Why should I re-examine anything

[edhopper]

I don't accept the existence of a god. And some asshole killing some innocent people who shares that idea doesn't change my thoughts on it.

I believe in trying to treat people with kindness no matter their beliefs, and some asshole killing innocent people won't change that either.

So what am i suppose to rethink?

[GeorgeGist]

1. If you believed in God ...

you could fantasize the victims being 'in a better place', ie. their execution has a bright side.

[AlbertCat]

2. My re-examining.....

That gun toting, worked up jerk probably would have shot them even if he believed in a god.... probably sooner that he did.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. I'd rethink your overblown anger over parking spots.

Or actually, and more seriously, if you find yourself getting very angry over something, and you observe that this happens frequently, and you can see that your anger is perhaps a bit overblown and misplaced, please seek professional help.

[edhopper]

4. That would be true

if that described anything about me. But it doesn't, so what is this re-examining suppose to do.

[Warren Stupidity]

5. it is supposed to make you feel bad.

I thought that was obvious

[edhopper]

6. But it's not explained about what.

I already knew some atheists are assholes and others can be violent.
Because human beings are atheists.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. You shouldn't.

I already think that you don't really care what other people think, and that you are not going to do something just because you are told to do so. So screw the people who are telling you to re-examine yourself.

[Warpy]

8. I avoided that steaming dog turd of a post.

Craig was a raging asshole who needed 14 guns to prop up his fragile ego and who bullied everyone around him for years.

Anything else is beside the point.

[jeff47]

9. You have to remember they're coming at it from a framework of belief.

Their framework includes instructions from their religion on how to behave. So they naturally assume that's the case for everyone. For example, muslims are supposed to reexamine their faith in response to terror attacks because their religion is dictating how they are supposed to behave.

This framework breaks down for atheists. We don't have a holy text telling everyone what we are supposed to do. So there's no reason to re-examine anything, because there's nothing to re-examine. That doesn't mean believers will not try to shove us into that framework - it's a much more comfortable worldview for them.

[edhopper]

10. I also think it's a false analogy

their are many religious leaders that call for punishment and attacks on people dictated by their religion.

I might be missing something. But in all the criticism of religion I have seen from atheists, i haven't seen any of the noted individuals calling for harm to believers.

I see a lot of Christians calling for bombing people back to the stone age, but not non-believers.

(Well maybe Hitchens)

[jeff47]

11. Their beliefs are perfect. Only others need to re-examine. (nt)

[AngryDem001]

35. Along the same lines as "The only moral abortion is MY abortion."

[Neon Gods]

12. Actually, the fact that the shooter was a self-described atheist shocked me.

All the atheists I know are like me, non-violent, live-and-let-live kind of people. So in a way I did have to re-examine myself, or at least my naive view of my fellow atheists. It made me realize that there are probably tea party atheists, and gun nut atheists, and atheists who hate religion so much they feel the need to harm religious folks. Ugh. I hope there aren't many of the latter.

[edhopper]

13. But we don't know

If religion had anything to do with this.

[trotsky]

14. And yet given the worst case scenario...

that the murders had nothing to do with a parking spot, and were solely motivated by his hatred of the religious... we still say, so what?

There is not a single prominent atheist (or anti-theist) calling for the execution of believers. There is not a book defining atheism that has passages that could even be mis-translated into calling for the murder of believers.

Yet there are many prominent believers who call for the execution of those who aren't following their faith. The Bible (Torah) and Koran, the foundational documents of the Abrahamic religions, have quite explicit descriptions of violence and murder - sanctioned and sometimes even commanded by their god.

This makes religionists and their defenders very uncomfortable. The Chapel Hill tragedy is their one chance to try and stop atheists from pointing out how religion DOES make specific claims and gives specific commandments about engaging in brutal violence.

[edhopper]

15. I was just told

saying Islam is the mother lode of bad ideas is the same as calling for the heads of infidels.

[trotsky]

16. Well if that's the case,

they'd better shut down DU because what's said on here is calling for the complete destruction of all Republicans, their corpses turned to ashes, and shot into space.

[AtheistCrusader]

19. What an incredibly disingenuous lie.

I guess I'm better off not knowing which poster spouted that bullshit.

[edhopper]

20. It's in here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1218&pid=181883

[AtheistCrusader]

22. Huh. Looks like I can't see that poster.

Small loss, I'm sure.

[Act_of_Reparation]

23. I can't see it either.

One of my cats must have spilled upholstery cleaner on my computer.

