Christian Privilege: Christians Can't Understand when Atheists Given Attention
"I'm offended by the (Metro) page," said Robert Cunningham, 42, of Granite Bay and a church member who was at Arco. "The atheists have the front spot, and that makes no sense to me."
Cunningham said that while the atheists had a right to their opinion, The Bee shouldn't be their vehicle and that by publishing the story it was siding with "people who don't believe in God."
Echoing a sentiment lodged by others, Cunningham said that at the very least, "the stories should have been reversed" on the page, with the Arco event getting top billing.
Source: Sacramento Bee (via Friendly Atheist)
I suppose that if they had given the same prominent attention to the gathering of Christians at the Acro Arena, which Cunningham attended, that would have meant the paper would have been siding with theists generally, Christians more specifically, and the Bayside Family of Churches (sponsors of the event) in particular. In that case, Robert Cunningham must not mind when newspapers take sides — just so long as his side is the one being favored.
Frankly, both positions are ridiculous. Giving a story a prominent place doesn't indicate any editorial or personal preference for what's being reported on. It's true that subtle biases play some role, but ultimately the people making these decisions try to do so on the basis of journalistic standards. The atheist story was given prominence because, for various reasons, it was deemed a bit more interesting of a story (and had more interesting pictures).
Can you imagine atheists protesting if the situation were reversed? Can you imagine Muslims protesting if they were in the position of Christians? Of course not, and that's why this is such a good example of how a history of social privilege can change people's perspective: having so long benefited from the privileging of their religion and beliefs, some Christians become outraged when they stop being favored.
Those who criticize the paper for publishing the atheists' story or for "taking sides" by making it the centerpiece don't understand what we do. As best it can, the paper tries to reflect what is going on in this multifaceted community without fear or favor.
"In a weird way, it became a yin and yang page," said Sandoval, explaining he agreed with the final story play decision. "It showed coexistence, how the community lives with that kind of contrast, the mixture of believers and nonbelievers."
I commend the newspaper's editors for trying to tell readers about their own "multifaceted community," but doesn’t it sound as though some readers don't want to hear about this? They want to hear about themselves and their own groups, not anyone else — and they certainly don't want to be reminded about the presence of diversity just outside their own front doors. Cultural institutions like newspapers are supposed to reflect back the dogmas and prejudices of the privileged, thus helping them maintain their own inflated self-image, not inform them about how they aren't the only ones and that others may count for just as much.
Comments
Austin. The read more link doesn’t work.
Now, it does. thank you.
The opposite happened to my local paper a few weeks ago. Remember when Bush gave his speech on the Surge after Petraeus’ Congressional Testimony?
That was on page 6 (just before the editorials)
Page 1? A local black Southern Baptist Church tent revival, that barely drew 100.
Needless to say, I was pissed.
I find that most atheists consider their viewpoints on religion to be a personal one and don’t really concern themselves with what the beliefs of others are (unless it interferes with their own lives). Yet most Christians feel threatened by the very existence of atheists.
Why? Worry about a larger change in our culture? Insecurity? Their own doubts? Jealousy?
You say could I see an atheist or Muslim make the same claim or cause the same issues. You say no, I say yes. In fact, reading through a lot of online blogs, articles, video’s, or even in local papers, I see many atheists are as vocal as Christians when it comes to this sort of thing.
From the papers point of view, if they had one on the front page, and the other buried in the middle or at the end, it would show obvious bias. However one does have to go first, regardless of bias.
For the record, I am not a Christian. I am simply tired of seeing some Christians blame atheists and some atheists blame Christians for mistake they are both guilty of.
Well, feel free to cite some examples then.
Yet most Christians feel threatened by the very existence of atheists.
I don’t feel a bit threatened by ignorance of what you don’t understand.
Christians are charged with a duty. You should read the Bible again if you have or read it peroid if you haven’t.
You will find a charge give to Christians. You might find a few other facts. However, if you can “see,” you should find someone who can.
