Atheist billboard stirs up unneeded controversy, yet again - this time it's Hasidic Jews whose craw - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Megafan;35040429]There are a number of reasons: Why is same-sex marriage [I]still[/I] illegal in most parts of the country? Religious opposition. Why is it not illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation? Religious opposition. Why is abortion/contraception/etc. not as available as it should be? Religious opposition. Why is 'In God We Trust' on our currency? Religious pressure. The list goes on.[/QUOTE] Well this is not the fault of Religion as a whole, it's the fault of idiotic people using religion as an excuse. And if Religion wasn't there, they would find another excuse immediately. Most slavers didn't need religion as an excuse to enslave black people, they just said "he's black and I'm white so I'm better than him" and shit was done.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;35040462]They are caring because they believe that because some people use religion as an excuse to do terrible shit (they would have done anyway just with another excuse if religion wasn't around), religion as a whole should disappear. It's like requesting the disappearance of every car on the planet because someone used one to willingly run over some guy he wanted to kill.[/QUOTE] I care because I think religion is wrong. I don't shove it into people's faces, but when the discussion arises I see no problem in arguing.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;35040462]They are caring because they believe that because some people use religion as an excuse to do terrible shit (they would have done anyway just with another excuse if religion wasn't around), religion as a whole should disappear. It's like requesting the disappearance of every car on the planet because someone used one to willingly run over some guy he wanted to kill.[/QUOTE] Stop making analogies holy shit.

[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;35040485]No it's not like that at all.[/QUOTE] It's the exact same thing. You take an entire concept and request its end because it's being misused by a bunch of idiots. [editline]7th March 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Chrille;35040495]I care because I think religion is wrong. I don't shove it into people's faces, but when the discussion arises I see no problem in arguing.[/QUOTE] Well it's totally okay to discuss it, as long as it remains polite and with actual arguments. On this forum it seems every time you mention the fact religions is not 100% wrong or that there are as much atheist idiots and religious idiots, people flip their shit out and start insulting you by calling you an idiot or an ignorant without uttering a single built argument. These atheists with their billboards are just shoving it into people's face, instead of discussing the issue normally.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;35040404]When the message is as retarded as "HEY LISTEN TO ME YOUR RELIGION IS A LIE YOU SHOULD GIVE IT UP", yeah, it's being an attention whoring douchebag.[/QUOTE] You seem very frustrated with people expressing what they believe in. Why don't you go to China where they throw different thinkers in jail, I think you would like it there.

they're corrupting our STRONG AMERICAN VALUES

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;35040508] Well it's totally okay to discuss it, as long as it remains polite and with actual arguments. On this forum it seems every time you mention the fact religions is not 100% wrong or that there are as much atheist idiots and religious idiots, people flip their shit out and start insulting you by calling you an idiot or an ignorant without uttering a single built argument. These atheists with their billboards are just shoving it into people's face, instead of discussing the issue normally.[/QUOTE] People aren't calling you an idiot because you are an oppressed religious minority, people are calling you an idiot because you make really bad posts.

[QUOTE=GeneralFredrik;35040545]You seem very frustrated with people expressing what they believe in. Why don't you go to China where they throw different thinkers in jail, I think you would like it there.[/QUOTE] There is once again a difference between expressing what you believe in and claim it's better than everyone else's beliefs. The billboard clearly falls into the latter category. If you want to question religion it's fine, as long as you do it cleverly, not by just claiming it's a myth which is stupid because it's using words that are chosen to hurt and make something lose value. It's like those people calling the bible "fairy tales". [editline]7th March 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Raidyr;35040581]People aren't calling you an idiot because you are an oppressed religious minority, people are calling you an idiot because you make really bad posts.[/QUOTE] You know I think I'll just ignore you from now on because you aren't making any point and just blindly bash anyone who doesn't hate religion like you do

[QUOTE=Megafan;35040429]There are a number of reasons: Why is same-sex marriage [I]still[/I] illegal in most parts of the country? Religious opposition. Why is it not illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation? Religious opposition. Why is abortion/contraception/etc. not as available as it should be? Religious opposition. Why is 'In God We Trust' on our currency? Religious pressure. The list goes on.[/QUOTE] Thats a fault of your governmental system not your people.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;35040586]There is once again a difference between expressing what you believe in and claim it's better than everyone else's beliefs. The billboard clearly falls into the latter category. If you want to question religion it's fine, as long as you do it cleverly, not by just claiming it's a myth which is stupid because it's using words that are chosen to hurt and make something lose value. It's like those people calling the bible "fairy tales".[/QUOTE] But the Bible is a collection of fairy tales. Not even good ones either. Also, AGAIN, just like the last thread, you are intentionally ignoring posts that state that calling a religion a myth isn't insulting because that's what it is. Stop crying and put forth evidence for why religions can't be called a myth when they follow the definition to the letter. [editline]7th March 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Auth;35040643]Thats a fault of your governmental system not your people.[/QUOTE] No it's a problem of religion. Stop deflecting.

