Czarcasm:
If for this board perception isn’t matching reality there isn’t much atheists can do about it…unless the goal is to have the SDMB contain only “good” atheists that know their place. It seems to me like “militant” and “intolerant” are coupled with the word “atheists” far too easily, and mostly for opinions that wouldn’t even bring up those labels if atheism wasn’t involved in the first place.
Fine. What’s your preferred term for Nouveau Atheists?* And how would you characterize Naxos and Der Trihs?
Post-Dawkins atheists? The New Atheists?
Lobohan
January 21, 2012, 11:11pm
382
Christian: “God loves you.”
Atheist: “God doesn’t exist.”
Is the second militant and the first not?
Lobohan:
Christian: “God loves you.”
Atheist: “God doesn’t exist.”
Is the second militant and the first not?
Well it depends upon the context. As I read it though, the first is evangelistic and the second is snappy. Hey, the latter might be appropriate, especially in airports.
With respect, I don’t think your presentation helped much.
I see no evidence that there are any such thing as “New Atheists”, as opposed to plain old atheists. It seems more an attempt to portray atheists as some organized subversive group that popped into existence a few years ago.
New Atheism .
The movement is commonly associated with individuals such as Richard Dawkins, Daniel C. Dennett, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Victor J. Stenger[citation needed]. Several best-selling books by these authors, published between 2004 and 2007, form the basis for much of the discussion of new atheism.[2]
ETA: OBTW IMHO “The New Atheism” is far more cringe-worthy than “Militant Atheists”. But hey, if you want to self-identify as an Atheier Atheist, go ahead.
I’m just an atheist, I don’t self identify as militant or new.
Frank
January 22, 2012, 1:01am
387
I’ve been an atheist for some 35 years. I see no reason why my view should be attributed to thought of the last decade.
Often, you can just use the term atheist. But sometimes it’s appropriate to distinguish post-SJGould atheism from that of the live and let live variety. Or Madelyn O’Hare from Bertrand Russell. Or Der Trihs from Spiritus Mundi.
ETA:
Der_Trihs:
I’ve noticed what Meatros is talking about occasionally happening; generally by the type of poster who eventually gets banned. However, I’ve seen more threads where the religious types seem to think that is happening, when in fact all that is happened is they posted something based on religious assumptions not held by others (who may or may not be atheist).
The hell? You don’t do that all the time? (Actual question.) Remember that P1, P2… could be made by different posters.
Measure_for_Measure:
Often, you can just use the term atheist. But sometimes it’s appropriate to distinguish post-SJGould atheism from that of the live and let live variety. Or Madelyn O’Hare from Bertrand Russell. Or Der Trihs from Spiritus Mundi.
ETA: The hell? You don’t do that all the time? (Actual question.) Remember that P1, P2… could be made by different posters.
I’ve asked Meatros for a non-exaggerated example for what he said happens-perhaps you can provide an example for us?
No, I don’t. Consider this thread SenorBeef linked to as an example; I only posted there to ask the name of a particular religious sect being referenced. As it said right in the OP “According to Christian theology, that is - answers along the lines of “no, because Heaven doesn’t exist” won’t be particularly useful” ; I don’t bother to argue against God’s existence in such threads because it’s about as theoretical as arguing whether Darth Vader or Gandalf would win in a fight. The objective existence or lack thereof of gods is irrelevant in such a thread, when the question is just what the theology says.
It was Naxos who behaved in the way you are describing; and who got banned, as I mentioned such people tend to be.
Vader would chop Gandalf in half lengthwise before the latter could finish the first line of faux latin.
…and, predictably, Gandalf would rise up again, more powerful than Vader could possibly imagine (Gandalf didn’t generally use faux-Latin, btw).
Vader was always a slow learner.
Dumbledore, OTOH, would be toast.
To quote from another forum,
“Dumbledore, your wand is broken!”
I googled for board threads under the topics “Jesus” and “Problem of Evil”.
I found 2 examples… with Naxos. I also found this 2010 thread with 2 posters who were warned, plus Naxos. Specifically Sablicious (banned) and nachtmusick. Christianity: Why did Jesus leave in the first place? Why not just stay after the resurrection? - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board
What follows is a list of threads with nada, with 2 exceptions. I swear, I thought this crap happened all the time, but it apparently wasn’t that common. Admittedly most of the threads were validity of Christianity debates anyway, so it wasn’t a proper test. Still. I retract my concerns.
Google Jesus
If you are convinced that Jesus was God incarnate and fully diety, then this question is moot. However, it seems to me that while Jesus taught a radical philosophy of “turn the other cheek”, he wasn’t the first. Rabbi Hillel said, years before Jesus...
2004
2007
This is basically a question about Matthew 10:5-6. “5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” #1) ...
No problems
Looking at this site…specifically Sherlock Holmes: It made me draw a conclousion…correctly or incorrectly…that most if not all savants have some degree of autism spectrum disorder. As a child, Christ was portrayed as being a prodigy, having a...
