big deal.

The in zone was this place that lured kids into it with Xbox and all this flashy high tech stuff to do. The only catch was after you were done, they had a huge religious sermon and tried any number of black market tactics to try and convert us all over. Guilt trips for coming there and not believing, fear of hell, and BLATANTLY trying to divide the ones who believed from the ones who didn't. Things actually were a little tense at my school for a year or so because the "In" zone completely divided us.

The only way I can think to describe it is the movie Jesus Camp, which is about the propagandistic "summer" camps in the midwest that exist only to try and scare kids into believing and making them feel awkward if they don't agree. If none of you guys have ever seen that, watch it. It's about the best example of how Christianity has become a terrible thing in our nation, almost like a cult. I grew up about an hour and a half from where the documentary takes place. FML. Haha. This ended up being a long ass post!

At 8/18/09 07:38 PM, MultiCanimefan wrote: Hell, Buddha even allegedly said that, and I paraphrase: If what I say doesn't make sense to you, discard it and move on. That alone, to me, makes Buddhism more philosophy than religion.

See, I've really been wanting to research more on Buddhism. There's something about it that intrigues me. I might even 'convert' to Buddhism if it makes enough sense to me once I know more. I couldn't just start following something blindly, I need to be educated.

Hell, I live in Indiana. But there is a program sort of like that at my high school called campus life. Every year they have a retreat were you go to this hotel with thousands of other kids from around the city, and at night you go to this... event were there are skits and speakers and really the general bull shit. trying to convert you, but not coming out front and center with it if you see what I mean.
But all we did there at the hotel was fuck, play video games, and play pranks. Hell, me and some of the boys went to the Brandy's down the street. Hilarious when you consider that this thing is a glorified Jesus Camp.

At 8/18/09 08:27 PM, Patton3 wrote: Hell, me and some of the boys went to the Brandy's down the street. Hilarious when you consider that

:this thing is a glorified Jesus Camp.

lol I'd probably do the same thing, both just with friends and to be rebellious against such a thing. Christianity turned me away from boy scouts of america tho, didn't feel comfortable... i liked campin wit friends tho. I miss that lol

At 8/17/09 07:33 PM, ph0ne wrote:

At 8/17/09 06:47 PM, OddlyPoetic wrote: You may have asked first, you were the one to bring the idea up. Burden of Proof is on you.
Why couldn't you prove how he is above logic, then say "Your Turn"
Then we'd have two well thought arguments for how God is above logic and how he isn't.
Why can't you stop fighting, why do you have to call him a fag? What so compels you to insult him?

You couldn't prove that nothing is above logic so you shifted the blame on me. Good fucking job atheistfag.

i don't have to because i have no opinion on the question. That post was really more a litmus test to see if you were troll or not. I simply wanted to get a fucking opinion out of one of you. If no one called one of you one it, you'd be saying "NO U" over and over again. i see now you're a fucking troll. I'll be alerting the mods. for fucks sake. we don't want or need trolls here. We're not going to suffer the presence of blatant trolling.

All Atheists are ignorant, in order to have a logical belief you must have proof, something which Atheism lacks.

At 8/19/09 04:33 AM, HighJack wrote: All Atheists are ignorant, in order to have a logical belief you must have proof, something which Atheism lacks.

what are you talking about? If you're not Atheist, leave.
to be Atheist you don't have to believe.

At 8/19/09 04:41 AM, Makeshift wrote:

At 8/19/09 04:33 AM, HighJack wrote: All Atheists are ignorant, in order to have a logical belief you must have proof, something which Atheism lacks.

what are you talking about? If you're not Atheist, leave.
to be Atheist you don't have to believe.

He's taking the piss out of Catholicism. :)

At 8/19/09 04:33 AM, HighJack wrote: All Atheists are ignorant, in order to have a logical belief you must have proof, something which Atheism lacks.

Nice Alt PhOne

At 8/19/09 07:43 AM, OddlyPoetic wrote:

At 8/19/09 04:33 AM, HighJack wrote: All Atheists are ignorant, in order to have a logical belief you must have proof, something which Atheism lacks.

Nice Alt PhOne

Just what what I was thinking.

In all of these talks about these Jesus camps and the like in the Midwest, I'm living in the region too (not going to say which state, just that it's in the middle of the Midwest) and I can say that where I live, there are two types of people when you are talking about religion. One is just the average person who is willing to talk about/debate religion when it's brought up, but they never make any sort of effort to convert you, and are respectful of your beliefs. Then, there are the people who do nothing but drop the name of their religion, their church, and anything else on that topic whenever they can. If you can actually get a debate going with them, they are disrespectful of your beliefs and are just really trying to convert you and saying things like "But I don't want to see you go to hell." and things of the like. The next time that someone tries to pull the hellfire thing on me, I think I may say something like "But if you don't join my religion, then you will be eaten by the flying spaghetti monster and will be tortured by fowl smells and flatulence for all eternity!"