[QUOTE=Auth;35040643]Thats a fault of your governmental system not your people.[/QUOTE] Government officials voted in by the people?

Being nice and tolerant to each other? What's that?

[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;35040675]Being nice and tolerant to each other? What's that?[/QUOTE] Something a lot of people in there should learn I think. I have no clue how people think that by slapping such Billboards anywhere they will get any sort of good attention. Calling your neighbor an idiot has never solved any problem.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;35040586]There is once again a difference between expressing what you believe in and claim it's better than everyone else's beliefs. The billboard clearly falls into the latter category. If you want to question religion it's fine, as long as you do it cleverly, not by just claiming it's a myth which is stupid because it's using words that are chosen to hurt and make something lose value. It's like those people calling the bible "fairy tales". [editline]7th March 2012[/editline] You know I think I'll just ignore you from now on because you aren't making any point and just blindly bash anyone who doesn't hate religion like you do[/QUOTE] >Implying believing stuff without evidence is a smart thing to do Trying to raise awareness of how absurde religions really are is a good thing [editline]7th March 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Ganerumo;35040697]Something a lot of people in there should learn I think. Calling your neighbor an idiot has never solved any problem.[/QUOTE] That's not even remotely comperable

[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;35040450]Actually yes the church is oppressing me for my lack of/beliefs. Especially in a religious community. Church is the biggest scam invented. Their stupid rules and laws have no place in our modern society.[/QUOTE] Which church? Please stop lumping Christianity into one big heap.

[QUOTE=Scar;35040701]>Implying believing stuff without evidence is a smart thing to do Trying to raise awareness of how absurde religions really are is a good thing [editline]7th March 2012[/editline] That's not even remotely comperable[/QUOTE] I never implied that where the hell did you read such a thing. If you just call someone gullible for believing a myth, he's not going to suddenly shift sides and become a good proper Atheist like you'd want him to. He will just go on with his life because you didn't say anything significant to him. You just proved you were mean and deserved no attention.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;35040736]I never implied that where the hell did you read such a thing. If you just call someone gullible for believing a myth, he's not going to suddenly shift sides and become a good proper Atheist like you'd want him to. He will just go on with his life because you didn't say anything significant to him. You just proved you were mean and deserved no attention.[/QUOTE] Oh I'm a meanie? What's the differeance between calling ancient Greek faiths myths and calling Chrisitanity a myth. There is none, yet one of them somehow offends you.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;35040697]Something a lot of people in there should learn I think. I have no clue how people think that by slapping such Billboards anywhere they will get any sort of good attention. Calling your neighbor an idiot has never solved any problem.[/QUOTE] the more I think about it, I don't really think calling anything a "myth" is as negative as you seem to think it is. [QUOTE=Ganerumo;35040736]I never implied that where the hell did you read such a thing. If you just call someone gullible for believing a myth, he's not going to suddenly shift sides and become a good proper Atheist like you'd want him to. He will just go on with his life because you didn't say anything significant to him. You just proved you were mean and deserved no attention.[/QUOTE] The point of these billboards is to get people thinking, not to instantly force every single person who's perfectly happy with continuing to practice their religion into abandoning it. People go on with their lives? Great. People not happy with their faith question it? Great.

ITT: Angsty teenage atheists think it's okay to needlessly insult other people's beliefs because a minority of religious people are assholes. [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Usage of 'ITT' to shitpost" - Megafan))[/highlight]

[QUOTE=Megafan;35040664]Government officials voted in by the people?[/QUOTE] State system is horrible, please stop jumping to insane conclusions.

[QUOTE=Scar;35040766]Oh I'm a meanie? What's the differeance between calling ancient Greek faiths myths and calling Chrisitanity a myth. There is none, yet one of them somehow offends you.[/QUOTE] Greek myths aren't massively followed by a significant part of the worldwide population. They were also not called myths back when they were still commonly followed. The word myth alone has a derogative connotation behind it, mainly because one of its definition is a made-up story that doesn't make sense. From your point of view that's what religion is, fine, but if someone believes in it and was raised by values linked to those so-called myths, he is not going to take it well and won't change his mind in the slightest.

[QUOTE=Nossy;35040812]ITT: Angsty teenage atheists think it's okay to needlessly insult other people's beliefs because a minority of religious people are assholes.[/QUOTE] Funny how you start your post by insulting us needlessly

[QUOTE=SPESSMEHREN;35040802] The point of these billboards is to get people thinking[/QUOTE] I doubt that billboards that essentially boil down to 'you're wrong, stop denying it' is going to make people think the thoughts they'd like to.