2011
Assuming, as our context, that Jesus existed, and that no intentional deception is in the gospels- Jesus was crucified and the Roman soldiers divided up His clothes. He dies, is wrapped in burial linens, and is put in the tomb. Sunday morning the...
2011 Thread title: Jesus Twixter!
2011
2011
I know there aren’t any live interviews of the guy, or even first hand accounts written down along the lines of, “Me & Jesus went to the olive garden yesterday and he had this to say about leprosy…” As I understand it, we’re limited to...
2011
Finally. #4 . Threadshitting by Naxos.
2011: Pure theological question
Jesus reportedly performed many miracles, but adamantly refused to perform “stupid God tricks”- demonstrations on demand as proof of his divinity. In fact, God or Jesus or his prophets seem broadly adverse to performing miracles except in the most...
No problems.
2011
No problems
Google Problem of Evil
2001 thread:
No, not the usual problem of ‘Why is there Evil in the World’, but a different problem altogether. I am starting to see the dichotomy of Good/Evil everywhere - TV, Movies, Online Flame Wars, etc. The ‘Problem’ as I see it is with the view that...
No problems
More or less the biggest stumbling block between me and religion is the concept of a loving, just being ruling an uncaring, unjust universe. I’ve seen a few arguments about free will or not being given more than we can handle. They don’t fly for...
No problems
I was sitting around wondering the other day whether or not anyone finds it an adequate and an acceptable response in defense of the goodness of a traditional, creating god, what response to the problem of evil do you find most convincing?
No problems
No problems
People often point to all the suffering in the world as an argument against God. Sometimes it’s to argue against the existence of God, sometimes it’s to imply that if there is a God, he’s evil. Christopher Hitchens gets asked in this video what...
No problems
Over in this thread discussing problems with the notion of an omnimax creator god, a bit of a tangent has developed discussing Leibniz’ answer to the so-called problem of evil, which essentially has him positing the creation of the world as a sort of...
No problems
I am very uneducated on this subject. Is God, the omnimax God as commonly defined by mainstream Christianity, physically possible? If so, how exactly would it be possible for such a being to exist? If not, how exactly is it impossible? In addition,...
Der participates. Everything on topic.
2011 thread
Hallo, First off, I guess I must be described as a Christian, at least that would be my cultural background. As a matter of fact though – I have never practised religion, it plays no part in my life, nor my family. I also have never read the...
Naxos on post 9,11,16. Not as bad as I remember though.
2011 thread
No problems.
I’ll have to add these to my stamp-collector* analogies
Is there a new way to not collect stamps? How does one militantly not collect stamps?
*atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.
Measure_for_Measure:
Google Jesus
Has your data been saved?
Measure_for_Measure:
I googled for board threads under the topics “Jesus” and “Problem of Evil”.
I found 2 examples… with Naxos. I also found this 2010 thread with 2 posters who were warned, plus Naxos. Specifically Sablicious (banned) and nachtmusick. Christianity: Why did Jesus leave in the first place? Why not just stay after the resurrection? - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board
What follows is a list of threads with nada, with 2 exceptions. I swear, I thought this crap happened all the time, but it apparently wasn’t that common. Admittedly most of the threads were validity of Christianity debates anyway, so it wasn’t a proper test. Still. I retract my concerns.
Google JesusWas Jesus a follower of Rabbi Hillel? - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board "Accepting Jesus as your personal Saviour" - where does this come from? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board Did Jesus ever mean for his apostles to preach to any non-Jews? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board Did Jesus Christ have Asperger's? - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board How was Jesus dressed when He arose? - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board Jesus, Twickster! - About This Message Board - Straight Dope Message Board Christians. You Love Jesus? Why? - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board Is there a useful book of Jesus? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board Was Jesus Literate? - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board #4 . Threadshitting by Naxos.
2011: Pure theological questionWhy did Jesus refuse to perform miracles on demand?* - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board If James Was Jesus' Brother...... - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board
2011What would Jesus think about all the adulation? - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board
Google Problem of Evil
2001 thread:The Problem of Evil - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board Question for theists: (How) Do you reconcile the Problem of Evil? - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board The problem of evil - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board Arguments that confirm or destroy religion - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board It makes no sense to point to the suffering in this world to argue against "God" - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board The Best of all Possible Worlds - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board What is the scientific perspective on the omnimax god? - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board
2011 threadOmni-benevolent, Omnipotent, and Omniscient - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board
2011 threadSo Lucy, 'splain something to me: how could a just God kill David's baby for his father's crimes? - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board
On behalf of all who have had put up with the claims that atheists regularly ruin religious threads, thank you.
Meatros
January 22, 2012, 2:27pm
399
Gotta give you points for that.
Meatros
January 22, 2012, 2:29pm
400
Yes, I agree. Seems my perception didn’t match reality (on this board at least).
