Posted on 10/02/2011 3:57:10 PM PDT by Steelfish
Rising Atheism In America Puts 'Religious Right On The Defensive' High profile of faith-based politicians such as Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry masks a steady growth in secularism
Paul Harris in New York 1 October 2011
About 400 people are preparing to gather for a conference in Hartford, Connecticut, to promote the end of religion in the US and their vision of a secular future for the country.
Those travelling to the meeting will pass two huge roadside billboards displaying quotes from two of the country's most famous non-believers: Katharine Hepburn and Mark Twain. "Faith is believing what you know ain't so," reads the one featuring Twain. "I'm an atheist and that's it," says the one quoting Hepburn.
At the meeting, members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) will hear speakers celebrate successes they have had in removing religion from US public life and see awards being presented to noted secularist activists.
The US is increasingly portrayed as a hotbed of religious fervour. Yet in the homeland of ostentatiously religious politicians such as Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, agnostics and atheists are actually part of one of the fastest-growing demographics in the US: the godless. Far from being in thrall to its religious leaders, the US is in fact becoming a more secular country, some experts say. "It has never been better to be a free-thinker or an agnostic in America," says Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the FFRF.
The exact number of faithless is unclear. One study by the Pew Research Centre puts them at about 12% of the population, but another by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Hartford puts that figure at around 20%.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
The Reds are hard at work:
http://www.uhuh.com/nwo/communism/comgoals.htm
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”
Evangelical fundamentalist atheists rising.
“judeo-christian ethic” can’t stand without judeo-christian doctrine and metaphysic.
If you understand that you can understand why the world is going wrong since leaders are doing tricks and craps, lying...
You have a choice to do and what you call the “judeo-christian ethic” is not an easy way....Try to be consistant if possible.
Atheism or agnosticism is , most of the time, a “confortable”, lazy liberal posture
I’m an atheist, and I have that same problem. When they talk about getting religion out of public life, I ask, “Why? Why does it offend you? Why does it matter?”
Different camp, but I understand where you’re coming from based on my past experiences, there’s loads of different religions out there, and of course I even read philosophers too. At the end of the day, if I don’t believe what some people say, it really doesn’t have a lasting effect on me after that.
I have no interest in pulling down Ten Commandments monuments or crosses. I have no interest in getting people to believe in my non-belief. Quite honestly, I lost patience with these idiots years ago.
Well, I think the founders had in mind the fact that if one could deal with a few wierdos every now and then, genuine, constructive ideas could come around every now and then. In my opinion, I would put up with the fact that some people may believe in a flat earth every now and then, then let a systematic exclusion of ideas inhibit scientific progress. It’s a tough price to pay with the 1st amendment, but I would argue that historically, and scientifically, tolerating a few odd people every now and then has paid off in America.
“Atheists don’t believe in God. But the Devil does’’.— Bishop Fulton J. Sheen.
What “idiots” are you speaking about behind your pc ?
You appear like you really are !
You show the sad, stupid and arrogant face of atheism...Thank you, go on.
Only stupid secularists are deliberatly mixing up all “religions”, judaism, christianism, islam...They don’t have a clue or try to spread confusion
C. S. Lewis is quoted, "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."
I am a big believer and have had personal proof that there is a God and a afterlife. What happened is private but for me there is no doubt. My eldest son has very little belief and thinks of himself as smart. Truthfully it is harder to love him because he only believes in himself. His live in girlfriend’s daughter who is seven told me today that there is no heaven. She then went on to tell me that I believed in childish things. My son and his “friend’ obviously are libs. I am an awesome grandfather to my “real” by blood grandchildren but the “possibly temporary”
grandchildren make me want to keep my distance from them. I may not be explaining this clearly enough but surely there are many grand parents in similar situations who know what I mean.
Then the conclusion is that christianism is important since it’s important to know if it’s true or false.
In addition many high level scientists and philosophers believed in God from a rational point of view....
This should make our arrogant atheists much more humble as they are.
I would say that “God” ,if it exists, “is God name of God” and is a satisfying and intellectually smart thought.
And that J.Christ is a very smart person...Enough to follow and listen to him
It’s unfortunate many on this site can’t see us for what we are — Dedicated to freedom and liberty and sickened by what progressivism is doing to this country. We just don’t believe in God. I think there are more atheists on this forum than a lot of members realize.
Wow, would you be in trouble without us believers.
Obviously you never read all of his books. If you think that Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven, doesn't make him an Atheist, that is your right I suppose.
May I suggest the Age of Reason, by Paine?
I am not sure what you are trying to say? That Atheists are communists? Is that the same as saying that People of the Book believe in Allah?
Wazzup with some of the DC crowd supporting Palin anyway? I thought the reason there was a split with FR in the first place was the idea that the "ignorant Christianists" would cost the right all future elections due to the easily-spread liberal meme that they want to suppress all science.
See Matt Damon's infamous rant about Palin for example.
Cheers!
It's leftist atheists that are intolerant. Leftism is fundamentally driven by envy. Leftist atheists envy the religious because of their God advantage. Scientific studies show indisputably that religious people on average live longer happier lives, have more successful marriages, have more children, live in bigger houses, drive bigger cars. Envy does not want what someone else has, it wants to destroy what someone else has. Vanity leads to envy which eventually becomes hate. Leftists are evil.
Atheism is more destructive to America than the worst economic scenario we can imagine. We can bounce back from a bad economy, but we could never return to a being a great country if atheism permeated America.
There’s a difference between satire of the faithful and a denial of faith. Twain’s description of the fly as God’s most beloved creature in Letters from Earth is wonderful satire, as is his mockery of faith healing in Christian Science, or his sneering descriptions of “the pilgrims” in the Innocents Abroad. I also don’t think Twain believed in time travel because he wrote a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s court.
It wouldn’t bother me one wit to find out that a recently uncovered will of Mark Twain includes the phrase “I deny the existence of God.”, since I don’t draw upon him as a testament to my own faith. Stating he was an atheist by cherrypicking his works doesn’t work for me though since he didn’t live the life of an avowed atheist. Setting his self identification as a Presbyterian aside, Twain was a Freemason (belief in a higher authority is a prerequisite to membership), he also spent many years researching and writing a respectful biography of Joan of Arc, whom by all accounts he deeply admired due to - not despite - her faith.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.