[QUOTE=SPESSMEHREN;35040802]The point of these billboards is to get people thinking, not to instantly force every single person who's perfectly happy with continuing to practice their religion into abandoning it. People go on with their lives? Great. People not happy with their faith question it? Great.[/QUOTE] But you won't get anyone to think with stuff like this. Do Christian nutjobs get you to think when they call you satan worshipers who are going straight to hell for not being Christian ? No, because for you it doesn't make any sense and just sounds like random biased indoctrinated gibberish. A more clever way to make people think would be to tell them that there are other ways of living your life, that it's a good thing to consider them and that it's always good to question yourself and your beliefs. Just trying to pull them back to reality by basically promoting your beliefs as superior to theirs won't work.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;35040819]Greek myths aren't massively followed by a significant part of the worldwide population. They were also not called myths back when they were still commonly followed. The word myth alone has a derogative connotation behind it, mainly because one of its definition is a made-up story that doesn't make sense. From your point of view that's what religion is, fine, but if someone believes in it and was raised by values linked to those so-called myths, he is not going to take it well and won't change his mind in the slightest.[/QUOTE] Yes, he won't try to change his mind if he is never encouraged to! That's what the point of this Billboards is, and if even one out of a thousand starts questening his believes, then they fullfiled their porpouse

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;35040586]There is once again a difference between expressing what you believe in and claim it's better than everyone else's beliefs. [/QUOTE] Religious people (a lot) believe that their beliefs are better. Why can't atheists believe this? What is the difference. [QUOTE]The billboard clearly falls into the latter category. If you want to question religion it's fine, as long as you do it cleverly, not by just claiming it's a myth which is stupid because it's using words that are chosen to hurt and make something lose value. It's like those people calling the bible "fairy tales".[/QUOTE] If I can't question religion based on the fact that I didn't do it cleverly.. I'm at a loss of words. Religious people believe they can pray away the gay from gays. Not only is this proven NOT to work and actually HURTS human beings, I have all the rights in the fucking world to use whatever words I can use. You say: "It's like those people calling the bible "fairy tales"." What about all the dead religions that nobody follows anymore? Why is the bible excempt from being called fairy tales? If their feelings are HURT, I couldn't care less. It's the real world and if people can't accept that people have other beliefs then they haven't grown up.

[QUOTE=Scar;35040855]Yes, he won't try to change his mind if he is never encouraged to! That's what the point of this Billboards is, and if even one out of a thousand starts questening his believes, then they fullfiled their porpouse[/QUOTE] But "you are wrong, admit it !" is not gonna encourage him to change his mind, that's the issue. It's a rude thing to tell anyone. If you want to push people to think and encourage them to change their mind, do it in a nice, clever way that proves that Atheists are actually wise guys who don't just spit on religion for some odd reason.

[QUOTE=GeneralFredrik;35040875]Religious people (a lot) believe that their beliefs are better. Why can't atheists believe this? What is the difference. If I can't question religion based on the fact that I didn't do it cleverly.. I'm at a loss of words. Religious people believe they can pray away the gay from gays. Not only is this proven NOT to work and actually HURTS human beings, I have all the rights in the fucking world to use whatever words I can use. You say: "It's like those people calling the bible "fairy tales"." What about all the dead religions that nobody follows anymore? Why is the bible excempt from being called fairy tales? If their feelings are HURT, I couldn't care less. It's the real world and if people can't accept that people have other beliefs then they haven't grown up.[/QUOTE] So we've degraded to 'they started it', how mature.

[QUOTE=GeneralFredrik;35040875]Religious people (a lot) believe that their beliefs are better. Why can't atheists believe this? What is the difference. [/quote] It's almost inherent to human beings to consider their own beliefs as superior. The problem is when you start slapping billboards everywhere to tell everyone how better your beliefs are compared to their without any sort of subtlety and without an actual wish to start dialogue. Those billboards are just here to spark controversy. About the bible being called fairy tales, the difference is that, yeah, people still believe in the bible. Massively. And the bible itself wasn't written in the same aim as a fairy tail. One is made to entertain, the other is a guide book that is supposed to help people find a good path in life. The book itself is full of stuff that todays sounds unacceptable and intolerant, but your common Christians are often forgetting these parts and concentrating on the still useful stuff. There are still people persuaded that everything has to be taken literally and obeyed thoroughly, while others take the book more as the vision of a good society written by several persons (which was the case, the new testament WAS written by several people) who had different visions of it.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;35040948]It's almost inherent to human beings to consider their own beliefs as superior. The problem is when you start slapping billboards everywhere to tell everyone how better your beliefs are compared to their without any sort of subtlety and without an actual wish to start dialogue. Those billboards are just here to spark controversy.[/QUOTE] The fact of the matter is that there are certain thoughts that are 'more correct' than others. It's more correct to believe that gravity exists according to the scientific consensus than as a force of god, for example. It's more correct to believe in evolution based on the fossil record and carbon dating of those fossils than it is to believe in creationism. Some ideas having more backing than others, it's indisputable.