Colossians 2:18
Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angles, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind;
Let’s take the following article for example:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/28/EDGFKQ1SI91.DTL&hw=Christian&sn=037&sc=280
To sum up, the article offers an extremely biased report on Kentucky’s ‘Creation Museum’. Rather than report on facts, the writer interjects his opinion on Judeo-Christian creation. Granted, it’s an editorial, but that’s the point we’re trying to talk about here isn’t it?
Being on the opposite side of the coin Mr. Cline, I can say with certainty that both sides are equally unfair to the other.
As a Christian, I’m not worried about what the paper reports or does not report. I don’t think a paper will change hearts or lives. If we believe that God is all-powerful, don’t we have to also believe that He can work in people and in this world despite where in the paper the “Christian news” ends up? No one is going to change their mind about God from a newspaper article anyway. Christians should be aware of all viewpoints and what’s going on in the world in order to better understand others, love them, and relate to their lives. I would welcome people to go to both events and decide for themselves which one is more life-changing, which lifestyle is more fulfilling, and after studying the facts, which one is the ultimate truth (since logically, both cannot be).
“some Christians become outraged when they stop being favored”
that was a nice insight. thanks for this blogpost.
Christians should be aware of all viewpoints and what’s going on in the world in order to better understand others, love them, and relate to their lives.
I have listened to others views about their religion(s) or views. Thus, after hearing them, I address them out of love. I wish none to perish because they cannot “see.” As God said in Isaiah, My people perish for a lack of understanding. God’s people had knowledge but could not interpet it. Picture this, you give your children a list of things to follow. And your children says they are understanding. Why then do they perish if they hava list that teaches them how to live?
Katie,
If your god is all-powerful, then why all this concern over the devil? Wouldn’t a truly all-powerful deity be able to just eliminate the devil? Or, to take it a step further, if your god is the creator of all things, why did he create the devil?
Either he’s not actually ALL-powerful, or he created the epitome of evil just to have someone to fight with. Either way, seems curiously f’d up to me.
No, it’s not at all the point at issue. There are several problems here which prevent your “example” from being relevant, the most important of which is that the actual point at issue is whether atheists would complain like the Christians if the situations were reversed in the original story. Unless you can come up with some example of a similar situation where atheists complained like the Christians, you don’t have anything.
Second, the fact that an atheist might have a negative opinion about Jewish or Christian beliefs, and dare to express them in an editorial, is irrelevant. Finally, how do you even know that the editorial author is an atheist? If he’s not, then your “example” is even farther away from being relevant.
I hope you’ll define what you mean by “unfair” and provide some actual examples of that, rather than just make the accusation and disappear.
Katie, Katie, Katie… Are you wearing your glasses and hearing aid?
If your god is all-powerful, then why all this concern over the devil? Wouldn’t a truly all-powerful deity be able to just eliminate the devil? Or, to take it a step further, if your god is the creator of all things, why did he create the devil?
Either he’s not actually ALL-powerful, or he created the epitome of evil just to have someone to fight with. Either way, seems curiously f’d up to me.
You intrude into things you do not understand.
God could elimate the devil. However, you have free will. God let you willing choose who you will follow. As it is written…. But if serving the Lord seems unthinkable to you, then choose for yourself this day whom you will serve… God set before you today life and propersity, death and destruction. Now choose life….for the Lord is your life.
P.S. Even if you don’t think you are serving the devil doesn’t mean you aren’t. His greatest weapon is fooling people into thinking he doesn’t exist. Ooops… I guest atheist….antichrist. It sounds like you know that aready.
Austin,
I think your overlooked the effects of Cunningham’s interest in the Arco story. He participated in the event, so of course he would like it to get top billing. Assuming he liked the event, he would probably like more people to find out about it.
I doubt he would have had such an extreme opinion if it had been another church’s event that was crowded out.
Evan, You are speaking on matter as though you are an expert. What are your credentials in that you can speak on spiritual matters?
“God set before you today life and propersity, death and destruction. Now choose life….for the Lord is your life.”
