Calling All Atheists and Interested Parties

The BBQ Pit
61

[QUOTE=catsix]
I’m an atheist, and while I don’t think that atheism is treated poorly here, I do think that it’s a bit of a double-standard that christianity is treated any differently than scientology here.

Debates about scientology usually involve a large measure of calling beliefs of scientologists stupid and delusional, and that’s considered to be pretty much all that’s necessary. Debates against christians here are not accepted if the main component of the argument is that it’s delusional and/or stupid to believe in what’s in the bible.

Why the difference? I think that in huge portions of the US and some other parts of the world, the christian monotheistic god is taken as a fact, and that has leaked over here, when really there’s no more reason to take christianity or judiasm or islam any more seriously than scientology.
[/QUOTE]

Well said.

62

[QUOTE=catsix]

Why the difference? I think that in huge portions of the US and some other parts of the world, the christian monotheistic god is taken as a fact, and that has leaked over here, when really there’s no more reason to take christianity or judiasm or islam any more seriously than scientology.
[/QUOTE]

Close, but as another doper pointed out, Scientology hides mayor items of their faith until you have paid enough, Christianity does not do that and has been tamed after Luther and others traduced the Bible and then others decided that separation of church and state was a good idea.

I do think only as an acknowledgment that many believers did allow this separation to become a reality that they deserve some respect, but lets not forget that this site does throw stones to creationism, intelligent design, and many other Christian items and preachers that continuously attempt to breach the wall of separation.

63

[QUOTE=GIGObuster]
Close, but as another doper pointed out, Scientology hides mayor items of their faith until you have paid enough, Christianity does not do that and has been tamed after Luther and others traduced the Bible and then others decided that separation of church and state was a good idea.

I do think only as an acknowledgment that many believers did allow this separation to become a reality that they deserve some respect, but lets not forget that this site does throw stones to creationism, intelligent design, and many other Christian items and preachers that continuously attempt to breach the wall of separation.
[/QUOTE]

And Christianity has given us:

-Lord of the Rings
-The Chronicles of Narnia
-Michaelangelo’s Pieta and the Sistine Chapel
-Handel’s Messiah

What has Scientology done for us? Battlefield Earth. And Leah Remini.

64

[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber]
Well said.
[/QUOTE]

Wrong again. :slight_smile:

Over here, Der Trihs has no problem in saying essentially an item of faith is bollocks, and he does not need to become an ass to say so. Or is threatened by a moderator.

The key is in the first statement of the OP: He started that thread because the other was not civil.

65

[QUOTE=catsix]
I’m an atheist, and while I don’t think that atheism is treated poorly here, I do think that it’s a bit of a double-standard that christianity is treated any differently than scientology here.

Debates about scientology usually involve a large measure of calling beliefs of scientologists stupid and delusional, and that’s considered to be pretty much all that’s necessary. Debates against christians here are not accepted if the main component of the argument is that it’s delusional and/or stupid to believe in what’s in the bible.

Why the difference? I think that in huge portions of the US and some other parts of the world, the christian monotheistic god is taken as a fact, and that has leaked over here, when really there’s no more reason to take christianity or judiasm or islam any more seriously than scientology.
[/QUOTE]

I agree with that and only want to add a bit. I agree that it’s not that atheism is treated poorly, (I really can’t recall being asked to defend it) but that Christianity, the nominal variety at least, is treated with more respect that it rationally deserves. Not so much by mods as most (aside from Tom) have been quite fair, and the policies of the forum are fair. Aside from Tom the bias comes from many of the straight dope members who are either nominally Christian themselves, or like Miller who have friends and family who are, and thereby treat these “Christians” rather well, when they have also said they have no problems in treating Scientologist and psychics with much less respect.

The people who really get the boot around here however, are fundamentalist Christians. Guys like Polycarp slur them to no end calling them neopharisees, bigots etc, and until I arrived here he got nothing but accolades from it. Which pretty much means he’s bad mouthing my parents, who for all their faults are hardworking people (more than I can say for Poly), and try to do what they think is right. And while the religious beliefs of my parents may be wholly irrational (which believe me, I let them know it) I don’t think it right that they should be slurred by an every bit as loony, if not more so, a bastard as Poly. And yes, he is the prominent offender in this regard, and for that, as well as a few other reasons, has earned my attention.

Cheers.

66

Atheist by upbringing. I perform as a minister each weekend for large sums of money, but still an atheist.

Nope, never been even remotely persecuted for it.

67

I agree with this 100%. The phrasing is perfect, the punctuation is flawless, the parallel structure is beyond reproach. What a fantastic post this was! Just gorgeous, pure genius. I dont know how he does it, time after time, post after post, getting it exactly right. I’m in utter awe.
[/quote]

My goodness, will I be happy when Christmas is past and the circle jerk ends till Easter.

Ourobouros, indeed.

68

[QUOTE=catsix]
I’m an atheist, and while I don’t think that atheism is treated poorly here, I do think that it’s a bit of a double-standard that christianity is treated any differently than scientology here.

Debates about scientology usually involve a large measure of calling beliefs of scientologists stupid and delusional, and that’s considered to be pretty much all that’s necessary. Debates against christians here are not accepted if the main component of the argument is that it’s delusional and/or stupid to believe in what’s in the bible.

