Atheists' Protocol

[Alex Bragi]

....

By their own admissions, theologians tell us that we cannot know the true nature of God, but then tell us that they know what he expects from us. Unless you truly believe that these people (who include among them adulterers, pedophiles, drug users and murderers) really have intimate contact with God, you must conclude that they are only making things up as they go along.

As an agnostic, I don't conclude anything about religion, Thorne.

I can tell you many of my Christian friends would say anyone can have "intimate" contact with God and I happen to think that's a nice and forgiving (Christian) kind attitude to have.

...I don't have the extraordinary level of self-confidence required to say definitively that god (or gods) does or doesn't exist.

I'm right there with you, cage--open-minded and eager to look at it from all perspectives.

I'm sorry that the term 'fairly tales' miffs you, honestly. I thought twice about using that term, but there you go. It miffs me that beliefs in highly improbable stories lead people to want to persecute homosexuals, limit women's rights, limit my freedom to do things like gamble and so on.

Yes, I understand the point you where making and while it's true what my dear o' dad always told me as kid about, "stick and stones... " it's just a word that, in that context, kind of bugs me--on behalf of my theists friends.

The 'comfort' argument is always an interesting one. I personally care more about whether what I believe is true, or likely to be true, than whether it feels nice to believe it. Still, having once been a born-again Christian I do know how it feels to be a believer.

Been there and done that. Yep, I used to attend church all the time. I have to tell you something else. Yes, it did feel good to 'believe' and I do often wish I still had that faith.

Call me crazy, but I think too, that many theists really do manage to harness, and have an ability to draw on, their metal power (call it pray; call it what you like-- it still the same thing) that many of the rest of us simply don't.

The great thing about religion - and I speak as an atheist, not an agnostic - is that, if you believe, it is real, not myth. And there's nothing that a scientist, a pseudo-scientist, or a downright bigot can do to prove you wrong. Even his "science" depends ultimately on his faith that it is a true and accurate description of the world, but that is unprovable.

You know the thing that always intrigues me most about debates between theists and atheists? It's that, invariably, each side is convinced they are absolutely right and the other side is absolutely wrong.

At least a bigot relies on gut feeling, which is as close to faith as I suppose he can get.

Well, no, I think bigots rely on feeling comfortable with their own ignorance and narrow-mindedness which they, in turn, use to buoy their delusional superiority.

Only he, to my mind, has any right to describe religions as fairy tales.

Ha-ha!!! What twisted irony!