That’s interesting.. for a “loving” God to give his childrens the choice: Follow me or die.
If you like to call that “free will” its ok.
Credentials? Since when does one need “credentials” to recognize fallacies and incongruencies when he/she sees them? I don’t need some kind of “certification” to qualify me to speak on matters such as this, and your technique of trying to evade the question by deflecting it and instead questioning my personal credibility is laughable and transparent. This is not about me, so let’s not try to make it about me, okay?
Anyway, back to your mental gymnastics: why would god be such a maniacal bastard as to tempt people like that? If I truly loved someone and they were a big fat fatty, would it be very “benevolent” of me to send chocolates and bacon to their doorstep every day? Of course not.
Now, I fully realize that the believers will rationalize any and every incongruence and logical failure with the very same mental gymnastics as you pulled on me up there. Yes, “it is written”, but so was The Hobbit, and I don’t believe Bilbo Baggins is real any more or less than I believe we were created 5000 years ago. Lots of things “have been written”, and there is nothing that any theist has shown me to date that makes their story any more true than the Quran or Snow White or Moby Dick.
But you’re right, I’m not a spiritualism “expert”, I don’t have “credentials”, so I have no business talking about this.
Ha.
“Evan, You are speaking on matter as though you are an expert. What are your credentials in that you can speak on spiritual matters?”
Credentials on spiritual matters? Yes, because clearly the fact that one is “educated” in one of the several hundred thousand completely contradictory religions means they are “experts” on the subject.
Once, when asked for a grant for a fellowship to “teach” theology at a college, the school’s representative responded, “I am not convinced it is a subject at all.”
(I cannot recall the school, applicant, or representative’s name at the moment. The quote should be almost exact, though, and is located early on in Richard Dawkins’ “The God Delusion”)
I’m sick and tired of watching rude, hateful people getting top billing. Seeing an atheist story coming before a Christian one is a breath of fresh air - it doesn’t show favoritism of atheism, it just shows that our events draw more attention. Good! We need to be taken seriously! =)
Christianity, on the other hand, has been pushing us to the back of the bus for two millennia. I think they and their god can safely go the way of Thor and Apollo at this point and drift into mythic irrelevance.
And besides, maybe the newspaper was just alphabetizing. =)
~k8e
Yosoy, That’s interesting…for a “loving” God to give his children the choice: Follow me or die.
So you would let your children wonder into danger. What type of father are you?
Departing from your foolishness, God stands on the mountain top looking below at His children. He sees the danger and sent word to guide us through. Because we drifted toward danger even when warned not to, His son came down. He faced the danger for us and gave His life to save ours. He sent back a Teacher to still help lead us because He did not wants to lose us. He will not make you follow His lead. He tells you apart from Him there is only death.
You think He should let his children wonder blindly in a forest with wild animals, very smart response.
P.S. Where are your children? O, wait. You’d let your children wonder at there own risk. You would dare teach them how to live. They’ll pick it up somewhere…huh. Ok. They call that abandonment.
“He faced the danger for us and gave His life to save ours.”
Alex, I think you’re missing Alex and Yosoy’s the point. If God is all-powerful (which most of his believers claim he is) then why can’t he simply erase “the danger”? If He wanted man saved from sin and hAs the ability to make things happen just by saying “let it happen” (i.e. “let there be light”) why doesn’t he simply say “let man be saved from sin”? As God said in one comic on the subject of the crucifixtion, “why would I need to sacrifice myself to myself so that I could change a rule?” A God who was truly benevolent and all-powerful would never allow a place like Hell to exist. Why is it that while a human who pushed a fellow human into a fireplace who be recognized as evil, it is considered okay for a god to do essentially the same thing only worse (since in the case of Hell, the burning lasts for eternity)? Also, if He’s all-powerful, he should be able to give his creations free will without allowing the existance of someone who tempts them to abuse it. Finally, how do you know you’re following the right God and avoiding the right Hell? What if it turns out that Islam is true, and being a Christian has actually meant that you are serving the Devil and are going to face death or “the danger”? What if religion is actually a clever ploy used by the Devil to lure people to death?
