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Atheists Meet in Melbourne to Celebrate Lack of Faith
BBC ^ | 3/12/10

Posted on 03/12/2010 11:41:30 AM PST by marshmallow

More than 2,000 atheists from around the world are gathering in Melbourne, Australia, to celebrate their lack of religious belief.

It is thought to be the world's largest gathering of atheist thinkers.

They plan to issue a statement on what they say are the negative effects of religion on society.

All 2,500 tickets were sold out earlier this year, but a religious gathering at the same venue in December attracted three times as many delegates.

The Global Atheist Convention is bringing together scientists, philosophers, writers and comedians, says the BBC's religious affairs correspondent Christopher Landau.

They will be joined by bestselling author Richard Dawkins and discuss Islam and terrorism in a session titled The Cost of Delusion.

They will also hear a film proposal, exposing the amount taxpayers spend subsidising religion.

There is a determination to avoid what one session calls Atheistic Fundamentalism, says our correspondent.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Current Events; General Discusssion; Ministry/Outreach; Skeptics/Seekers
KEYWORDS: antichristian; antitheism; atheistsupremacists; doublestandard; fundamentalatheism; hategroup; hatespeech; liberalbigots
"What do we want...........nothing!!............when do we want it.........now.............!!"
1 posted on 03/12/2010 11:41:30 AM PST by marshmallow
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To: marshmallow
They plan to issue a statement on what they say are the negative effects of religion on society.

They plan to spout antitheist hate rhetoric. This is a hate group.

2 posted on 03/12/2010 11:43:21 AM PST by a fool in paradise
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To: marshmallow

We have more people at a local ball game.


3 posted on 03/12/2010 11:44:13 AM PST by Sacajaweau (What)
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To: a fool in paradise

I’m thinking asteroid strike.


4 posted on 03/12/2010 11:44:25 AM PST by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: marshmallow; Godzilla
More than 2,000 atheists from around the world are gathering in Melbourne, Australia, to celebrate their lack of religious belief.

Photobucket

5 posted on 03/12/2010 11:52:06 AM PST by reaganaut (Ex-Mormon, now Christian - "I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see")
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To: marshmallow
More than 2,000 atheists from around the world are gathering in Melbourne, Australia, to celebrate their lack of religious belief.

That's sorta funny, actually... "considering"... Considering what? -- you say...

Well, considering that the population of the globe is 6,692,030,277 (as of the time of this post), and considering that just for Christians, there's about 1/3 of the world in that category.

Graph from "Religious Tolerance"

BUT, if you consider the number of "believers" in some god (not necessarily the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, mind you...) -- you get about 75% or more of the world.

So, I would say that puts it at over 5 billion in the world, believing in some god of some sort (maybe even a lot higher than that).

AND SO..., we're supposed to be really listening to a mere "misquito-like group" that says there's no God?! LOL ...

6 posted on 03/12/2010 11:56:49 AM PST by Star Traveler (Remember to keep the Messiah of Israel in the One-World Government that we look forward to coming)
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To: marshmallow; reaganaut
They plan to issue a statement on what they say are the negative effects of religion on society.

Hmmm, how many childrens hospitals are funded and run by atheists? How much did atheists contribute to natural disaster relief?

And they think they can comment on the effects of religion

7 posted on 03/12/2010 11:56:49 AM PST by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: marshmallow

2,000 people. Haha. The Baptist Church I attend has five campuses, 50,000 members, and a weekly attendance of 28,000 ... and that’s just ONE church.

Weathermen are predicting severe lightning storms.

SnakeDoc


8 posted on 03/12/2010 11:57:21 AM PST by SnakeDoctor (The night is darkest just before the dawn, but [...] the dawn is coming. -- Harvey Dent)
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To: marshmallow

This is like having a festival for people who don’t particularly care for mushrooms, or a club for people who aren’t tennis fans.


9 posted on 03/12/2010 12:01:41 PM PST by Sloth (Civil disobedience? I'm afraid only the uncivil kind is going to cut it this time.)
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To: marshmallow
celebrate their lack of religious belief. ... They plan to issue a statement on what they say are the negative effects of religion on society.

So which is it, a positive message about atheism or just a bitch session about religion?

They will be joined by bestselling author Richard Dawkins and discuss Islam and terrorism in a session titled The Cost of Delusion.

For those who think atheists only complain about Christianity. Hope he has good security.

10 posted on 03/12/2010 12:05:52 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: a fool in paradise

What atheists fail to acknowledge is that they are worshipping something/someone. My Pastor once preached that everybody worships something/someone. We Christians and Jews worship God, some people worship money, some people worship sex, some people worship nothingness.


11 posted on 03/12/2010 12:10:24 PM PST by brwnsuga (Black and Free!!!)
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To: marshmallow
I don’t know.. I just can’t put much faith in the existence of atheists...No one has ever shown me proof.
12 posted on 03/12/2010 2:07:09 PM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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To: marshmallow

That’s gotta be a seriously “downer” event. OK we’re here, we’re gonna die and then become worm food. The End. Period. Bleccchh.


13 posted on 03/12/2010 5:04:04 PM PST by RedDogzRule
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To: brwnsuga

Faith that there is not God requires faith.


14 posted on 03/12/2010 5:16:23 PM PST by drc43 (Finally , we fooled enough of you... now we can screw you totally!!!....Nancy Pelosi)
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To: marshmallow
Atheists Meet in Melbourne to Celebrate Lack of Faith


15 posted on 03/12/2010 5:23:15 PM PST by RichInOC (No! BAD Rich! (What'd I say?))
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To: drc43

Faith that there is not God requires faith

faith that there is not a god requires far more faith than faith that there is a God.....you cannot, seriously, look at what we know about the universe and say...well it just happened. You cannot, without reservation, look at a new born baby, a leaf, a worm, a robin, a pollywog, a racoon, and say well, they’re nice, but they just happened. That would take far more faith than I have!!!


16 posted on 03/13/2010 1:05:08 PM PST by terycarl (4)
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