I Confess: I Don't Understand Why Some Atheists Are So Angry

Taki's Top Drawer ^ | 5/11/08 | Tom Piatak

[Sue Perkick]

That’s really about all you can do.

[Misterioso]

Do you get what you pray for? Is that what grounds your faith?

[Know et al]

I have never claimed to be an atheist but before my conversion experience in 1975, I was closer to agnostic. I didn't say there was a God or there wasn't a God. I believed that if there was a God,I din’t know anyone who I thought truly knew him. I can understand the anger of atheists and agnostics. I resented someone telling me I had to live by a set of rules when I didn't know if it was the answer or not. After February 1975, I no longer questioned the fact that there is a living God and that the Bible is his infallible Word. If that offends anyone, it is not my intent.

[Loud Mime]

Do you get what you pray for? Is that what grounds your faith?

Not me. I only pray for guidance.

But, there's lots of prayer threads on FR....

[MrEdd]

The latest research:

The Spanish Inquisition maintained extensive records and these are now being sifted through by historians. They paint a very different picture of sentencing patterns to traditional historians, although like any historical document their accuracy can be disputed. Geoffrey Parker analyzed 49,000 trial records between 1540 and 1700, representing one third of the total, and found 776 executions took place. This suggests a total of about 2,250 in the period reviewed. Earlier records are less well preserved but do not support the picture of a bloodbath usually painted. Henry Kamen (p. 60) does not believe more than a thousand executions took place in the earlier period. However, he points out that the Inquisitors’ activities were heavily slanted towards Jewish and Moslem communities who would have suffered far more than most from their activities. Recent work, sponsored by the Catholic Church, also points to a significantly lower death toll. Professor Agostino Borromeo, a historian of Catholicism at the Sapienza University in Rome, writes that about 125,000 people were tried by church tribunals as suspected heretics in Spain. Of these, about 1,200 - 2,000 were actually executed, although more killings were performed by non-church tribunals.

[MrEdd]

Puh-leeze. The claim of only 100 murders per year for all of Europe during the inquisitions and witch hunts does not pass the laugh test.

The standard for accuracy isn't laughing however, It is the historical record.

Like the Third Reich, the inquisition saw nothing wrong with what it was doing and kept extensive records of it's activities. See my previous post on Geoffry Parker's research.

[Chunga]

2) exploring a non-religious viewpoint requires a degree of broadmindedness that some religious people seem to find quite uncomfortable.

No, it doesn't. Atheists are usually small- and simple-minded. Following logic is the easiest thing an engaged brain can do.

It requires far more "broadmindedness" to consider and accept the existence of that which can't be physically sensed.

[TBP]

BTTT.

[Illuminatas]

Correction, as a Christian, and Bible based, don’t label ME a Catholic. Catholics are not Christians.

Excuse me. Care to clarify that bigoted statement?

[Global2010]

Because they think and act using the primitive “lizard” part of thier brain instead of the God given Intellect located in the frontal lobes?

[qam1]

Denish D’Souza, in his book on aethism, says that almost all aethists would have stayed believers if religion didn’t try to contrain their sex desires.

Considering The births to unmarried women rate is highest in the Bible Belt as well as the divorce rate, I think it's clear which group has the most trouble keeping it in their pants

[Misterioso]

But do you get guidance?

[Misterioso]

Such atheists don’t really believe in their hearts that there is no God. They hate God for laying down rules. Atheists who really believe there is no God tend to be much more even-tempered, knowing that others’ belief is simply irrelevant to them.

You mean you can believe in God and still call yourself an atheist? Well, to hell with atheism then. I'll just be a non-theist.

[Loud Mime]

Yes, but not always.

[donna]

It is true that about 500 years ago, Christian fanatics killed about 10,000 people over a 100 year time period (about 100/year) in the name of the Roman Catholic church.

To say that the fanatics were Christians would be like waiting 200 years and then saying that gay marriage in America was done by Christian pastors.

[bert]

.....To say that the fanatics were Christians ......

Actually, there were far more that 10,000. Roman Catholics did the murders, specifically, Dominicans. Those don’t count the massacres in France somewhat earlier.

[donna]

That wasn’t my point.

[cammie]

Considering The births to unmarried women rate is highest in the Bible Belt as well as the divorce rate, I think it's clear which group has the most trouble keeping it in their pants

The holes in your logic are big enough to drive an 18-wheeler through -- you aren't taking into account abortion, birth control, and cohabitation, all of which would likely be higher in non-religious areas of the country. So your statistics go nowhere in proving that the religious are hornier than your average atheist.