As if the ****** letter to the editor wasn’t bad enough, I submitted this article to Reddit and a user has already accused the paper in question of publishing hate speech on the basis - and strawman - that Richard Dawkins calls christians stupid and that’s hate speech.
Let me get you right. Since when does one need “credentials” to recognize fallacies and incongruencies when he/she sees them? So it not about you? This is not about me, so let’s not try to make it about me, okay?
You don’t make decisions about your life. I find that to be as you say a fallacy and incongruent. If you don’t have control over the choices you make, let me converse with the person who does. You are talking about important about your.
Gymnastics…. I always wanted to be a gymnast. Now let me start with the basics, a handstand… Keep up. First, God does not tempt you with bad choices. He tells you up front He is life. He tells you how to live. But He will not force you to choice Him. Now if you choice death and destruction, You made that choice. Live with what you decide. There are consequences that come with death… He give you a big clue, Death and Destruction. How much clearer can God be? Define Death and destruction if you can’t follow the routine.
Next, let’s try something more difficult, a backflip. God loves His creations… stated in Genesis. He’s is the Father of creation. As a Father, He takes care of what He has brought forth. He spoke the people and sent messangers. He even came to correct His children ways. He is not negligent but actively involved in his children lives.
If you have children, haven’t you give your children instruction to follow?
Continuing. Ok, if you’ve been keeping up… Floor acrobats are next. The Father told you where you came because children need to know where they came. He laid the foundation from the beginning. He even gave basis truths that all men could follow whether learned or unlearned.
The beam, bars and vaulting horse require a truly able and agile person. But there are many who have mastered this concept… even at early ages. Jesus is the bridge to restore the trust between the disobedient child to be Father. God, Himself had to bring this Salvation fourth. You complain because you think you’ve got it hard. You think God is trying to kill you. He is trying to save you. However, you seem to have set your heart on death and destruction. Following other foolish men who have died. They have make vain theories that puff them up. Yet, they haven’t been able to explain a thing. Wrap your mind around this theory. A body remains at rest till a force is acted upon it. Now, they talk about the big bang theory. A large mass of matter that suddenly blew itself up. Really? That wouldn’t follow many scientific theories. O wait, some man will make a clever assumption that explains away that theory.
411314, I’m not missing the point. You don’t make every desision for your children. Once they become adults, reaching the age of accountability. You let them decide for themselves. You’ve got to allow them to be their own person. A person makes personal choices. God gave us free will. If you want to know right from wrong, there has to be a wrong. However, God has already defeated the wrong. Life and prosperity is what He promises. That is what God is offering. But you are freely allowed to choose death and destruction…as I said before.
A God who was truly benevolent and all-powerful would never allow a place like Hell to exist.
Where did you get this fallacy? Hell is a place devoid of God. It is the opposite of Heaven. People can choose not to live in with Him. So they go to the opposite of His kingdom. Do you force people to do things they don’t want?
411314, Why is everyone talking about God, the Christian one, as thought they understand Him? When you says you know Him, you only describe benevolent that is only one quality. Do you have only one quality? God is Holy, Righteous, Just, Kind, Loving, Forgiving, Merciful and etc but for the sake of your benelovence. I will, humor, your question.
Benelovent: kind and charitable. God, Himself, wrought our salvation. So we could be forgiven for our sins. He can’t just forgive because that is not just or fair.
If a man breaks a law and goes before a judge, does the judge just says you are forgiven? Why? He broke the law. He must pay for his crime. God is holy, sacred and without a blemish. He is righteous. He always does what is right. God is quick to forgive. He loves us. Understand this.. God forgives you of your sin. But your act has consequences you must face. You are forgive of the consequences of sin, but the act has manly conquences you must face.
Another anology… Your parents love you. Now if you break a rule, you are punished. Punishment means you must learn from your error. But your parents do forgive you… you just gotta pay the price of the act.