That's how it is in my area, at least.

Also guys, I forgot to mention that school has started back up for me, and I find myself with less and less free time each year. I'll be doing my best to keep up with NG, but I'll probably cut back on posts for a while.

what are you talking about? If you're not Atheist, leave.
to be Atheist you don't have to believe.

I am talking about the truth. I am here to inform you that you are ignorant.
Atheism requires faith, faith that you are right, with absolutely no proof to support your claims.

Nice Alt PhOne

I'm not PhOne.

At 8/20/09 02:53 AM, HighJack wrote: I am talking about the truth. I am here to inform you that you are ignorant.

Your winking face says otherwise. :)

And beafreethinker, I've noticed that a lot too. I don't want to be judgmental, because there ARE some religious people out there that will NEVER bring up their religion around you and just try and be friends with people despite conflict in belief, and I'm good friends with a lot of people like that. They are however, a small majority.

At 8/20/09 09:28 AM, michelinman wrote: And beafreethinker, I've noticed that a lot too. I don't want to be judgmental, because there ARE some religious people out there that will NEVER bring up their religion around you and just try and be friends with people despite conflict in belief, and I'm good friends with a lot of people like that. They are however, a small majority.

Where i live there are many a people who just drop in religion and praying at many a public events, but that's just cause it's what most families do. But I just nod and ignore it lol

At 8/20/09 02:53 AM, HighJack wrote:

what are you talking about? If you're not Atheist, leave.
to be Atheist you don't have to believe.

I am talking about the truth. I am here to inform you that you are ignorant.

AN OPINION! Jesus Christ NG. Did everyone but me miss that day in school where they taught you the difference between a fucking opinion and a fact?

Atheism requires faith, faith that you are right, with absolutely no proof to support your claims.

Never said it didn't. Difference is, we have a reason to have faith that the faithful are wrong. We don't see any evidence. If we did, well gee, we'd believe it. Ya know what's really ignorant? Rudely forcing your beliefs on other people. Do you see us bashing the theist crew? No. I think not. I'm appealing to your sense of decency. Even if you are right, why the fuck do you have go and force it down are throats? If we're wrong, let us be wrong. Enough with the disrespect or i'm informing a mod. You wanna have a real, respectful convo, then we'll glad to have you. Keep up with the troll shit and we'll gladly do something about it.

Nice Alt PhOne

I'm not PhOne.

Liar.

There's really no other place to ask, and it's not really a religious question, but what are all your thoughts on the field of philosophy? Is it a tool to improve how we think we perceive the world and it's inhabitants or simply a bunch of people sitting at a table babbling unfalsifiable speculative nonsense?

At 8/20/09 04:46 PM, OddlyPoetic wrote:

I'm not PhOne.

Liar.

You should pay attention to the thread mood they put on their post. If it's a winking face, like the one I'm using right now, it PROBABLY means they're being sarcastic. :)

At 8/20/09 04:55 PM, MultiCanimefan wrote: There's really no other place to ask, and it's not really a religious question, but what are all your thoughts on the field of philosophy? Is it a tool to improve how we think we perceive the world and it's inhabitants or simply a bunch of people sitting at a table babbling unfalsifiable speculative nonsense?

I think that some philosophy is fine. I think that used properly and by the correct people, some philosophical writings can pass on wisdom of the past to a new generation. I just have a problem with the ones that are just a bunch of random words and sentences strung together with no meaning.

If the Bible was real, we would all be inbred. Adam and Eve were the only couple created by GAWD, so they do it and make babies who would INBREED! Im joining your Atheist Army.

At 8/23/09 12:08 PM, majormario wrote: If the Bible was real, we would all be inbred. Adam and Eve were the only couple created by GAWD, so they do it and make babies who would INBREED! Im joining your Atheist Army.

Welcome

Any.... useful input there ph0ne? Or would you just like to spew hate and stereotypes via poorly made comic strips? Or maybe call us f** n******?

At 8/28/09 08:52 PM, Patton3 wrote: Any.... useful input there ph0ne? Or would you just like to spew hate and stereotypes via poorly made comic strips? Or maybe call us f** n******?

Really, the comic presents a compelling argument as to the fundamental belief of "atheism", which is a lack of belief based on logic, and you failed to address it. He merely means to create discussion.

