Posted on 10/28/2009 10:27:28 AM PDT by TopQuark
Did you miss it? Last month the country celebrated national Blasphemy Day!
According to NPR.com, atheists marked Blasphemy Day last month at gatherings around the world, celebrating the freedom to denigrate and insult religion.
Activities included de-baptizing people with hair dryers and an art exhibit in Washington, D.C., which showed, among other titles, Jesus Paints His Nails, in which "an effeminate Jesus after the crucifixion [applies] polish to the nails that attach his hands to the cross." The atheist group Center for Inquiry hosted the exhibit.
Addressing a capacity crowd at the University of Toronto, columnist Christopher Hitchens elicited enthusiastic cheers by commenting, "I think religion should be treated with ridicule, hatred and contempt, and I claim that right." He told NPR that religion is "sinister, dangerous and ridiculous," because it can prompt people to fly airplanes into buildings, and it promotes ignorance.
Hitchens defended atheist incivility this way: "If I said to a Protestant or Quaker or Muslim, 'Hey, at least I respect your belief,' I would be telling a lie."
THE IRRELIGIOUS DIVIDE However, not all atheists should be painted with the same brush. Stuart Jordan, who advises the Center for Inquiry on policy issues, explain to NPR that Blasphemy Day is symptomatic of a debate among traditional atheists and "new atheists" over whether people of faith should be treated with respect or derision.
Paul Kurtz, who founded the Center for Inquiry three decades ago, was ousted in a "palace coup" last year. "I consider them atheist fundamentalists," he says. "Merely to critically attack religious beliefs is not sufficient. It leaves a vacuum. What are you for? We know what you're against, but what do you want to defend?"
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
“A true atheist can’t believe in ‘Blasphemy’ since the very definition of ‘Blasphemy’ assumes the existance of a God to Insult!”
True enough, but the object of their insults and hatred is not really God, it is believers in God whom they hate.
“True enough, but the object of their insults and hatred is not really God, it is believers in God whom they hate.”
Yes. And therein is their motivation. Does that mean this whole thing can be classified as “Hate Speech”?
:-)
I know an atheist who was kicked out of a local atheist group for actually defending religion.
He stated that although he was an atheist, he told his local group that he believed organized religion was very good at it’s ability to provide charity to those in need.
This man, left over from the 60’s, had become disillusioned with the atheist movement because they were becoming more and more anti religious rather than the ‘live and let live’ attitude he had been accustomed to.
A "true Atheist" would be someone who had no interest in God, pro or con, just as someone who is "apolitical" would have no interest in politics. What these jerks are is "anti-theists". They are smug, arrogant, mean-spirited wiseguys who, like Liberals, are SO sure they are smarter than we that they enjoy making themselves large by belittling our faith in things unseen. As I often say, they are like the person who, having taking a political opinion against the eating of breakfast, whizzes in your Wheaties just to make their point.
Make no mistake: They don't have to believe in God or blasphemy...they do believe in making fun of others, and like their father the devil, destroying their faith when they can.
Back when Garrion Keilor was funny (before he became an embittered old Lefty IWW-card-carrying Socialist) he summed it up well: "He was the kind of person who struck you wouldn't learn another thing until the day he died, but about fifteen minutes after that, was in for a real education."
“Atheism is a delusional faith. Honest skepticism is a different subject, but to declare with certainty that God does not exist and that this declaration is not a statement of faith, is delusional.”
How can anyone state with certainty that anything that can’t be seen, touched, tasted, measured, etc doesn’t exist? No, I believe the burden of proof is on those who make extraordinary claims, such as the existence of God. Not having seen any irrefutable (or even strong) proof for the existence of God, I default to believing that God does not exist. But, being human and fallible as I am, I concede the possibility that I might be wrong. That’s why I respect the faith of other people, so long as such faith doesn’t move the faithful to deny the right of others to believe what they want.
Silly rabbit! It can't possibly be hate speech! It's against Christians!
I would like to take a political position against this thing you people call "air". I have never seen it, and therefore it doesn't exist. If all of you insist on keeping the delusion alive by moving your chests up and down as if you were taking it into your lungs and it was keeping you alive or something, I am going to have to get a court order from the President to make you stop. Will you just grow up, already!!!!!!!!
Like I said via delusional faith -- and watch your double negs.
Reminds me of an old joke.
This is short but to the point!!
Subject: God is Busy !
If you don’t know GOD, don’t make stupid remarks!!!!!!!
A United States Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan . One of the courses had a professor who was a devout atheist and a member of the ACLU .
One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, ‘God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I’ll give you exactly 15 minutes.’ The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop.
Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, ‘Here I am God. I’m still waiting.’ It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him, knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold.
The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked, stunned, and sat there looking on in silence. The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, ‘What the heck is the matter with you? Why did you do that?’ The Marine calmly replied, ‘God was too busy today protecting American soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid stuff and act like an idiot. So, He sent me.’
” As I often say, they are like the person who, having taking a political opinion against the eating of breakfast, whizzes in your Wheaties just to make their point.”
A colorful, but effective analogy! LOL
“Silly rabbit! It can’t possibly be hate speech! It’s against Christians!”
Christians, Jews, and hetero White Males are the new “Fair Game” I guess.
I disagree; there are "professional skeptics" such as those at The Skeptical Inquirer and Skeptic magazine who have devoted their lives to debunking the existence of such things as UFOs, Bigfoot, ESP, etc. They certainly don't believe in such things, and yet they are quite interested in them (or more precisely, belief in them). In the same manner, a "true atheist", while not believing in God, could be interested in others belief in God.
These guys don’t even bother me anymore. God will not be mocked. That doesn’t mean thunderbolts are going to come out of the sky if you try, it means you can’t do it.
I heard a Pentacostal minister give a good explanation of some athiests. On the outside, they try to put forth an argument that there is no God. On the inside they are shaking their fists toward heawen while screaming “No, God!”.
I'm sorry, but you're objectively wrong. People mock God all the time.
There are innumerable ideas concerning the nature of reality. One school of thought is that the existence of anything DOES depend on whether or not they are believed in. Who knows, maybe even the vast right wing conspiracy actually exists in Hillary’s world.
Atheism is a delusional faith. Honest skepticism is a different subject, but to declare with certainty that God does not exist and that this declaration is not a statement of faith, is delusional.
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Very well stated! I have to applaud anyone who can clarify a difficult concept in so few words.
:-)
With respect, no they don’t. They think that they are. That’s my point.
This reminds me of the classic question, "if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?"
The tree falls, thus making a traveling wave (an oscillation of pressure) in the atmosphere. Since this is the definition of a sound, the answer is an unequivocal "yes". When I said as much to my teacher in Philosophy 101 he didn't like my answer, which made me more confident that I was right.
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