Now there is a time limit to everything. Continued disobeidance can cause your parent to kick you out of the house. Heaven is a place of peace. Your house is a place of peace and refuge. You will not be allow to cause trouble there.
“Do you have only one quality?”
No, but benevolent and all-powerful are two qualities Christians usually claim their god has.
“If a man breaks a law and goes before a judge, does the judge just says you are forgiven? Why? He broke the law. He must pay for his crime.”
But judges in our society thankfully don’t sentence people to torture.
“Your parents love you. Now if you break a rule, you are punished. Punishment means you must learn from your error. But your parents do forgive you… you just gotta pay the price of the act.”
But if a human parent pushed his/her son/daughter into a fireplace, we would all agree that said parent was an abusive parent. Your vision of God sounds to me like a horribly abusive father. In other words, it is his METHOD of punishment which is immoral, not merely the fact that he punishes. You also sitll haven’t answered the following questions:
why can’t he simply erase “the danger”? If He wanted man saved from sin and has the ability to make things happen just by saying “let it happen” (i.e. “let there be light”) why doesn’t he simply say “let man be saved from sin”? As God said in one comic on the subject of the crucifixtion, “why would I need to sacrifice myself to myself so that I could change a rule?”
Furthermore, while it is probably true that complete free will couldn’t exist without evil, you haven’t explained why the Devil must exist for evil to exist. If God is all-powerful, he should be able to allow the existance of evil without the Devil. That way we would have free will to do evil without someone tempting us to do it. Allowing him to exist is something God could be criticised for, assuming He exists. It also fails to explain the existence of deadly viruses and natural dissasters.
The following possibilities have no evidence of being true, but neither does Christianity, so they are equally likely to be true:
What if it turns out that Islam is true, and being a Christian has actually meant that you are serving the Devil and are going to face death or “the danger”? What if religion is actually a clever ploy used by the Devil to lure people to death?
“Why is everyone talking about God, the Christian one, as though they understand Him?”
We’re only using the info that people like you have claimed to be true.
“A God who was truly benevolent and all-powerful would never allow a place like Hell to exist.
Where did you get this fallacy? Hell is a place devoid of God. It is the opposite of Heaven. People can choose not to live in with Him.”
Then it sure would be nice if God provided some convincing evidence that he existed. I’m not “choosing” not to believe anymore than most people “choose” not to believe in Santa Clause. I’m not capable of believing without evidence.
“A body remains at rest till a force is acted upon it. Now, they talk about the big bang theory. A large mass of matter that suddenly blew itself up. Really? That wouldn’t follow many scientific theories. O wait, some man will make a clever assumption that explains away that theory.”
I’m afraid you’re making an assumption too. You’re assuming there was time before the big bang. Maybe there was, and maybe there wasn’t, but if there wasn’t, then it would logically be impossible for something else to act on the singularity because something acting on another body is an event, and that requires time.
Then it sure would be nice if God provided some convincing evidence that he existed. I’m not “choosing” not to believe anymore than most people “choose” not to believe in Santa Clause. I’m not capable of believing without evidence.
That’s not true. God said look at what is made. “See” Understand what you are saying. God stated many things to observe. 1. Things produce after their own kind. 2. Mankind and animal kind return to the dust. 3. Mankind has dominion over the earth. 4. God placed His Bow in the clouds. 5. The jew would dwell on the land give to Abraham. They cannot leave it. 6. Men would not follow sound doctrine, but chase after every theory that comes. 7. God has a 5 fold ministry of displine to try to get His children to understand to return to Him. This world will not be always.
I’m afraid you’re making an assumption too. You’re assuming there was time before the big bang. Maybe there was, and maybe there wasn’t, but if there wasn’t, then it would logically be impossible for something else to act on the singularity because something acting on another body is an event, and that requires time.
Not necessarily. If all matter is converged in one location as Big bang theory suggest ( I mean suggest) then what outside force(object) acted on this body. You may be willing to risk your soul on a maybe, but I’m not when I can see beyond the maybe to what was. I see the other truths stated in the Bible as well. God describle the nature of men as evil all the time, self seeking.