Why the difference? I think that in huge portions of the US and some other parts of the world, the christian monotheistic god is taken as a fact, and that has leaked over here, when really there’s no more reason to take christianity or judiasm or islam any more seriously than scientology.
[/QUOTE]

It’s no different on any other board that has discussions about scientology. I might be wrong, but haven’t seen any scientology posters on this board to refute remarks about their beliefs. The best I’ve seen anyone come up with is to say that what scientologists believe is no more crazy than what christians believe. It’s impossible to get any objective information because even the pro-scientology site give out little information.

But why stop at scientology? How about Aum Shinrikyo, Heaven’s Gate or the Unification Church?

I’m not saying scientology is the same, but who really knows what they believe because they’re so secretive? The only reason scientology gets any press at all compared to other groups is because of the celebrity factor. They really aren’t any different than the hundreds of other alt. religions out there.

69

[QUOTE=Frank]
My goodness, will I be happy when Christmas is past and the circle jerk ends till Easter.

Ourobouros, indeed.
[/QUOTE]

[Hijack] Frank --how did you capture that internal quotation within the quotation? For example I tried to copy your entire post, internal quotes and all, but only your own words, and not your quote of me, shows up in my text. What’s the trick? Thanks[/hijack]

70

Jesus Fucking Christ, and Sweet OG! This is what, the third offshoot of a thread of a thread?

71

[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber]

[QUOTE=Frank]
My goodness, will I be happy when Christmas is past and the circle jerk ends till Easter.

Ourobouros, indeed.
[/QUOTE]

[Hijack] Frank --how did you capture that internal quotation within the quotation? For example I tried to copy your entire post, internal quotes and all, but only your own words, and not your quote of me, shows up in my text. What’s the trick? Thanks[/hijack]
[/QUOTE]

I manually select, copy and paste the quote within the quote. Put it inside the quote you already have. Put quote tags around it. Add = and the name of the poster. Voici.

72

Atheist (duh ). No, no, and Tomndebb, but only slightly, and only on a personal level; I can’t recall him acting unfairly towards me in his role as a moderator, and he can be as unfair/biased as he likes towards me on a personal level, and it won’t count as oppression.

This is easily one of the most atheist tolerant places I’ve encountered. If anything, the problem is that as mentioned by others, religion, especially Christianity, is given a pass on nonsense that would cause a major pile on if someone spouted the same level of foolishness about other belief systems.

73

[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber]
[Hijack] Frank --how did you capture that internal quotation within the quotation? For example I tried to copy your entire post, internal quotes and all, but only your own words, and not your quote of me, shows up in my text. What’s the trick? Thanks[/hijack]
[/QUOTE]

I cut and pasted the entire post, like this:

pseudotriton ruber ruber
Charter Member Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,030
Location: mossy forest

Quote:
Originally Posted by badchad
Moderators in general, no. Moderator Tomndebb in particular, yes.
I agree with this 100%. The phrasing is perfect, the punctuation is flawless, the parallel structure is beyond reproach. What a fantastic post this was! Just gorgeous, pure genius. I dont know how he does it, time after time, post after post, getting it exactly right. I’m in utter awe.

Then edited the extraneous matter and added appropriate quote tags so that it looked like this:

{quote=pseudotriton ruber ruber}
{Quote=badchad}Moderators in general, no. Moderator Tomndebb in particular, yes.{/quote}
I agree with this 100%. The phrasing is perfect, the punctuation is flawless, the parallel structure is beyond reproach. What a fantastic post this was! Just gorgeous, pure genius. I dont know how he does it, time after time, post after post, getting it exactly right. I’m in utter awe.{/quote}

With, of course, braces instead of brackets.

74

Forgot to add that I’m a former atheist and lapsed Catholic, now a non-scheduled Christian Deist. I think that catsix has hit it square. There is no institutional bias, as far as I can see, but the response “You’re insulting the sincerely held beliefs of millions of people” really has no place here.

75

[QUOTE=Der Trihs]
This is easily one of the most atheist tolerant places I’ve encountered. If anything, the problem is that as mentioned by others, religion, especially Christianity, is given a pass on nonsense that would cause a major pile on if someone spouted the same level of foolishness about other belief systems.
[/QUOTE]

I also agree with this. This place is wonderful–I just think it could be a little better if all belief systems followed the same exact standards of supporting arguments with evidence.

76

I suspect Scientology is treated poorly because, to the best of my knowledge, we haven’t had a Scientologist Doper willing to stick it out and defend it. Additionally there is the whole “cult/fraud/bilking people out of money” aspects that aren’t well respected among Dopers.

We treat Fundie Christianitity poorly - but its been far better treated when we had Fundie’s on the board willing to defend it - especially ones that have been willing to stick around.

I’m always surprised how respectfully Wicca gets treated. We have some (and as long as I’ve been here have always had) active and respected Wiccan/Pagan posters who are willing to defend their beliefs.

77

Atheist (raised Lutheran). No, no and no, but then, I don’t debate so how would I know?

I love this place for all the atheists/agnostics/anti-$cientologists on board. And liberals.

78

Wasn’t there one poster, a practicing Scientoligist, a while back?

79

[QUOTE=Monty]
Wasn’t there one poster, a practicing Scientoligist, a while back?
[/QUOTE]

I believe so, although I don’t think he stayed very long at all, for obvious reasons.

80

[QUOTE=Klaatu]
Jesus Fucking Christ, and Sweet OG! This is what, the third offshoot of a thread of a thread?
[/QUOTE]

Merry Christmas, eh?

Honestly (not being facetious) I’m not sure where Christianity gets a free pass on the boards and atheism doesn’t.