Prepare to have your world rocked.

[beam me up scottie]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=25776&mesg_id=26805

And could you bring some more popcorn?
I think this might take a while.

[FM Arouet666]

1. Thanks, I am already pissed off

Now I have gone and called this poor chap's imaginary sky pixie a myth. I hope he forgives me, and promises to pray for my soul. :evilgrin:

[Az]

2. Easy there big dawg

If what this person is saying is their real opinion then it sounds like they have never been exposed to our brand of thinking. Turn the heat up too fast and all that kindling will go up like a bomb.

[FM Arouet666]

8. Bad atheist, god damn bad atheist.

Your right I am brewing for a fight. This poor chap will likely barrage me with biblical passages. I will refrain until tomorrow, when I am more docile. :evilgrin:

[onager]

3. I told him my Uncle Max rose from the dead

Though I still halfway believe that one was from a troll.

Let's see if he comes back with: "...famous historians like Philo, Josephus and Tacitus mentioned Jesus..."

And the famous historian Herodotus wrote that red-headed unicorns with blue eyes lived in India. So they must be real too.

[Az]

4. Trying to keep it out of the pure historocity argument

That one can get muddled. Keeping it focused on the resurrection story (which was their claim) keeps it out of the murky claims out there. Simply put no matter whether they can demonstrate Jesus existed as a person there is nothing supporting the claims of the resurrection.

[beam me up scottie]

5. I guess you're not very "bright".

Just like the rest of us.
:rofl:

[Az]

6. Trust me

No one outside this group got that one. Our PR/Marketting blows. :rofl:

[beam me up scottie]

7. Is it too late to get our money back?

There are no more funds allocated for advertising in this year's budget.

[FM Arouet666]

9. I prayed for enlightenment, but I guess the answer was no

So I prayed for god to disappear into nothingness, and I guess the answer was yes.:evilgrin:

[beam me up scottie]

10. It's funny.

As soon as I read that post, I pictured everybody in the forum gasping and stepping back three paces like they do on tee vee!
(Or like they do when Modem Butterfly steps into the ring! :evilgrin:)

[Az]

11. Pretty sure modem is a quantum buttefly

If you ever read Pratchett you know what kinda troulbe they are. :evilgrin:

[FM Arouet666]

12. You should see me in catholic churches in Europe

After one or two I begin to express a concern for the waste of money that went into the house of the lard, neglecting all those that could have had food and a warm house, lost to build a monument to stupidity.

Lovely works of art, paid for by rich patrons to immortalize themselves and perpetuate a corrupt church. Many of these great works have the rich person portrayed among the saints. Bill Gates and the virgin mary? What a great legacy.

And don't even get me going on relics, those old bones placed in crystal and gold attributed to some holy individual. Il Crapola, I think they were ready to kick me out of Italy. Anyway, got to sleep. Thanks for the comparison to Modem Butterfly, she is legend, and I enjoy her posts immensely. :evilgrin:

[Az]

13. Just an aside: Gates is one of ours

From www.celebatheists.com

Bill Gates
From CelebAtheists
Gates was interviewed November 1995 on PBS by David Frost. Below is the transcript with minor edits.

Frost: Do you believe in the Sermon on the Mount?

Gates: I don't. I'm not somebody who goes to church on a regular basis. The specific elements of Christianity are not something I'm a huge believer in. There's a lot of merit in the moral aspects of religion. I think it can have a very very positive impact.

Frost: I sometimes say to people, do you believe there is a god, or do you know there is a god? And, you'd say you don't know?

Gates: In terms of doing things I take a fairly scientific approach to why things happen and how they happen. I don't know if there's a god or not, but I think religious principles are quite valid.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gates was profiled in a January 13, 1996 TIME magazine cover story. Here are some excerpts compiled by the Drudge Report:

"Isn't there something special, perhaps even divine, about the human soul?" interviewer Walter Isaacson asks Gates "His face suddenly becomes expressionless," writes Isaacson, "his squeaky voice turns toneless, and he folds his arms across his belly and vigorously rocks back and forth in a mannerism that has become so mimicked at MICROSOFT that a meeting there can resemble a round table of ecstatic rabbis."

"I don't have any evidence on that," answers Gates. "I don't have any evidence of that."

He later states, "Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning."

[FM Arouet666]

14. Strike Gates, make that Murdoch.

But I was thinking in the context of the very rich and powerful, someone like a Medici, and Gates popped into my mind. Every time my system crashes I use Gates' name in vein, but your post is very interesting, I must say, I have more respect for him, especially given the current atmosphere.

[onager]

15. Speaking of cathedrals...

...one of the funniest things I ever saw is hanging on the door of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

As you enter this famous sanctuary of holiness, a multi-lingual sign warns you: "Beware Of Pickpockets."

Cripes. You'd think that alone would be an indication of how effective the whole religion thing has been for the past few millenia.

At least Notre Dame has, or used to have, a great diorama inside showing the building of the Cathedral. Believers like to trot out the usual stuff like, "Only GAWD could have built Notre Dame."

Nope. The diorama showed quite ordinary laborers hauling and using building supplies and, IIRC, in one corner some architects and engineers studying Medieval blueprints.

Whether intentional or not, I like the message: we humans designed and built this thing, just as we did the Louvre, Versailles and the Eiffel Tower.

[beam me up scottie]

16. The best thing about Notre Dame in Paris,

are the Gargoyles.

[Tafiti]

17. What, these little fellers?

They're my favorite part about ND as well. :hi:

Took these about 3 1/2 years ago...

[beam me up scottie]

18. Those are great!!!

I do love those guys.:loveya:

[Az]

19. Dunno why

but it seems universal that atheists like gargoyles. :D

[BiggJawn]

21. Maybe because they remind us of the myth-believers...

...Who used to look down their noses at us...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

23. I don't see Murdoch in celebatheists.com. Is he? (nt)

[Az]

24. If you got anything on him turn it in

He may simply not have turned up on the radar yet.

[BiggJawn]

20. Is he running for president?

Never exactly came right out and said "I don't believe in the mystical Sky Daddy" did he?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

22. Linux Torvalds is MORE atheist than Gates, so there!

:P

(It seems to me Gates is somewhat less incisive about his beliefs because of the company he has to keep to stay filthy rich.)

http://www.celebatheists.com/wiki/index.php?title=Linus_Torvalds

"I find that people seem to think religion brings morals and appreciation of nature. I actually think it detracts from both."

[Moderator]

25. Please do not link to other DU Group Forums.

All posts that link to other groups will be removed.

Thank you.

Moderator

[Moderator]

26. Linking to other DU Groups is prohibited.

Thank you.