[edhopper]

24. Okay

"Maher said this lovely gem:

"It's not my fault that the part of the world that is most against liberal principles is the Muslim part of the world,"

He also said that "hundreds of millions of (Muslims)" support the killings at Charlie Hebdo. Since that's a large chunk of the Muslim world community, Maher directly implies that any Muslim is likely to support such actions. That's reprehensible.

Harris added this beauty:

"While the other major world religions have been fertile sources of intolerance, it is clear that the doctrine of Islam poses unique problems for the emergence of a global civilization."

and his famous one:

"Islam is the mother lode of bad ideas."

These are not statements that make racist, unhinged, or stupid people like Hicks look at adherents of Islam as equal human beings deserving equal respect and safety. These are inflammatory statements similar to the ones made against Judaism/Jews and Catholicism/Catholics in the past. These statements of Maher and Harris are truly irredeemable."


In fairness he didn't say it's exactly the same, it's just that it will lead people to acts of violence.

[AtheistCrusader]

25. I doubt there is anything positive one could say about islam that would help

someone like Hicks see his victims as human beings deserving respect and safety.

Maybe in retrospect, when society says 'get in the fucking 8x8 concrete box, asshole'.

[edhopper]

27. Am I the only one who doesn't

have people on ignore?

[AtheistCrusader]

29. My ignore list was updated, quite specifically, this morning.

Till then it had been empty for months.

Just not going to put up with certain vicious shenanigans anymore. Tired of the theatrics and the manipulation. If I have to watch said poster do it to other people anymore, I'm gonna say a LOT of things that are going to get me some hides. So I will censor myself by eliminating that user from my view.

[Lordquinton]

31. There is nothing wrong with removing toxic people from your life

be it real 'friends' or folks online, it's a healthy practice.

[edhopper]

32. Sorry if that question sounded negative

it was more of a bemusement.

[Lordquinton]

33. It's no worry

sometimes it can be hard cutting people off because it seems silly, pride, personal rules about not interrupting discussion or what not. But the truth of the matter is that some people are simply toxic, and they never add anything, and it's fine to remove them. Much easier online, as there are no bodies to hide... I mean, I've said too much...

[edhopper]

34. I understand the reasons

and don't begrudge others for doing so.

There are times I've stopped responding to posters, so I guess that's similar.

[Gelliebeans]

30. I don't have anyone on ignore

I have a hard enough time keeping up as it is. Lol

[AtheistCrusader]

17. Hi. I'm a gun nut atheist. :D

But I also live by the non-aggression principle. I have an excellent track record of following it, ever since I learned of it, and adopted it as one of my core principles.

It's just incredibly unhealthy to initiate aggression against me.

[edhopper]

18. I don't see where being a gun nut

has anything to do with atheism. It's funny how people are somehow pairing the two in this case.

I can't see how your disbelief in God has anything to do with your interpretation of the second Amendment.

It's like saying I'm a secular humanist cat fancier.

[AtheistCrusader]

21. Good point.

My identity as an atheist, and the contents of my gun safe are entirely unrelated. All of my principles and axioms are compartmentalized, and explicitly chosen by me. The only inter-dependencies are that they be internally consistent. (Not in conflict with each other)

I don't have any that were foisted on me externally and I do not accept doctrines or policies that overlap one rule to the next. Each must be tested and proven individually. (In this sense, I am not a 'Progressive(TM)' in electively adopting the progressive platform, I am a Progressive in that my positions on more than 95% of issues that have been raised to my awareness, overlap perfectly with the positions of the progressive platform.)

I can drop and load ideals, principles, and axioms as easily as one might drop, load or reload firewall rules on their router. If I detect a weakness or inconsistency in any of them, I will purge and acquire new rules. Each rule has nothing to do with another.

[PeaceNikki]

26. That's a good methodology. It's an evolution of self.

[backscatter712]

28. One murdering piece of shit doesn't speak for the movement.

It's the mainscream media who'll tell us repeatedly that this guy was an atheist, and broadcast it in neon lights. At the same time, countless LGBT people, or people worshiping the wrong deity, or women, or kids that cop an attitude, die every day as a result of Christian and Islam extremist fucknuts, and the same mainscream media doesn't bat an eye.

[skepticscott]

36. Even if it were true that atheism was making some people

do horrible things (which it isn't) that wouldn't have one damn thing to do with whether there are actually any gods. If the truth causes problems, tough... don't blame the fucking truth.