But I know you will hold on to your maybe. As I have said many have died believing a theory, Theories are redefined all the time. So what you thought was true became a lie. If you die in a lie, You die in sin. The reward of sin is death. They chose death and will receive it reward.
Another tid bit, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and how to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgement.
People are sentenced to jail. Punishment for their crimes. Some are released because they served their punishment. Some are reserved for a final judgement… they die in their punishment. Look beyond what you think. The Bible unfold in personal life, family life and the world. Study a family and study the Bible. You will find what you seek, if God is who you are seeking.
1, 3, and 6 are not evidence that any god(s) exist(s). I assume in 7 you are refering to church, but the mere existence of this institution doesn’t prove that what it worships exists. 2, 4, and 5 also need to be supported with evidence.
How could anything act on anything else before there was time?
You are also risking your soul on a maybe. What if Christianity actually leads to death? Christianity is a HUGE maybe since there is no evidence that it is true. Further, worshiping a God who sends or allows people to go to Hell (if he’s all-powerful, he should be able to keep people from Hell weather they followed him or not) to avoid Hell would be morally equivalent to cooperating with Hitler to avoid Auschwitz. Again, most believers say their God is all-powerful. If the Christian God exists and is all powerful, and he hasn’t used this power to erase the existance of Hell, he is immoral. Christianity to often excuses immoral actions if these actions are supposedly commited by their God.
411314, Did you just wake up?
God created time. So He was here before it began. Duh!
There is no truth. And why do you keep blaming God for your mistake? He has been telling you not to be ignorant and follow Him. But you keep saying know. Hell is a kingdom with out God. But it does have a ruler… And he is were all the rebellious people go. If I tell you, you will go to jail if you steal. And you go to jail because you did not listen and stole something. I guess its my fault because you can’t think. I guess you need to go somewhere and let someone tell you what to do because you can’t think.
God created Hell to send those who caused trouble in heaven. He is not allowing them back in to cause trouble. So if your kid shoot up the house everytime they are there, are you going to let them stay?
“There is no truth. And why do you keep blaming God for your mistake?”
–>Comment by Alex — October 26, 2007 @ 4:02 pm
Wait… ain’t it the religious people the ones accusing the non-theists of moral relativity?
And aren’t the religious the ones that claim that the devil made them do it?
Vejur
Austin, I just wanted to say that I think that this is a highly pertinent topic. I think that the concept of ‘Christian Privilege’ is one that underlies many of the Christian v. the world controversies. For example, I think it is part and parcel with the ‘America Founded as a Christian Nation’ history revision. It certainly underlies the objection those Christians had when the Hindu priest said a prayer in the Senate. In fact, the whole issue of religious display in the Governmental arena has the idea of Privilege at its core. Keep up the good work.
“God created time. So He was here before it began. Duh!”
It seems unlikely that insisting this over and over again will make it true. You still have no support for your claims. There is no evidence that there is or ever was a God. There might be such a being, but there is no evidence for it, and you’re not going to change that by being rude. You also apparently don’t see the obvious difference between jail and Hell. Jail isn’t a place of eternal torture. I said earlier that what is morally despicalbe is NOT the fact that a punishment supposedly exists, but the METHOD of punishment (see comment 26) but you are simply ignoring me and making the same argument again. You also still haven’t explained how you know you are following the right god and not a false religion designed by the Devil to trick you. I see no more evidence for Christianity than for any other religion. And while we’re at it, the rule that a body remains at rest till a force has acted upon it is a rule that applys WITHIN our universe, but there is no reason to assume that it applies OUTSIDE our universe. Are you going to really answer that one, or are you just going to ignore it too or respond to it with another unjustified assumption? Maybe you’ll insult me again just for good measure? If you keep dodging the questions and/or keep being rude, I’ll stop responding.
Vejur, no true knowledgeable Christian would take that stand. The devil makes sin seem like a wonderful choice. But you have to take him up on the offer willingly.