At 8/28/09 09:32 PM, ExceptionalPants wrote: Really, the comic presents a compelling argument as to the fundamental belief of "atheism", which is a lack of belief based on logic, and you failed to address it. He merely means to create discussion.

No, not really. He means to try and make us look like obnoxious, ignorant people, who are just turning our shoulder on the obvious and being unreasonable. We simply just don't believe that there's a cosmic zombie jew floating in the sky, because there hasn't been any sort of evidence for it whatsoever. I think this pic is a little more accurate.

In case you couldn't figure it out, the guy holding the invisible baseball is a reference to the religious.

Any specific thoughts on the belief of Pantheism, guys? I read on another site that it's just "fancy colored Atheism" and saying that "God is everything" has as much merit as "God is nothing." I'm still unsure as to what my stance is.

At 8/29/09 12:01 AM, MultiCanimefan wrote: Any specific thoughts on the belief of Pantheism, guys? I read on another site that it's just "fancy colored Atheism" and saying that "God is everything" has as much merit as "God is nothing." I'm still unsure as to what my stance is.

It's got a lot more merit to me than your typical dogmatic religions, and I've got absolutely no problem with the transcendentalist/pantheistic view point. They don't indirectly promote hatred and violence, they promote believing that you are a creation of god, and therefore your conscience is much closer to god than some guy preaching at a church. By doing what you know is the right thing in your heart at all times, you're good in the pantheistic belief. I can agree with that. I still don't know if I buy into the whole idea of "god" creating the universe though, because by default, what made god? I still consider myself an atheist. And also I got bored and updated the pic. :)

ph0ne, consider this your last warning. Be reasonable, or be gone.

I'll mayby join cause I have my own saying that religon is the only lie peapole still bealivein.

At 8/29/09 02:11 PM, ph0ne wrote:

At 8/17/09 07:39 PM, BeAFreeThinker wrote:

At 8/17/09 07:33 PM, ph0ne wrote: You couldn't prove that nothing is above logic so you shifted the blame on me. Good fucking job atheistfag.

You Fucking TROLL. The Mods have been notified.

Raged much? I'm trying to bring up a logical point and you ditch it and go straight for the personal attacks.

Um no. That was from the 17th. You know? When you posted the same "you mad" picture 10 times in a row and ignored all our posts and called us atheist fags. Don't even pretend like you were being legit there. You got banned for a reason.

I'd say I'm very reasonable, but you aren't. The way I see Atheists is how Pants described them; that they're just a bunch of 13-16 year old kids who are oh-so excited that they're rebelling against mom and dad, and that they have to shove their beliefs everywhere they go.

Rebelling 13-16 year olds? How about the forefront of research and scientific study in this world? 93% of the scientists in the National Academy of Sciences are self-proclaimed atheists according to this. Atheism isn't a "phase" that we're all going through. It's simply much more common for people to not believe in the bible, because fewer people are being propagated into it as young, impressionable children. The world is growing up ph0ne, and if you catch on, so will you.

And They're ALWAYS ignorant, and they NEVER listen to anyone else's points.

Pretty harsh generalization to make by someone who is supposedly Jewish.

I presented my points earlier on in this thread and you, again, ditched them and went straight for the personal attacks. What a great name you're making for yourselves.

Every time you made a legitimate argument, i've responded exactly as I have in this post. Very detailed, very relevant, and as unbiased as I can allow myself to make them. You tend to ignore my posts, and respond to the people who are being hateful. That's not reasonable. If you think someone is acting like a troll, don't feed the fire.

I'm not trying to troll. I'm trying to have a discussion, but I'm being constantly let down by your personal attacks and ignorance.

The very first post you put up in this thread was "jews are the chosen people. /thread." You weren't coming in here to have a discussion with us, you came in here to get us all fired up so that you could post that "you mad" picture 10 times. You'll have to forgive me for not thinking you're a legitimate person to have a debate with, because you've made a fool of yourself in this thread, and it has nothing to do with your beliefs. Just understand that we're not all like the atheists at your high school. Once you hit a certain maturity level, you're able to understand things a little more clearly. Just understand ph0ne, religion isn't the future, it's the past. I'll just leave this here for dramatic effect.

At 8/29/09 03:24 PM, ph0ne wrote: Can you post the source of that graph? It looks like you just made it in Excel.

Nah, i pulled it off some cheesy christian site trying to make an argument against it. Observe.

At 8/29/09 04:25 PM, ph0ne wrote: An impressive retort I must say, but nonetheless it's making a blanket statement, and blanket statements are never fully true.

Says the guy who just said that atheists are ALWAYS ignorant and NEVER listen. :)