“Vejur, no true knowledgeable Christian would take that stand.”
–>Comment by Alex — October 27, 2007 @ 8:59 am
So that I understand, a Christian would take that stand, a true Christian would take that stand, a knowledgeable Christian would take that stand, but a true knowledgeable Christian would not. Is that what you are saying?
Another tid bit, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and how to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgement.
Ques: Just how does it do that?
God created Hell to send those who caused trouble in heaven. He is not allowing them back in to cause trouble. So if your kid shoot up the house everytime they are there, are you going to let them stay?
Ques: How do you know that?
As I have said many have died believing a theory, Theories are redefined all the time. So what you thought was true became a lie. If you die in a lie, You die in sin. The reward of sin is death. They chose death and will receive it reward.
Ques: Brilliant, but again, how can you be sure? “The reward of sin is death - They chose death and will receive it reward”? Maybe it’s me, but what are you talking about?
“God created time. So He was here before it began. Duh!”
There is no time in the universe – it does not understand what we understand as time - so what exactly are you saying? Perhaps we are not part the universe, just a single flat dish – floating? Top and bottom – square shaped?
There is no truth. And why do you keep blaming God for your mistake? He has been telling you not to be ignorant and follow Him. But you keep saying know. Hell is a kingdom with out God. But it does have a ruler… And he is were all the rebellious people go. If I tell you, you will go to jail if you steal. And you go to jail because you did not listen and stole something. I guess its my fault because you can’t think. I guess you need to go somewhere and let someone tell you what to do because you can’t think.
No atheist is blaming a god for anything. How does one blame something on nothing?
Now are we talking about a spirit god or a human god? And which one are we referencing here - the jesus myth or the yahweh myth?
“P.S. Even if you don’t think you are serving the devil doesn’t mean you aren’t. His greatest weapon is fooling people into thinking he doesn’t exist.”
Alex, by the same logic God’s greatest weapon is fooling people into thinking he does exist.
Just to get back to the original article, I don’t think the paper was showing any bias. I think it was more a case of following the maxim that a dog biting a man is not news but a man biting a dog is. There is nothing novel about a Christian gathering.
Alex,
for the sake of other readers, could you please learn how to format your posts so that your words are easily distinguishable from those of others. You are hard enough to follow as it is.
Also, in response to post 28: if a holy text claimed a god had said “I will make grass green and snow cold” would you be shocked by the accuracy of this information and thereby conclude that this god exists and the said text was an infallable record of it’s will? Most of your “evidence” is of this type, that is, phenomena which would have been observed by all for millenia prior to being “written”.
And finally, it would be nice if you could stick to the point of the original article. The fact that you have brought up similar points in response to a totally different article speaks loudly of an agenda which has little to do with the exchange of ideas.
WRT to greatest weapons: Religions greatest weapon is in tricking people into thinking its a good thing.
Quote of the week:
“I have listened to others views about their religion(s) or views. Thus, after hearing them, I address them out of love.”
If someone tells me what they believe that’s different than what I believe, I will listen–and then I’ll tell them, nicely, why they’re wrong.
Just for the record: That’s not “listening” to others.
Alex,
“4. God placed His Bow in the clouds.”
Tell us, Alex, what part of physics did God change when he made rainbows visible following the “great flood?” Prior to the flood, did the sun not shine to provide the light that causes rainbows? Did raindrops not exist to reflect and refract the sunlight? Did reflection of light or refraction of light not occur prior to the flood, or did eyes not refract light themselves or see reflected light? Which of those factors of the physics of rainbows did not exist prior to the flood, and how were people and animals able to see prior to the flood when the physics of light were different?
I believe alex has far less background & study in these areas than the majority of atheists he attempts to school… as for me, I spent over 40 years of indoctrination & study of the bible… in the end (took way too long), it was indept study of the bible that finally led me to the place I am today… an atheist… once it became obvious that the bible was an obvious human invention, the basis of my faith (faith in “god’s word”) was gone & with it, my faith in the “god of the bible”…